*
UN/VERSITY OF
HISTOET
OF
SAINT LOUIS CITY
AND
COUNTY,
FROM THE EARLIEST PERIODS TO THE PRESENT DAY
INCLUDING
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF REPRESENTATIVE MEN.
BY
J. THOMAS SCHARF,
AUTHOR OF "CHRONICLES OP BALTIMORE;" "HISTORY OP MARYLAND;" "HISTORY OF BALTIMORE CITY AND COUNTY;" MEMBER OF
THE MARYLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND ACADEMY OF SCIENCES; MEMBER OP THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OP PENN-
SYLVANIA; HONORARY MEMBER OF THE GEORGIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE
HISTORICAL SOCIETIES OP NEW YORK, WISCONSIN, MINNESOTA, SOUTH CAROLINA, AND
VIRGINIA; OF THE HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF OHIO; OP
THE NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC-GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY, ETC., ETC.
IN TWO VOLUMES, ILLUSTRATED.
. II.
PHILADELPHIA:
LOUIS H. EVERTS & GO.
1883.
Copyright, 1883, by Louis H. EVERTS & Co.
PRESS OF
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.,
PHILADELPHIA.
1 1
;
v-/
CONTENTS OF VOLUME II.
CHAPTER XXV. PAGE
St. Louis as a Centre of Trade 989
CHAPTER XXVI.
The Mississippi River and its Tributaries 1037
CHAPTER XXXV. PAGE
The Medical Profession 1515
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Culture and Literary Growth in St. Louis 1587
CHAPTER XXXVII.
CHAPTER XXVII.
Navigation on the Mississippi River 1087 Aft ftnd Artigtg 1617
CHAPTER XXVIII.
River Commerce of St. Louis 1123
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Music and Musicians I'i'-'S
CHAPTER XXIX.
Railroad* 1139 CHAPTER XXXIX.
CHAPTER XXX. Religious Denominations 1635
Trade. Commerce, and Manufactures 1213
CHAPTER XXXI.
Commercial Exchanges 1340
CHAPTER XXXII.
Banks, and other Financial Institutions, and Bankers... 1367
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Insurance — Telegraph — Postal Service — Gas — Hotels.... 1414
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Bench and Bar.... 1449
CHAPTER XL.
Religious, Benevolent, Social, Secret, and other Organi-
zations 1752
CHAPTER XL I.
Prominent Events — Mobs and Riots — Duels — Military
— The Towns of Carondelet, Herculaneum, and East
St. Louis 1820
CHAPTER XLII.
County of St. Louis 1870
I Hi L TJ S T IR, .A. T I O :ET S OIF
II.
PAGE
Alkire, Josiah facing 1239
American Baptist Publication Society 1673
Bailey, G. W facing 1506
Barclay, Shepard " 1510
Barnes, Robert A " 1388
Barnett, George 1 1435
Barr, William, Dry-Goods Company 1296
Barret, R. A facing 1508
Bates, Edward 1464
Belcher Sugar Refinery 1243
Bent, Joseph K facing 1366
Billon, F. L 1593
Bissell, Daniel facing 1856
Black, William S., Residence of. " 1880
Blewett, B. T " 1878
Bofinger, J. N " 1120
Bogy, L. V 1492
Boyd, Rev. W. W facing 1678
Branch, J. W " 1270
Brookmire, J. H " 1240
Brown, A. D " 1318
Brown. J. C " 1178
Buck, M. M " 1274
PAGE
Byrne, John, vlr facing 1036
Cahokiain 1840 1072
Carondelet, Plat of facing 1864
Carondelet in 1840. ..\ 1865
Castello, Charles fiicing 1888
Chamber of Commerce.'. 1359
Charless, Joseph facing 1390
Christy, A " 1070
Clark, W. G " 1326
Comstock, T. Griswold " 1561
County Court-House 1876
Cummings, J. K facing 1282
Custom- House and Post-Offiee 1437
Davis, Samuel C. & Co 1297
Day, F. 0 facing 1298
Dodd, Brown A Co 1302
Dorriss, G. P facing 1862
Dousman, H. L " 1620
Dozier, James ' 1236
Dyer, D. P " 1505
Eads, J.B 1051
Easton, A. R facing 1456
Easton, Rufus " I''1'
IV
ILLUSTRATIONS OF VOLUME II.
PAGE
Famous Shoe and Clothing Company 1317
Farrar, B. G 1519
First Baptist Church Building in Missouri 1670
First Presbyterian Church 1703
Forsyth, Robert facing 1294
Gale, D. B " 1238
Garrison, D. R " 1170
Gast, August " 1335
German Protestant Orphans' Home 1916
Geyer, Henry S 1462
Good Samaritan Hospital 1565
Goodell, Rev. C. L facing 1746
Gould, D. B " 1616
Green, Charles " 1816
Green, William W " 1104
Hackemeier, Franz 1917
Haggerty, W. H facing 1306
Harrison, Edwin " 1266
Harrison, James " 1264
Hill, B. A " 1502
Hodgen, John T " 1534
Humphrey, F. W. & Co 1307
Jaccard, D. C facing 1320
Jaccard, E., Jewelry Company 1319
Jackson, John facing 1227
James, Samuel " 1889
January, D. A " 1351
Johnson, John B 1532
Kennard, J facing 1304
Kenrick, Archbishop 1644
Kingsland, Philip facing 1262
Kirkwood Seminary, View of " 1908
Kline, Lewis E " 1673
Lackland, R. J " 1402
Larimore, J. W " 1230
Larimore, N. G " 1229
Leeds, E. N " 1418
Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company 1248
Lindell Hotel 1444
Lionberger, John R facing 1086
Lucas, J. B. C " 1408
Lucas, James H " 1410
Lucas, James H., Residence of •... " 1412
Marquette on the Mississippi River 1636
Martin, Edward facing 1307
McKendree, Bishop 1685
McPheeters, W. M facing 1528
Merrell, J. S " 1288
PAGE
Meyer, C. F. G facing 1290
Moses, S. Gratz " 1531
Nicholson, David " 1242
Nidelet.J. C '• 1540
Paramore. J. W " 1198
Parsons. Charles " 1398
Peters, Joseph " 1328
Plant, George P '. " 1232
Pope, Charles A " 1530
Post, Rev. T. M 1745
Powell, R. W facing 1419
Pratt, Thomas " 1439
Primm, Wilson 1488
Rayburn, French facing 1260
Robertson, Right Rev. C. F " 1717
Rubelmann, George A " 1280
Ryan, P. J., Right Rev 1645
Samuel, E. M facing 1396
Schnaider, Joseph " 1333
Scholten, John " 1334
Schotten, William " 1246
Schulenburg, R " 1 324
Scruggs, R. M . " 1299
Scudder, John A " 1118
Second Baptist Church 1677
Section of Pier St. Louis Bridge 1077
Senter, W. M facing 1362
Shapleigh, A. F " 1278
Simmons Hardware Company 1276
Sire, Joseph A facing 1250
Smith, E. B " 1523
Southern Hotel 1448
Stevens, Charles W 1529
St. Louis Bridge facing 1074
St. Louis Cotton Exchange 1362
St. Louis Grain Elevator 1227
Swon, J. C facing 1102
Talmage, A. A " 1166
Vail 6, Jules " 1268
Van Studdiford, Henry " 1525
Walker, G. S " 1562
Walsh, Edward " 1162
Walsh, Julius " 1208
Watson, James S 1394
Wear, J. H., Boogher & Co 1300
Westermann, H 1285
Wolff, M. A facing 1037
HISTORY
OF THE
CITY AND COUNTY OF SAINT LOUIS.
CHAPTER XXV.
ST. LOUIS AS A CENTRE OF TRADE.
ST. Louis being located in the heart of the Missis-
sippi valley, in which are produced immense supplies of
breadstuff's, meats, fruits, and vegetables, accessible by
fifteen thousand miles of navigable rivers, with her
grand network of railroads penetrating all portions of
this vast valley, furnishing quick and cheap transpor-
tation for all the products of the soil, it must be ap-
parent that at no other place in the world where labor
is remunerative can staple provisions of the same
quality be furnished cheaper than at St. Louis.
Next to provisions in the cost of family expenses is
that of house-rent, or, differently stated, the expense
of living in one's own house. The house represents
capital, and it costs the owner as much to live in it as
it does the lessee, in either case the net rental being
measured by the net interest the money would produce.
In furnishing cheap, comfortable, and healthy houses
St. Louis offers rare inducements. There was a time
when this was not the case, and rival cities offering
greater inducements in this regard were largely bene-
fited thereby. When the heavy business was transacted
chiefly on the Levee and Main Street, the choice resi-
dence property was drawn within narrow bounds and
held at high prices ; and before sewerage and drainage
had transformed vast acres into choice building sites,
before railroad transportation, steam and horse, had
equalized values at remote points from business cen-
tres by furnishing cheap conveyance to and from all
points within the city limits, cheap homes were not
easily obtained in St. Louis. But a new and brighter
era has dawned upon her. Cheap homes can now be
furnished within easy access of business, shop, and
foundry, on finished streets, with gas and water, on or
ivenient to street cars. Building lots thus situated
63
can be bought and comfortable dwellings erected
thereon cheaper in St. Louis than in any city in the
United States having a population of one hundred
and fifty thousand.
To this fact more than any other may be attributed
the rapid growth of St. Louis during the last few years,
and it is also the best guarantee of her future pros-
perity. Cheap homes are the want of the million ;
they not only reduce the expenses of living, but the
people become owners of their own homesteads, and
once having an interest in the soil their local and
business interests become more closely identified with
the city's welfare, making her population more per-
manent and at the same time contributing to her
revenue.
Persons of limited means, mechanics and laborers of
industrious and saving habits, can by small monthly or
quarterly payments in a comparatively short period be-
come owners of their own homes without waiting to
provide all the money before purchasing. The making
of debts is not generally to be commended ; but to a
moderate extent in the purchase of a home, where
full consideration is received, they are not only com-
mendable but tend to stimulate energy, and the money
thus paid is better secured against loss than if invested
in any other manner. In addressing the Social Science
Association of Philadelphia, Mr. Cochran truthfully
said, —
" People who own the soil naturally feel that they
have a greater interest in the community, in its wel-
fare, peace, and good order, and they are fixed more
permanently to it as a place of abode ; and the laborer
or mechanic who is working to secure or pay for a
home is inspired with more ambition than one whose
abode is in tenement-houses, which can have no attrac-
tion to any man or his family. The system of separate
dwelling-houses for every family is in itself promotive
of greater morality and comfort, but the opportunity
989
990
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
of poor men to secure the ownership is an honorable
incentive to industry and frugality."
The means of locomotion within the city, the ac-
commodations for visitors, the capital of banks, and
the transportation facilities other than rail and river,
as collected in 1882 for the board of equalization,
present the St. Louis of to-day as being in the follow-
ing condition :
STREET RAILWAYS.
NAME OF COMPANY.
Numher of Horses.
Value per Head.
Number of Mules.
Value per Head.
Miles of Track.
Value per Mile.
Number of Cars.
Total Value of Cars.
Other Personal
Property.
Value of Real
Estate.
!'
1
Baden and St. Louis
17
$35
3i
$1500
8
$1,200
$140
$6 820
Benton and Bellefontaine
106
50
26
$30
(L
3000)
4?
8,800
750
$22,760
48,720
193
45
1 44
{5
1000 j
3500)
9 000
6720
32 850
83 810
Citizens', Fair Grounds and Suburban.
Lindell
251
361
45
45
75
40
50
50
1 3 62-100
f«
i
10 25-66
2500 }•
3500 J
2500)
1500 f
3500
56
70
19,200
17,900
2980
2600
22,800
79 440
94,520
159 430
277
45
18
50
3500
19,600
3000
57 240
122 960
65
45
28
50
6
2500
22
2,750
800
22 880
238
45
12
50
8
3500
SO
10,500
9300
59 110
268
45
174
60
3000
66
16,700
4460
38,100
125,860
65
40
10
45
(I
2200)
4,740
320
32,510
(5
1800 j
2000
2 000
Tower Grove and Lafayette
53
45
40
50
3 1-5
2500
?0
5,000
270
7,390
25,050
Union
203
45
7
50
8
3500
?4
7,200
2940
16,030
63,660 /
157
45
209
50
10
2500
68
14,600
4360
41,390
75,870
Name.
Atlantic
Barnum's
Beaumont
City
Commercial
Hotel Barnum ..
Belvedere
Hotel Hunt ,
Hotel Moser....
Hurst's
Ives House
Koetter's
Laclede
Lafayette Park.
Lindell
Mona House....
Planters' ,
St. James
The Southern-
Western
Windsor
Everett House.
Grand Pacific..
HOTELS.
Assessed Value
Proprietors. of Personal
Property.
....F.F. Burt $1,670
....L. A. Pratt U0,200
Hallie D. Pittman 1,890
....George Spilling il^OO
....James H. Morris x 1,600
....Mrs. M. L. Barnum 16,110
....Shickle, Harrison & Co 17,000
...Mrs. E. J. Polk 1,560
....Leo Moser 1,730
....James H. Hurst 3,220
...James 0. Ives x 6,800
...G. Koetter 2,3«0
....Griswold & Sperry 30,600
....Nelson Yocum 1,140
....Charles Scudder & Co 40,360
,...J. H. Tomb 1 1,800
...J. & J. Gerardi 15,440
...Thomas P. Miller 3,430
...The Southern Hotel Company 61,170
....M. C. Irish ^,000
...Windsor Hotel Company 6,000
...J. H. Hawley 3,250
...J. & J. Robertson 4,100
Name.
Value of
Real Estate.
International $12,820
Laclede
Lafayette 2,200
Mullanphy Savings 2,300
Northwestern Savings
Provident Savings 76,290
State Savings 54,660
Tenth Ward Savings 11,090
Union Savings 10,570
Merchant National 1,530
Valley National
Third National 112,130
Fourth National
St. Louis National 13,710
Total Value of
Assessment.
$91.650
250,000
50,000
128,060
55,390
100,000
1,251,640
46,590
128,130
805,000
272.500
1,161,030
584,000
569,140
Total $739,650 $10,040,550
EXPRESS COMPANIES, LIVERY-STABLES, ETC.
Total $230,760
BANKS.
Value of Total Value of
JSame< Real Estate. Assessment.
Bank of Commerce $185,890 $1,136,150
Boatmen's Savings 67,940 2,174,f>:',o
Bremen Savings 1,600 76,050
Citizen's Savings 23,400 139,930
Commercial ' 310,000
Continental 60,640 116,070
Franklin 38,250 224,221
German American 112. ,,0
German "Savings 63,630 . 267,700
1 Assessed by assessor, no return being made by owner.
Number
Name. of
Horses.
Adams Express Co 36
American Express Co 42
United States Express Co 35
St. Louis Transfer Co 206
Hazard Coal Co 40
Schuremann Bros. & Co 84
Eau Claire Lumber Co 59
Mount Cabann6 Milk Co 24
St. Louis Street Sprinkling Co. 28
Arnot, Jesse 55
Bensick, John C 20
Bohle, Louis C
Brockmann, ]> 35
Sherrick, L. P 20
Cullen & Kelly 22
CK-nicnt. N. S 24
Comfort, C. D. & Co 21
Crnm, C. N 22
Ganger, Jacob 25
Heitz, Christ 20
Herman, Fred 60
Value Number Total
per of Value of
Head. Vehicles. Vehicles.
$100
100
50
75
55
60
50
50
60
40
40
40
65
40
100
50
100
75
100
50
100
IS
23
17
99
10
55
30
11
15
49
10
32
16
15
15
16
14
14
10
7
25
S-'MlOll
2,950
1.700
14,750
500
2,235
750
550
1,400
5.300
2,000
5,000
1,500
6,000
2,000
1.120
2.250
4,000
210
2.500
SAINT LOUIS AS A CENTRE OF TRADE.
991
Number Value Number Total
Name. of per of Value of
Horses. Head. Vehicles. Vehicles.
Kron, Aug 20 !?65 10 $1,000
Lawrence & Spelbrink 25 40 23 2,500
Maxwell, T. A J 33 70 3 150
Meyer, Adolph 30 40 17 3,600
Mueller, Henry 60 100 10 1,000
Keilly & Walfort 161 64 4 200
Scheele, H. & Son 20 80 10 5,000
Scott & Lynch 30 60 20 4,000
Wright, George C 20 100 9 3,600
Sloan & Ellis 80 37 4 250
Wolfinger, John & Co 22 75 14 500
The territory of which St. Louis is recognized as
the natural commercial and business metropolis is
indicated in the following table, with the miles of rail-
road they had in the years 1870 and 1879, respec-
tively :
States.
Miles
in 1870.
558
746
495
225
Kentucky (one-half)
Tennessee (one-half)
Mississippi (one-half)
Louisiana (one-half)
Illinois (one-half) 2411
Missouri 2000
Arkansas 256
Texas 711
Kansas (one-half) 750
Miles
in 1879.
797
850
670
272
3,789
3,740
804
2,591
1,052
Total 8052 14,465
In the ten years from 1870 to 1879 there was con-
structed in the territory we have set down as tribu-
tary to St. Louis six thousand four hundred and thir-
teen miles of railroad.
The increase of population in the territory of which
St. Louis is the natural commercial metropolis in the
ten years from 1870 to 1880 was as follows, the fig-
ures in all instances being from the United States
census :
States.
Kentucky (one-half)
Tennessee (one-half)
Mississippi (one-half)....
Louisiana (one-half)
Illinois (one-half)
Missouri
Arkansas
Texas
Kansas (one-half)
1870.
660,505
629,260
413,961
368,957
1,269,945
1,721,295
484,471
818,579
182,199
1880.
824,354
776,231
565,796
470,051
1,539,384
2,168,804
802,564
1,592,574
497,983
Total 6,549,192 9,237,741
All this territory, with New Mexico and Indian
Territory still farther south, constitute a part of the
vast back country of St. Louis. When it is consid-
ered, therefore, that this city has such surroundings as
have been here described ; that she is the very centre
of the most productive agricultural region of the
whole earth ; that she is in immediate proximity and
of convenient access to an inexhaustible deposit of
the purest iron ore in the world ; that she is at the
head of navigation from the south, and at the foot of
navigation from the north ; that she is sustained and
impelled forward by the immense, illimitable trade of
the great Father of Waters and his tributaries ; that she
has the material around her for building up the most
extensive and most profitable manufacturing establish-
ments that the world has ever known ; that all the
necessaries of life, the cereal grains and pork particu-
larly, are produced in all the region roundabout in
such profusion that living must be always cheap, and
that consequently she can support her population
though it should increase to almost indefinite limits,
when all these facts are considered, who can feel dis-
posed to set boundaries to her future progress t
It will be seen in view of the territory thus tributary
to St. Louis that she draws from a greater variety of
resources, from a greater extent of country, that she
is the centre of more mineral wealth, more agricultural
resources, and that she has the opportunity and is fast
endowing herself with the instrumentalities for obtain-
ing a vaster internal commerce than any other city in
the Union. Her manufactures are varied in kind and
character, and conducted with less expense than those
of any of her sister cities. Her population has been
steadily swelled by the influx of emigration ; her
wares and merchandise find their market in every
hamlet of the country, and compete in Europe with
those of older countries. Her credit, whether munic-
ipal, individual, or corporate, is unimpeached and
treasured as the most valuable of her jewels. It
should be borne in mind in estimating St. Louis' po-
sition among the great centres of trade in this country
that the territory strictly belonging to the system of
rivers which empty into the Gulf of Mexico has an
area of 1,683,000 square miles, including eighteen
States and two Territories, with a population of 22,-
000,000, which is increasing at the rate of about
thirty-two per cent, every ten years ; and that this great
region produced 300,000,000 out of the 450,000,000
bushels of wheat grown in the whole country in 1880,
besides 1,200,000,000 bushels of corn out of a total
produce for the same year of 1,500,000,000 bushels.
The collection of this grain into the granaries of
St. Louis is being carried on by the energetic
men who have banded together to accomplish the
great object of improving the trade and importance
of their city. Elsewhere the transportation facili-
ties and the storage capacity of the city have been
fully described. This business, for which rail and
river are competing, is vast enough for the capacity
of both, and must in a short time be greatly iu excess
of the terminal facilities afforded by existing lines of
communication. But St. Louis has also determined
to become the leading cotton market, and in view of
the railroad development ministering directly to her,
it is certainly no vain assertion to say that her posi-
992
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
tion is now first among the cotton markets of the
world. The opening of Northern Texas and the
whole of Arkansas to immediate connection by
rail with the Missouri commercial metropolis, and
the probable increase of cotton culture in the
Indian Territory, will give a back country capable
of producing millions of bales annually for St. Louis
to draw upon. She has already become the successful
competitor with Houston, Galveston, and New Or-
leans for the distribution of the crop of the Southwest,
and the encouragement received has justified her en-
terprising citizens in constructing the most complete
and extensive warehouses for cotton storage in the
world. The trade of St. Louis now controls the cot-
ton trade in certain sections of Arkansas and the
southern portion of Missouri, and has made such se-
ductive bids for the crop of Texas that many counties
in that State regard St. Louis as their most remuner-
ative market.
It was said of St. Louis in 1849 that "her com-
mercial prosperity is founded very largely, if not
chiefly, upon what is called the ' produce trade,' " and
the territorial limits of this trade were Illinois, Iowa,
and Missouri.1 Thirty years afterwards St. Louis
competed, as we have seen, sharply with Chicago for
the trade of Northern Missouri, Kansas, Southern
Nebraska, Colorado, the Territories tributary to the
traffic of the Union and Central Pacific Railroads, and
for the transcontinental trade towards the Southwest,
embraced in the southern and central portions of Mis-
souri, the State of Arkansas, the larger part of the
State of Texas, and the northwestern section of
Louisiana, with the Indian Territory, and with Cali-
fornia by the Southern Pacific Railroad. New Or-
leans finds in St. Louis a rival for the trade of West-
ern and Northern Louisiana. The trade of the States
east of the Mississippi and south of the Ohio finds
competition at St. Louis with New Orleans, Louisville,
Cincinnati, and Chicago, as well as the principal cities
of the Atlantic seaboard. The trade limits of St.
Louis east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio
cover Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, and include the
through traffic with the States of the Atlantic sea-
board and with foreign countries. It is within these
vast territorial limits that St. Louis gathers the sur-
plus products of the people, and distributes to them
the supplies and general merchandise of her energetic
tradesmen, merchants, and manufacturers.
The railroads which converge upon and centre at
St. Louis are the following; :
1 Governor Allen's address to the directors of the Pacific
Railroad.
West Roads.
Chicago, Alton and St. Louis Railroad (Missouri Division).
Missouri Pacific Railroad.
St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad.
St. Louis, Wabash and Pacific Railway (West Branch).
South Roads.
St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad.
Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad.
Belleville and Southern Illinois Railroad.
Louisville and Nashville Railroad.
Cairo and St. Louis Railroad.
East Roads.
Ohio and Mississippi Railroad.
Chicago, Alton and St. Louis Railroad (main line).
Indianapolis and St. Louis Railroad.
St. Louis, Vandalia, Terre Haute and Indianapolis Railroad.
St. Louis, Wabash and Pacific Railway.
Illinois and St. Louis Railroad.
North Roads.
St. Louis, Wabash and Pacific Railroad (Iowa Division).
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (St. Louis Division).
St. Louis, Keokuk and Northwestern Railroad.
The variations of the receipts and shipments of the
commerce of St. Louis with the north are shown in
the following table :
Year. Beceived. Shipped.
Tons. Tout.
1871 297,680 93,842
1872 363,006 79,200
1873 353,206 80,806
1874 368,076 116,267
1875 286,318 122,751
1876 324,947 128,629
1877 233,158 114,827
1878 382,628 126,601
1879 445,621 132,760
1880 604,173 157,803
Turning to the east, we find a larger commerce
even than that with the north. The total receipts
from and shipments to the east were for the last
decade :
Year. Received. Shipped.
Tons. Tons.
1871 1,219,245 545,636
1872 1,341,545 688,264
1873 1,568,719 699,048
1874 1,540,632 746,037
1875 1,542,866 750,527
1876 1,510,527 1,026,291
1877 1,634.860 927,448
1878 1,770,548 1,119,406
1879 2,041,440 1,225,895
1880 2,508,704 1,325,004
From the south St. Louis received as well as
shipped the following commerce :
Year. Beceived. Shipped.
Tons. Tons.
1871 1,109,801 695,531
1872 1,392.080 836,089
1873 1,339,688 838,123
1874 1,196,534 767,819
1875 1,371,670 738,632
1876 1,310,534 696,577
1877 1,339,649 798,802
1878 1,290,606 832,018
1879 1,649,272 995,346
1880 1,853,577 1,492,216
SAINT LOUIS AS A CENTRE OF TRADE.
993
The western commerce of St. Louis is exhibited
for ten years in the following table :
v Received. Shipped.
Tear- Ton*. Ton>.
1871 555,996 395,371
Mississippi River, the values standing for eastward
or via Atlantic ports at $17,000,000, and southward
or via New Orleans at $10,000,"000.
As illustrating the course of the internal commerce
from St. Louis, the following movements of cotton,
grain, flour, provisions, and live-stock will be found
instructive :
Articles. Direction. 1880. 1879.
Cotton, bales Shipped south 5.417 7,208
1872 605,652 406,393
1873 784,620 320,695
1874 793,216 307,878
1875 595,441 328,635
1876 974,467 408,678
1877 901,206 409,443
1878 1,056,225 417,209
1879 1,215,715 608,860
1880 2,023,930 818,182
" " " elsewhere 5,827 1,289
For the better comparison of the extraordinary
growth of the commerce of St. Louis during the' last
decade, the following table groups the tonnage of all
the sections :
Year. North. East. South. West. Total.
1871.... 391,552 1,764,887 1,805,332 951,367 4,913,102
1872.... 442,206 2,029,809 2,228,169 1,012,045 5,712,229
1873.... 434,012 2,267,767 2,177,811 1,105,315 5,984,905
1874.... 484,343 2,286,069 1,964,353 1,101,094 5,835,859
1875.... 409,069 2,293,393 2,110,302 1,024,076 5,836.840
1876.... 453,576 2,536,318 2,007,111 1,383,145 6,380,150
1877.... 347,985 2,562,308 2,138,451 1,310,649 6,359,393
1878.... 509,229 2,889,954 2,122,624 1,473,434 6,995,241
1879.... 578,381 3,267,335 2,644,618 1,824,575 8,314,909
1880.... 761,976 3,833,708 3,345,793 2,842,112 10,783,589
In these ten years the commerce of St. Louis in-
creased northward from 391,522 tons in 1871 to
761.976 tons in 1880; towards the east from
1,764,881 tons in 1871 to 3,833,708 tons in 1880 ;
towards the south from 1,805,332 tons in 1871 to
3,345,793 tons in 1880 ; towards the west from
951,367 tons in 1871 to 2,842,112 tons in 1880;
and the total grew from 4,913,102 tons in 1871 to
10,783,589 tons in 1880.
The rapidity of the growth of this commerce will
be more easily comprehended by considering the pro-
portion of tonnage for the years 1880, 1879, and
1878:
" " east 4 927 389 4 C84 09'i
" " " elsewhere 183 904 99 4'J6
Corn, bushels " south 12962076 5287394
" " east 4' 591*944 3*009*776
" " " elsewhere 17 302 13 836
Flour, barrels " south... 1350*442 1049*504
" " east 1 912'l71 1*927490
" " " elsewhere 30090 68041
Flour and grain1 " south 28,377271 15134163
«' " " " east ... 19555975 17952999
" " " " elsewhere 388737 589262
Hog products, pounds... " south 150,94^,883 158,639570
" " " ... " east 45388116 63669511
" " " ... " elsewhere 3,913,027 3,892,698
Cattle, number " east, by rail 1,774 2,041
" " " south, by rail.. 219350 219416
rail 5474 4,798
directions 2,281
Sheep number " south, by rail... 6,690 2,441
" « " east, by rail 72,384 76,286
" " " elsewhere, by
rail 12,421 9,374
" " " by river in all
directions 3 027
Hogs, number " south, by rail.. 4,323 5,401
» " " east, by rail 759,323 679,513
rail 6,642 1,815
" " " by river in all
directions.... 1,481
The percentage of the shipments of cotton towards
the south in 1880 was 1.13, and towards the east
97.65, and 1.22 in other directions; of iclicat, 54.82
per cent, went south, and 43.55 per cent, went east,
1.63 per cent, in other directions; of corn, 73.77
per cent, went south, 26.13 per cent, went east, 0.10
per cent, in other directions ; of flour, 41.01 per cent,
went south, 58.07 per cent, east, and 0.92 per cent,
in other directions; of grain, etc., 58.45 per cent,
went south, 40.47 east, and 1.08 in other directions;
of hog products, 75.38 per cent, went south, 22.67
per cent, east, and 1.95 per cent, in other directions;
of cattle, 0.77 per cent, went south, 95.84 per cent,
east, and 3.39 per cent, in other directions ; of sheep,
6.38 per cent, went south, 77.40 east, and 16.22 in
other directions ; of hogs, 0.56 per cent, went south,
98.52 per cent, east, and 0.92 in other directions.
The steady expansion of the commerce of St.
Louis is shown by the increase during 1880 over
1879 of the shipments of flour and grain from St.
Louis to the east and to the south, the former of
which increased 1,602,976 bushels, or 8.9 per cent.,
and the latter 13,243,108 bushels, or 87.05 per cent. ;
in 1879 the shipments to the east exceeded those to
1880. 1879. 1878.
DIREC-
TION. Par Par Par
Tons- Cent. T°n8' Cent. T°n8- Cent.
North 761,976 7.07 578,381 6.95 509,229 7.28
West 2,842,112 20:55 1824575 ''I 95 14734:54 21.06
South 3,345,793 31.03 2,644,61 S :;l.-n 2,122.t)24 30.35
East 3,833,708 35.55 3,267 ,33f> :','.! :;o 2,889,951 41.31
Total 10,783,589 100.00 8,314,909 100.00 6,995,241 100.00
It will be observed from these tables that the com-
merce of St. Louis towards the east was larger in
1880 than in any other direction, and a much larger
traffic passes over the great bridge than is transported
on the river. In direct trade with foreign countries
in 1880, the value of eastward shipments by rail
via Atlantic ports was seventy per cent, greater
than the value of the shipments southward via the
1 Including wheat, corn, rye, oats, barley, and flour, at five
bushels to the barrel.
994
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
the south by 2,818,836 bushels, but in 1880 the
shipments to the south exceeded those to the east by
8,821,296 bushels; in 1879 about 53 per cent, of the
shipments was to the east, but in 1880 nearly 59
per cent, of the total shipments was to the south ;
the total shipments for 1880 exceeded those for 1879
by 14,645,559 bushels. The receipts of flour at St.
Louis in 1880 exceeded those for 1879 by 100,000
barrels; those of wheat increased 4,000,000 bushels;
of corn, 9,000,000 bushels; of oats, 600,000 bushels;
and of barley, 730,000 bushels ; while the receipts of
rye decreased 250,000 bushels as compared with
1879.
There is a wide disparity of opinion in regard to
the limits of the territory actually tributary to St.
Louis, and consequently the extent of the products
controlled by that city. We wish to present both
views, that which is less favorable to the pretensions
of St. Louis and that which is more favorable. We
will state in advance that we incline to accept the
claim for the wider horizon and the broader destiny.
No city has a grander geographical site, and none a
more generous and nobler population. If these two,
working together in steadfast co-operation, — intelli-
gence reverently and diligently utilizing and applying
the gifts and largess of nature, the stored-up forces
and conservated energies of immemorial ages, — cannot
make a great city and a great centre of trade, then
nothing can. Anyhow, it is proper that a city should
have implicit confidence in its resources. As Col.
George E. Leighton, president of the Missouri His-
torical Society, said, in his very intelligent and thought-
ful address at the last annual meeting, Jan. 16, 1883,
" A living interest and belief in the real greatness of a
city will alone make it great. Such a feeling is con-
tagious, and if we but do our part, we can impress
ourselves and others with the belief that we 'have in
St. Louis a city worthy of our interest, and of our
labors to make it attractive in all those directions
which ennoble, dignify, and refine our lives, as well as
in those which minister to its material progress."
Mr. Joseph Niramo, Jr., chief of the Bureau of
Statistics of the Treasury Department, Washington,
in his very comprehensive and suggestive report on
the " Internal Commerce of the United States," sub-
mitted to Secretary of the Treasury Windom, July 1,
1881, attempts to define the " territorial limits of the
commerce of St. Louis." What he says is as fol-
lows :
" It is deemed proper in this connection to present a general
description of the range of the commercial activities of St. Louis,
such as was presented in a preceding report on the internal com-
merce of the United States, with such modifications as the
changed conditions of trade and of transportation have rendered
necessary.
" The limits of the trade of St. Louis cannot be precisely de-
fined, nor can the limits of the trade of any other great commer-
cial city, as each city is either directly or indirectly the compet-
itor of every other commercial city. St. Louis has direct trade
with San Francisco, with St. Paul, Minn., with Chicago, with
New Orleans, with the principal Atlantic seaports, and with
many of the principal ports of Europe. This is also true of
other great commercial cities, both at the West and on the sea-
board. But in the sense of being the principal market for the
sale of general merchandise, and for the purchase of surplus
agricultural products of the surrounding country, the terri-
torial extent of the commerce of St. Louis may be described as
folldws :
" The commerce of St. Louis west of the Mississippi River
and north of the State of Missouri is quite small, the city of
Chicago having secured the principal control of that trade by
means of the system of east and west roads centring in that
city.
"St. Louis competes sharply with Chicago for the trade of
Northern Missouri, Kansas, Southern Nebraska, Colorado, the
Territories tributary to the traffic of the Union and Central Pa-
cific Railroads, and for the transcontinental trade with the
States of the Pacific coast, and mainly controls so much of the
trade towards the Southwest as is embraced in the southern and
central portion of Missouri, the State of Arkansas, the larger
part of the State of Texas, and the northwestern section of Lou-
isiana. For the trade of Kansas, the northern part of Texas,
and the Indian Territory, St. Louis meets an active competition
in the commercial enterprises of Chicago.
"The advent of railroads as highways of commerce has led to
many changes, not only in the limits of the commerce of cities,
but also in their relation to each other. This fact is strikingly
illustrated with respect to the commerce of St. Louis and of New
Orleans. Twenty years ago almost all the commercial interests
of these two cities were mutual and reciprocal, but to-day, with
respect to the large and rapidly-growing southwestern com-
merce, St. Louis is a formidable rival of New Orleans. This
new condition of affairs has resulted mainly from the construc-
tion of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad and
connections, and the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad. These
lines, by their extension into Arkansas, Western and Northern
Louisiana, and Texas, have not only invaded a section formerly
embraced within the trade limits of New Orleans, but they have
been the instrumentalities through which a very large commer-
cial development has taken place within this highly productive
section. The railroads referred to have invited a large immigra-
tion into these States, and trade and industry have thus been
greatly promoted. Not only are the surplus products of a large
part of the State of Arkansas, as well as of parts of Louisiana
and Texas, shipped to St. Louis and other northern cities for a
market, but, in return, general merchandise is shipped to those
States.
" By the completion of the railroad line from New Orleans to
Houston, the former city has become a direct competitor with
St. Louis for a large part of the traffic of the railroads of Texas.
The competition of New Orleans for the trade of Texas will un-
doubtedly become sharper upon the completion of the railway
line designed to connect that city with Shreveport, La., at
which point connection will be made with the Texas Pacific
Railroad and its connecting lines.
" For the trade of the States east of the Mississippi River
and south of the Ohio River, St. Louis meets the active compe-
tition of the trade of New Orleans, Louisville, Cincinnati, and
Chicago, and of the principal cities on the Atlantic seaboard.
SAINT LOUIS AS A CENTRE OF TRADE.
995
The trade of St. Louis with those States has exhibited no ma-
terial increase for several years.
" The trade limits of St. Louis east of the Mississippi River
and north of the Ohio River, not including the through traffic
with the States of the Atlantic seaboard and with foreign coun-
tries, embrace a considerable portion of the State of Illinois
and extend into Indiana and Ohio. This is a commerce almost
entirely by rail, only a very small percentage of it being carried
on by means of boats plying on the Mississippi and Illinois
Rivers. All this trade, with the exception of that in the im-
mediate vicinity of St. Louis, is highly competitive as between
Chicago, Toledo, and St. Louis. This applies both to the pur-
chase of agricultural products and to the sale of supplies and
general merchandise. The state of the markets at these rival
cities determines the course of trade of this section at all times.
" The commerce of St. Louis with the States and Territories
already referred to has as its distinguishing characteristics the
purchase of the surplus products of those States and Territories
and the sale of merchandise for consumption within such terri-
torial limits. But the commerce of St. Louis with the Atlantic
seaboard States and with foreign countries presents itself under
an entirely different aspect."
Mr. Nimmo at this point speaks of the railroads
which centre at St. Louis and the sharp competition
of the east-bound trunk lines, a matter which it is
not necessary to discuss now or here. There are two
reasons for this : in the first place, the rates of com-
petition are so fluctuating and uncertain that there is
no standard, as there is also neither good policy, es-
tablished policy, honor nor honesty in the competition
for freight from the west to the Atlantic seaboard
cities. These things will finally adjust themselves,
and in the final adjustment it will be " devil take the
hindmost." But in the mean time, so long as " pool-
ing" corrects distance, no scale of rates can be per-
manently laid down. We have nothing but expedients,
and very temporary ones at that, and St. Louis can
afford to wait until time, which adjusts everything
else, has adjusted this also. In the second place, St.
Louis possesses a regulator of freight rates to eastern
seaports which, she is fain to believe, will finally re-
construct everything, and especially readjust the " dif-
ferential rates" entirely in her favor. This regulator
is the Mississippi River, which, no matter what rail-
road managers may say, intends to have a potential
voice in the final adjustment of freight rates from
western trade centres to European markets, and will
not be ignored, belittled, or frightened by any of their
" statements."
The area of country really and actually tributary
to St. Louis, the more sanguine friends of its com-
merce in the future claim, is as follows :
STATES AND PARTS OF STATES TRIBUTAEY TO ST. LOUIS, THEIE POPULATION, RAILROADS, AND PRODUCTS, 1879-80.
STATES.
Population.
Miles of
Railroad.
Wheat.
Corn.
Oats.
Rye.
Barley.
Number of
Live-Stock.
Missouri
2,168,804
802,564
995,966
152,433
1,539,384
812,310
771,287
824,354
4434
620
1957
3083
5645
1539
34001
1065
24,966,627
1,269,730
17,324,141
13,847,007
25,555,251
15,577,102
1,283,880
5,678,056
202,485,723
24,156,417
105,729,325
65,150,435
162,896,240
137,512,123
14,532,586
36,426,131
20,670,958
2,219,822
8,180,385
6,555,875
36,594,600
25,305,295
2,446,679
2,290,369
535,426
22,387
413,181
424,348
1,591,897
759,302
12,699
334,025
123,631
1,952
300,273
1,744,686
614,761
2,011,294
36,393
243,163
7,611,671
Arkansas ... ..
Kansas
2,814,383
1,836,286
Nebraska
Iowa (i)
2,408,071
8,665,221
Texas (£)
771,231
194,649
118,430
470,051
1,131,592
792
727
715
681
1448
3,665,676
1,425,014
706,641
2,517
218,890
31,382,214
455,968
633,786
4,953,094
21,340,800
2,361,095
640,900
156,527
114,920
1,959,620
78,209
19,465
240
506
5,134
15,009
107,116
25,026
Colorado
1,985,119
174
1 AU the Texas railroads are tributary to St. Louis, so also are the Texas cattle and other live-stock.
Cotton and other products are given in other tables.
The above table is supposed to represent the States
which send or are to send their products to St. Louis.
The States and Territories which St. Louis supplies
more or less with goods, either of her own manufac-
ture or through the jobbing trade, are exemplified in
a statement of Mr. E. C. Simmons, president of the
Simmons Hardware Company of St. Louis :
" We purchase goods at many points throughout the North-
ern as well as Eastern States, from the Mississippi River east to
Providence and Boston. There are also many manufacturers
of goods in our line here in St. Louis from whom we draw sup-
plies. We have goods manufactured at several of the principal
penitentiaries of the country. We also still import largely of
certain lines of goods chiefly from England and Germany, and
some from France and Switzerland. All of our goods, both do-
mestic and foreign, are shipped to us direct on through bills of
lading.
" The range of our sales is very wide indeed. We sell goods
as far east as Indiana, north as far as Wisconsin and Minne-
sota, Dakota, Idaho, and Wyoming, west as far as Colorado,
Utah, Montana, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and California,
and south to the Gulf of Mexico. We also have trade in Ala-
bama and Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky, with some scatter-
ing trade in North Carolina and Virginia, Ohio and Michigan.
"This widely extended business is chiefly done through com-
mercial travelers or agents employed by our house. The whole
territory is divided up into districts, each district being in the
particular charge of one of our commercial travelers, who is held
responsible for the maintenance and extension of trade within
his district. He is also expected to keep the house informed in
996
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
regard to the competition which he meets from every point,
from other business houses in this city and in other cities, also
as to crops and facts of interest touching the influence of com-
peting rail rates. The limits of our trade depend very largely
upon the rates for transportation which we have to meet from
competing business houses in other cities.
" At present we have thirty-one commercial agents employed.
" Nineteen-twentieths of our trade is by rail. The great ad-
vantage afforded by rail transportation is the readiness and
quickness with which goods can be distributed. All we have to
do is to ship goods by rail on a through bill of lading to a re-
mote point. They may pass over three or four different rail-
roads, but the railroad companies attend to transshipment from
the line of one company to that of another.
" Insurance is a thing that bears heavily against water ship-
ments. Merchants will buy goods from points where they will
reach them quickest. Take, for instance, Corsicana, Texas.
The all-rail rate from St. Louis is $1.25 to $1.50 per one hun-
dred pounds, and from New York by Morgan line it is but fifty
to seventy-five cents per one hundred pounds; still, on account
of the quicker transportation, the merchants buy most of their
goods in St. Louis, and ship by rail. In our trade east of this
point we find a very sharp competition from Chicago, but we do
not meet much competion from Chicago in Missouri south of
this point, or in the Indian Territory, Arkansas, or Texas. All
that we regard as especially our territory.
" Throughout the States south of the Ohio and east of the
Mississippi Eiver, viz. : Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Ala-
bama, Georgia, and Louisiana, and some little in North Caro-
lina, we meet the competition of Louisville and Cincinnati
merchants, and also a very vigorous competition from New
York. Our best trade may be said to be in Iowa, Illinois, Mis-
souri, Kansas, Arkansas, and Texas."
The foregoing statement in regard to the range of
the business of a single house, both in its territorial
extent and in the degree to which its management
involves the exercise of executive and administrative
ability, affords a striking illustration of the manner in
which the wholesale or jobbing trade is carried on at
the present time. In the range of its activities and
in the methods employed, the commerce of the present
day is widely at variance with all ideas of trade which
prevailed even thirty years ago. At all the points
where purchases are made by the business house
above referred to, purchases are also made by mer-
chants doing business in a hundred rival towns and
cities. Throughout almost the entire area in which
the sales of this business house are made, competition
is also met from business houses in Chicago, Louis-
ville, Cincinnati, New York, Boston, Philadelphia,
Baltimore, and many other towns of lesser magnitude.
St. Louis competes with Louisville and other cities
in the manufacture of tobacco, selling all the Missouri
product. In the sale of dry-goods, clothing, and
groceries, she competes, on their own territory, with
Galveston, New Orleans, Mobile, Nashville, Louisville,
Cincinnati, and Chicago ; New York, Philadelphia,
Boston, and Baltimore sometimes invading her terri-
tory. In the distribution of corn whiskey, as well as
in its manufacture, she competes with Cincinnati and
Louisville, Indianapolis and Peoria. In the manufac-
ture and distribution of malt liquors, St. Louis controls
the whele Southern and Western trade, in conjunc-
tion with Cincinnati and Milwaukee. The drug trade
of the lower Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, Kansas,
etc., is controlled by St. Louis. In wood and willow-
ware, St. Louis has all the South and West, even
Tennessee. One house in this city is known to be
the largest distributing house in the United States.
In queensware, St. Louis supplies the Southwest. In
stoves its only rivals are Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.
It is thus apparent that St. Louis has a productive
commerce as well as a distributive one. This is
greatly in her favor, as the productive trade is more
profitable as well as more durable and certain. Prop-
erly defined, distributive commerce includes all trade
which is accompanied by a movement to or from the
city, considered of commodities that are neither altered
nor produced within its limits. With relation to this
form of commerce a city is a point of exchange. Pro-
ductive commerce includes all trade which exists or
arises between a city and its markets as a result of
manufacturing or altering commodities within ite
boundaries. With relation to this form of commerce
a city becomes a manufacturing centre.
Now, since the influences which are favorable to
the distributive trade of a city form only one set of
advantages necessary to make that city a desirable
manufacturing centre, and since it is possible that a
city may be very desirable as a point of production
without having any of the elements to make it a suc-
cessful point of exchange, it follows that a city may
have at least two well-defined areas of trade, one for
its productive and the other for its distributive com-
merce. And it will, therefore, be desirable to learn
the position occupied by each of these elements in
order to arrive at the commercial situation and pros-
pects of the city under consideration.
In a given area the relations of commerce to
avenues of transportation are so intimate and so recip-
rocal, either capable of acting towards the other as
cause or effect, that an understanding of the one not
only involves a knowledge of the other, but an intel-
ligent consideration of either is best promoted by
making it an exponent of the other, and dividing the
former into such areas or epochs as naturally pertain
to its correlative.
The history of railroad progress in the territory south
of the Ohio River and south of the State of Missouri
shows that prior to the latter part of the year 1860
there were no through rail trunk lines running north
and south in any part of said territory.
SAINT LOUIS AS A CENTRE OF TRADE.
997
The trunk lines of transportation in this section
were water highways, and while the railroad interests
of the whole country were rapidly developing during
the twenty years previous to that date, yet they had
not become the leading commercial highways. Hence
in the following remarks on commercial influences we
designate the period prior to 1860 as the era of water
transportation, or the era of western development.
For a like reason, since the year 1860, as the ten-
dency of railroads in this southern territory has been
so largely towards the formation of through trunk
lines, both by the construction of missing links and
by the consolidation of local roads, and as the move-
ments of commerce since that date have taken place
so essentially over railroad highways that water ave-
nues have assumed a secondary position and influence,
the period covered by the last twenty years may be
commercially termed an era of railway transportation.
During the era of western development the com-
merce of the entire United States followed essentially
an east and west movement, and this movement still,
as applied to the total commerce of our country, is
probably the largest one.
During the era of railroad transportation, most of
the changes in the commercial highways of the inte-
rior have tended to foster a north and south move-
ment of commerce, and the development of that move-
ment has been so rapid that it promises to become a
formidable rival to the ancient monopoly.
It is a universal accompaniment of distributive com-
merce that as railroads extend facilities for its move-
ment, they are liable at the same time to give like
facilities to smaller as well as larger centres. Hence
the very instrument which tends to develop a city's
distributing powers places the means at the disposal
of its tributaries to make of themselves active com-
petitors. In other words, an extension of railway
facilities in a country tends to increase the number
and decrease or rather equalize the size of distributive
centres. This tendency is mostly a subordinate one.
but it is not on that account to be lost sight of.
Furthermore, in a distributive commerce ave-
nues of transportation are always the elements of
primary importance in marking out its course and de-
fining its limits, while with productive commerce trans-
portation avenues may be secondary considerations.
A town may be a very active distributing centre,
and all of the elements of its prosperity appear to be
permanent, but every change in its railway outlets
and avenues must vitally affect its welfare for better
or worse, according to the nature of the change.
Examples of towns almost annihilated by changes
in transportation facilities are frequently to be found
in the South, because in the South commerce has been
almost wholly distributive. The town of Jefferson,
Texas, furnishes a notable example. From 1865 to
1870, when she formed the terminus of navigation on
Red River, and supplied with merchandise a section
through Texas, Arkansas, and the Indian Territory,
extending northwest, west, and southwest for two or
three hundred miles, she had ten thousand people,
and every prospect seemed to promise her lasting
prosperity. The Texas and Pacific Railroad with its
through connections was formed, passing through the
town itself, while already to the west the Houston
and Texas Central, with its supplementary connection,
the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad, had cut off
its far western trade, so that to-day Jefferson is a way
station, with deserted wharves, and her population of
barely two thousand people are selling whole blocks
(whose stores used to rent for one hundred and fifty
and two hundred dollars per month) for the bare
bricks which their walls contain.
It is true, therefore, that centres of distributive
commerce are built upon foundations of sand, whilst
a city grown great through a productive commerce
will always possess a material element of prosperity ;
also that the trade limits of a distributing centre
more nearly correspond with the area whose crops it
markets than do such limits of a productive commerce,
the latter being almost wholly independent of that area
as defining its extent and location.
Again, the distributive commerce of the interior
consists most largely of an east and west movement, —
i.e., exchanges between points east of the western
boundary of Pennsylvania and north of Mason and
Dixon's line, and points west of the western boundary
of Pennsylvania and south of the Ohio River and
State of Missouri.
The era of railway transportation has been also one
essentially of the building up in the West of manu-
facturing industries, giving to small towns a commer-
cial significance which makes them important compet-
itors for trade in the South.
A single accompaniment of productive commerce
may here be mentioned, which will show how largely
the fostering of such commerce adds to the wealth of
a city. The figures given are underestimates rather
than overestimates, and they embody the principle :
A ton of cast iron is worth, say $35
If made into wrought iron it may have a value of.... **80
If the wrought iron be converted into steel it is worth 1 20 to 200
If the steel be manufactured into agricultural tools
it is capable of bringing, say 400
If, instead, it be converted into knife-blades, they
will sell for 30,000
Or, finally, if it be made up into the balance-springs
of watches its value may become over 100,000
998
HISTORY OP SAINT LOUIS.
The factor of profit which is thus under proper
circumstances capable of converting thirty-five dollars'
worth of cast iron into one hundred thousand dollars'
worth of watch-springs is LABOR ; and it is evident
that, if these operations were carried on in a single
town, the added wealth which would result to that
town from the entering of a single ton of metal into
its productive commerce would be many thousand per
cent, of the original value of the material. The mere
handling of this ton of metal, or the result of its
entering into the distributive commerce of the city
interested, could hardly under any circumstances
amount to twenty-five per cent, of its original value.
And while the above may be, and undoubtedly is,
an extreme case, it is nevertheless a possible and an
actual case in some localities ; and the principle em-
bodied in this single instance is true of by far the
largest proportion of manufactured articles, viz. : that
the labor entering into their production bears a larger
ratio to their value than the actual cost of material.
This is the sort of trade which has made Boston
and Philadelphia so rich, and contributes annually
such vast sums to the grand resources of Great Brit-
ain. It is the sort of trade which St. Louis expects
to control when her resources are more fully in play.
In the mean time, the actual movements of pro-
duce and merchandise at St. Louis, as distinguished
from the possible and prospective, have been as fol-
lows, taking the census year for convenience of com-
parison :
STATEMENT stowing Amount of Freight, in Tons, received
GRAIN SHIPMENTS from St. Louis towards the east by rail, and towards the
south by river and by rail, each year, from 1871 to 1880, inclusive.
TEAK.
East by Rail.
South.
By River. By Rail.
1871
Bushels.
2,154,065
3,456,409
2,065,660
2,318,350
2,658,478
12,434,296
6,570,529
7,561,475
8,227,465
8,790,059
Bushels. Bushels.
4,565,973 1,322,457
6,618,757 2,194,019
5,920,687 1,874,386
5,344,534 1,683,478
3,260,035 ' 1,871,022
4,212,435 | 995,540
5,691,493 1,373,982
7,230,422 1,054,221
8,596,952 1,360,036
18,978,347 2,646,714
1872
1873
1874
1875
1876
1877
1878
1879
1880
STATEMENT showing the increase in the commerce, population, and value of
property of St. Louis from 1865 to 1880.
1865.
1880.
Increase.
Per Cent,
of
Increase.
Arrivals of boats... No.
Arrivals of barges.. "
Receipts of wheat,
and flour reduced
2,767
1,141
17,657,252
13,427,052
743,281
1 19,838
66,822
34,781,570
6,391,030
94,307
52,133
99,663
3 204,327
$87,625,534
2,360
1,471
46,037,578
33,676,424
2,142,949
472,436
32,113
92,983,380
8,415,176
420,654
182,648
1,762,724
400,000
$163,813,920
2407
330
28,380,326
20,249,372
1,399,668
452,598
234,709
58,201,810
2,024,146
326,347
130,515
1,663,061
195,673
$76,188,386
28.92
160.73
150.81
188.31
2281.47
Shipments of wheat,
and flour reduced
Manufactures of
Receipts of cotton, bales
Receipts of pork...bbis.
Receipts of hams
167.34
31.67
34605
250.35
1668.68
95.76
86.95
Receipts of lard.... "
Receipts of cattle... No.
1 Receipts of sheep... "
Receipts of hogs. ... "
Value of real and per-
sonal property
1 1867. 8 Decrease. 3 1866.
at St. Louis by each Bailroad and River for Ten Years.
BOUTE.
1882.
1881.
1880.
1879.
1878.
1877.
1876.
1875.
1874.
1873.
Missouri Pacific R.R. (Main Line)
962,517
339,243
319,905
92,088
730,705
154,243
634,987
493,310
212,267
395,122
288,271
32,285
346,857
739,081
717,935
289,386
19,889
280,710
51,821
135,540
275,175
168,410
34,900
164,625
23,430
907,467
335,847
447,449
154,248
768,652
114,211
488,615
330,907
251,915
406,217
298,276
45,120
370,610
640,764
530,745
253,784
40,062
285,516
80,170
190,815
273,110
160,555
39,385
165,825
22,720
850,434
404,172
530,527
179,772
536,488
95,176
477,608
304,369
200,996
389,779
264,679
425,840
245,965
366,797
143,313
536,318
108,078
446,764
276,436
88,196
359,534
207,985
413,302
191,834
395,049
354,513
178,280
318,768
416,415
173,950
333,757
229,447
196,968
238,866
328,201
196,891
223,294
344,375
149,007
252,608
St. Louis & San Francisco Ry
Wabaah, St. Louis & Pacific R.R. (West Brch.)
Chicago, Alton & St. Louis R.R. (Mo. Div.)...
St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern R.R
Missouri Pacific R.R. (Texas Div.)
353,172
78,652
383,739
223,248
63,885
262,952
191,020
340,740
109,864
380,204
257,536
89,435
243,496
136,977
325,097
110,773
37C,,4S8
230,707
107,984
268,073
167,525
451,225
53,885
406,653
221,634
103,808
280,557
184,834
292,842
65,734
362,470
216,898
82,470
319,217
195,691
392,634
73,291
445,765
177,611
17,927
337,074
203,765
Cairo Short Line R R
Louisville & Nashville R.R
St. Louis & Cairo R R
Chicago, Alton & St. Louis R.K. (Main Line)
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R.R. (east)
264,541
609,594
358,928
251,383
31,328
275,715
71,035
226,095
223,925
155,605
59,025
214,195
15,015
171,216
493,787
333,433
235,080
31.178
172,103
21,055
221,285
17U.400
10!»,620
33,800
130,785
14,080
128,568
402,252
264,831
224,240
65,727
142,836
135,487
392,185
169,930
260,530
31,345
65,098
128,208
372,314
104,319
215,523
42,533
57,554
134.634
319,658
108,940
213,443
27 .2 25
60,993
134,498
276,138
118,481
215,252
29,865
107,151
139,484
294,445
142,232
202,929
25,727
46,304
St. Louis, Vandalia, Terre Haute & Ind. R.R.
Wabash, St. Louis <fe Pacific R.R. (East'n Div.)
•Illinois & St. Louis R.R
Wabash. St. Louis & Pacific R.R. (Iowa Brch.)
Chicago, Bur. & Quincy R.R. (N. & N. W. Div.)
St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern R.R
174,065
174,180
124,785
56,040
171,900
13,730
136,715
149,825
104,200
49,645
192,055
12,045
224,860
147,185
129,940
50,345
124,125
12,200
100
198,100
128,020
153,995
30,100
146,805
6,345
100
231,060
169,780
192,770
44,830
87,985
6,000
340
281,176
226,535
125,715
38,630
123,075
4,850
1,075
Illinois River
Ohio River
7,702,702
7,602,985
6,990,384
5,352,048
4,500,007 4,108,873 4,119,975 3,896,295
3,897,858
4,046,233
Total by rail
6,900,622 6,750,575 6,096,524 4,663,078
802,080 852,410 893,860 688,970
3,785,307 3,464,388 3,431,220 3,232,770
714,700 644,485 688,755 663,525
3,165,093 3,245,178
732,765 801,055
Total by river
In addition to the receipts of 1880 by upper Mississippi River by boats, there was received 198,315 tons of lumber, logs, and shingles by rafts.
" " 1881 " " " " " " 356,020 " " " "
« « 1882 " " " " " " 271,490 " •' " "
SAINT LOUIS AS A CENTRE OF TRADE.
999
Showiiig the Amount of Freight, in Tons, shipped from St. Louis by each BaUroml and Rioer for ten years.
L
v_
ROUTE.
1882.
1881.
1880.
1879.
1878.
1877.
1876.
1875.
1874.
1873.
678,706
180,927
246,049
90,990
549,991
24^,998
139,339
81,164
23,356
195,717
293,830
32,808
296,209
265,981
239,352
9,001
16,713
139,925
20,104
71,325
610,205
4,690
11,980
66,010
1,150
4,545
709,814
185,147
254,902
72,393
600,929
79,866
135,393
64,199
22,862
204,006
252,465
25,098
246,169
281,299
192,109
9,930
13,520
85,455
27,356
54,295
730,185
5,175
13,720
77,600
1,100
1,950
407,030 272,250
122,787 78,755
209,604 197,219
62,346 45,596
390,069 288,768
66,555 61,226
111,609 91,428
87,037 41,586
16,391 13,298
184,975 141,182
268,309 318,754
196,955
44,495
153,294
202.966
45,898
137,394
203,169
51,150
134,999
151,980
34,881
116,674
171,987
30,133
85,368
162,435
39,962
90,488
Wabasli, St. Louis <fc Pac. R.R. (West Brch.)...
Chicago, Alton & St. Louts R.R. (Mo. Div.)....
St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern R.R. ...
Missouri Pacific Railroad (Texas Division)
222,641
45,039
68,027
49,416
12,405
136,677
256,444
215,731
47,523
66,992
29,350
11,806
144,065
174,454
193,833
45,131
38,909
30,249
4,970
207,905
149,285
211,726
40,635
76,092
25,944
13,961
108,998
135,647
155,181
39,337
37,753
44,845
13,968
145,914
97,885
122,605
54,956
39,917
53,000
5,520
158,523
81,158
Chicago, Alton & St. Louis R. R. (Main Line).
_CJ»icago, Burlington & Quiwcy R. R. (east)....
218,859
247,656
246,337
13,573
9,923
69,678
22.942
55,260
813,080
9,935
16,415
135,360
1,315
6,160
152,955
272,579
233,070
11,280
18,665
41,197
5,908
66,990
499,040
9,140
15,040
86,935
157,644
190,685
279,753
7,803
13,452
45,829
183,817
142,713
199,242
4,637
15,672
30,590
217,786
140,178
201,580
5,537
13,846
•21,4-.'3
138,307
137,884
74,837
7,359
13,772
12,754
175,389
139,831
62,618
10,000
8,921
11,546
«52,669
100,544
68,204
6,595
9,289
9,551
St. Louis, Vandalia, Tern> Haute & In«l. R.R.
Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Ry. (East'n Div.)
Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific R R. (Iowa Brch.)
Chicago, Bur. & Quincy R.R. (N. & N. \V. Div.)
•-Sf. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern Railroad..
67,320
434,490
18,300
22,465
72,100
68,565
426,725
16,420
23,185
62,100
10
665
93,360
379,970
20,560
19,360
83,460
3,515
96,225
367,235
18,470
25,100
129,025
1,560
1,480
95,800
469,065
13,640
20,390
100,660
2,225
5,445
61,966
525,445
11,695
27,810
119,660
2,040
34,640
Ohio River
Red, Ouachita, Arkansas, and White Rivers..
4,519,065
4,346,937
3,793,205
2,962,861
2,495,234
2,250,520
2,260,175
1,940,545
1,938,001
1,938,672
Total by rail
3,749,160
769,905
3,462,912 12,755,680
884,025 [1,037,525
1
2,285,716
677,145
1,880,559
614,675
1,652,850
597,670
1,659,950
600,225
1,301,450 1,230,676 1,155.416
639,095 707,325 j 783,256
. ' i
Total by river
The total tonnage of freights received at and
shipped from St. Louis each year from 1871 to
1880, inclusive, is indicated in the following table:
Calendar Tons Received
Year. and Shipped.
1871 4,913,102
1872 5,712,229
1873 5,984,905
1874 5,835,859
1875 5,836,840
Calendar
Tear.
Tons Received
and Shipped.
1876 6,380,150
1877 6,359,393
1878 6,995,241
1879 8,314,909
1880 10,783,589
But St. Louis is not content with these results, gi-
gantic as they are, and rapid as has been the growth
and development of the trade of which they are the
indices. Dr. Samuel Johnson, when he was witness-
ing the sale of the plant and effects of Thrale's
brewery, was asked what he could find in such a
scene to interest him. " I see all around me, sir," he
answered, ;< the potentiality of great riches." That
is what St. Louis beholds in her exceptionally great
resources and favorable site, and her people will never
rest while these things, possessions and promises, re-
main undeveloped and unutilized.
All the cotton received at St. Louis, no matter
what its destination, and no matter how consigned,
Ireaks bulk there, is handled, compressed, and re-
shipped. Thus St. Louis makes some profit out of
every bale received. Before Chicago, by means of her
railroad, lake, and canal facilities, secured the lion's
share of the east-bound carrying trade in breadstuffs
and provisions, and so had her fortune made, every
pound of Western produce and Western merchandise,
destined no matter where, up the river or down, broke
bulk at St. Louis, and that city made a profit in it.
This trade, this control of trade, St. Louis seeks once
more to restore by renewing the supremacy of what
was its source and medium, the Mississippi River.
This is not a dream. It is not one of Governor
Allen's " barren idealities." On the contrary, it is a
legitimate trade expectation, which may be realized at
almost any moment. St. Louis had this control of
trade once through superior facilities and unrivaled
cheapness of transportation. The same facilities exist
now in a much greater degree, and the cheapness also.
The opportunity to make full use of them has not
quite arrived, on account of various causes and ob-
structions.
But in the mean time certain facts stand out in
alto relievo, and none of the commercial rivals and
competitors of St. Louis can deny them.
1st. Chicago and New York dread the completion
of the Welland Canal, because by that route grain
from the former city can be delivered in Liverpool
via the Strait of Belle Isle at rates with which New
York cannot compete. In other words, Chicago, to
maintain her grain trade, must transfer it from New
York to Montreal.
2d. But that route is closed five months in every
year by ice.
3d. St. Louis is not afraid of the competition of
Montreal and the Welland Canal, because she can de-
liver grain in Liverpool cheaper by the Mississippi
River route than it can possibly be delivered by any
other route. This has been proved, and will be
1000
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
demonstrated again still more conclusively. At
present all that need be shown in this connection is
results, accomplished facts.
SHIPMENTS OF BULK GRAIN BY RIVER FROM ST. LOUIS TO
NEW ORLEANS FOR ELEVEN YEARS, FOR EXPORT.
YEAR.
Wheat.
Corn.
Rye.
Oats.
Totals.
1880
Bushel*.
5 913 272
Buthelt.
9 804 392
r,n-<ii,-i.*.
45 000
Butheh.
ButJtel*.
15 769 664
1879
2,390,897
3,585 589
157424
30928
6 164 838
1878
1 S7«,(i3!»
2,857,056
609041
108 867
5 451 603
1877
351,453
3 578 057
171 843
4*101 353
1876
37,142
1 737 237
l'774*379
1875
13.r>,9fil
172,617
308 578
1874
365252
1 047 794
10000
1 403 o46
1873
1 373 969
1 373 96'J
1872
1,711,039
1 711 039
1871
1870
66000
309,077
3,000
312,077
66000
Mr. Joseph Nimmo, Jr., in his notable report of
1881 on the internal commerce of the country, says
that
"The regulating influence of the interior water lines is
limited and conditioned by the fact that it is operative with
respect to the internal commerce of the country mainly through
the great interior markets, and notably those of Milwaukee,
Chicago, St. Louis, Peoria, Toledo, Detroit, Louisville, and
Cincinnati. This results from the fact that the movements of
commerce are directed by the trade forces rather than by the
transportation forces of the country. In the transportation of
the surplus products of the Western and Northwestern States
to the seaboard and to foreign countries, the regulating influ-
ence of the Mississippi River is rendered effective mainly
through the markets of St. Louis, and the regulating influence
of the northern water line is rendered effective mainly through
the markets of Milwaukee and Chicago, but also to a consider-
able extent through the markets of Duluth, Detroit, and
Toledo.
" The competition of commercial forces exerts an important
influence in determining the relative magnitude of the various
trade currents of the country. The constituent elements of the
trade forces of cities are, first, a large community of intelligent
and enterprising merchants having an extensive knowledge of
commercial affairs; and, second, the requisite capital in the
hands of these men available in the pursuits of trade. These
forces at Chicago, at Milwaukee, at St. Louis, and at other com-
mercial cities of the interior arrest the surplus products of the
West in their eastward or southward movement, such products
usually reaching those cities by rail. At these points the option
is first presented of transportation by water or by rail. A thou-
sand trains a day may pass through towns situated on the lakes
or on the rivers where these agencies and facilities for carrying
on a large commerce do not exist, and yet the water lines will
exercise no perceptible influence over the rates charged on the
railroads. This is strikingly illustrated in the case of the rail-
roads which cross the Mississippi River over bridges at thirteen
different points between St. Paul and St. Louis. The river
rates exert no marked influence over the rail rates from the fact
that at very few of those points is there the controlling influ-
ence of a market for Western products with its constituent
elements, viz., a body of men educated in the mercantile pro-
fession and controlling the requisite amount of capital actually
employed in trade or invested in warehouses and other instru-
mentalities for the successful prosecution of trade. The rail-
roads are not at those points, in a commercial sense, tributary
to the river, but, on the other hand, to the extent to which the
river towns are local markets for the purchase of surplus pro-
ducts of the trans-Mississippi States, the river becomes tribu-
tary to the railroads.
" It is only at Chicago, Milwaukee, and a few other lake
ports, and at St. Louis that direct competition between rail and
water transportation presents itself to any considerable extent,
in so far as relates to the regulating influence exerted by the
two great water lines over the rates which may be charged on
railroads. The extent to which the regulating influence of the
two great interior water lines is rendered operative through the
principal primary grain markets of the country is illustrated
by the fact that of the total eastern and southern movement of
grain, amounting during the year 1880 to 400,000,000 bushels,
about 320,000,000 bushels, or 80 per cent., was marketed at the
seven primary markets of the West, viz., Milwaukee, Chicago,
Duluth, St. Louis, Peoria, Toledo, and Detroit ; and that only
about 80,000,000 bushels were shipped direct from the Western
and Northwestern States to the Atlantic seaboard.
" Of the total grain receipts at St. Louis during the year
1880, amounting to 47,697,066 bushels, 40,121,783 bushels, or
84 per cent., was received by railroads, and only 7,575,283
bushels, or 16 per cent., by river; and of the total grain re-
ceipts at Chicago during the year 1880, amounting to 165,-
855,370 bushels, it appears that 159,129,984 bushels, or 96 per
cent., was received by railroads, and that 6,725,386 bushels, or
only 4 per cent., was received by lake and the Illinois Canal.
"About 90 per cent, of the grain, 85 per cent, of the pro-
visions, and 8 per cent, of the cattle which reached Chicago
during the year 1880 were actually marketed at that point;
and of the shipment of those commodities from Chicago, 61 per
cent, of the flour and grain and only 10 per cent, of the pro-
visions were shipped by lake. No live-stock was shipped by
lake.
"About 95 per cent, of the grain, 97i per cent, of the pro-
visions, and all of the live-stock which reached St. Louis during
the year 1880 were actually marketed at that point; and of the
shipments of those commodities from that city, 49 per cent, of
the flour and grain, 38 per cent, of the provisions, and 1.28 per
cent, of the cattle were shipped by river.
"The foregoing facts indicate that almost the entire work of
gathering up the surplus products of the Western and North-
western States is done by railroads, and that the option of
transportation by water or by rail is almost entirely confined to
shipments from Milwaukee, Chicago, and St. Louis.
"The following table serves to illustrate the comparative
magnitude of the grain traffic of St. Louis which is diverted to
the Mississippi River from the railroads extending east from
that city :
Bushels.
Total grain crop of the United States during the
year 1879 2,704,484,762
Total grain product of the States of Illinois, Wis-
consin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska. Missouri,
Kansas, and Arkansas, and the Territory of
Dakota during the year 1879 1,493,246,213
Shipments of grain and flour during the year 1880 at
Bushels.
Duluth 6,511,100
Milwaukee 29,691,524
Chicago 154.377,115
Peoria 20,544,508
Detroit 10,366,491
Toledo 53,372,739
.St. Louis 46,675,581
Total 321,539,058
SAINT LOUIS AS A CENTRE OF TRADE.
1001
St. Louis shipments of grain and flour : Bushels. "The merchants of St. Louis, and her citizens generally,
Eastward 18,599,889 never ]ost faith in the po88ibility of developing a large com-
Bv river 20 901,515 merce by river via New Orleans, especially in the exportation
By rail 5,800,535 to foreign countries of the surplus products of the. Western and
In other directions. 373,642 Northwestern States. It has always been believed that the
river route not only afforded a cheaper avenue of transportation
Total St. Louis shipments 46,675,581
ic wcc n.i for 8ucn traffic than the east and west trunk railroad lines, but
Gram and flour exported from New Orleans 15,750,041
that the increase of traffic upon the river would so much reduce
SHIPMENTS IN TONS FROM ST. LOUIS DURING 1880. the cost of transportation as greatly to increase the regulating
Tons. Total. influence exerted by the river rates over rail rates. Results al-
North : ready attained seem to prove the correctness of this view."
By river 55,260) 157803
By /ail 102,543 j In regard to the transportation facts upon which
fiV river 145295) some of these great expectations have been founded,
By rail..'.'".'"!'.!'.!!;;;!;;;.'.".'.'.'."."".'"!'.'.'. M7VWJ 1>325>00' We have the following:
West: "ST. Louis AND
By nver .1W15) 818,182 NEW ORLEANS TRANSPORTATION COMPANY.
By rail 801,76/1 llo T
' "ST. Louis, Feb. 2, 1881.
By river 820 555 ) "DEAR SIR, — As requested in your note of 24th instant, I
By rail 671,661 } l>WJ,~li make reply to the two inquiries propounded by Mr. Nimmo, of
the Bureau of Statistics (in letter of January 20th), as follows:
Total shipments 3,793,20! „ lgt j certainly do not believe that a ^g. of m to 15
Total shipments by rail 2,755,680 cents per 100 pounds between Mississippi River points and the
Total shipments by river MUM!! ports of the Atlantic seaboard could be maintained by any of
Total shipments toward the South 1,492,216 r
Shipment by river toward the South 820,555 the railway lines without losing money.
Tonnage of New Orleans exports, the product of the "2d. I say without hesitation, that with a rate of five cents per
Western and Northwestern States, about 317,000 bushel on grain from St. Louis to New Orleans via river,
Mr Nimmo adds that there being at the same time an average difference of four cents in
ocean freights against New Orleans as compared with the North
" From the time of the first settlement of St. Louis until ;
. .. ,. , , , ..i Atlantic ports, there would be a most decided diversion of gram
about the year 1855, that city was entirely dependent upon the
, i in the direction of New Orleans.
Mississippi River and its navigable tributaries for the means of
, Let me add, however, that in the uncertain condition of the
transportation. During that period it had no competitor for the
,. e LI. »»• • • • T>- ' river (as regards depth of water) during the period of naviga-
trade of the States and Territories west of the Mississippi River.
, T... . , ,„. . , tion,thelownessof the rate of five cents per bushel cannot always
A large part of the States of Illinois and Wisconsin was also !
.... A, , A. . . . ,,. j be depended on, but with the depth of water which the contem-
embraced within the area of the commercial supremacy of St.
T plated improvements between Cairo and St. Louis will un-
Louis. But during the last twenty-five years a great change
. . doubtedly give, the time is not far distant when the rate named,
has taken place in the conditions governing the commercial
five cents per bushel, may be continuously counted on.
situation and relations of that city, as the result of the exten-
., ,A, „ "Very truly yours, H. LOUREY, President.
sion westward of the railroad system of the country. By means
* "GEORGE H. MORGAN, ESQ.,
of this extension of railroads all the Western and Northwestern
"secretary Merchants Exchange.
States and Territories have been brought into intimate commer-
cial relationships with the lake ports, with the Atlantic sea- "ST. Louis, Mo., Jan. 26, 1881.
ports, and with hundreds of interior manufacturing and trading " DEAR SIR, — Referring to letter to you from chief of Bureau
points throughout the States both east and west of the Allegheny | of Statistics, dated Washington, D. C., Jan. 20, 1881, which
Mountains. This development of traffic over the east and west j letter you refer to me, I give it as my opinion that a tariff of
trunk railroads is unparalleled in the history of commerce. 15 cents per 100 pounds on grain from St. Louis to the Atlan-
" For several years the traffic passing over each one of the tic seaboard could not be maintained by railway without loss to
thirteen railroad bridges across the Mississippi River between the companies carrying at such rate.
St. Paul and St. Louis has greatly exceeded in magnitude and "The cost per ton per mile for movement of freight over the
in value the traffic upon the river beneath them. Through Pennsylvania Railroad and its connecting lines in the year 1879
these facilities of transportation tributary to Chicago and other was as follows, viz. : Over the Pennsylvania Railroad proper,
lake ports, and also to Atlantic seaports, St. Louis was for sev- 4.27 mills per ton per mile; over the New Jersey Division, 1.012
eral years practically cut off, even from the trade of important cents per ton per mile; over its lines west of Pittsburgh, 4.48
surplus grain and provision producing areas nearer to her mar- mills per ton per mile. Taking the average distances on the
kets than to those of the lake ports. It was clearly foreseen, different divisions gives 4.S9 mills per ton per mile, or $5.20
therefore, that the growth of St. Louis, as a market for the per ton, or 26 cents per 100 pounds from East St. Louis to
purchase of grain and other products of the Western and New York, reckoning by the shortest route, sny 1063 miles.
Northwestern States, was dependent upon the securing of " These figures, I am sure, are lower than the cost per mile
direct and independent railroad connections with all parts of of any other line between St. Louis and the seaboard, saying
those States ; for since railroads had become the chief instru- nothing about the longer distance to New York or Philadelphia
ment of transportation in the gathering up of these products, by every other line. It is evident, therefore, that if it costs 26
it was evident that only a very small proportion of such pro- cents per 100 pounds to transport property any given distance,
ducts could find their way to the St. Louis markets by river. a tariff of 15 cents for the same distance would be a losing one,
Such facilities for transportation by rail have within the last as Bardwell Slote would say, 'by a large majority:' or if it
ten years been secured, a fact clearly developed by the statistics costs 4.89 mills to transport one ton one mile, a tariff of 2.8 mills
showing the rapid growth of the commerce of that city. will be a losing one.
1002
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
"As to the other question, viz., whether a tariff by river of
five cents per bushel, St. Louis to New Orleans, and an average
difference of four cents in ocean rates against New Orleans, any
tariff above 15 cents per 100 pounds from St. Louis to the
Atlantic cities will turn grain in the direction of New Orleans,
I do not feel competent to answer. I should say, all other
things being equal, it would. If the same time can be made or j
nearly so, the same regularity in delivery be guaranteed, the |
condition of grain on delivery be as absolutely depended upon, '
and the facilities for handling, transferring, etc., be equally j
good by river as by rail, I do not see why, at a greatly reduced
tariff, the river should not command the business.
" Yours truly, N. STEVENS."
These facts were first fully brought to the front in
1872 by the investigations of the Senate Committee
on Transportation Routes to the Seaboard, of which
Senator (afterwards Secretary) Windom was chairman.
It was shown to this committee that, with a properly
regulated and normal commerce, it was simply impos-
sible for railroads, or a combination of lakes, canals,
and railroads, to compete in cheap transportation with
the Mississippi River and the ocean navigation from
its mouth. It was shown that the actual cost of moving
a bushel of wheat from St. Louis to New Orleans,
twelve hundred and fifty miles, was only five and a
quarter mills, .00525 of one cent.
It was also shown that in the final analysis freights
by rail could never compete with water-borne freights.
The following tables illustrate this conclusively. Rates
vary and have changed materially, but ratios remain
the same, or very nearly the same :
STATEMENT thawing the value of a ton of wheat and one of corn at a given
distance from market, as affected by cost of transportation respectively
by canal, by railroad, and over the ordinary highway.
COMPARATIVE COST AND RECEIPTS OF TRANSPORTATION.
CLASSIFICATION.
Per Ton per Per Ton per
Mile, Cost. lMile,Receipti
Transportation by railroads
Transportation by canals, including deduc-
tion, lockage, etc
Transportation by Erie Canal, including de-
duction, lockage, etc
Transportation by rivers, steam-towage
Transportation by bays
Transportation by ocean
Mills.
17.90
6.40
4.05
2.26
2.27
1.26
mi*.
29.80
11.40
2.90
3.73
2.50
If the cost of transportation be thus proportioned,
17.90 by rail to 2.26 by river and 1.26 by ocean,
she is confident that she controls the lowest rates
by the surest routes. With a perfected barge sys-
tem, the forwarding of the Mississippi River im-
provements, and the construction of the Florida ship
canal, the great trade centre on the Father of Waters
will return to its old-time supremacy in transportation
and deliver grain and other produce in Liverpool five
cents per bushel, forty cents per quarter, cheaper than
it can be done from any other centre of distribution.
The consequence will be all grain and provisions
will go to St. Louis for shipment. But another effect
will be that the United States will succeed in driving
all other competitors out of the grain and provision
markets, and our sales on foreign account will be en-
hanced to that extent. Already, as the following
table shows, we supply Great Britain with 65.4 per
cent, of her total purchases of wheat and flour, against
only 3.4 per cent, in 1866. With this new channel
of trade adequately developed, we will supply the re-
maining 34.6 per cent., and all that will be an incre-
Canal
Carriage.
Railway
Carriage.
Common
Road
Carriage.
merit of the trade of St. Louis :
STATEMENT showing the quantity of wheat and wheat flour imported into
the United Kingdom from I860 to 1880, inclusive, with the quantity
of the same imported from the United States.
[Compiled from the Reports of the British Board of Trade.]
i
J3
£
a
Wheat.
B
a
Wheat.
S
a
YEABS.
Wheat and Wheat Flour
Imported.
Per Cent, from the
United States.
Average Value of
the total Wheat
Imported.
Average Value of
Wheat Imported
from the United
States.
$49.50
49.45
49.40
49.35
49.30
49.25
49.20
49.15
49.10
48.05
48.00
47.95
47.90
47.86
47.8(1
47.75
47.70
VIM
46.90
4685
4(>.M
46.75
44.5(
41.2.-
24 T:
19.81
$24.75
24.70
24.65
24.60
24.55
24.50
24.45
24.40
24.35
24.3(1
24.25
24.20
24.15
24.10
24.i [
24.00
23.96
E&W
23.20
23.1«
28.K
19.71!
!<•>,->(
14.85
8.2t
$49.50 $24.75
49.35 24.60
49.20; 24.45
49.05 24.30
48.90 24.15
48.75 24.00
48.60 23.85
48.45 23.70
48.30 23.55
48.15; 23.30
48.00 23.25
47.85 23.10
47.70 22.95
47.55 'J'.'.sn
47411 22.i;.".
47.25 22.5(1
47.1"
46.96 22.2"
44.7(1
44.55 111. MI
44.411 r.u;:.
41.25 1 !».5i i
: it. 50 9.75
2475
19.SU
$49.50
48.00
46.50
45.00
43.50
42.00
40.50
89.00
37.50
36.00
34.50
83.00
81.60
80.00
28.50
27.00
25.50
24.00
1.50
$24.75
23.25'
21.75
20.25
18.75
17.25
15.75
14.75
14.25
11.25
9.75
8.25
0.75
5.25
2.25
.75
" 10 miles from market...
« 20 " "
« 30 " "
«« 40
« 50 " "
« 60 " '
" 70 " '
« 80 " " ..
90 " " ..
" 100 " "
" 110 " " -
« 120 " ' -
« 130 " '
» 140 " ' ..
" 150 « ' ..
160 " ' ..
» 170 " ' ...
" 320 " ' ...
330 " ' ...
« 340 " ' ...
" 350 " ' ...
" 1000 " ' ...
" 1650 " ' ...
" 1980 " ' .-
" 3300 " " ...
" 4950 " " ...
44 5940 " " -
u 9900 " *'
Total.
From the
United States.
I860
Bushels.
59,438,262
70.273,849
93,412,469
57,657,398
53,829,445
48,241,297
54,827,134
73,066,323
68,144,017
S2,9f.9,174
68,891,415
-i,490
88,877,4( ui
96,378,234
92,089,027
111,16
8,276
118,611
111,4.
127,71
Bushels.
17,388,233
29,139,548
40,628,162
22,155,801
18,811,206
2,797.317
1,840,961
9,504,5(i8
I2,60(i,::2(i
28,597,813
28,106,841
17,984,118
Hi,872
49,228.015
41.483,685
44,042,143
G2.(i97,899
83,2«9,955
83,487,243
29.3
41.5
43.5
38.4
34.9
5.8
3.4
13.0
18.5
34.5
40.8
35.2
20.2
42.2
55.2
44.3
42.8
37.2
56.3
Cl.l
65.4
Per Bush.
$1.71
1.66
1.49
1.31
1.22
1.25
1.48
1.90
1.79
1.37
1.39
1.58
1.66
1.74
1.63
1.42
1.40
1.07
1.50
1.43
1.50
Per Bush.
$1.721
1.661
1.512
1.316
1.221
1.265
1.546
2.039
1.929
1.379
1.388
1.587
1.704
1.714
1.641
1.405
1.409
1.672
1.505
1861
1862
1863
1864
1865
1866
1867
1868
1869
1870
1871
1*72
1873
1874
ls7f,
1*77
1>-7S
IST'.I
1880
SAINT LOUIS AS A CENTRE OF TRADE.
1003
We are free to admit that there are serious draw-
backs to the immediate realization of all these pleasant
prospects, but none of them seem to belong to the
^class of any but the preventable diseases. Prudence,
forethought, wise management in respect of legislation,
economy of resources, careful selection of representa-
tives, and liberal expenditure when great ends are to
be accomplished will bring to pass every desirable re-
sult for a city possessing already such incomparable
resources. But it will be wisest to consider these
drawbacks and obstructions first, as the presentation
of them may suggest the remedies which should be
applied. The construction of the Eads jetties has
already taken away one of these hindrances to com-
merce. The cutting of the Florida ship canal and
the construction of the Tehuantepec ship canal or
railway will remove others. The benefits derived
from the jetties are very conspicuous. It was diffi-
cult to get sixteen feet of water on the bar in any
of the passes in the mouth of the Mississippi. Now
there is twenty-six feet regularly maintained. The
charge for towage has in consequence been reduced
from a dollar and a half per ton to one-third that
figure, and there is a material reduction on account of
insurance.
But there are other hindrances and obstructions
not yet removed. The ice is often troublesome, not
below Cairo, but between that city and St. Louis.
The*interruption to navigation from this cause, which
at Chicago gives the railroads a monopoly of traffic
for a hundred and forty days in each year, occurs
nearly every winter. During the last seventeen years
navigation has been suspended at St. Louis on account
of ice as follows :
Days
Suspended.
Winter of 1865-66, navigation suspended 27
1866—67,
1867-68,
1869-70,
1870-71,
1871-72,
1872-73,
1874-75,
1876-77,
1878-79,
1879-80,
1880-81,
1881-82,
During the winters of 1868-69, 1873-74, 1875-76, and 1877-
78, the river was open, and navigation was not suspended.
The navigation of the Mississippi River is at times
affected also by low water, especially in that part of
the river between St. Louis and Cairo. The enjoy-
ment to the full extent of the advantages afforded by
the Mississippi River requires the employment of
steamboats and barges of large size and drawing
when loaded about eight feet of water. At times,
however, the river falls so as to admit only of the em-
ployment of boats and barges loaded to draw not
more than four feet. This greatly increases the cost
of transportation. The actual cost of transportation
in vessels drawing only four feet is said to be nearly
twice as great as when loaded to eight feet.
This subject was carefully considered by a select
Committee of the Senate on Transportation Routes
to the Seaboard in their report submitted April 24,
1874.
It was found that during the nine years from 1865
to 1873 the condition of river navigation below the
city of St. Louis was as follows :
Average number of days less than 4 feet 3$
" over 4 and less than 6 feet 52§
" " over 6 and less than 8 feet 103$
" " over 8 and less than 10 feet 694
" " over 10 feet 136§
It appears from the foregoing table that during
nearly one-half of the year the commerce of St.
Louis was more -or less affected by low water.
The average stage of the river below St. Louis
during the years from 1874 to 1880, inclusive, was as
follows :
YEAR.
1874
1875
1876
18771
18782 ,
1879s ,
1880*....
•
•
£
8"
*O +1
•0*5
'O'g
c <o
C (D
_
08 (2
*•£
ce «S
•*
• .u
d
•
I:
•goo
^2 a
1!
5
d
tl
•1
6
ai —
>•
E
A
O
O
O
Days.
Days.
Daj^».
Days.
146
30
175
No record.
No record.
64
80
59
51
92
87
4
81
79
55
20
66
73
46
Dayt.
14
126
119
105
156
The interruption to the navigation of the Missis-
sippi River at St. Louis on account of ice and low
water is of course detrimental to commerce. The
average annual duration of the efficient commercial
usefulness of the Mississippi River is, however, con-
siderably greater than is that of the northern water
line. The average time during which navigation is
suspended by ice each year on the Erie Canal and on
the Canadian canal is about five months. The aver-
age time each year during which navigation has been
entirely suspended on the Mississippi River at St.
Louis in consequence of ice during the last ten sea-
sons was only thirty-five days, and the average time
each year during which steamboats and barges could
1 Closed for thirty-six days on account of low water.
J Closed for sixteen days on account of low water.
8 Closed for forty-one days on account of low water.
* Closed for four days on account of low water.
1004
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
not be loaded to eight feet, in consequence of ice and
low water, during the seven years from 1874 to 1880,
inclusive, was only about one hundred and twenty-
six days, or about three and one-fifth mouths.
The suspension of navigation at St. Louis does not,
however, at any time cause an entire suspension of
the river traffic, as during such periods shipments are
made by rail from St. Louis to Cairo, 111., and to Bel-
mont, Mo., at which points merchandise is trans-
shipped to steamers and to barges. Navigation is
seldom, if ever, obstructed below Cairo or Belmont,
either on account of ice or low water.
The supposed injury to grain from the heat and
humidity of the tropical belt between New Orleans
and the Florida capes has been proved to be a fallacy,
and prices are not affected by it. But the existence
of yellow fever more or less nearly every season in the
lower Mississippi is an admitted hindrance.
Improvements in sanitary measures and precautions
are necessary to remove these obstructions. They
are necessary equally to the commercial existence of
the towns and cities which are exposed to these as-
saults of pestilence, and within two years very great
improvements have been effected, especially in sewer-
age and drainage, at New Orleans and Memphis.
Much still remains to be done, of course, but a
good beginning has been made, and the work will go
on.
The improvement of the Mississippi River has also
been undertaken upon an expensive and comprehen-
sive system, which, when it is completed, is expected
to make this noble river safely and easily navigable at
nearly all seasons. If that should be accomplished,
it is hoped that a reciprocity treaty with Mexico, and
an equitable trade treaty with Spain, in respect of our
commodities in the ports of Cuba and Porto Rico, will
give St. Louis, through her combinations of railroads
and water routes, a most extensive and valuable trade
in tropical products. Hon. W. M. Burwell, of New
Orleans, in a communication made to the Windom
Congressional Committee on Transportation Routes in
1873, said,—
" The subject upon which I am specially requested to report
is in regard to the state of commerce between the valley of the
, Mississippi and the Spanish-American States. There are many
of us who believe that the trade lines of latitude cross above us,
and that a very large proportion of the western productions
will move directly to Atlantic ports for exportation, as they will
and have received the foreign importations through the same
ports. I would say that in the estimation of many in this city,
merchants and others, the most important object of improving
the Mississippi River will be to establish a direct line of com-
munication between the immense productive interior of the
West and the consuming markets of and beyond the tropics.
There is a physical impediment in the way which we ask Con-
gress to remove; but there are diplomatic impediments also
which are even greater, as far as that line of trade is concerned,
than the physical impediments to which I referred. The diplo-
matic impediments consist in the want of reciprocal trade-
treaties between the United States and the Spanish-American
States that are adjacent to or lie south of us. Gentlemen know,
and especially members of the Senate of the United States, bet-
ter than we do, the precise state of the treaties between the
United States and the Spanish-American powers, and they will
remember that, with the exception of a few special conventions,
there have been scarcely any changes made in the treaty rela-
tions of those two great interests since almost the origin of the
government. Almost all our trade-treaties, as I understand, are
based on the phrase of 'the most favored nations;' and while
such are the terms of our commercial treaties with Spain, and
while it is true that we can carry American provisions or Amer-
ican manufactures into Spanish possessions on the same terms
with any other power, yet when the fact is that we are the
only people producing corn and grain and hog products, that
we do send to the Spanish-American possessions, it is perfectly
plain that that which is a tax on the trade of the most favored
nations is practically an oppressive tax upon the trade of the
United States. The Spanish tax in Cuba is 40 cents on the
bushel of corn, which is altogether equivalent to the entire cost
of transportation from Iowa to New York. The tax there is
$55 on an American horse, $19 on a mule, $8 on a barrel of
flour, and 3J cents on lard; and it is plain that a tax of 80 per
cent., which is the average upon the products almost exclu-
sively marketed by Americans, is an excessive tax when con-
trasted with the American tax upon the products of Cuba. We,
as I understand, only tax two of the principal products of Cuba.
We admit her coffee duty free, and we impose a tax of some-
thing upwards of two cents on sugar, and a tax of some 75 per
cent, on tobacco manufactured and not manufactured."
Ex-President Grant has some very "advanced"
and decided views upon this subject, and it is be-
lieved that, with a reciprocity treaty with Mexico and
the navigation of the Mississippi properly improved,
St. Louis could control the entire grocery trade of the
Mississippi valley, and refine all the sugar consumed
by thirty million people. The vessels taking corn,
cotton, and grain and provisions to Europe could
return via Trinidad and the Caribbean Sea, picking
up cargoes of raw sugar on their way around the
Gulf, and thus freight would be saved on both out-
ward and inward cargoes. These countries, together
with South America, have a commerce the total
annual value of which exceeds eight hundred million
dollars.
But it is imperative to improve the channel of the
river before this commerce can be invited in. The
general plan of the improvements which are now in
process was succinctly sketched in a letter from Col.
J. H. Simpson, United States engineer, to Hon. E.
0. Stanard, of the Union Merchants' Exchange, St.
Louis, on Oct. 29, 1873.
But a much more comprehensive plan is under
consideration, involving the expenditure, probably, of
more than a hundred millions before the improvements
SAINT LOUIS AS A CENTRE OF TRADE.
1005
are completed for the whole river upon a scale com-
mensurate with the commerce involved.
'• Xo adequate estimate can be formed of the value of the com-
merce on the Mississippi River, nor of the value of the total
commerce of the towns situated upon it. An idea of the magni-
tude of this commerce may, however, be formed when it is con-
sidered that the value of the commerce of the cities and towns
on the Ohio Iliver amounted to the enormous sum of one billion
six 'hundred and twenty-three million dollars in 1873. The
national government has provided no means of arriving at a
knowledge of such important facts as this in regard to the in-
ternal commerce of the country. The collection of the necessary
data from private sources, and from data prepared by boards of
trade, State and city governments, would alone require the
constant labor of one person for a year.
"Not only has the commerce of the Mississippi River been
crippled by the existence of the bar at its mouth, but the value
of the river above is greatly depreciated by obstructions which
may be overcome very readily by engineering skill, and at an
expense quite insignificant in comparison either with the present
value of its commerce, or with the increase of trade which may
be expected as the natural result of such improvements.
Hitherto the improvement of the Mississippi has been carried
on merely by sporadic efforts. Appropriations have from time
to time been made and money expended, without any general
plan as to the ultimate results which were to be attained. The
committee recommend that the necessary surveys and estimates
be made at the earliest practicable moment, in order to mature
a plan for the radical improvement of the river, and of all its
navigable tributaries.
" Such a plan should comprehend the establishment of a given
depth of water on the Mississippi River in some such manner as
the following :
" 1st. Improvements designed to secure a depth of from eight
to ten feet from St. Louis to New Orleans at the lowest stages
of the river.
" 2d. Improvements designed to secure a depth of five feet at
the lowest stages between St. Louis and St. Paul.
" 3d. Improvements designed to secure a depth of four and
one-half feet in the river above St. Anthony's Falls.
" Having adopted a plan of this kind for the radical improve-
ment of the river, all works should be carried out with this
general object in view.
" It is much more practicable to establish such a plan now than
it was a few years ago, for the reasons that the successes and
failures of past efforts have enabled engineers to discover the
nature of the difficulties which will be met, and to adopt the
best methods of improvement. Diverse opinions still exist
among some of our ablest engineers as to the best means to be
adopted in specific cases, but it is believed that sufficient practical
knowledge has already been gained to determine a general plan
of future operations, both in regard to the Mississippi River and
its principal navigable tributaries. The time has arrived for
orough measures, and the necessary plans and estimates upon
ich such measures must be based should be prepared at once.
•' It is impossible to overestimate the commercial results likely
to follow such improvements. With the well-established facts
before us in regard to the much greater cheapness of transport
by navigable rivers than by railways, it cannot be doubted that
Etich improvements would increase the commerce of the Mis-
sissippi very greatly, and at the same time afford relief to a
large area in the Western States now fettered in its growth and
prosperity by the cost of transporting agricultural products to
both home and foreign markets." l
Such is the noble perspective of the aspirations of
St. Louis for the commerce of the future : the centre
of a valley of magnificent, continental proportions,
gathering up the products of hundreds of millions of
intelligent people, cultivating the soil of the most fer-
tile of regions, supplying the world with their pro-
ducts, and supplying the producers in return with all
the merchandise which enters into their consumption.
These hundreds of millions of people will be brain-
workers and machine-workers, and the volume of their
products will be stimulated and augmented in propor-
tion to the grand culmination of their intelligence,
until human force will find itself the conductor of a
grand and perfected mechanism of subsidiary forces
such as the world never before saw at play.
Confidence of the Citizens of St. Louis in the
Natural Advantages and Future Destiny of their
City. — We may now proceed to consider how and how
greatly the several constituents of a great and permanent
volume of trade, production, conversion, and exchange
have each in their turn, by the force of natural and
acquired advantages, contributed to make St. Louis a
trade centre. It is first to be noted, however, that
from the very beginning the people of St. Louis have
been conscious of its transcendent natural advantages
and confident of its destinies as the trade centre of the
America of the future. This has been the case from
the time of Henry M. Brackenridge's first remark-
able horoscope of the infant town's destiny down to
the day of the abortive " convention" to make St.
Louis the capital of the United States.2
1 Such was the view of theWiudom Committee in 1873.
64
2 The enterprise was premature, and therefore not so wise as
it might have been, but it has been laughed at probably more
than it deserved. At present it may be said to sleep, for no one
can pronounce it dead while the power, population, and wealth
of the United States continue to gravitate so strongly towards
the heart and centre of the valley of the Mississippi. The
centre of population, which is now in Kentucky, just west of
Cincinnati, is moving upon a parallel of latitude that will take
it to St. Louis before A.D. 1900, and at that date more than
two-thirds of the members of the House of Representatives will
be elected from districts west of the meridian of Pittsburgh,
which was a far western frontier town at the day when the site
of the Federal city was chosen upon the Potomac. As a matter
of record, some of the proceedings of the " Capital Convention"
are worth preserving. It assembled in the hall of the Mercantile
Library on the afternoon of Oct. 20, 1869, and was called to order
by L. R. Shryock, who was followed in prayer by Rev. R.
G. Bransk, of the Central Presbyterian Church. The States
and Territories which were represented were Alabama, Illinois,
Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Kansas, Louisiana, Colorado, Alaska,
Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Ten-
nessee, Utah, :ind .Missouri, — 17. The delegate's from the last-
named State wero Governor J. W . McClurg, John Hogan,
E. 0. Stanard, Enos Clark, B. Poepping, G. A. Mozier, George
Thelenius, T. T. Tracy, M. L. DeMotte, James H. Birch, A. J.
HarJan, H. J. Drumond, F. Muench, G. R. Smith, W. Galland.
1006
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
We could produce, if it were necessary and we had
the space, a long chain of testimony from the earliest
period down to the present day to show how confident
the thinking people of St. Louis have always been in
John D. Caton, of Illinois, was made president, with a vice-
president for each State and Territory, and a staff of secretaries.
Mr. Medill, of Illinois, read the following as the report of the
committee on resolutions :
"WHEREAS, The present site of the national capital was se-
lected as the most central point when the people of this repub-
lic, only a few millions in number, inhabited only a narrow
strip of country along the Atlantic coast; and,
" WHEREAS, The population of this republic has increased
thirteen-fold since then, and spread over a vast continent of
which the States in existence when the seat of government was
located formed only the eastern edge; and,
" WHEREAS, The present location of the national capital is
notoriously inconvenient in times of peace, and, as the darkest
pages of our national history demonstrate, in times of war or
domestic turbulence is so dangerously exposed as to require
vast armaments and untold millions of money for its especial
defense; and,
" WHEREAS, All the reasons which caused the location of the
seat of government where it now is have by the enormous de-
velopment of the country and a corresponding change in the
wants of the people become utterly obsolete; therefore,
" Resolved, 1. That it is absurd to suppose that the handful
of inhabitants in 1789, just emerging from colonial vassalage,
before steamboats, railways, telegraphs, or power-presses were
dreamed of, or a mile of turnpike or canal constructed, pos-
sessed the authority or desired to exercise the power of fix-
ing the site of the capital forever on the banks of the Potomac,
against the will and the interest of the hundreds of millions who
might come after them.
" 2. That the people have endured the present illy-located
capital for three-quarters of a century, patiently waiting for
the vast territory of the Union to be peopled and organized
into States, and until the centre of population, area, and
wealth could be determined, when a permanent place of resi-
dence for the government could be selected. That time has
now come; all sectional issues are settled, all dangerous domes-
tic variances are disposed of, a new era has been entered upon,
and a new departure taken.
" 3. That in the language of James Madison, in the Congress
of 1789, ' an equal attention to the rights of the community is
the basis of republics. If we consider the effects of legisla-
tive power on the aggregnte community, we must feel equal in-
ducements to look to the centre in order to find the proper seat
of government.' This equal attention has not and cannot be
given to the interests and rights of the people so long as the
capital is located in an obscure corner of the Union.
" 4. That the vast and fertile region known as the Mississippi
valley must for all time be the seat of empire for this continent
and exert the controlling influence in the nation, because it is
homogeneous in its interests and too powerful ever to permit
the outlying States to sever their connection with the Union.
This vast plain will always be the surplus food- and fibre-pro-
ducing portion of the continent, and the great market for the
fine fabrics and tropical productions of other sections of the
republic. . . .' This immense basin must have numerous out-
lets and channels of cheap and swift communication by water
and rail with the seaboard for the egress of its products and
ingress of its exchanges. Therefore whatever policy the gov-
ernment may pursue that tends to multiply, improve, or enlarge
the city's future and its destinies. This has made
them calm even to the appearance of apathy, equally
in times of high tide and times of low, when pros-
perity was at its flush and when evil fortune and dis-
aster were being drained down to the very dregs.
They have never been in a fever uor in a collapse,
because they have always felt secure. A few ex-
these arteries of commerce must result in common advantage
to the whole Union, to the seaboard States equally with those
of the centre.
"5. That the natural, convenient, and inevitable place for
the capital of the republic is in the heart of the valley, where
the centre of population, wealth, and power is irresistibly grav-
itating, where the government, surrounded by numerous mil-
lions of brave and Union-loving citizens, would be forever safe
against foreign foes or sectional seditions, and where it would
neither require armaments nor standing armies for its protection.
"6. That while advocating the removal of the seat of gov-
ernment to the Mississippi valley, we do not mean to serve the
interests of any particular locality, but that we urge Congress
to appoint a commission for the purpose of selecting a conve-
nient site for the national capital in the great valley of the
Mississippi, pledging ourselves to be satisfied with and to abide
by the decision to be arrived at by the National Legislature.
"7. That in urging the removal of the national capital from
its present inconvenient, out-of-the-way, and exposed location
in the far East we are in earnest, and that we shall not cease
in our efforts until that end is accomplished, firmly believing
that the absolute necessity of the removal will become more
apparent every day, and the majority of the American people
will not long permit their interests and conveniences to be dis-
regarded.
'' 8. That the removal of the national capital being only a
question of time, we emphatically oppose and condemn all ex-
penditures of m'oney for enlargement of old government build-
ings and the erection of new ones at the present seat of the
national government as a useless and wanton waste of the prop-
erty of the people."
Mr. Clark, of Kansas, offered the following resolution :
" Resolved, That this convention do recommend and request
all congressional nominating conventions in the various States,
without distinction of party, to incorporate in their platform a
demand for the removal of the national capital to a more cen-
tral and convenient locality."
Mr. Jones, of Illinois, moved to strike out "without distinc-
tion of party." Adopted.
On the suggestion of Mr. Hogan, of Missouri, the following
was added to the resolution :
"And that the State Legislatures instruct their senators in
Congress to advocate and vote for such a proposition."
Mr. Carr, of Illinois, offered the following resolution :
" Resolved, That a standing committee of one from each State
here represented be appointed by this convention, to which the
president of this convention shall be added, to act as a ' per-
manent committee upon the subject of capital removal,' with
power to act on behalf of this convention, and to publish an
address to the people of this country, with power to call an-
other convention at such time in the future as they may deem
expedient and proper."
An executive committee was appointed, of which the chair-
man of the convention was made president and L. U. Reavis
secretary, and after a harmonious interchange of views and a
good many speeches the convention adjourned.
SAINT LOUIS AS A CENTRE OF TRADE.
1007
amples, taken hap-hazard, will suffice to illustrate
this equanimity and this unvarying confidence in their
own resources.
From the Missouri Gazette, June 20, 1811 :
"We are happy to find that a spirit of enterprise and indus-
try is every day manifesting itself among the people of this Ter-
ritory. They begin to be convinced that the peltry and fur
trade is diminishing in value, and that it is necessary to give
up in part the old staple, and turn their attention to the more
important one of lead. During the last two weeks several
boats have left this place in order to enlarge the mineral estab-
lishments made many years ngo by Julien Dubuque at a place
called the ' Spanish Mines,' on the Mississippi.
" The present adventurers have become the purchasers of a
part of these mines under an order of the General Court of this
Territory, and have taken with them near one hundred hands,
provided with all the implements necessary for mining and car-
rying on the lead business."
The same, March 1, 1809 :
"The culture of hemp has occupied the attention of our
farmers, and a rope-walk will shortly be erected in this town.
Thus we have commenced the manufacturing of such articles as
will attract thousands of dollars to our Territory ; thus we will
progress in freeing John Bull or Jack Ass of the trouble of
manufacturing for us."
The same, July 17, 1813:
"In despite of the savages, Indians and British, this country
is progressing in improvements. A red and white lead manufac-
tory has been established in this place by a citizen of Philadel-
phia by the name of Hartshog. This enterprising citizen has
caused extensive works to be erected, to which he has added a
handsome brick house in our principal street for retailing
merchandise. We understand that his agents here have already
sent several thousand dollars' worth of manufactured lead to
the Atlantic States."
In 1816 a bank was found to be necessary. The
citizens at once subscribed the stock and started one.
It fell soon into financial straits. The citizens re-
newed its capital, doubled it, and started another bank
with three times as much capital. The confidence
with which J. B. C. Lucas and Auguste Chouteau
kept themselves poor, almost penniless, by investing
all their money in lands and never selling was
matched by the composure of Manuel Lisa in risking
all the profits of his fur-trade adventure in a water-
front merchant's mill, an experiment as yet untried.
We have elsewhere quoted from Paxton's first St.
Louis directory, 1821. In concluding his summary
of beings and havings Paxton said, " St. Louis has
grown very rapidly. There is not, however, so much
improvement going on at this time, owing to the
check caused by the general and universal pressure
that pervades the country. This state of things can
only be temporary here, for it possesses such perma-
nent advantages from its local and geographical situa-
tion that it must ere some distant day become a place
of great importance, being more central with regard
to the whole territory of the United States than any
other considerable town, and uniting the advantage
of the three great rivers, Mississippi, Missouri, and
Illinois, of the trade of which it is the emporium."
In 1831 the press said the same thing. The city
was growing rapidly. Fine, substantial houses were
being built. The arts and useful manufactures were
multiplying and improving ; " mills, breweries, me-
chanical establishments, all seem to be advancing
successfully for the good of the country, and, we hope,
for the great profit of our enterprising and industrious
fellow-citizens. The trade and navigation of this
port are becoming immense. Steamboats are daily
arriving and departing from east, west, north, and
south, and as this place has decided advantages over
all the ports on the Ohio River for laying up and
repairing, we have no doubt that in a few years the
building and repairing of steam-engines and boats
will become one of the most important branches of
St. Louis business. We have all the materials, wood
and metal, in abundance and of the best quality.
Already we have a foundry, which, it is hoped, will
soon rival the best in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, and
many skilled and enterprising mechanics. A bright
prospect is before us, and we look confidently to the
day, and that a not distant one, when no town on the
western waters will rank above St. Louis for industry,
wealth, and enterprise." In 1835 again : " The
prosperity of our city is laid broad and deep. Much
as we repudiate the lavish praises which teem from
the press, and little as we have heretofore said, we
cannot suffer the occasion to pass without a few re-
marks on the changes which are going on around
us. ... A tract of land was purchased by a gentle-
man now living, as we have understood, for two bar-
rels of whiskey, which is now worth half a million of
dollars. ... No one who consults the map can fail
to perceive the foresight which induced the selection
of the site on which the city is founded. She al-
ready commands the trade of a larger section of terri-
tory, with a few exceptions, than any other city in
the Union. With a steamboat navigation more than
equal to the whole Atlantic seaboard, with internal
improvements projected and in progress, with thou-
sands of immigrants spreading their habitations over
the fertile plains which everywhere meet the eye, who
can deny that we are fast verging to the time when
it will be admitted that this city is the ( Lion of the
West.1 "
In 1839, Rev. Dr. Humphrey wrote some " Letters
by the Way," in one of which we find St. Louis de-
scribed and its future once more prognosticated.
Says the learned divine, —
1008
HISTORY OF SALNT LOUIS.
"St. Louis is larger than I had supposed, and appears to be
advancing more rapidly than any other town that I have seen
in the West. The city proper now contains about fifteen thou-
sand inhabitants, and there are nearly as many more without
the limits in the immediate neighborhood. Many hundreds of
houses were built last year, notwithstanding the pressure of the
times, and many more are going up this year. Rents are
enormously high, higher than in any eastern city, not except-
ing New York itself, and I believe higher than anywhere else on
the continent of America. For a handsome two-story brick
house, with one parlor in front, you would have to pay seven
or eight hundred dollars per annum. St. Louis must, from its
position, become a very large commercial city, and there is no
prospect that any other town on the Mississippi above New
Orleans will be able to compete with it. Already the landing,
covered with iron and lead and all kinds of heavy goods, re-
minds you of one of the front streets of New York or Phila-
delphia. But why don't they build wharves here?
" In the lower and much the oldest part of the town, where
the French chiefly reside, the streets are narrow and filthy.
The buildings are for the most part small, and constructed
with the least possible regard either to elegance or comfort.
Hogs and dogs seemed, the morning I passed through it, to
have undisputed possession of the ground, and the latter had
many a comfortable wallowing-place in front of the houses.
" St. Louis," says the reverend doctor, " like most of our
young and rising towns, especially where there are oceans of
territory, is without any public parks or promenades. A vacant
square, however, was pointed out to me, in the heart of the
city, which may be had at a fair price, though it will now cost
much more that it was offered for two years ago. Surely
nothing should prevent the corporation from purchasing it.
Let it be handsomely laid out in graveled walks, and planted
with shade-trees and shrubbery, and it would be worth more to
St. Louis than if it were all covered over with gold. But even
this would be inadequate to the rapid extension and growing
wants of the place. It is a bad maxim, ' Let posterity take
care of themselves.' Now is the time to secure fifty or a hun-
dred acres for a grand park, as a place of common resort for
relaxation, health, and pleasure. This might now be done
within two miles of the heart of the city for a small sum. In
riding out with a friend I saw three or four fine locations, cov-
ered with a thrifty growth of young trees, offering the city the
strongest inducements to be beforehand with private pur-
chasers. It would not be necessary to lay out a dollar in pre-
paring and ornamenting the grounds for the present. But I
repeat it, at the hazard of being set down as an enthusiast in
matters of this sort, the purchase ought forthwith be made, and
whatever the present generation of utilitarians may think, I
pledge the little credit I have for forecast that a hundred years
hence St. Louis will be prouder of her great park than of any
thing else she will have to boast of."
What would the learned gentleman say to-day if he
could visit St. Louis, and learn that the city has well-
nigh on to an acre of park for each head of a family ?
Dr. Humphrey adds, —
" As a proof of the rapid increase of business and population
in St. Louis, I may mention that one of the largest hotels I have
ever seen is now going up. It appears to me to be quite as
large as the Astor House in New York, and although it will
cost a very large sum, I believe everybody regards it as a good
investment. Certainly such a ' strangers' home' in this great
thoroughfare of western travel will be highly appreciated by
thousands. But where is St. Louis, in the west or the east
or somewhere near the centre of the United States ? I confess
I do not know. But my impression is that, making an allow-
ance of one or two thousand miles, which cannot be of much
consequence one way or the other, St. Louis will be found
somewhere in the great West.
" Let St. Louis go on and lay all her foundations broad and
deep. She has most unquestionably a high destiny before her,
and who can tell how much the present generation may do in
making it?"
In 1846 the St. Louis Prices Current thus esti-
mated the general progress of the community :
" St. Louis seems to continue to be a favorite point for the
location of the merchant, the tradesman, and others who, hav-
ing left the home of their fathers, resolve to settle at some
point in the ' Great West,' if we may judge from the great in-
flux of inhabitants which pour into it and fix their residence
here from year to year. The official statistics, in part reported
to the City Council during the past year, warrant us in saying
that the number of houses, factories, etc., which have been
erected during the past year within the corporate limits is not
less than seventeen hundred, and that its population has aug-
mented full four thousand. We estimate its present population
to exceed forty thousand, and augmenting with a rapidity un-
exampled in the annals of any city either east or west; and its
trade and commerce keep pace with its influx of population, as
will be shown by some few statistics annexed.
" The assumed value of real estate the past year is more than
thirteen million dollars, being an increase over the value in
1830 of more than twelve millions ; and the current city revenue
of 1845 is estimated, per official data, at two hundred and
twenty-seven thousand dollars, twenty thousand of which are
received from our steamboat tonnage, and seventeen thousand
from water revenues. These are some data on which the re-
flecting mind may estimate our progress and prosperity.
" During the past year the mercantile and trading interests
have had no cause to complain. The merchant has found ready
sale for his goods, the tradesman and mechanic have been fully
employed, and the laboring classes who were not indisposed to
work have had the opportunity to lay up ample stores to serve
them during the inclement season now upon us. Our city has
enjoyed during the past year its usual health, and while we
acknowledge our dependence upon the Author of all our bless-
ings, we should not be unmindful of the debt of gratitude we
owe to Him from whom cometh every blessing."
In 1848 it was said that "the natural advantages of St. Louis,
in a commercial and manufacturing point of view, are greater
than those of any city in the West ; and it is only necessary for
the general government to pursue a liberal and equitable course
towards her, and for her citizens to strengthen these advantages
by their enterprise and public spirit, to make her (and that, too,
in a very short time) the largest and most important inland city
in the Union. Her immense resources are being daily developed
and turned to advantage; her population and business are in-
crrasing beyond a precedent in the history of this country : her
wealth and prosperity are exciting wonder and admiration, and
coiuinanding respect and attention from every portion of the
United States, and wherever else her commerce and name has
j extended. Situated as she is, on the great Mississippi, in the
i centre of a fertile and healthy region of country, with the
waters of four navigable streams sweeping her shores, and
bearing the mineral and agricultural products of four large
and populous States, which must necessarily pass through the
hands of her merchants, in direct communication with all the
important towns and cities in the West, enjoying also manu-
facturing facilities of the highest order, and hoMing in her
natural grasp the commercial operations of several millions
SAINT LOUIS AS A CENTRE OF TRADE.
1009
of people, — these are resources of which but few cities in the
Union, or perhaps in the world, can boast.
"Our city is rapidly improving in wealth and importance,
even beyond the expectations of the most sanguine. Manufac-
tories and machine-shops are daily springing up in our midst,
and many articles hitherto imported for domestic purposes have
now become important items of export. The value and quantity
of manufactured articles annually imported from the Ohio are
rapidly diminishing, and we look forward with a great degree
of certainty to the time, and that at no very distant day, when
St. Louis will not only prove the great commercial emporium of
the Mississippi valley, but also the machine-shop of the entire
West. Her facilities for the manufacture of many imported
articles are even now greater than the cities from whence they
come, and it is only necessary for our manufacturing resources
to be properly developed to bring capitalists and mechanics
hither, where their money and labor can be employed with cer-
tainty and profit.
"In 1840, with the exception of several flouring- and saw-
mills of inconsiderable note, we were entirely destitute of
manufactories, and even at a later date our establishments in
this respect were scarcely worthy of attention. Since, however,
cotton, woolen, soap, candle, starch, and various other manufac-
tories have sprung into existence, and are now driving a lucra-
tive and extensive business, to say nothing of the foundries
(about eighteen in number), flouring-fcills, machine-shops, etc.,
with which the city abounds. Our population in 1830 was esti-
mated at six thousand six hundred and ninety-four, in 1840 at
sixteen thousand four hundred and sixty-nine, and by the late
State census at fifty-six thousand, showing that it has more than
trebled in eight years."
In 1849, the year of cholera and fire and financial
depression, the voice of trade was as follows :
" We have repeatedly spoken of the great manufacturing and
commercial facilities of St. Louis, and notwithstanding the mis-
fortunes and afflictions of the past season, all that has been said
of her Wealth and constantly increasing commerce is being
daily confirmed. Not a year passes but we are called upon to
note new discoveries of mineral deposits, the increase or exten-
sion of manufactures, or marked changes in her extensive inter-
course with different portions of the country; and by means of
a wide-spread navigation, distant points, hitherto inaccessible,
are being brought within the boundaries of her trade, and new
commodities, either for consumption or export, are constantly
arriving at her wharf. Her manufacturing interests, too, are
not neglected, and there is a steady and uninterrupted increase
of mills, foundries, machine-shops, and various minor mechani-
cal works, for the consumption of coal, iron, lead, grain, etc.,
which bid fair to become permanent and profitable invest-
ments. As a commercial city, St. Louis ranks second in the
West, — a distinction attained within the past ten years, — and if
her progress is onward, as is generally conceded, ten years more
will scarcely transpire before, in many of the most important
branches of commerce and manufactures, she will be classed as
the first. With a population of seventy thousand, she has con-
tinued to increase in strength and improve in size down to the
present period, and in commencing the last half of the present
century it may not be thought visionary to predict that before
it expires she will be in direct communication with the lakes,
the Eastern seaboard, and the Pacific, and thus become the cen-
tral depot for the vast commerce of the two hemispheres."
In 1858, upon occasion of the establishment of the
overland mail to California, we read the following in
the current news notes of the day :
"Arrival of the Overland Mail. — What has hitherto been re-
garded as a visionary and speculative enterprise has been estab-
lished beyond all doubt, and St. Louis and San Francisco have
been brought within twenty-four days' travel of each other, on
a stage line, and a route which will admit of easier and safer
travel than did the trip from St. Louis to Philadelphia thirty
years ago.
" When the Atlantic cable was laid it was hoped that
daily communication had thus been established between Europe
and America. In our opinion a greater enterprise has been
accomplished in the establishment of an overland mail con-
i necting the Atlantic with the Pacific, passing over our own
soil, and affording a semi-weekly, soon to be converted into a
I daily, communication between the extremes of the republic.
I Nine years ago, when the discovery of gold in California led
to the immense emigration to that State, it was regarded as an
I expeditious trip if made from the Mississippi to the Pacific in
j eighty to one hundred days. Thousands were occupied a much
[ longer time, and hundreds perished by the wayside. The
; establishment of this mail route, and of the route from St.
| Joseph to Utah, and thence to Sacramento, has changed the
) whole current of things; and it is now demonstrated, on a first
trial and under adverse circumstances-, that it is practicable to
i carry the mail to San Francisco in twenty-four days, and this
| will be reduced, if necessary, below twenty days."
I
In 1854 the city's condition and prospects were
described as follows :
" Here stands a city, enjoying far beyond any other city of
the same magnitude or pretensions the advantages of that
inland navigation, compared with which even our vast foreign
commerce is sinking into insignificance. It has five thousand
miles of that navigation belonging peculiarly to its own
water*, with ten thousand miles of coast, yielding up the
| products of an immense and fertile region, for which it fur-
nishes a thousand outlets. To these may be added the forty
thousand miles more of navigable rivers which connect with
St. Louis. Soon the vast means of communication furnished
in this way to our city will be enlarged by the completion of
twelve hundred miles of railroad already begun or projected
within the borders of the State, and connected with a network
of similar roads stretching to every point of the Union, in one
direction to the Gulf of Mexico, in another to the head-waters
of the Mississippi, and in a third to Labrador in the far east
and to San Francisco in the far west. Through her gates will
pour the commerce of the Pacific, of India, and of the isles of
the ocean on the one hand, and the commerce of the Atlantic
and of Europe on the other. Stripping from her all which
may be considered as accidental or adventitious, — all of which
jealous and more fortunate rivals may by possibility deprive
her, — still she is left the commercial centre, the natural mart of
seven hundred thousand square miles of territory, full of min-
eral and agricultural resources, and capable of sustaining in
vigorous life a population of a hundred millions. . . . What
shall forbid an accumulation here of inhabitants beyond any-
thing of which we have authentic records, millions upon
millions, until there shall have sprung up here a city contain-
ing hundreds of square miles, with an area even then affording
i but reasonable accommodations for the vast multitudes col-
I lected within it, — a city with quays and warehouses stretching
1 interminably in lines which, still unbroken, fade out of sight
in the dim distance ? Of course, such visions relate to the
future ; but that future, midst the growth of such a nation as
ours, cannot be long postponed. Meanwhile the present gen-
oration will witness a progress with which it may well be con-
1 tent. That progress, it is true, will depend much upon the
1010
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
enterprise and energies of our citizens. We are fully aware of
this truth, while we repeat the expressions of our confidence in
that progress. For we fully rely on it that its citizens will be
true to their city and themselves, alike the thousands who are
now here and the hundreds of thousands still to come higher.
That may be no idle dream which conceives for St. Louis the
most exalted destiny, which, with a just, prophetic forecast,
transforms the humble hamlet of Laclede into the future me-
tropolis of the New World."
In 1857 one of the " manifest destiny" writers of
St. Louis (the greater part of them are of that order)
wrote as follows:
" This city is beginning to receive the attention from abroad
which her rapid growth, her extraordinary natural advantages,
and her approaching dentiny demand.
" Her present commercial importance, which is unsurpassed
by any city in the valley of the Mississippi, is derived from
river navigation alone ; and her commerce from this source is
drawn from the most extensive and the richest agricultural and
mineral region in the world, scarcely one-tenth of whose wealth
and latent resources are yet developed.
" There is nothing problematical therefore in this statement,
the geographical fact speaks for itself. The commerce of St.
Louis will be increased ten times its magnitude in less than
twenty-five years from the one source which has made her now
all that she is, from river navigation alone.
"To this advantage of river navigation, which is unequaled
by any city in the world, and which must ever continue to be
her most important and cherished source of wealth, is now being
superadded that of railroad facilities. The commercial import-
ance given to St. Louis by her river navigation will eventually
insure to her an equal supremacy as the emporium of railroad
intercommunication. The great lines of railway from the At-
lantic border are all pointing to this city as a common centre,
and she is sending out and receiving branches from the rich
agricultural and mineral regions of the 'Great West.'
"St. Louis, from her unrivaled facilities for trade and manu-
factures, will occupy in the Mississippi valley as decided a pre-
eminence in commercial importance as the city of New York
now commands on the Atlantic seaboard. The main current of
trade on this continent must forever set in the direction of east
and west. St. Louis is the heart of this great current, while
commanding a controlling point on the grand highway of com-
merce between the upper Mississippi and the great lakes and
the Gulf of Mexico. She is in the latitude of thirty-eight and
a half, the most beautiful climate of the temperate zone, a
her navigable waters are open to the commerce of the world
during many weeks, and not unfrequently months, while more
northern marts are bound in fetters of ice.
"To her well-known and pre-eminent advantages as the
centre of commerce for the Mississippi valley, which is forever
assured by geographical position, St. Louis is the emporium of
one of the best agricultural and mineral regions in the world,
which immediately surrounds her. Southern and Central Illi-
nois and the rich mineral region of Missouri pour their undi-
vided wealth of trade upon this city.
"There are other cities in the Mississippi valley which are
distinguished by a commanding position for extended and
lucrative commerce, and by the indomitable energy and admi-
rable enterprise of their inhabitants. St. Louis, from her cen-
tral position and extraordinary facilities of approach, is especi-
ally aided and strengthened by the prosperity of each one and
all of these cities, while imparting to them a reciprocal benefit
in the general increase of commercial facilities."
Yet, in 1881, Mr. Nimmo, of the Bureau of Statis-
tics, while fully admitting the transcendent past, pres-
ent, and future importance of the river navigation to
the trade of St. Louis, could show that the railroads,
for the time being at least, had carried off nine-tenths
of this vaunted inalienable possession, the river trade.
Note his figures: "A radical change," he remarks,
" has taken place in the conditions governing the move-
ments of commerce at St. Louis. Twenty-five years
ago that commerce was almost exclusively confined to
the Mississippi River and its tributaries, but at the
present time railroads extend from the city in all di-
rections. Each one of these railroads has become an
important avenue of commerce." In proof of this,
we find that of the total tonnage transferred during
1880 there was moved by river 1,981,385 tons;
moved by rail, 8,852,204 tons.
These facts, as Mr. Nimmo truly says, indicate that
the commerce of St. Louis has largely accommodated
itself to the facilities afforded by railroad transporta-
tion. This he shows by the following table :
TONS OF FREIGHT received at St. Louis from the north, and of freight shipped from that city to the north, by river and by
rail, from 1871 to 1880, inclusive.
CALENDAR TEAR.
RECEIVED.
SHIPPED.
TOTAL RECEIPTS AND SHIP-
MENTS.
TOTAL.
By River.
By Rail.
By River.
By Rail.
By River.
By Rail.
1871
Ton*.
236,887
242,584
281,175
231,060
198,100
224,860
136,715
174,065
221,285
226,095
Tons.
60,793
120,422
72,031
137,016
88,218
100,087
96,443
208,563
224,336
378,078
Tons.
78,967
55,235
fil,966
95,800
96,225
93,360
68,565
67,320
66,990
55,260
Tons.
14,875
23,965
18,840
20,467
26,526
35,269
46,262
59,281
65,770
102,543
Tons.
315,854
297,819
343,141
326,860
294,325
318,220
205,280
241,385
288,275
281,355
Tons.
75,668
144,387
90,871
157,483
114,744
135,356
142,705
267,844
290,106
480,621
Tons.
391,522
442,206
434,012
484,343
409,069
453,576
,",47,985
509,229
578,381
761,976
1872
1873
1874
1875
1876
1877
1878
1879
1880
SAINT LOUIS AS A CENTRE OF TRADE.
1011
It appears that the tonnage to and from the north
by river fell from 315,854 tons in 1871 to 281,355
tons in 1880, and that the tonnage by rail increased
from 75,668 in 1871 to 480,621 tons in 1880. The
river traffic constituted about 37 per cent, of the total
northern traffic during the year 1880.
The following table illustrates the point still
further :
TONS OF FREIGHT received at St. Louis from the south, and of freight shipped from that city to the south, by river and by
rail, from 1871 to 1880, inclusive.
CALENDAR YEAR.
RECEIVED.
SHIPPED.
TOTAL RECEIPTS AND SHIP-
MENTS.
TOTAL.
By Eiver.
By Rail.
By River.
By Rail.
By River. By Rail.
i
1871
Ton*.
327,262
308,480
232,460
176,120
134,465
159,485
161,870
187,910
293,480
238,940
Ton*.
782,539
1,083,600
1,107,228
1,020,414
1,237,205
1,151,049
1,177,779
1,102,696
1,455,792
1,614,637
Ton*.
523,505
578,596
562,125
476,735
370,275
383,485
427,400
434,490
499,040
820,555
Ton*.
172,026
257,493
275,998
291,084
368,357
313,092
371,402
397,528
496,306
671,661
Ton*.
850,767
887,076
794,585
652,855
504,740
542,970
589,270
622,400
692,520
1,059,495
Ton*.
954,565
1,341,093
1,383,226
1,311,498 '
1,605,562
1,464,141
1.549,181
1,500,124
1,952,098
2,286,298
Ton*.
1,805,332
2,228,169
2,177,811
1,964,353
2,110,302
2,007,111
2,138,451
2,122,624
2,644,618
3,345,793
1872
1873
1874
1875
1876
1877
1878
1879
1880
And the summary completes the illustration and emphasizes it :
ACTUAL TONNAGE OF ALL CLASSES OF FREIGHT SHIPPED FROM ST. LOUIS DURING THE YEARS 1878; 1879, AND 1880.
, SHIPPED BY RAIL.
•
1878.
1879.
1880.
Tons.
Per Cent,
of Total.
Tons.
Per Cent,
of Total.
Tons.
Per Cent,
of Total.
To the north
59,281
397,528
1,029,006
394,744
3.15
21.14
54.22
20.99
65,770
496,306
1,129,820
593,820
2.88
21.71
49.43
25.98
102,543
671,661
1,179,709
801,767
3.72
24.37
42.81
29.10
To the east
Total by rail
1,880,559
100.00
2,285,716
100.00
2,755,680
100.00
SHIPPED BY RIVER.
To the north
67,320
434,490
90,400
22,465
10.95
70.70
14.70
3.65
66,990
499,040
96,075
15,040
9.80
73.70
14.19
2.22
55,260
820,555
145,295
16,415
5.33
79.09
14.00
1.58
To the east
To the west
Total by river
614,675
100.00
677,145
100.00
1,037,525
100.00
TOTAL SHIPMENTS BY BOTH RIVER AND RAIL.
To the north
126,601
832,018
1,119,406
417,209
5.07
33.35
44.86
16.72
132,760
995,346
1,225,895
608,860
' 4.48
33.59
41.38
20.55
157,803
1,492,216
1,325,004
818,182
4.16
39.34
34.93
21.57
To the south
To the east
Total shipments
2,495,234
100.00
2,962,861
100.00
3,793,205
100.00
And yet the river is ten times more valuable and
more important to the trade of St. Louis, and especially
to the city's position as a trade centre, than it was in
1857. It is needless to pursue this branch of the
subject any further. The people of St. Louis have a
perfect confidence in their resources and in their abil-
ity to develop them. As they contend, in speaking
of their ability to utilize their stores of fuel, for ex-
ample : The output of coal in England to-day will load
a railroad train sixty miles long. The coal basins of
1012
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
the British Isles, when compared to the basins of this
valley, are as one to twenty, or even fifty. The output
here daily in the coining times will be simply enormous.
The same remarks apply to the iron mountains and
iron fields, lead, zinc, and copper fields. They are as
fifty to one, compared to the mineral fields of the Brit-
ish Isles. The agricultural resources of this basin
hold the same position. The railroad system of the
British Isles has about reached its culminating point,
as have all the developments of the mineral and agri-
cultural resources of the island.
England has heretofore manufactured all the hard-
ware and heavy goods for the nations of the world.
Now, as these people will be large consumers in the
future, and the great supplies of raw material, as cot-
ton, iron, lead, zinc, copper, and other elements, are in
this basin, it does not require the vision of a prophet
to foresee that in the coming times the iron industries,
tanneries, potteries, smelting-works, and a hundred
other industries will grow up here and supply these
foreign markets, and that St. Louis will be the im-
porting, exporting, wholesale mart, general distribu-
ting point, and railroad centre of this great valley of
the Mississippi, or basin of the continent.
And they meet the suspicion of indifference and
lack of energy in this wise, to quote from a St. Louis
newspaper of the day after Christmas, 1878, —
"Are St. Louis men un progressive? Some of our contempo- |
raries out West are disposed to 'poke fun' at St. Louis because j
of the apparently unprogressive and unenterprising character of
those who are rulers in her marts of trade and banks. Well,
perhaps it is a truth that St. Louis is provokingly slow, but it
would be well to remember that St. Louis is exceedingly sure,
that she does not act for to-day only, but for all time. The
truth is St. Louis is a very solid city, that the actual financial
condition of her business men is a little too good for a very ag-
gressive campaign for traffic. We do not say that the city is
in danger of permanent injury from the too prosperous condi-
tion of her citizens engaged in the business of merchandising,
manufacturing, banking, building, and other industries. St.
Louis is a conservative city, that we readily admit, but the con-
servatism of our citizens does not lead them to neglect the great
interests which centre here, and which have thus far led to a
great and substantial development. It is true, and we readily
admit it, that the rather ultra-conservatism which prevails here
sometimes delays the consummation of designs necessary to the
continued prosperity of the city, and, to the extent of such de-
lays, retards and injures its commerce. But the good people
of St. Louis are neither blind nor destitute of ordinary intelli-
gence. They know their interests, and will be very certain to
guard them with jealous care."
We have spoken of the population of St. Louis, and
the people and natives who compose it, more than
once in the course of these volumes, but the subject
will admit of further discussion. The figures of the
census representing the city's growth have been given
above, but a word or two of explanation is needed to>
make them clear in their full exponential value. The
returns of the census of 1880 were a source of disap-
pointment approaching dismay. But this was because
the census of 1870 was a fraud and delusion. This
fact is now conceded upon all hands, and indeed has
been conclusively demonstrated. There is no reason
to doubt or question the substantial fidelity of the
census of 1880. As Mr. Charles W. Knapp says, in
the paper elsewhere quoted, —
" Look where you may for disproof of the census figures, you
will find nothing to indicate St. Louis had much more than the
350,000 the census gives it. Inquire of the postal business and
you will find that the Chicago office collected 9,000,000 pounds
of mail matter and sold $1,114,000 worth of stamps, while the
St. Louis figures were only 4,250,000 pounds of mail matter
and $600,000 worth of stamps in the year ending with June,
1880. Count the names in the Chicago directory of 1880 and
you will find 170,388, while the St. Louis directory had only
120,517. The Chicago directory contained 33.87 per cent, of
its whole population, and the St. Louis directory would indicate,
according to that percentage, a population of 355,822 for this
city. Come nearer to the present and you will find that a
school census taken in Chicago last July showed a population
of 562,693, while the directory of this year shows 192,567 names,
or 33.78 of the whole number reported by th,e school census,
while the St. Louis directory contains only 139,151 names, in-
dicating a population of 412,000 on the basis of the Chicago
percentage. Doubtless this is a larger population than Boston
can show, but it is not enough to advance St. Louis above the
fifth place, nor are there any other collateral statistics that can
be depended on which indicate that the Chicago figures are too
high or the St. Louis too low. The relative number of pupils
enrolled in the public schools of the two cities may seem to in-
dicate a small difference in population, when it is found that
the enrollment reported in Chicago in June, 1880, was 59,562, or
11.84 per cent, of its reported population, while the St. Louis
enrollment was 51,241, which, on the basis of the Chicago per-
centage, would indicate a population of 431,934 for St. Louis.
I warn you that only the most short-lived joy is to be got of
such a calculation, however, for in June, 1882, Chicago had
68,266, or 12.21 per cent, of the population reported by the
school census, while St. Louis had only 53,050, indicating only
437,820 population on the Chicago basis. It is so absurd to say
that St. Louis has only increased 5886 in the past two years
that you must see there are reasons why the school statistics
are unavailable as an index to population. I was told at the
office of the superintendent of schools that there is really no
class of statistics more inaccurate, because of the manifest care-
lessness of the principals in their preparation, while, aside from
that fact, the adequacy of the school accommodation influences
the school enrollment even more than the increase of population,
which cannot swell the school attendance if the school? are
already filled to their full capacity. It is of no avail, therefore,
to appeal to the school statistics to impeach the census, and we
must let the figures of 1880 stand."'
In spite, however, of the fact that St. Louis
falls one hundred and filly-three thousand below
Chicago in population, and still more in manufac-
tures and some branches of trade, as pork-packing
and grain shipments, St. Louis shows more wealth,
by nearly ninety millions of dollars, than the rival
SAINT LOUIS AS A CENTRE OF TRADE.
1013
city. This may be, and is in great part, from lower
assessments, but that lower assessment simply means
that people in St. Louis own their property while
Chicago is owned by money-lenders in New York, Bos-
ton, and elsewhere in the East, who have mortgages
upon all the land and improvements, railroads, mills,
stocks, and bonds in Chicago, and get their percentage
out of every man's earnings and income. St. Louis,
moreover, is a larger produce market than Chicago,
as the following table shows :
MONEY VALUE OF PRODUCE RECEIPTS, 1881.
Chicago.
Flour $4,780,285
Wheat 13,669,903
Corn 30,732,449
Oats 5,780,597
Rye 837,779
Barley 4,244,893
Cotton
Tobacco
Hay 1,000,000
Potatoes 1,900,000
St. Louis.
$9,412,800
15,230,106
10,629,655
2,527,020
469,769
2,411,723
20,000,000
3,000,000
1,600,000
1,100,000
Total $62,945,886 $66,381,073
It is the largest wheat market in the country, and
the largest flour market in the world. It is, more-
over, as already shown, the largest interior cotton
market in the country. These are consolations for
the less accelerated growth of population ; but, the
fraud of 1870 eliminated, Mr. Knapp believes St.
Louis to have grown more rapidly during the past
decade than ever before. Thus, while St. Louis in
1800 had 957 people, in 1820 only 4598, in 1830
5852, the range with Chicago from that time forward
was as follows :
1840. 1850. 1860. 1870. 1880.
St. Louis 16,469 77,860 160,773 213,301 350,522
Chicago 4,479 29,963 109,260 298,977 503,053
(The population in 1S70 is reduced 100,000 below census
figures.)
On this basis the relative percentages of growth were as fol-
lows:
Chicago. St. Louis. Difference,
18411 to 1850 569.00 373.00 196.00
1850 to I860 261.00 106.00 155.00
1860 to 1870 173.0U 32.67 140.33
1870 to 1880 68.61 66.82 1.79
1880 to 1882 11.85 18.81 6.96
In other words, it took the population of St. Louis
ten years to recover from the effects of the civil war,
during all which period Chicago was expanding and
developing with acceleration. Nevertheless, St. Louis
has entirely recovered from that period of bouleverse-
ment as respects population, and in another decade
will have completely recovered as respects industrial
growth and development of transportation facilities.
Mr. Knapp, however, who is as frank and candid
in his statements as he is keen and searching in his
analyses, warns his fellow-citizens that there are still
some hindrances to progress, which must be removed
if they desire to see the city of their hopes grow
and expand vigorously and equably. Prices are too
high, he says.
" It is the same unvarying story, from the bootblacks and
newsboys up to the merchant princes nnd millionaire bankers.
We are overloaded with high taxes, high money, high freights,
and high labor. Rents are higher, food is higher, clothing is
higher, and even fuel is higher than in either Chicago or Cin-
cinnati, and so handicapped we cannot make a fair race. I
know your eyes are tired of figures, but pardon me just onoe
more, for I think in the following table there is the suggestion
of one of the first of the dead weights we must strive to remove.
"Tax rate on $100 of assessed valuation, all taxes aggregated.
New York $2.47*
Philadelphia 1.90
St. Louis... .. 2.58"
Boston $1.51
Brooklyn 2.57$
Chicago 6.48
Cincinnati 2.22
Interest rates are too high also, he says, higher
than in any other city of the first class ; and where
interest is high, either the security is not good or
money is not plenty.
" High freights we must also make war against, and the rail-
ways be forced to remove the onerous and unjust bridge arbi-
trary charge, which, ranging from two to five cents per one
hundred pounds, adds fifty-five to one hundred and twenty-
nine miles to the actual mileage distance of St. Louis from
eastern points. It may be we shall get relief from this only
when a new bridge is built, but that may come at no distant
day, for the Indiana, Bloomington and Western Railway, which
is now locating an extension line to St. Louis, has under con-
templation the construction of a bridge at Chain of Rocks, with
a view to making its terminus on this side of the river, and
billing freight to and from St. Louis, instead of East St. Louis,
as all the other roads do. There is equally as .much need for
competition on the river ,• the barge rates especially having been
maintained during the pnst summer at a mark which made the
river route steadily more expensive than the lake and canal
route from Chicago.
"I must stop here," says Mr. Knapp, in conclusion, "for,
though I have named but a few of the forces operating to
retard and limit the city's growth, these are fair examples.
Such hindering obstructions as we may not hope to remove
are, after all, of the kind that all other cities find in their way ;
and we must remember that the struggle for commercial su-
premacy is always a hot contest, in which victory belongs
where energy and enterprise are most vigorously developed,
so we need not despond because we cannot find an exclusive and
easy path to metropolitan greatness devoted to our sole use. All
progress is a battle with adverse influences, and we have the
encouragement of past successes to persevere, bearing con-
stantly in mind that the struggle will cease only when progress
ends. Let, therefore, no faint-hearted yearnings for peace and
quiet tempt us from the strife, but let us build up a sensible
self-respect, encourage reasonable and intelligent confidence in
our future, and stimulate a bold and aggressive policy, forcing
competition at every point, with a fearless determination to
grasp all that is possible. Remember that we have one great
advantage in that there is no rival market as near to St. Louis
as there is to every other leading city, — Milwaukee sitting almost
in the doorway of Chicago, and Louisville in the back yard of
Cincinnati, while New York, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and Bal-
timore crowd under each other's noses. Chance having thus
kindly seconded the favors of nature in our geographical situa-
tion, we have a better opportunity to combat the opposing
1014
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
forces than most other cities, and it is only for us to make the
most of it, to keep a sleepless watch ahead, and attack with
united earnestness every impediment rising in the city's path."
The Growth and Population of St. Louis. —
This history of St. Louis has been written in vain if
the readers do not rise from its perusal firm in the
conviction that the population of the city is stronger
in character, energy, and social and civic virtues of
every sort than it is in numbers. This point has been
clearly and beautifully illustrated by Col. George E. 1
Leighton, in his recent annual address as president of
the Missouri Historical Society, — the address being
a plea for more earnest support for the society and
greater attention to and veneration for the memories
and records of the men who founded St. Louis. A
philosophical history of the place, he said, was needed :
"It is a work yet to do, to analyze the operating causes of
our development. How the French trading post became the
village ; why the settlement of Laclede at St. Louis was more
prosperous than that of Blanchette Chasseur at St. Charles, of ,
Beaurosier Dunegant at Florissant, or that of Delor de Tregette
at Carondelet, or that of George Morgan at New Madrid; how
the village was socially and politically affected by the succes-
sive dominion of France, Spain, and the United States, or by
the personal influence of the successive Governors of Upper
Louisiana; how the first couriers from the Eastern States, like '
Easton and Bent and Clark, weak in numbers but strong in in-
dividuality, sowed the seeds of American manners and methods,
and awakened the spirit of commercial life: how the succeed- ;
ing emigration from the States, of which Benton, Hempstead, ,
Barton, Riddick, Bates, and Charless were the representatives,
impressed its social and political character ; haw the later eini-
gration from New England, with its exalted appreciation of the
value of educational and associated benevolent work, affected
its development; how the German emigration, following the
revolutionary movement of 1848, full of grand ideas of politi-
cal and religious freedom, impressed its influence upon it; how
this city aflFected and was affected by the civil war; the history
of the development of our public works ; the effect of the in- ;
stitution of slavery on the growth and development of the city, !
and many others which might be stated, are questions for ex- !
haustive study, not to be solved by the mere compilation of
commercial and manufacturing statistics or the mere narrative
of concrete events.
" The colonists were represented by such names as the Chou- ;
teaus, Gratiots, Soulards, Valle"s, Sarpy, Chenies; later, the
Morrisons, who came from the French settlements; still later .
Irish enterprise was represented by the Mullanphys, Runkens,
Dillon, the Campbells, the Walshes, Whittaker; Scotch thrift
by McKenzie and Nicholson; German intelligence and mercan- •
tile sagacity by Palm, Kayser, Barth, Kirn, Steitz, Angelrodt,
Anheuser, Lemp ; the Southern States by Benton, Gamble, i
Geyer, Polk, Charless, the Blows, Kennetts, and Blairs, Harri- i
son, Lucas. Beverly, Allen, Hunt, McPherson, the Carrs, Von i
Phuls, Chambers, Paschal, Farrar; the Northern States by
Bent, Easton, Carr Lane, Filley, Smith, Cavender, Rhodes,
Blood, Field, Spaulding, Collier, Bridge, Dickson, Gale, Davis,
the Lindells, Ames, Thomas Allen.
" Other names will readily occur to you, and if it were proper ,
to allude to living men, the list could be indefinitely extended.
Some men count for nothing in human progress; some men
count for one, some for ten, some for one hundred. There will .
be no dissent when I say that each of those I have named, and
many others that could be named, counted for more than one
in the forces which mark the progress and development of our
commercial, industrial, and intellectual interests. Is it to be
said of us that we will allow the record made by these men to
pass into oblivion as those who knew them pass away? An
hundred men fill their places to-day, — themselves to pass, by
the same neglect, into the same oblivion. Is it of no impor-
tance to us that some permanent record should be made of their
place in our local history ? It is no record of such men that
they lived and died. Municipal history, or State history, or
national history is in its last analysis but the record of the men
who have conceived and executed projects that lift the city, or
State, or nation over the years and push it forward in the
march of civilization."
All this is profoundly true, and it is the sort of
truth which we should welcome, for it bears fruit
when we act upon it as a guiding principle. Men are
the authors of institutions, and these again reflect
men. Growth, decay, birth, death, prosperity, and
decline of cities, all are summed up in the character
and qualities of the men who inhabit countries and
the institutions they construct. St. Louis, Chicago,
New York, San Francisco, all were inhabited by other
races before the white man came to occupy them.
But scarcely a trace remains of that former inhabit-
ancy. Nature and natural forces were the same, cli-
mate and advantages of site were the same, man only
was different. We must not forget this when we
hasten to ascribe all things to nature, and are willing
to leave all things with nature.
The population of St. Louis, as has been shown
elsewhere, has always been curiously mixed. In
1800, French was the predominant, Spanish the offi-
cial language, and French was still the common
speech in 1818. In 1883, German is taught in all
the schools alongside English, and in some quarters
of the city it is the most familiar tongue and the one
heard most often.
The following are the first American censuses of
St. Louis:
1810. Third United States Census, Missouri Territory. — Dis-
trict of St. Charles, 3505; St. Louis, 5667; Ste. Genevieve,
4620; Cape Girardeau, 3888; New Madrid, 2103; Hope and
St. Francis, 188; Arkansas, 874; total in Territory, 20,845.
1815. December 9th, by John W. Thompson, Sheriff. — Town
of St. Louis, 2000 ; whole county, 7395 ; gain in two years,
1200.
1820. August 1st, United States Census.— Town, about 4000;
whole county, 9732.
White male population in Missouri as reported to
the Governor under the acts of Assembly of Jan. 18,
1814, and Feb. 1, 1817; also showing number of
votes taken for members of the State Convention from
the counties from which returns were received in
May, 1820:
SAINT LOUIS AS A CENTRE OF TRADE.
1015
COUNTIES.
Number of Free White
Mules in 1814.
J3
3
1
»-^
~°°
£
•
2
m
a
|
1
.1
+-QO
•- PH
I
K
Number of Votes for
Members of Conven-
tion in May, 18^0.
Boone 7,890
Ste. Genevieve 1,705
Washington 6236
Wayne 3,009
Cole .2 478
Cape Girardeau 6,507
Gallaway. . 4 517
Jackson 2,029
Ray 1 843
Pike 4,763
St. Louis 11,980
Soott 1,610
Lincoln 2,826
Rails 2,450
Gasconade 2,199
Lafayette 2 203
New Madrid 1,893
Clay 4376
Perry 2,743
Chariton 3,263
New Madrid
1548
2062
1701
1010
3149
1696
669
2593
2205
1245
4725
2866
3386
No return.
No return.
No return.
No return.
314
837
453
In the city of St. Louis, —
2,179
Cape Girardeau
Ste. Genevieve
1 589
Slaves, free persons of colo
In St. Louis township, out of t
r, etc 1,232
5 000
St. Charles
1664
3862
2688
1090
772
1229
628
1735
796
359
248
492
265
ic city, —
1,009
Howard
Cooper
839
Slaves, free persons of colo
In Bonhomme township, —
r etc 359
....
- • • 2,207
Pike
976
Franklin
1227
674
906
Slaves, persons of color, et(
In St. Ferdinand township, —
, 352
. 2,231
•
1529
1,024
827
919
Of the character of the immigration about this
period, the Missouri Gazette remarks under date of
Oct. 26, 1816,—
Slaves, persons of color, et
Total
3 496
o 439
11,880
i /» ii a. j
" Missouri and Illinois exhibit an interesting spectacle at this
time. A stranger to witness the scene would imagine that Vir-
ginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Carolinas had made an
agreement to introduce us as soon as possible to the bosom of
the American family. Every ferry on the river is daily occu-
pied in passing families, carriages, wagons, negroes, carts, etc.
Respectable people, apparently able to purchase large tracts of
land, come on. We have millions of acres to occupy, provisions
are cheap and in abundance."
In 1819 the Irish were strong enough in St. Louis
to meet in October of that year, organize a Hibernian
or Erin Benevolent Society, and make arrangements
for celebrating the next St. Patrick's day. The or-
ganization of that society was as follows : Jeremiah
Connor, president ; Thomas Hanly, vice-president ;
Hugh Rankin, treasurer; Lawrence Ryan, secretary;
Robert H. Catherwood, Thomas English, Hugh
O'Neal, Joseph Charless, Sr., and Thomas Porsythe,
standing committee.
In 1828 there was another State census, with the
results stated below, as given in a contemporary ac-
count :
" According to the returns made to the secretary's office by the
sheriffs of the different counties, the whole number of inhabi-
tants in the State on the 1st of November amounted to one
hundred and twelve thousand four hundred and nine. Under
the next general census, even should the ratio of representation
be increased to sixty thousand, the State will then be entitled
to two representatives in Congress. AVe give below the aggre-
gate number in each county of the State :
Jefferson 2,367 Franklin 2,852
Madison 2,276 Marion 2,409
Saline 1,659 St. Francois 2,030
St. Charles 3,514 Howard 9,730
rate of growth exhibited by the above figures, said, —
"After the cession of Louisiana to the United States, that
part of the ceded territory north of the Missouri River was
designated and known as the St. Charles district. This appella-
tion it retained for several years, the body of country now the
most flourishing part of the State forming but one county.
Among the papers of the sheriff of 1805 is found a census of
the inhabitants of the county, taken in that year, from which it
appears that the total number then in that district was fifteen
hundred and sixty-four whites, fourteen slaves, and seven free
blacks. We have had the curiosity to contrast this census with
that taken in 1828, and find that the same district of country
now embraces seventeen counties, and is inhabited by a popula-
tion of near seventy thousand persons."
In 1836 the sheriff took a county census, and the
population returned was, —
St. Louis City and ] Maramec township 692
suburbs 10,486 j Carondelet township 1,854
Bonhomme township.... 2,271 St. Louis township 1,127
St. Ferdinand township 3,139 !
The preliminary report upon the census of 1840
was the following :
" GRAVOIS, ST. LODIS Co., Oct. 30, 1840.
"A. B. CHAMBERS, ESQ.:
" Dear Sir, — Agreeable to request, I herewith furnish you
with a copy of schedule of mines, agriculture, commerce, manu-
factures, etc., exhibiting a full view of the pursuits, industry,
and resources of the county of St. Louis, excluding the city
and township of St. Louis, taken by me for the United States,
as deputy, under the marshal of the Missouri district. I found
but little difficulty in exacting answers to the many inquiries
enjoined upon me by law to propound during the course of
my avocations. You may, therefore, depend upon this state-
ment being as near correct as was in my power to arrive at.
1016
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
" The population of the county, excluding the city of St. Louis
and township, is 11,380.
Value of the products of the dairy $12,283
" " " " orchard 18,465
•' home-made or family goods 13,495
produce of market gardeners 20,331
" " " nurseries and florists 2,025
LIVE-STOCK.
Number of horses and mules 3,740
" " neat cattle 13,193
" "sheep 8,478
" "swine 22,649
Estimated value of other property of all kinds $11,233
GRAIN.
Number of bushel." of wheat 58,677
' barley 1,865
' oats 91,956
rye 5,638
' buckwheat 1,908
' Indian corn 451,144
VARIOUS CROPS.
Pounds of wool 8,651
" "hops 435
" "wax 1,758
Bushels of potatoes 81,310
Tons of hay 4,147
" '• hemp and flax 9,905
Pounds of tobacco gathered. 197,045
The number of bushels of bituminous coal raised
is 233,000, capital invested $11,600
There are four tanneries, capital invested 2,500
Thirteen grist- and seven saw-mills, capital 12,050
Three distilleries.
" Respectfully,
" Your obedient servant,
" JOHN C. DENT."
These figures caused some dissatisfaction, and led
to the following in a contemporary journal :
"There are many causes that retard the growth and pros-
perity of towns and cities which might be removed by the ju-
dicious management of its citizens. One great barrier to the
rapid growth of St. Louis and many other towns is the fact
that many fine squares and lots of ground lie unimproved and
unproductive. By reason of this much of the real capital of
our citizens lies dead, and contributes nothing to the general
prosperity of the community. Within the corporate limits of
St. Louis there are unimproved lots and squares worth several
millions of dollars, and which would sell for that money.
This is so much dead capital, so far as the business of the com-
munity is concerned."
In 1845 another census was taken by the assessors
of the wards. From this census it appears that the
total number of inhabitants fell a fraction short of
thirty-six thousand, divided among the several wards
as follows :
First Ward 6,900 i Fifth Ward 6,260
Second Ward 6,566 Sixth AVard 6,200
Third Ward 4,683
Fourth Ward 5,321 ; 35,930
It was about this time that James Gordon Bennett,
in the flippant vein which he so much affected, and
which he seems to have mistaken for wit, wrote the
following sketch of his visit to St. Louis :
"ST. Louis, Nov. 20, 1846.
" St. Louis, regarded as a business place, may present in-
ducements almost unparalleled to business men. Its advantages
and its situation render it so. Planted on a rocky foundation,
the Mississippi passes by it quietly, while above and below this
strange stream cuts a channel where it pleases. It is a city
destined to command an influential place in the mercantile and
manufacturing interest, while its growing morality will give it
a high rank in the religious world. But of what a mixture is
its population composed ! And to what growth do mushrooms
attain ! I have spent much time in Gotham, in Philadelphia,
and in Washington, where this vegetable is to be found of a
pretty good quality, but I must confess, with all my Eastern
predilections, that I am forced to give this Western city the
credit of producing it in perfection. There are forty thousand
people living here, and about four-fifths of them are descend-
ants of the best families, and can trace their ancestry back to
— Adam !
"Korponay is here, endeavoring to impress the public mind
with the importance of the polka, bolero, mazourka, and other
fancy dances. And he takes wonderfully, for I am told he
had a juvenile pupil the other vening, learning the first prin-
ciples of the former, and she was only turned five-and-iorty.
Her agility was regarded as something extraordinary, even
here.
" The taste for literature is increasing vastly. The first of a
series of lectures before the Mercantile Library Association was
to be delivered a few evenings since. Present, twenty-five per-
sons. It was postponed. Two squares below some sable min-
strels were giving a concert to an audience of several hundreds
of the elite. Serenades are popular, and in Fourth Street so-
journers are greeted nightly with heavenly strains from violins
and flutes.
" On the score of economy the fathers of the city cannot be
excelled. Such a thing as lighting the streets at night, except
by the moon, is considered a work of supererogation. And
then it helps trade, for each citizen is provided with a lantern
to thread the streets when the ' moon's in her shroud.' There
was a man killed a night or two ago by falling into a quarry in
the upper end of the city. That's nothing, however: he was a
stranger, and might have made inquiry. The city authorities
are old residents, — what need have they for light? Street
crossings are too much of a novelty, and none but old persons
and crippled ones get more than ankle-deep in mud when that
commodity abounds, as it does always after a little rain.
" The summer season, as elsewhere, is the best time, fh the
surrounding country, to see and appreciate the beauties of
nature. Naturalists have a great field for research. Mos-
quitoes, ranging in size from a pin's head to a large pea, can
be taken in coveys without difficulty. Their music at night is
a most excellent imitation of the sounds produced by pumping
an accordeon without touching the keys, and if one is unpro-
vided with a bar — an article of bed-furniture indigenous to
the West — there is little work left for ' cuppers, leechers, and
bleeders' in the morning. Another of the 'beauties' is that
pendulum of nature, vibrating between heat and cold, the
ague. But, as in other cases, its familiarity has bred con-
tempt, and it is considered beneath the notice of the people.
In my travels, a short time ago, I stopped to refresh at a public-
house. The landlord was sitting over the fire with a blanket
over his shoulders. ' How are you?' ' Very well, sir.' ' Is it
sickly about here ?' 'Oh, no, nothing of the kind.' 'What ails
you ?' ' I have a touch of the ague.' ' How long have you
had it?' 'Thirteen months.' 'Can I get something to eat?'
'Not now, stranger; this is shake day, and the whole family is
taking turns.' I mounted my horse and departed."
SAINT LOUIS AS A CENTRE OF TRADE.
1017
The corporation census of 1847 was a very grati-
fying one, —
First Ward 9,970
Second Ward 7,645
Third Ward 5,744
Fourth Ward 6,354
Fifth Ward 6,667
Sixth Ward 11,453
47,833
Increase from 1845 11,903
This was a visible growth. It could be felt as well
as seen, and a journal of the day said, —
"In a city like St. Louis, where the community is composed
of the most heterogeneous materials, gathered literally from
the four quarters of the globe, it takes some little time for people
to find out ' who's who' and ' what's what.' The man born in
St. Louis, perhaps when it was a small town of a few hundred
inhabitants, now finds himself in the midst of a great city,
surrounded by thousands of strangers, and knows not whence
they came, what their character may be, or whither they are
going. And the people from other countries, other States, and
other cities, who now mostly compose this vast community, are
alike strangers to each other. It follows, therefore, as a neces-
sary consequence, that society here is somewhat mixed, that it
is in a sort of chrysalis state, that an elevated standard of
morals and customs is yet to be formed."
This shows that the great immediate increase of
population was apparent to the people themselves, and
that the ancient ease and familiar acquaintanceship
were disturbed by the great and sudden influx of
strangers and aliens. The Republican of Nov. 30,
1848, says of the enumeration of the people made
that year that, —
"according to the census recently taken by the sheriff of the
county, the total number of free white males it contains is 37,045 ;
free white females, 31,222; number of free; white persons who
have been taught to read and write, 42,469; deaf and dumb
persons, 23; blind, 18; free persons of color, — males, 382; fe-
males, 486 ; slaves, — males, 1981 ; females, 2346 ; and the grand
total is 73,364.
" The city of St. Louis contains a population of 55,952, of
whom 28,779 are free white males, and 24,490 free white
females; there are 10,435 male children under eighteen years
of age, and 10,434 females under the same age; of free negroes
there are 367 males and 472 females, and of slaves, 698 males
and 1146 females.
" Carondelet contains a population of 523, Bridgeton 405, and
Florissant 423 souls.
" The State census was taken in 1844 by the sheriff, and the
county then contained a population of 47,668 souls. Of this
number the city of St. Louis had 34,140, leaving for the re-
mainder of the county 13,^28 souls, the balance of the increase
in the four years being all in the city of St. Louis. The total
increase in the four years is 25,696, of which 21,812 is the in-
crease in the city of St. Louis.
"We observe, on a comparison of the census of 1844 with
that of 1848, that the number of free negroes has increased,
while that of the slaves has diminished. In 1844 there were
673 free negroes, while the census now completed makes the
number 868. In 1844 the number of slaves was 4512, now
there are 4327, a decrease in the slave population of nearly
200.
" There is a slight increase of population in the several
incorporated towns outside of St. Louis. In 1844 Carondelet
contained 468 souls; now it has 529."
In this year of 1848 the great German immigra-
tion began to flow into St. Louis. The revolution
begun in Paris with the dethronement of Louis
Philippe, and continued in Italy by Garibaldi, in Ger-
many by all the forces of society except the nobles,
the army, and the bureaucracy, and broken in Hun-
gary by the active interposition of Russian armies,
had failed also in Germany, but not until it had
shaken the thrones of the Hapsburgs and the Hohen-
zollerns. The revolutionists were forced to fly and
expatriate themselves ; Illinois was enriched with
men like Gustav Koerner, and St. Louis reinforced
by a Schurz and a Sigel.
The German immigration to the State began sooner
than that to the city. Flint mentions a German col-
ony to which he preached in the interior of Missouri
between 1812 and 1820. Indeed, there was a very
large plantation of Germans on the Red River, in
Arkansas, in the first half of the eighteenth century,
under the auspices of the Regent Duke of Orleans,
and the descendants of some of these must have pene-
trated into Upper Louisiana. The first vineyards at
Hermann, in Gasconade County, according to Michael
Poeschal, were begun in 1841. In 1845, fifty thou-
sand vines were planted ; in 1849 there were over
seven hundred thousand.
In St. Louis there were many intelligent and en-
terprising Germans prior to the great influx which
began in 1848. The greater part of these were in
trade, though many prosecuted intellectual pursuits
with characteristic vigor and success. Charles Mu-
egge's oil-cloth factory was started in 1841 ; Thomas
J. Meier's cotton -factory — a pioneer enterprise of
great value and importance — in 1839. But 1848 is
the year in which the tide set in. The soil and cli-
mate of Missouri suited the Germans, always inhabi-
tants of the interior ; they found themselves heartily
welcome, protected and befriended, and abundant
labor waiting for them. They did not fear the com-
petition of slavery, and the "peculiar institution"
never interfered with them, reduced the value of their
work, or traversed their opinions. The arrivals of
Germans at the port of St. Louis were :
March 18, 1848, to same day 1849 9,000
" " 1849, " " 1850 14,403
" " 1850, " " 1851 10,815
Total in three years 34,218
Of these about two-thirds found employment in St.
Louis. In 1851 this city was counted as the prin-
cipal port for the debarkation of Germans to the val-
ley of the Mississippi, great numbers coming by way
of New Orleans. It was at this time that the well-
known and most useful German Society of St. Louis
1018
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
was incorporated, its objects being to protect and de-
fend the immigrants from Germany, provide them
employment when needed, and care for the sick and
destitute. Nobly has it done its work, burying the
dead, finding homes for the orphan, and securing
medical attendance, medicine, and hospital room for
indigent invalids. The trustees named in the orig-
inal act of incorporation of this society were John
Wolff, Adolph Abeles, Thomas J. Meier, Edward
Eggers, Henry W. Gempp, Andrew Krug, Charles
Muegge, Louis Speck, and John C. Meyer ; J. Reich-
ard, secretary and agent. The Germans in St. Louis
to-day, forming a large proportion of the population,
and including many of the best and most wealthy citi-
zens, do not need an association of this sort to protect
them. They constitute a potent and fully recognized
industrial, mercantile, social, and intellectual force in
the community. They are leaders in opinion and
leaders of men. The German press of St. Louis is a
power throughout the country. It has contributed
state-. ~en, soldiers, and scholars to reinforce the
national wealth. A German of St. Louis has been
mayor of the city, another senator in Congress, am-
bassador to foreign lands, member of the cabinet,
moulder of parties, and leader of men. The St. Louis
Journal of Speculative Science, the only periodical in
the country devoted exclusively to the exploitation of
metaphysics, is a direct product of German thought
and German culture, and it is claimed that St. Louis
is the only place on this continent where the philoso-
phy and the comprehensive philosophical system of
George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel is read, understood,
and appreciated.
At the same time as this German immigration, St.
Louis received an accession of population from the
French West Indies, as is told in a paper read before
the Missouri Historical Society in 1878 by Mr. Col-
let, the author being Mr. Edward De Laureal. This
paper is in substance as follows :
" Guadeloupe had scarcely recovered from a terrible disaster
which had covered the entire colony with ruins.
"On Feb. 8, 1843, about ten o'clock in the morning, Pointe-
a-Pitre, the capital of the colony, was destroyed by an earth-
quake more violent than previously known. What the reeling
earth spared the fire seized upon. The number of dead crushed
beneath the ruins or calcined by the flames was so great that
there were not sufficient persons to bury them, and as a matter
of necessity the remains were transported to the open sea and
entombed in the deep.
" Their wounds scarcely healed, they began to breathe, when
of a sudden they found themselves menaced with ruin from
another cause. A political upheaving threatened to destroy in
their hands the very instruments of all prosperity.
"In the month of March, 1848, a sinister rumor spread like
a pall over the country, and caused a thrill of terror through-
out. A war-vessel appeared on the horizon. It came to an-
nounce to the country momentous news. A revolution had
broken out in France, the king, Louis Philippe, driven from his
throne, and been obliged to take refuge in England. The
people, sovereign by revolt, had proclained the republic, and
constituted a republican government in the Hotel de Ville at
Paris. The authorities of Guadeloupe, as well as those of all
the other French colonies, were enjoined for the future to obey
no other orders than such as emanated from the republic, one
and indivisible.
"These news, however we may look at them at a distance
and after a lapse of twenty-nine years, when received in the
colony were of a nature to trouble the country and to excite the
population to deplorable excesses.
"Many colonists yet living who had passed through the or-
deal of the first French republic felt the presentiment of what
was to be dreaded from another, the outcome of the barricades.
If the colony were not as completely upturned during the short
duration of the second essay at republicanism, it was not the
fault of those who made it their business to persuade the blacks
that the supreme object of liberty was not only enfranchise-
ment from all labor, but to trample in the dust that which they
had heretofore respected.
"The new agents of power in the colony, doubtless to give
proof of their zeal, casting aside every precaution so indispen-
sable nevertheless in such grave circumstances, suddenly pro-
claimed the abolition of slavery. This precipitation was most
ruinous to the country. Of a sudden the master and the slave
found themselves face to face in a position embarrassing to both
parties, impossible yet to define distinctly, and which created a
real social peril.
"After the first moments of astonishment at their new re-
spective situation there were compromises between the newly
enfranchised and the proprietors, who had at heart the con-
tinuation of work, compromises which, without satisfying the
laborers, were initiative to the ruin of the proprietors.
" In presence of this state of things, which could not last
long, in presence of the alarming rumors which night and day
kept the population on the alert, a common thought came at the
same time to the heads of families, who, without exchanging
views, felt the urgency to fly from a coming danger.
"This unanimous thought had America for its olgect. By a
singular chance St. Louis, in Missouri, was the converging
point of all projects of emigration. Consequently, in the month
of July, 1848, there were seen disembarking on the Levee of
St. Louis the first families wandering in search of a security
which their native country no longer offered them.
" Soon these families were followed by a great number of other
emigrants, so that in 1849 an agglomeration of French from
Guadeloupe formed almost a little colony. They had just rea-
son to congratulate themselves on their reception on American
soil.
"But almost immediately after their arrival the emigrants
were doomed to undergo a rude trial. The cholera, which
during the spring and the summer of 1849 desolated the city of
St. Louis, did not spare them. Their numbers were sadly
diminished.
"But this time again courage was not wanting in the colo-
nists from Guadeloupe. Then were these people, accustomed to
the elegance of luxury, the comforts of an easy life, seen to
make courageously the sacrifice of their past in burying the
souvenir in the depths of their hearts, to begin a life of fatigues,
of rude occupation to which they were far from having been
accustomed. More than one mother of a family, thrown entirely
upon her own efforts, by a prodigy of economy and courageous
patience, was enabled to bring up her family and to place her
SAINT LOUIS AS A CENTRE OF TRADE.
1019
children in a position to contract alliances with honorable fami-
lies of her adopted city.
" To-day the fusion is complete, and the descendants of the
French colonists coming from the West Indies, strangers to their
maternal tongue, no longer make use of any other language
than that of the country of which they are citizens, or are in
any respect distinguishable from those around them."
The numbers of this immigration have been left
to conjecture or the imagination. The allusion
to the cholera year of 1849, however, recalls a
period of great suffering to St. Louis, and great
afflictions, under which its people bore up as if
conscious of their destiny. The pestilence was fol-
lowed by the most destructive fire which ever raged
in St. Louis, and the press of the period, in comment-
ing upon it, said, " Emerging as we are from two
calamities which have no parallel in this country,
suffering alike in the destruction of property and the
still greater destruction of life, having lost in a single
night houses and goods enough to constitute a town
of very considerable size and commerce, and in two
months buried five or six thousand human beings,
it may be pardoned those who have so far survived
these calamities to look around and ahead at their
condition."
That condition was »not pleasant to contemplate.
Just before the outbreak of cholera a corporation
census had been taken, yielding the following statistics
of the population in February, 1849 :
Ward 1 9,972
" 2 10,193
" 3 10,233
" 4 9,221
Ward 5 10,933
" 6 12,930
Total 63,482
In 1850 the regular government census showed a
falling off of 6668, chiefly in consequence of the
epidemic. The figures are, —
" White males in St. Louis County, Missouri :
30
40
11,413
40
50
4,573
50
60
1,804
60
70
624
70
80
160
80
90
32
90
100
6
100 and upward.
2
Aee unknown...
15
35,816
Females 20,987
Total 56,803
"Suppose the number of males between twenty and twenty-
one to be equal to one-tenth of the number between twenty and
thirty, and that number will be 1718, which taken from the
whole male population over twenty-one will leave 34,088 over
twenty-one.
" Assuming that there were 34,088 over twenty-one years of
age, calculate from census returns of 1850 the number under
that age, so as to get a proportion upon which to proceed in the
calculation at this time.
"White females in St. Louis County, Mo., according to cen-
sus (U. S.) 1850 :
20 years and under 30 10,189
30 '
40
50
60
70
80
90
100 an
Age u
i it
«
a
a
ii
«
14
40
5,917
50
2,785
60
1,346
70
572
80
142
90
27 '
100
3
0
aknown...,
6
Total 20,987
"These figures include foreigners not naturalized, but as the
census referred to is that of 1850, all not naturalized at that
time have since taken out their papers."
The excess of males over females revealed the re-
cency of a large proportion of the city's population.
In spite of losses by the cholera, however, the St.
Louis press was not afraid to make comparisons, and
this is the way it was done :
Cities.
1830.
Ratio for last
1840.
1850. ton years.
Per cent.
102,193
119,461
17
46,338
115,436
149
16,469
77,860
373
21,210
43,196
104
21,115
46,601
130
New Orleans 49,826
Cincinnati 24,831
St. Louis 4,977
Louisville 10,341
Pittsburgh 12,568
"Alike ratio of increase between 1850 and 1860 as there
was between 1840 and 1850 would produce the following re-
sults in 1860 :
Ratio of increase from
Cities. 1840 to 1850. Results.
New Orleans 17 per cent. 190,769
Cincinnati 149 per cent. . 287,433
St. Louis 373 per cent. 368,271
Louisville 104 per cent. 88,119
Pittsburgh 130 per cent. 107,182
" It is hardly right to suppose that the ratio of increase will
continue as large as the cities grow in size, but it is altogether
reasonable to believe that their relative ratio will be nearly
preserved, which is sufficient to show that St. Louis is destined
to be the largest city in the valley of the Mississippi in 1860,
if she be not now, upon two years' increase.
" It is to bo remembered that in the census of 1850, St. Louis
lost souie eight or nine thousand population from the fact of
her outgrowing her chartered limits. All north of Rocky
Branch, including Bremen and Lowell additions, were left out,
and on the west all beyond Eighteenth Street and Second Ca-
rondelet Avenue, which, if included, would swell her popula-
tion more than a tenth, and also her percentage of increase.
" It is also well to remember that her census was taken the
year immediately following the two greatest calamities that ever
befell her, — the cholera and the great fire of 1849, — and before
she had time to recover from their effects.
"If her chartered limits embraced the whole city, she is now
probably the largest city in the great valley.
"This is no sudden or impulsive start in her growth, for she
held nearly the same relative position towards her sister cities
of the valley between 1830 and 1840, as the following will show :
"New Orleans increased from 1830 to 1840, 105 per cent.
Cincinnati " " " 86 per cent.
St. Louis " " " " 231 per cent.
Louisville " " " " 105 per cent.
Pittsburgh " " " " 68 per cent."
1020
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
The city census of 1851 is very interesting as show-
ing the nationality of the inhabitants and the rapid
accession of immigrants from foreign countries.
" The population of the city proper is 77,716. We now give the
divisions of that population as ascertained by the census. It
will be seen by the following summary that more than one-half
of the population is of foreign extraction :
Other Free
German.
First Ward 8,792
Second Ward 3,124
Third Ward 2,147
Fourth Ward 1,528
Fifth Ward 3,858
Sixth Ward 4,385
Irish.
English
Nations.
Negroes.
699
202
276
13
1,151
277
489
352
1,732
536
656
227
3,330
528
310
464
1,948
481
277
96
2,417
897
451
107
23,814 11,277 2,921 2,459 1,259
" The whole number of foreigners is 40,471 ; the number of free
negroes, 1259. It appears from the records of the county courts
that the whole number of free negroes licensed to remain in this
county from September, 1841, to December, 1850, amounts to
575, leaving 684 in the city and county without license and in
violation of law."
To the 77,716 people in the city proper were to be
added the residents of " Bremen" and other suburbs,
5028, making a total population for the city of 82,744,
and yielding an aggregate for city and county of 104,-
834.
Sheriff Wilmer's census, completed on Dec. 17,
1852, resulted in :
Population of the city 94,819
" " county 29,034
Total population of the city and county 123,853
White males in the city 51,251
" females " 40,791
" males in the county 14,843
" females " 11,500
Free persons of color, male and female, in the city
and county 1,341
Slaves, male and female, in the city and county... 4,069
Comparative tables showing the increase from the month of
June, 1850, when the United States census was taken :
In 1850. In 1852. Increase.
Total city population 77,465 94,819 17,354
" county " 27,369 29,034 1,665
Decrease.
Slaves in city and county. 5,914 4,069 1,845
At that time the California gold fever was raging
and diverting population from all its ancient channels,
but it did not long affect Missouri and St. Louis. In
April, 1855, the newspapers of the day reported the
subsidence of the wave and the beginning of a reac-
tion. Said they, —
"The first effect of the gold discoveries in California seven
years since was to attract a large emigration from the Western
States. For some years previously we had lost many citizens,
who thought they could see in the wilds of Oregon better oppor-
tunities to improve their condition than they could find ou our
own teeming soil. But the Oregon emigrants comprised among
their numbers a good many whose exit from among us was not
a very serious loss, thriftless men, who did well if they pro-
duced as much as they consumed, and whose reluctant labor
yielded but little for export. A large proportion of the emigra-
tion to California was of a different character. Men of sub-
stance, activity, industry, and energy, some of our best
farmers, our best mechanics, our ablest merchants, sought the
land of gold. This drain on the population of the West could
not but be seriously felt in many localities, and though many
went intending to return, and though many have since gotten
home again, it is unquestionable that the population of Missouri
did not increase so rapidly from 1848 to 1854 as it would have
done had gold never been discovered in California.
" We are happy to record, however, that this great exodus
seems to be over almost if not entirely. We hear no more the
notes of preparation for the great journey over the plains, of
caravans of hundreds and thousands leaving homes and friends
for new and untried scenes. On the contrary, we find that emi-
grants to Western Missouri and Kansas and Nebraska are
coming in, as they used to do in the days of the ' Platte Pur-
chase,' fifteen years ago, and our western borders are now fast
making up the losses incurred by the ' California fever.' "
In 1860 the Federal census was as follows for St.
Louis County :
Townships.
Bonhomme 3,131
Central 5,272
Carondelet 3,827
Marainec 2,060
St. Ferdinand 3,926
St. Louis, —
First Ward 21,750
Second Ward 13,686
Third Ward 10.185
Fourth Ward 14,616
Fifth Ward : 12,172
Sixth Ward 7,664
Seventh Ward 12,731
Eighth Ward 22,451
Ninth Ward 19,705
Tenth Ward 22,516
Eleventh Ward
Twelfth Ward....
1860.
White. Colored.
498
576
166
408
863
95
110
337
837
517
394
374
312
115
206
Total 175,692 5808
The falsification of returns in 1870 makes that
census worthless, except for classes of comparison and
ratios. Its results are given herewith :
TABLE SHOWING THE WHITE AND COLOBED POPULATION
OF ST. LOUIS COUNTY.
ST. Louis CotJNTY.
1
Colored.
Indian.
1
1
1
1
9
6 304
858
47A4
1 458
6162
803
6 017
0 'KM5
8 923
297
3 009
1 778
5387
2 853
583
2 705
3436
St Ferdinand
952
-, v.jr.
7214
St Louis
8 395
805 a
5817
3386
9 203
St. Louis.
First Ward
32,099
1,607
2
23,389
10,319
33,708
Second Ward
21,295
680
12,106
21,855
Third Ward
23 109
754
V,
13,341
10537
Fourth Ward
36 O'Vi
2 538
0
20 363
12 810
30 173
Fifth Ward
3 510
-
1 '.) 6-'4
10 loll
•JH 774
Sixth Ward
2n,4i is
1,104
16,118
(i,:i'JO
21,618
Seventh Ward
3
12,003
5,1 05
Eighth Ward
19,659
7,( 01
18,600
8,110
20,710
Ninth Ward
29 268
649
1
4
13368
9,574
Tenth Ward
19,430
1,173
12,288
8,325
20,623
Eleventh \\ard
31 885
687
V
19018
13 .102
Twelfth Ward
18 787
834
6,699
19,621
324,729
26,415
41
4
124,383351,189
SAINT LOUIS AS A CENTRE OF TRADE.
1021
TABLE SHOWING THE CENSUS OF THE CITY OF ST. LOUIS ACCORDING TO NATIONALITY AND COLOR.
BORN IN UNITED STATES.
BOBN IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES.
STATES.
£
!S
5
I
§
4
\
"2
M
COUNTRIES.
|
P
1
0
§
a
s
•a
£
t-t
0)
1
_C
5
Alabama
- 426
246
123
625
231
56
340
6,720
2,439
1,424
278
3,706
1,882
712
1,502
2,542
746
145
554
121,931
58
1
343
955
9,250
190
6,880
2
5,878
150
150
1,439
129
578
2,235
45
660
251
559
274
1
6
11
28
205
174
32
26
9
2,010
611
"l74
27
66
8
911
12,281
1
1
3
8
38
243
362
"210
3
148
1,764
89
4
1,647
9
8
30
Africa
7
27
3
27
751
254
2 652
8
1
...
Arkansas
1
Delaware
Austria
Florida
7
British America :
Canada
New Brunswick
1,841
58
4
74
9
16
6
...
Indiana
Kentucky
Louisiana
Total British America
Central America
4
1
"i
Cuba
17
178
5,366
1
...
1
2
9
2
Denmark
Missouri
94
2,788
8
France
Germany :
5 881
New Hampshire
New Jersey
6,430
269
310
New York
Brunswick
Ohio
8 858
Oregon
4 849
9
186
482
220
24,269
1,775
Tennessee
Texas
i
3
2 566
...
...
West Virginia
Germany, not specified
2,933
District of Columbia
59,040
TERRITORIES.
Alaska
5
2
643
126
32,239
985
25
76
1
292
14
86
1
1
1,202
5
2
...
20
5
1
1
i
4
Italy
5
9
27
18
4
1
1
625
""9
Norway
Montana
Poland
Utah
Portugal
Washington
Wyomin"
At sea under United States flag
Not stated
53
2
South America
15
45
237
2
...
176,540
22,045
30
2,949
2
147
74
45
1
...
RECAPITULATION.
Total Whites 28!
' Colored 2'
i,737
',088
38
1
198,615
112,249
Wales
West Indies
At sea
Not stated
112,197
43
8
Grand total .
.. 31 f
,864 310,864
65
1022
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
The above exhibition of nationalities was thus
commented upon and analyzed by an intelligent jour-
nalist at the time the statistics were made public, —
" St. Louis is indeed a cosmopolitan city, if there is any on
earth. There is still a preponderance of about 85,000 natives
over those born in other countries, of whom, however, 22,000
are negroes; but if the children born in St. Louis of foreign
parents and who still speak foreign idioms were counted among
the foreigners, the two categories would stand in a much closer
proportion. At the time the last census was taken there were
198,615 natives and 112,249 foreigners in this city, the census-
takers having, with propriety, classed as foreigners only those
who were born abroad.
" Now, according to nativity, there are 176,570 whites and
22,045 colored Americans against 59,040 Germans, 32,239 Irish,
and 6568 English and Scotch, the balance hailing from almost all
countries on earth, even Australia, the Sandwich Islands, and
China not excluded. A glance over the statistics of our school
population proves the fallacy of these figures, so far as the ethno-
logical character of the city is concerned. Of the 24,347 pupils
enrolled in 1870 in our public schools, 10,600, or a little over two-
fifths of the whole number, were children of German parents,
while only 512, or one out of forty-eight, were born in Germany.
Doubtless, therefore, the new arrivals are mostly adults ; but
inasmuch as the 'first generation born of foreign parents in this
country retain more of the peculiarities of their ancestors than
they get from the people into which they will be fused in the
end, the ethnological character of St. Louis at present is not
exactly determined by the statics of the places of nativity.
" Considering, therefore, the above-stated school statistics,
and taking into account the fact that about twice as many of
the children in the city of German parentage attend no school
at all, or are enrolled in the various parochial schools, the
German population, according to the standard of language and
habits, amounts at least to 90,000.
'• It is evidently more difficult to find the elements for a simi-
lar calculation in regard to the immigrant Irish, English, and
Scotch population, and those smaller numbers from various
other countries. A large majority of these speak English,
which enables them to amalgamate sooner with the American
nationality. But even of these a sufficient number retain their
native peculiarities in such a degree as to warrant the belief
that, ethnologically speaking, the population of St. Louis is
very nearly equally divided between natives and foreign-
en.
" No doubt this proportion will increase somewhat in favor
of the foreign population during the next ten years, the amal-
gamating power of the native inhabitants notwithstanding.
Not only that the native population has no means to make up
for the regular influx from abroad, even if, as it is supposed, it
will be smaller than previously, but during the first generation
the foreigners increased in a larger ratio by births than the
natives.
" The increase of our population, however, has its rational
limit, and the moment the limit is approached, the ethno-
logical character of St. Louis will become more stationary
and uniform.
"After the second generation people of every extraction ac-
quire many of the physical and moral characteristics of the
predominant race. The ratio of births gets to un equilibrium ;
the large proportion of German children visiting the public
schools gives predominance to the English language; the accu-
mulation of wealth in tne hands of families of foreign extrac-
tion makes them build larger houses and in a style which is
more in harmony with the tastes and wants of the older in-
habitants.
" The increase of the colored population from about 5000,
which it was previous to the war, to upwards of 22,000 went
on without much disturbance in regard to the economical fea-
tures of our population as a whole. The growth of the city
has been so wonderful during the last ten years that this great
influx of colored people, which otherwise might have been a
source of annoyance, remained almost entirely unobserved. It
is probable that if the statistics had not authoritatively given
the number of negroes in St. Louis at 22,045, very few of our
citizens wouM have believed that more than about one-half of
that number were living among us. The cosmopolitan char-
acter of St. Louis is evidently a source of much good to the
country. It shows in a microcosmos the manner in which peo-
ple, composed of every nationality, may profit from each other'a
peculiarities, bear their idiosyncrasies, and bring them down to-
a common level upon which ay may safely stand and mutually
support themselves. People learn to respect the qualities and
honest habits of others, and to emulate each other in energy and
in their desire to promote the welfare of the whole. The natives
learn how to embellish their family life by the introduction of
fine arts, and the foreigners how to give up personal and na-
tional whims for the public good and mutual good understand-
ing."
The census of 1880 yielded the figures given below :
MINOR CIVIL DIVISIONS.
1880.
187U.
Bonhomme township, including Eirkwood
village
7 043
6 162
1,280
5,691
5 387
Central township *...
7 485
8 923
3,746
3 43ft
St. Ferdinand township, including the fol-
lowing villages:
7,923
7 214
197
817
350,518
310 864
Ward 1
17,434
" 2
13 997
" 3
14 494
" 4
24,502
" 5
19,445
" 6
9,949
" 7
13,143
" 8
6 657
" 9
10 812
" 10
26 904
" 11
5,584
" 12
28,536
" 13
8 773
' 14
20,333
' 15
13,562
< 16
11,699
' 17
17,227
' 18
24 673
' 19
7,229
" 20
12,246
" 21
4 187
' 22
3 294
' 23
< 24
12,256
' 25
1,015
' 26....
2,594
•• 27
4 824
" 28 ,
9.412
In 1876 formed as a separate municipality and increased by
parts of Carondelet and Central and all of St. Louis townships,
St. Louis Co.
1 In 1876 part to St. Louis City.
SAINT LOUIS AS A CENTRE OF TRADE.
1023
COUNTY.
Total population 31,888
NATIVITY — City.
Native. Foreign.
State Born in. White. Col'd. Country Born in.
Alabama 451 440 Africa 16
Males 16,988
Females 14,900
Arkansas 447 238 ' Asia. N. S 4
White 28,008
California 210 10
Atlantic Island 5
Colored 3,880
CITY.
Total population 350,518
Connecticut 639 6
Dakota 12 4
Austria, N. S 755
Baden 3,230 a
Bavaria 2 848 a
Delaware 129 1
Bohemia 2,456
Males 179,520
Dist. Columbia.. 291 45
Florida 64 18
British America, N. S. 76
Brunswick . 124 a
Females ... . .. . 170,998
Native 245,505
Georgia 364 250
Belgium 217
Foreign born 105,013
Central America 7
White 328,191
Illinois 13 487 448
Canada.... . 1.935 ft
Colored 22,256
Indiana 2,793 76 China 71
Indian Territory 14 9
Iowa 1,638 37
Cuba 33
Denmark 300
NATIVITY
Native.
State Born in. White. Col'd.
Arkansas 30 13
Arizona 1
California 12
Kansas 478 29
England .. 6 212 c
Kentucky 4,306 1,686
Europe, N. S 72
— County.
Foreign.
Country Born in.
Asia, N.S 2
Australia 2
Austria, N. S 19
Baden 321 a
Louisiana 1,884 1,015
France 2,138
Maine 412 5
Great Britain, N. S.... 11 o
Greece 8
Maryland 1,461 234
Massachusetts... 1,780 25
Mississippi 688 1,140
Michigan 549 21
Hamburg 170 a
Hanover 3,928 a
Hessen 1,958 a
Holland ' 588
Colorado 2
Connecticut 50
Dakota 6
Delaware 13 1
Dist. Columbia.. 15 1
i.'i, ,,.;,;>, 13 1
Bavaria 236 a
Bohemia 18
British America, N. S. 16
Belgium 27
Montana 13 3
Nebraska 103 8
Nevada 8
New Hampshire 335
New Jersey 1,046 8
New Mexico 25 3
New York 8,412 41
India 11
Italy 879
Luxemburg 60
Malta 6
Canada 111 b
Georgia 19 20
Illinois 548 8
Cuba 1
Mexico 46
Indiana 167 4
Indian Territory 3 1
Iowa 78
England 265 c
North Carolina.. 282 185
Ohio 7,152 279
Nassau 149 a
New Brunswick 39 b
France 278
Oregon 7
Newfoundland 126
Kansas 27 3
Kentucky 348 257
Hamburg 4 a
Rhode Island... 205 3
South Carolina.. 182 171
Tennessee 2,008 1,607
Norway 109
Maine 33
Hessen 212 a
Holland 49
Pacific Islands 18
Maryland 103 43
Massachusetts... 89
Hungary 8
India -3
Utah 44
Vermont 476 5
Prince Edward's Isl... 15 b
Prussia 13,612 a
Virginia 2,305 1,574
Poland 389
Washington Ter. 1
West Virginia... 160 34
Wisconsin 862 18
Russia 136
Missouri 18,110 2885
Mecklenburg 11 a
Sandwich Islands 6
Saxony 909 a
Nevada 1
Nassau 58 a
Wyoming, 9
Scotland 1,309 c
New Hampshire 13
New Jersey 48 2
New Mexico..!.... 4
New Brunswick 3 b
At sea, U. S 1
When added, items marked a
her born in German Empire.
Those marked b make 2091
America.
Those marked e make 36,31
Britain and Ireland,
Native white
Spain 58
Norway 2
Sweden 551
New York , 241 3
North Carolina.. 24 32
Ohio 313 5
Switzerland 2,385
Turkey 7
Poland 6
Wales 241 c
Pennsylvania... 325 6
Rhode Island.... 8 1
South Carolina.. 13 22
Tennessee 151 111
Texas 14 4
Russia 2
Saxony 107 a
Weimar 7 a
West Indies 71
Scotland 59 c
Sweden 28
Switzerland 181
Germany, N. S 26,643 a
Vermont 38 2
Virginia 289 260
Wales 9c
Weimar 3 a
Ireland 28,536 c
make 54,901, which is the num-
, the number born in British
9, the number born in Great
223.305
West Virginia .. 11 2
Wisconsin 38 2
West Indies 1
At sea, foreign 1
Germany, N. S 1305 a
Ireland... 992 c
When added, items marked a make 4382, which is the num-
ber born in German Empire.
Those marked b make 116, the number born in British
America.
Those marked c make 1325, the number born in Great Britain
and Ireland.
Native white ... 21423
Native colored 22,200
Foreign - 1 0S. 01 3
Total population
350.518
Increase in the Value of Real Estate. — The
history of the rapid increase of values of real estate in
St. Louis is worth writing, for two reasons. In the
first place, it is almost as full of wonders as the tale of
Native colored 3,876
Foreign 6.589
Total population. .
, 31,888
1024
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
the building of Aladdin's palace, in respect to the
sudden and almost miraculously rapid advances in
values. In the second place, it helps to prove the
point we have been contending for throughout this
entire chapter, — that the people of St. Louis have
from the beginning almost been conscious of the city's
great destinies. Mrs. Hunt, the daughter of Judge
J. B. C. Lucas, was fond of telling how her father
used to point to a piece of real estate at Pittsburgh
which he could have bought for a song, and which
sold for over a million. The incident simply illus-
trates that confident belief entertained by Judge
Lucas in the future of St. Louis which kept him a
poor man all his life, and reduced him, while the
owner of millions in land, to an income of less than
two thousand dollars a year even at the day of his
death. Henry W. Williams, who knows as much,
probably, about real estate as any single person in St.
Louis, prepared a very curious paper in 1860 for Mr.
Edwards' " Great West" about " the advance of real
estate in St. Louis," an article from which we borrow
largely. Mr. Williams says, —
" The rise of real estate in St. Louis has been so
fabulous that it has become a theme of wonder and
interest. We could not make this history complete
did we not give some account of the progressions, and
to make the relation more varied, more extensive,
more authentic and interesting, we have solicited the
aid of those gentlemen that are known to the com-
munity as most conversant with all of its features, and,
without comment or alteration, we give to our readers
the communications which have been addressed to us
relative to our inquiries."
And here is one of his examples, —
"Sr. Louis, March 24, 1860.
" DEAR SIR, — In compliance with your request, I have tried
to bring to mind as far as I could the value of real estate in this
city during the past forty-two years. I have not been a specu-
lator in lands, but have bought for my own use. In the year
1822 I purchased a lot on Third Street, between Plum and
Cedar Streets, 75 feet front by 150 in depth, for the sum of $225
the lot. In the year 1846 I sold the same lot for $3000, and it is
now held at a bid of $17,000. In 1834 I bought a lot on Main
Street, between Spruce and Myrtle Streets, 40 feet front, run-
ning to the river-bank, for $350, and in 1852 I sold it, with a
two-story house on it, for $10,000. The same property is now
worth $35,000. In 1845 I bought a lot on Second Street, be-
tween Lombard and Hazel Streets, 150 feet front, running to
the river, for $800, and in 1855 I sold one-third of it for $42,-
000, and held the balance at $100,000. In 1849 I bought a
house and lot on Walnut Street, between Sixth and Seventh
Streets, for $6000. In 1856 I was offered $15,000 for it. I
have known similar sales.
"Yours truly, W. RISLEY."
Here follows another, —
"Sr. Louis GAS-LIGHT COMPANY,
"ST. Louis, Feb. 9, 1860.
"DEAR SIR, — At your request I refresh my memory to give
you, as far as I can in my opinion, the value of property in St.
Louis for some twenty-five to thirty-five years back. The first
sale which I can recollect was made by grandmother Dubruil,
of a lot on the corner of Second and Pine Streets, 70 feet front
by 150 deep, to M. Papin, for §700. This was, I think, in 1822
or 1823. My mother bought, in 1822 or 1823, a lot 70 feet front
by 150 in depth, corner of Second and Olive Streets, southwest
corner, with good stone house, log kitchen, barn, and good fences,
all for $1500. The above are now worth from $1500 to $2000
per foot.
" In 1826 my grandmother's property on Second Street, block
61, I believe between Chestnut and Pine Streets, was sold by
the administrator, 50 feet, corner Second and Chestnut, by 150,
for $10 per foot. The remainder, about 18 feet, with a first-
rate stone house and kitchen, was bought in by my mother for
benefit of estate for $3000, and sold by her to Mr. Gay in 1830
or 1831 for the same price, so that property had not risen in
that locality from 1826 to 1831. Property even in the business
parts of the city had but a nominal value till about 1832 to
1833. It may have commenced rising a little in 1831, but so
slightly that it was not noticeable, and did not really seem to
rise till 1835. From this period it went up in the business parts
of the town pretty rapidly till 1838 or 1839, the commencement
of bank disasters. From that period to 1842-43, though there
may have been no fall, there was no demand, and, to my knowl-
edge, no sales.
"In 1836 or 1837 I heard Mr. Lucas offer land about Lucas
Place for two hundred dollars an acre. He sold lots to Benoist,
Bogy, and others on Eighth Street, between Pine and Locust
Streets, for ten dollars per foot.
"After the crash of the banks, from 1837 to 1841, property
had but a nominal value; it commenced rising about 1842 or
1843, and went up gradually till 1845, from which time it im-
proved more rapidly till the great fire in 1849. From the latter
date it rose very fast to the present time, and still continues
rising, notwithstanding the cry of croakers to the contrary,
and, in my humble judgment, will continue onward till the
great valley of the Mississippi is filled up and densely popu-
lated. Country property rose but little until the building of
plank and macadamized roads, but went up magically after the
commencement of our railroads.
"To resume, in my opinion there was but an imperceptible,
if any, rise in property in the city till 1834 or 1835, when it
continued to rise slowly till the great crash in 1838 or 1839. It
went up again about 1842 or 1843, slowly till 1849, and from
that period to date very rapidly.
"Hoping the above may add a little light to your valuable
researches, I remain, dear sir, yours truly and respectfully,
"Louis A. LABAUMK."
"ST. Locis, March 9, 1860.
" DEAR SIR, — I will try to comply with your request in rela-
tion to the relative value of property in St. Louis during the
last few years.
"I will give you the facts' of a few prominent points, by
which you will be able to judge of intermediate points.
" Early in 1840 property on the corner of Fifth and Market
Streets sold for $100 per foot; the same will now readily sell
for $1000 per foot.
"In 1340 I bought lots on Olive Street, between Seventh and
Eighth Streets, at $40 per foot, which would now sell for $350
per foot. About this time I could have bought of Judge J. B.
C. Lucas property on Olive Street, between Eleventh and
SAINT LOUIS AS A CENTRE OF TRADE.
1025
Twelfth Streets, for $10 per foot, which is now worth $300 per
foot. And on the same street, between Fifteenth and Sixteenth
Streets, $5 per foot is now worth $200 per foot.
"In 1842-43 property sold in Christy's addition, west of the
St. Louis University, between Twelfth and Sixteenth Streets
and Christy Avenue, at from $4 to $10 per foot. The same
would sell to-day for from $125 to $200 per foot.
" In 1843-44, on Franklin Avenue, and south of it, in Mills'
addition, property sold about Twenty -third Street at from §3
to $5 per foot is now worth from $50 to $75 per foot.
" In the neighborhood of the market on Seventh Street prop-
erty could have been bought in 1844 at from $10 to $20 per
foot. The same will now sell for from $250 to $300 per foot.
Looking southwardly, property sold about this time at a very
low figure, but has rapidly risen to figures quite as high as in
any other direction.
" From 1840 to 1850 the tendency was north. About 1850 a
very rapid advance took place to the south and southwest. From
about 1854 to 1860 a great rush took place to the northwest, in
the direction of fair grounds.
" North St. Louis, about Bremen, toward 1850 began to make
rapid strides.
" In 1849 Lowell was first offered. It had been bought only
one year before for about $200 per acre. In May, 1849, it sold
for from $5 to $10 per foot on Bellefontaine road. It is now
selling at from $20 to $30 per foot, or about $4000 to $5000
per acre.
" Thus if you take a stand-point about the court-house you
will find the progress resulting about the same, though some-
thing in favor of the northward. Westwardly you will find quite
an equal advance.
"In Stoddard's addition, which is only about ten years old,
property sold at from $5 to $20 per foot. It will now sell at
from $50 to $125 per foot.
" As you will observe, the wave of progress has fluctuated in
every direction, first in one and then in another, but finally it
gains an equilibrium, as things have become established.
" Thus you will see that those who invest money in St. Louis
have only to wait a little and a short time brings about vast
results. And the only way to judge .of the future is to look at
the past; according to this rule, the destiny of St. Louis is
bound to be the great central city of the United States.
"Truly yours,
"W. HALL."
" Many other instances might be cited," Mr. Wil-
liams adds, " showing an increase in the value of the
real estate of the city of from thirty to fifty per cent,
per annum ; but I have already wearied your patience,
and close, regretting that the pressure of business
has prevented my giving you a more connected and
coherent statement of my recollections."
The history of real estate movements and opera-
tions, in the early periods of the city especially, has
been given pretty fully in preceding chapters, and there
is no occasion to do more than supplement these facts
in the present chapter with illustrative cases. The
system of bringing land into market under advan-
tageous and attractive bids, matured by Chouteau and
Lucas, was speedily copied by their enterprising rivals
in business. The following is from an advertisement
of Louis Labaume's in 1812, 15th of June :
" L. Labaume, Real Estate Agent. To the Public: The sub-
scriber has laid off in town lots part of the plantation on which
he resides, situated on the banks of the Mississippi, about a mile
north of St. Louis; each square is three hundred and sixty feet
in front by three hundred feet back, being sub-divided into
six lots, each of one hundred and twenty in front by one hun-
dred and fifty in back. The streets running parallel with tho
Mississippi are sixty feet wide, and the cross streets forty-five.
One square is reserved for public use, and another for schools,
etc. He will dispose of the rest on the most reasonable terms
for cash and property, and will give some credit on giving good
security. The beauty and conveniences of the place is inferior
to none in the country. Those inclined to purchase will please
apply to L. LABATJMK.''
This is cleverly done, and proves that Mr. Labaume
was an apt pupil in the methods for disposing of real
estate at good figures. His heirs, however, will scarcely
forgive him for selling when he did. A corner lot of
that estate will now sell for three times as much as
Mr. Labaume was offered for the entire property.
Auguste Chouteau, unlike Judge Lucas, was always
ready to sell his lots in St. Louis at an advance, and
when he saw the chance to buy others. He liked to
turn over property frequently, " to realize on it" now
and then, as the phrase goes, showing that he was a
person of less faith than John B. C. Lucas, but per-
haps a more useful man to have about a growing and
ambitious town ; for, much as such places need buy-
ers, they need sellers still more, people who are willing
to let their real property change hands at reasonable
current figures, and without nursing it for their grand-
children. Chouteau built, traded, developed indus-
tries, turned his money over and over again, and waa
not afraid of taxes. For years he was the largest tax-
payer in St. Louis. Lucas, on the contrary, was always
on the lookout for cheap lots, bought to hold, and did
not improve. Cheap lots could be got without much
trouble. The Missouri Gazette, of Oct. 9, 1819,
" At the March sale of public lands in this district, one hun-
dred and seven thousand acres were disposed of at the average
price of two dollars and ninety-one cents per acre."
At this time the values of land everywhere in Mis-
souri, and not excepting St. Louis, were greatly unset-
tled by frauds and fraudulent claims and the long and
costly processes of litigation. The liberal land grants
under the Spanish regime in its last year had opened
the way to this, and the trouble was aggravated by
speculators who were seeking to locate New Madrid
lots (land granted by the United States in cases where
property was injured by the earthquakes of 1811-13)
even upon the very boundaries of St. Louis. The
landshark of that day, rapacious monster, stopped at
nothing to insure his claim. Theft, perjury, forgery,
murder, all the crimes in the statute-book were com-
1026
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
mitted to get property for nothing, and to dispossess
rightful owners ot their estates and improvements.
The simple French habit ans, the land commissioners,
and the courts were no match for these confederated
thieves, with their wholesale forgeries and their gangs
of hirelings ready to swear to anything. Bryan and
Rose, in their interesting " Pioneer Families of Mis-
souri," have preserved the affidavit of one of these
suborned perjurers, given at Kaskaskia in August,
1807:
" I, Simon Toiton, being in my sober senses, having taken no
drink, and after mature deliberation, having been apprised
that I had given a great number of depositions relating to land
titles, as well those derived from donations as from improve-
ments ; that by means of these depositions great quantities of
land have been confirmed to different persons in whose favor I
have given these depositions, I do consequently declare, as I
have already declared to several persons, that I am ignorant
of the number I may have given, since I was drunk when I
gave them, a failing to which I am unfortunately addicted ;
and that when I am in that state any one, by complying
with my demands, may do what they please with me. If this
work had been proposed to me when in my senses [hiatus in
manutcripi]. I declare that I recollect that on the last day of
November, 1806, I was sent for. Before setting out I drank a
quart of liquor; and that there might be no want of it, I took
it again on my arrival ; before beginning the certificates I took
another quart, and this continued until midnight nearly. I
recollect at that time to have given twenty-two or twenty-three
depositions ; that is to say, I copied them from models, to which
I made them conform, observing to these persons that what I
did could have no validity. They told me not to -mind that,
that it would be of service to those for whom I made them, and
that I ought not to fear anything or make myself uneasy. I
declare solemnly that all these last depositions are false, as well
as those I had given previously to that time, no matter in whose
favor I may have given them; because, to my knowledge, I
have never given any except when I was in liquor, and not in
my sober .senses. I furthermore declare that I am not acquainted
with any improvements in this country."
It was by this sort of fraud and villany that land
titles were confused in Missouri, and many honest and
deserving proprietors swindled out of their property.
Here is an instance in point :
" In the year 178ft the government of Spain granted to An-
gelica Chauvin a concession of forty by forty arpens of land
near the then post of St. Louis, bounded by land granted to one
Louis Robert on one side, and the king's domain lengthwise
the river Des Peres. The concession was sold by the grantee
to Jean F. Perry, a meritorious citizen. "The government of
the United States came, under treaty obligations to the Spanish
government, to respect all concessions of land similar to the one
to Madame Chauvin, and to fully and faithfully discharge that
obligation Congress in 1805 created a board of commissioners
charged with that duty. This board of commissioners was com-
posed of eminent men of the highest integrity, but they were by
law restricted to the consideration only of concessions accom-
panied by specific and authentic plats showing the corners and
locations of grants presented for confirmation.
"In the year 1811 the board met and confirmed to Jean F.
Perry, assignee of Angelica Chauvin, forly by forty arpens of
land, the concession being first presented and then the plat, and
ordered the same surveyed according to possession (the pos-
session of the grantee). In the year 1812, being one year after
the confirmation of the claim, Perry died, leaving four orphan
children, all girls ; and in the language of Mr. Griswold, ' here
the monster slept !' Yes, slept for twenty years, until the chil-
dren grew up to be women and were married. During this
lapse of time the cormorants were busy with their New Madrid
' floats,' and before the children grew to be women had succeeded
in spreading them all over their land, although that land never
belonged to the United States."
This piece of property was so long in dispute that
immense values and interests became involved in its
settlement ; the interposition of Congress was sought,
and finally the claimants were thrown out in favor of
the possessors. This instance is not adduced by way
of pointing an injustice or a grievance, — we have
nothing to do with the merits of any particular claim,
— but to show how delays and litigation affected the
titles and values of property. No one buys a lawsuit
if he can help it, and when he does buy one he always
insists upon its cost being counted in the bill. It is
beyond a doubt that disputed and defective titles had
a very depressing effect on the values of real estate in
St. Louis for many years, and interfered materially
with the extent and rapidity of transfers.1
1 It is only proper to give the other side of this Chauvin
claim, — the side of the occupants whom it was sought to oust.
The following statement of the case was published in 1853 :
"A grant was made to Madame Chauvin in May, 1784, of
sixteen hundred arpens of land, about six miles west of St.
Louis, on both sides of the River des Peres, or, in the words of
the grant, 'said river running through it from north to south,
to be improved within a year and a day.' In June, 1785, her
grant was canceled for non user, and the land specifically
granted to one Tayon. Tayon went to St. Charles, and Gov-
ernor Trudeau granted to Madame Papin three thousand two
hundred arpens, including the above sixteen hundred arpens.
Tayon came back, told the Governor his grant had been invaded,
but as he did not wish to disturb the occupant, would be satis-
fied with a floating right for the sixteen hundred arpens; he
got this, and sold it to Mr. Chouteau, the brother of Mrs. Papin,
and this float was afterwards located.
" J. F. Perry bought of Mrs. Chauvin, in Illinois, her right,
and presented it to the old board of commissioners for confirma-
tion. They rejected the claim. Subsequently it was presented
again and confirmed, ' to be surveyed conformably to possession,
and at the expense of the claimant.' This was in 1811; the
survey was made and approved in 1832, and the very place of
Madame Chauvin's possession pointed out to the surveyor and
marked on the plat, and this survey took the eastern half of the
Papin tract, showing that Tayon knew what he stated when he
got his float. But the Papin survey was before this, confirmed
earlier, and hence the Chauvin survey could not hold, although
Gen. Ashley, then in Congress, tried to get it patented.
" It has slept since, sometimes in the hands of Elliott Lee,
Jesse G. Lindell, Daniel D. Page, and others, until it turns up
to belong to Joshua R. Stanford, of Illinois, who appointed
A. II. Evans his agent to locate the claim.
" This ingenious man fixes his corner for the sixteen hundred
arpens of land on the River des Peres, and there turns the
claim upon it- <i. /•/-•, and rolls it round ao that its southeast
SAINT LOUIS AS A CENTRE OF TRADE.
1027
The holder of a New Madrid certificate having
got an act of Congress passed authorizing him to locate
it, actually attempted for that purpose to take posses-
sion under this warrant of Duncan's Island and the
water-front of St. Louis. Much of the city prop-
erty and school property was squatted upon in the
same way, with a network of claims and a regiment
of claimants, so that in most cases, after years of
costly litigation and delay, the authorities found it
cheaper to compromise than to make good their com-
plete title. The schools in this way, as fully described
elsewhere, lost a great amount of valuable property.
Another thing which had an injurious effect on the
value of property was the unsettled condition of the
city's estate in the commons and common fields. It
would be mere repetition to state here what has been
so fully set forth in other chapters about these tracts
of land and the disposition made of them. But the
fact that the city held all this land, and would of
course some day sell it, put St. Louis in the position
of a powerful and favored competitor with every
dealer in real estate in the community. The city
could sell on terms which no ordinary operator was
able to offer. It could hold on as long as it pleased,
sell all or as much as it pleased, give what times of
payment it pleased, in short, could bull or bear the
market at its option. No operator in real estate was
either able or willing to lock horns with such a gigan-
tic and powerful opponent, and as long as the city held
the commons it had the speculation in real property
at its mercy.
corner shall settle in the Chouteau mill tract, just across the
Widow Camp's lot, and then run off north and west for quan-
tity, running over the Grand Prairie common field lots to
a little north of the St. Charles road, and going west from
about the Prairie House so as to overlay John Lay, and just
escape the Cftte Brilliant* tract, and so avoid the place where
Tayon said the land was, and where Jean F. Perry had it sur-
veyed.
" This claim has been rejected in every court where they have
tried to introduce it, rejected by the surveyor-general here,
rejected by the commissioner of the general land office at
Washington, and is now tried to be pressed upon the Secretary
of the Interior by the employment of Col. Benton as its advo-
cate. . Col. Benton is the member of Congress from this district,
and we should like to know how much he is to receive for the
effort to divest hundreds of owners of lands in the Grand
Prairie.
" Mr. Geyer, in the performance of his duties as a lawyer, we
have understood, was offered one-half of this claim if he would
make it stick anywhere save where Perry had located it, but
he could not do it. The influence of Col. Benton, representa-
tive in Congress from this district, is invoked in the hope of
getting a different decision from that which has been rendered
by the courts and the commissioner of the general land office '
in the case. We shall see how it work? upon the secretary of [
the interior."
The commons embraced under various surveys
about three thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven
acres of land, lying (as described in 1859)
" south and southwest of the city, and embraces such locali-
ties as the House of Refuge, the Lafayette Park, etc., but a
more accurate recital of its boundary lines may not be without
interest. The southeastern boundary, then, begins on the river-
bank, about a half-mile below the 'Sugar Lonf,' or, to be more
precise, at a point three to four hundred feet below the residence
of Charles L. Tucker, Esq. ; thence it follows the river-bank to
a point nearly opposite the Workhouse; thence, leaving the
river, and being bounded on the east by lands of Messrs. Kay-
ser, Kennett, and others, it proceeds northerly into the present
First Ward of the city, following a straight line, through the
property of Thomas Allen, Esq., Henry G. Soulard, Esq., and
others, between Eighth and Ninth Streets, to its intersection
with Hickory Street ; thence westwardly along Hickory Street
to a point between Morton Street and St. Ange Avenue, about
opposite the terminus of Fourteenth Street ; thence northwardly
again to Chouteau Avenue; thence westwardly with Chouteau
Avenue to its intersection with Grand Avenue; thence with
Grand Avenue southwardly to the Stringtown road, and with
the Stringtown road southwardly again to the vicinity of tracts
held by Messrs. Chartrand and Delore, a little below the house
formerly kept by Peter Delore; and thence finally in an east-
erly direction to the point of beginning on the river. These
limits, it will be perceived, embrace many of the most elevated
plateaus, and withal one of the most charming districts in the
suburbs of the city proper."
The common fields are described at the same date :
"There were a number of these common fields about St.
Louis, — the Prairie des Noyer fields in the south, beginning at
or near the present Grand Avenue, running westwardly for
depth, and (by way of some sort of definite location) intersect-
ing what are now the suburban grounds of Henry Shaw, Esq. ;
the Cul de Sac common fields, a little north of Prairie des
Noyer, and embracing and extending north and south of the
grounds of John S. McCune, Esq., Dr. Barret, the Rock Spring
Cemetery, etc. ; then the St. Louis common fields, beginning
eastwardly at Third Street, and extending from say the St.
Charles roaS to a distance below Olive Street; and finally the
Grand Prairie fields still farther west."
Successive acts of Congress of June 13, 1812, and
May, 1824, and of the Missouri Assembly in March,
1835, authorized their sale, with reservations for
schools. It was put to vote at the latter date whether
the commons should be sold, and whether a half,
fourth, or tenth of the proceeds should go to schools.
The ballot decided in favor of sale, and of appropri-
ating one-tenth to the school fund.
The act provided a sub-division of the common into
parcels of not less than one nor more than forty acres,
besides which the buyers of common lots were not to
pay the amounts which they had bid on the respective
lots, but to pay an interest or rent of five per cent, a
year on the amount of purchase-money for the period
of ten years, after which, on paying the full amount
bid, the purchasers were to receive their deeds.
Buyers who preferred it were permitted to continue
1028
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
the payment of such rent for the space of fifty years,
after which, and every fifty years thereafter, their lots
would be revalued, and a rent of five per centum per
annum paid on these revaluations. It will be con-
ceded that the terms of payment under this rule were
liberal and accommodating enough to the speculators
in common grounds. Accordingly, under these terms,
the common was advertised for sale in 1836, and very
nearly all, if not quite all, the lots sold. It appears ;
that the affair went off spiritedly, and the prices ranged
from fifty to one hundred and fifty dollars per acre,
the average being about one hundred dollars. On
reflection, the buyers, with few exceptions, seemed to
unite in the opinion that these prices were excessive,
and that their common purchases were a common
grand " take in." From the date of sale the Board
of Aldermen was flooded with the petitions of the
buyers for release from their purchases, and for a
long while, and until the city had again secured the
title to nearly the entire common, the authorities
were engaged in forfeiting these first sales of 1836.
The question of selling the common was then
allowed to sleep until about 1842, when only a few of
the forfeited lots were resold. In 1854 the City
Council, under further authority of the Legislature,
passed another ordinance making new and different
arrangements for the sale of the common. The ordi-
nance appointed a " Board of City Common," with
authority to sub-divide the common into lots twenty-
five feet front by one hundred and twenty-five feet
deep ; to intersect it with streets and avenues of no
less width than sixty feet, and alleys of twenty feet,
and with power to sell from time to time at auction
sale, on terms of one-sixth cash and the remainder in
equal annual installments of one, two, three", four, and
five years, the interest on the deferred payments to be
six per centum per annum. Under this ordinance
five sales took place, the first being in June, 1854,
and the last in July, 1859. The amounts realized in
these sales sum up as follows :
First sale, June, 1854, aggregate proceeds, $210,000
Second " Oct. 1854, " " 160,000
Third " May, 1855, " " 145,000
Fourth " Oct. 1856, " " 100,000
Fifth " July, 1858, " " 55,000
making a total of $670,000. Of this amount one- J
tenth, or 867,000, was paid to the public schools, who
in some instances took land instead of money, and
from what remained, 8453,000 went to the sinking
fund, and $150,000 to the purchase or the improve-
ment of public parks; this disposition of the pro-
ceeds being directed by the ordinance which authorized
the sales. To show how " circumstances alter cases,"
and how opinions and values change with time, in
these latter sales of 1854, 1856, and 1858 there were
sums paid for the purchase of single lots 25 feet front
by 125 feet in depth which at the first sale of 1836
would have purchased twenty-seven and a half acres,
or more than one acre to every foot front. Or, to
change the comparison, if the sum of $1375 invested
in 1856 for a single lot of 25 feet front had been
judiciously invested at the sale of 1836, as it might
have been in numerous parts of the common, it would
in 1859 have been worth to the party investing
from $144,000 to $150,000, but it was the good for-
tune of the city, and the evil fortune of the buyers,
that, as stated above, the original sales were nearly all
forfeited.
The last sale took place Oct. 4, 1859, and a con-
temporary report of it said that, —
" The sale of common lots by the city, effected by Messrs.
Papin & Brother last Tuesday, was a complete success. The
lots advertised were all, or nearly all, sold, and the prices real-
ized were satisfactory. Lots on Maramec Street, opposite Mr.
John Withnell's, brought from $14 to $21 per foot, averaging
over $17 per foot. On Kansas, Michigan, and other avenues
which intersect block 80 the average was about $10 per foot.
Block 80 itself realized about $48,000. Afterwards on Caron-
delet road the lots brought from $12 to $16.50 per foot, on
Michigan Avenue $8 to 815 per foot, and on the various other
thoroughfares from $5 to $16 per foot. In all 306 lots were
sold. The attendance was large, numbering from 250 to 300
bidders. The sale was prolonged until eight o'clock in the
night, at which hour three lots were sold on Lafayette Avenue,
opposite Chris. Stechlin's brewery, for $77.50 per foot. The
aggregate amount of sales was 7684 feet front, producing
$80,601."
It was after these sales had gotten under way that
real estate values in St. Louis began to "jump." as
will be seen by the following table :
ASSESSED VALUE OF BEAL ESTATE IN ST. LOUIS.
For the year 1842 $12,101,018
1850 29,676,649
1852 38,281,668
1853 39,3(.tr,isr>
1854 41.104,921
1855 42,456,757
1856 60,689,625
1857 73,662.043
1858 82,160,449
1859 92,340,870
^Ye do not, however, by any means wish to imply
that the real estate interest was stagnant previous to
this. On the contrary, there had been, as has already
been shown, a steady and rapid rise in values all along.
It has been satisfactory as regards St. Louis ; it
would be enormous in respect to any other commu-
nity, Chicago excepted. A few salient facts culled
from various sources will illustrate this.
Augustin Langlois conveyed to Albert Tison, Nov.
29, 1804, in the Carondelet portion of St. Louis, two
SAINT LOUIS AS A CENTRE OF TRADE.
1029
hundred arpens, "just as it is from top to bottom,"
for fifty-five dollars.
The first recorded conveyance of a lot within the
limits of the old French village of St. Louis under the
jurisdiction of the United States government was on
Jan. 15, 1805, when Francis Liberge, Jr., sold to
Dominick Huge a lot two hundred and forty feet front
on Second Street, between Market and Chestnut
Streets, and one hundred and fifty feet deep westward.
The price for this piece was stated in the deed to be
four hundred dollars.
A tract of fifteen or sixteen acres a little northwest
of the old City Hotel, corner of Third and Vine
Streets, was bought at an early day by a Mr. Earl, of
Baltimore, for one hundred and fifty dollars. He did
not consider it worth the taxes, and let it go.
In 1805, Joseph Lacroix sold to Louis Lemonde,
for forty dollars, forty arpens, or nearly thirty-five
acres, situated in the vicinity of the present Lindell
and Laclede Hotels.
The first acquirement of the well-known Lucas
estate was recorded on Dec. 14, 1807. The deed
shows that Pre. Duchouquette sold " to John B. C.
Lucas, first judge of the Territory of Louisiana, resid-
ing in this town of St. Louis, a house built of logs
stuck into ground, a barn built of cedar wood, the
house being underwalled and covered with shingles,
the whole lying and being situated on two sites of the
ordinary size and dimensions in this town." The
deed further recites the location, which was on the
north side of Chestnut Street, from Second to Third
Street. The sale was " in consideration of six hun-
dred dollars' worth of peltry, that is to say, two pounds
and a half of shaved deerskin and marketable per dol-
lar." Judge Lucas paid one-third of the six hundred
dollars in cash, and gave a note for the balance. Judge
Lucas died in 1843, owning, according to inventory
in the Probate Court, $5*7,688 of personal estate, five
lots in the old town of St. Louis, all that portion of
the then city from Fourth to Eighth Street, between
Walnut and Market, fifty acres from Eleventh to
Seventeenth Street, between Market and St. Charles
Streets, and four hundred and eighty-eight acres in
other parts of St. Louis County. The assessed value
of the entire real estate in 1842 was $136,890 for city
and $150,000 for country property.
The first assessment of property for taxation in the
town of St. Louis of which there is any record was
in 1811. The total assessed value of real and per-
sonal property was $134,516; the rate of taxation
was one-half of one per cent., and the amount of
taxes paid was $672.58. The heaviest tax-payer
within the town was Auguste Chouteau, and his
property was valued at $15,664. This Chouteau also
owned about $61,000 worth of property in the county
outside of the then town, but which in latter years
became a part of the present city. Other large prop-
i erty-owners of that time, whose estates were not then
in the city, but subsequently added, were Judge J. B.
C. Lucas, valued at $10,555 ; John O'Fallon, $2450 ;
William Clark, $19,930; William Christy, $16,000;
and Henry Von Phul, $8175.
In 1816 a lot sixty-five feet front on Main Street,
between Locust and Vine, and running through to
Second Street, was bought for $1200. In December,
1850, a little more than one-third of the same lot sold
for $56,000. Prior to this time it had yielded an im-
mense rent for many years.
In other parts of the town of St. Louis at that time
(1816) property was sold at merely a nominal figure,
by the arpent or lot. There was scarcely any en-
hancement in the value of property from that time
until the years 1829 and 1830.
In the year 1829 we find that a lot on the corner
of Morgan and Fifth was sold for three dollars and
fifty cents per foot. In the year 1832 property on
the corner of Fifth and Cerre Streets was sold for
two dollars and fifty cents per foot. In the same year
ninety-five feet on the northeast corner of Seventh and
Spruce Streets was sold for one dollar and eighty
cents per foot. It was worth from three hundred to
four hundred dollars per foot in 1859. In the same
year (1832) property on the corner of Fifth and Gra-
tiot Streets was sold for two dollars per foot.
In the year 1835 property on the corner of Wash
and Sixth Streets was sold for the sum of seven dol-
lars and fifty cents per foot. In the same year a lot
at the corner of Hickory and Seventh Streets was sold
for one dollar per foot, and the whole of block 157
was sold for the sum of three hundred dollars. In
the same year the lot on Broadway opposite Franklin
Avenue, upon which Wimer's new building is now
situated, was sold for ten dollars per foot.
In the year 1836 property on Seventh Street, be-
tween Wash and Carr, was sold for six dollars per
foot.
In the same year, property on Green Street, be-
tween Tenth and Eleventh, sold for three dollars per
foot; on Eleventh, between Green and Morgan Streets,
for three dollars per foot ; on Austin Street, between
Twelfth and Fourteenth, for about sixty cents average
per foot ; on Market Street, between Third and Fourth
Streets, at twenty dollars per foot; and on the corner
of Clark Avenue and Seventh Street, for six dollars
per foot.
In 1837 property on Twelfth Street, between
1030
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Brooklyn and Howard Streets, was sold for five dol-
lars per foot.
In 1841, at the northwest corner of Broadway and
Jefferson Streets, at eight dollars per foot.
In the same year, on the corner of Chambers and
Ninth Streets, for five dollars per foot.
Property on Olive Street, in the vicinity of Twelfth
and Thirteenth Streets, sold as late as 1844 for from
twelve to thirteen dollars per foot.
Take Stoddard's addition, for instance, which was
sold in the fall of 1851. Property on the corner of
Locust and Beaumont Streets was then sold for fifteen
dollars per foot; on the corner of Washington Av-
enue and Garrison Avenue for five dollars and sev-
enty-four cents per foot ; on the corner of Franklin
Avenue and Ewing Avenue for fifteen dollars per foot ;
on the corner of Lucas Avenue and Ewing Avenue
for ten dollars ; on the corner of Lucas and Leffing-
well Avenues for the same price, and at the same ratio
throughout the whole addition.
Eight years later this property was held at sixty
to one hundred dollars per foot. On Chouteau Av-
enue land worth twenty dollars in 1851 was held at
above one hundred and fifty dollars in 1859. It was
noted this latter year that there was a regular and
systematic ratio of property value enhancement, and
the reason assigned for this — undoubtedly the true
reason, too — was that, unlike many cities, St. Louis
had not grown to her proud position in a day or a
year. Nor will she, like many of them, cease to en-
large and prosper at the option of speculators. Man-
ufactories and business of every kind and character
have steadily increased and kept pace with this im-
mense enhancement in the value of property. Build-
ings have been constantly going up, yet not fast
enough to accommodate the immense emigration con-
stantly swelling the population. In fact, the city has
never been so prosperous, and the future is even more
promising than the past has been satisfactory. There
is to-day more foreign capital in the city and State
seeking investment in real estate, business, and manu-
factories than there has ever been in any previous
three years together. There is a larger margin for
speculation in real property in St. Louis than there
has ever been.
Real estate is enhancing in value more and more
rapidly every year, and it must continue to do so until
the vast territory stretching as far west as the Rocky
Mountains shall be densely populated and pours its
immense harvests annually into our markets. It is
true that it requires more money to invest largely than
it did a few years ago, but the profits are greater in
proportion to the investment than they ever were.
There is not a single city in the Union where rents
yield such a percentage on the value of the property,
and yet any number of houses in any locality could
readily be rented, if they were finished, at the same
profits.
Continuing these illustrations, we find it noted that
" when Mr. Cozens made the survey, property on Lin-
dell Avenue, west of Grand, could have been bought
at from three to five dollars per front foot ; it is now
worth in many places one hundred and fifty dollars.
He has seen property on Fifth Street sell for two dol-
lars and fifty cents and three dollars per foot, — two
hundred and two hundred and fifty dollars a lot were
high prices ; now the same property is valued at over
fifteen hundred dollars per front foot. In the early
'40's Henry Chouteau sold at auction two hundred
feet front on Seventh Street, corner of Spruce, at fifty
cents per front foot. In Stoddard's addition, along in
the middle '50's, property sold at six and twelve dol-
lars per front foot ; to-day the same property is worth
from one hundred and fifty to two hundred dollars.
Mr. Cozens laid out in 1861-62 the Camp Jackson
tract, which took in from Garrison Avenue, or Thir-
tieth Street to King's Highway, south of Olive,
through which Pine and Chestnut Streets were pro-
jected. At the first sale, about 1863, property in that
tract brought from ten to fifteen dollars per front foot ;
to-day it is worth from one hundred and fifty to two
hundred dollars.
" In 1841, with Mr. Brown, Mr. Cozens laid out
William Christy's western addition, from Fourteenth
Street west to Jefferson Avenue, and between St.
Charles Street and Cass Avenue ; John Mullanphy's
estate, north of Cass Avenue, from Broadway west to
Jefferson Avenue ; a sub-division for L. A. Benoist,
W. G. and G. W. Ewing, on the south side of Cass
and east of Jefferson Avenue, property in which sold
for from one to five dollars per front foot."
Here follow some newspaper clippings :
1843. — "The value of the real and personal property ju the
city of St. Louis reported by the late assessment is $11,721,-
425.91. The reports from the treasurer say it will be necessary
to levy a tax of one per cent, on the assessment to meet the de-
mands of the current year."
1844.— "The total value of the taxable property of this city
as assessed during the present year, and just approved by the
board of aldermen, is $14,843,700. Last year the assessed
value was about $1 1,000,000.
'• It will be seen by an advertisement in this paper that Mr.
Lucas designs to offer at public sale a large number of his lots,
situated in the rear of the Planters' House, and in what must
be the most fashionable and agreeable part of the city. The
location is between Market and Olive Streets, and extending
from Thirteenth to Sixteenth Streets."
1845. — " Add the three districts together, and the total num-
ber of houses erected in 1844 in the corporate limits of St. Louis
SAINT LOUIS AS A CENTRE OF TRADE.
1031
may be set down at eleven hundred and forty-six. Of these
many were churches, public edifices, and costly private resi-
dences. But great as the improvement was in 1844, unless
some very unexpected reverse comes upon us, the amount to
be expended in building in 1845 will quite equal it.
"Mr. Lucas intends, we understand, this season to make an
improvement which will add greatly to the value of the prop-
erty in that quarter, and increase the population west of the
proposed improvement.
"We understand that he will open Twelfth Street, one hun-
dred and forty or sixty feet wide, from Market to St. Charles
Street, the breadth of five blocks. Fifty feet or so in the centre
of the street will be reserved for a market-house which he will
erect this season at his own cost, leaving a wide street on each
Bide of the market."
1849. — '' The assessment of the real estate in the city of St.
Louis for the year 1849, as appears from the assessor's books, is
as follows :
Old Limits.
Total.
First Ward
Second Ward
Third Ward
Fourth Ward....
Fifth Ward
Sixth Ward ...
New Limits.
$404,024.61 $2,651,677.96 $3,065,702.57 j
2,729,208.92 660,539.47 3,389,948.39
2,063,716.70
1,516,578.44
2,075,483.15
6,995,988.62
4,726,991.43
4,035,483.83
1,192.470.69
323,388.66
6,790,708.13
5,552,062.27
3,267,953.84
7,319,377.28
$13,421,568.14 $15,963,984.34 $29,385,552.48
lNr>0. — "We have said that we reckon the buildings erected
this year by the thousand. By reference to the published tables
it will be seen that their number reaches two thousand four
hundred and fifty. The money expended on their construction
amounts to the sum of £7,173,155."
1851. — "Large Sale of Land. — The large sale of land which'
has been going on for two days past in the ' Union Addition' to
St. Louis, or ' Capitol Hill,' was closed yesterday. One hundred
and sixty lots were sold, and the aggregate of the sales is
$88,063.44. This addition is situated near the new reservoir of
the city water-works, in the most elevated part of the city, and
full two miles from the court-house.
"The Stoddard sale, conducted by Leffingwell & Elliott, was
closed yesterday, the gross amount being $701,676. The whole
tract is now disposed of, and we learn that many persons who
had gone to the ground to bid failed to secure any lots. So
great an amount of property has never been offered or sold in
this city at one time, and the aggregate returns of purchasers
evince the confidence of strangers as well as our own citizens
in the stability and prospects of our city."
1855. — "The sale of the Centre Market property, owned by
the city, took place yesterda}*, and was attended by a great
number of persons. The whole property produced over
$174,000."
It was about this period that the citizens of St.
Louis began to turn their attention to suburban prop-
erties and the construction of suburban villas and
cottages. The country in the vicinity of the city
has long been noted for its beauty and its adaptedness
to the elegant ease of country-seats owned by the
wealthy and the luxurious.
The whole territory environing St. Louis is very
elevated, undulating gently and gracefully, in such
manner that there is no road leading from the city
which docs not for many miles reveal an innumerable
succession of beautiful building eminences. The
valleys which intervene, the vigorous and stately oak
groves decking the hill-tops occasionally or lining
the margin of chance brooks, the rich rolling
meadows, the extensive and trim gardens, atoning
by their careful cultivation and their freshness for
the disorder of the gardener's hut attached to them,
with here and there at rare intervals the elegant
cottage and finely-embellished grounds of some
wealthy merchant from the city, — all combine to
make a picturesque and attractive landscape. An
afternoon ride over the Bellefontaine road, the Caron-
deletroad, the Manchester road, or over Grand Avenue
sustains the assumption that there is no city of the
West, at any rate, whose suburbs reveal greater nat-
ural beauties than those of St. Louis.
But until the periods referred to, these beauties had
been lost upon the wealthy, since they had developed no
fondness for suburban or country life. Now, however,
this began, and elegant mansions and villas began to
spring up about Compton Hill, Cote Brilliante, and
the Carondelet road, and later along the railroads
leading into the city.
About this time, also, the people began to take
note of the pace at which real estate values were
being accelerated, and to look upon holdings of city
lots as about as rapid a means of getting rich as any
one need employ. They recalled, for example, that
"in the year 1840, St. Louis, although a place of importance,
evinced nothing foreshadowing her present prosperity. Manu-
factories of all kinds were few, her mercantile operations limited,
and real estate was held at merely a nominal figure. She was,
in fact, dependent entirely upon other places for almost every
article for home consumption. In 1836, only four years pre-
vious to the time of which we speak, property was offered on
the corner of Eighth and Pine Streets for ten dollars per foot,
and could not be sold from the fact that every one regarded the
price as enormously fictitious. The whole western part of the
city, say from Eighth Street westwardly, was then a common,
and few imagined that it would ever be used for anything else.
In 1839 the eastern half of the block where the Planters' House
is now was sold for the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars per
foot. Every one regarded the purchaser as 'done for' in that
speculation. The property would to-day (the year 1859) sell
for fifteen hundred dollars per foot. The best property on
Main Street would not sell for more than three hundred dollars
prior to the great fire of 1849.
"In the years 1839 and 1840 property on Lucas Place could
not have been sold for three dollars per foot, and a sale was ef-
fected by Messrs. Belt A Priest a few days since at the round
sum of two hundred and fifty-one dollars per foot. But we are
asked the question, How do you account for this rapid enhance-
ment in the value of real estate ? Is it permanent, and will not
this state of things terminate in total bankruptcy if it continues ?
They who propound such questions know little of the illimit-
able and inexhaustible resources of our great city. St. Louis,
although in its infancy, possesses the power of a giant. The
history of the world fails to present a single example of a city
growing to such greatness when fostered by its commercial posi-
tion alone. It cannot be claimed that the country back of St.
1032
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Louis has aided her much, for by far the greatest portion of it
is an unbroken wilderness.
"The maximum value of real estate in St. Louis has not been
attained. There is to-day a larger margin for speculation and
an inevitable certainty of a more rapid increase than there was
ten or twenty years ago. We are gratified that Eastern capi-
talists have become awake to this fact, and are investing largely
in real estate in our city. We invite more capital ; there is room
for immense amounts to be lucratively invested. We invite emi-
gration ; we invite labor. Come one, come all, there is bread
and work for us all."
And all this is just as true of 1883 as it was of
1859. The maximum value of real estate in St. Louis
is still to be attained, and the increase to-day is more
rapid than it was twenty-five years ago.
The civil war set things back a whole lustrum, but
did not destroy nor even injure the roots of progress
and development. These, indeed, seemed to strengthen
and pierce deeper and take firmer grip of the soil
during the period when they were prevented from
sending shoots upwards. By 1870 all activities had
been resumed, as the following record of building in
that year shows :
Brick.
Frame.
Stone.
Iron.
Total.
January ...
February-
March
April
$170,700
495,900
565,000
604,775
46,496
401,175
727,330
346,434
408,250
521,400
217,625
130,000
$1,200
5,500
2,700
10,600
13,500
"2,250
100
850
1,200
625
$171,900
501,400
657,700
665,375
59,996
456,175
729,580
346,534
417,100
523,600
228,350
130,000
$90,000
$50,000
June
55,000
July
August
September.
October
November.
December..
8,000
1,000
10,000
Total $4,636,085
$38,525
$133,000
$90,000
$4,887,710
The total number of building permits granted during the
year was 1228. From this amount there should be deducted
200 for small additions not properly classed as buildings. This
leases 1028 buildings. To this add 500 buildings erected aside
from permits granted, and also including cases where permits
cover more than one building, and there is an approximate
number of buildings erected during the year of 1528. The
total estimated building outlay was equivalent to $5,687,710,
expended in buildings during the year.
Operations so extensive and so costly as this re-
quired, of course, great economy in the regulation of
expenditures and the selection of materials. Fortu-
nately, St. Louis is very rich in cheap and handsome
building materials of every sort. Nowhere can better
lime, sand, and bricks be found, taken right out of the
soil on which the city is built. As early as 1839,
Samuel Head began to quarry and manufacture marble
from a quarry under the city, as is recounted in the
following letter from Mr. Garesche :
"On my arrival in this city, I was struck with the marble
appearance of the stone, but was unable to procure a person
who understoq^ polishing it; in the mean time, Mr. Samuel
Head, a young man lately come to this place, whose business it
was, worked this stone, and demonstrated to the inhabitants of
St. Louis how useless it was to send to the eastward for mantel-
pieces or other marble monuments when they were treading
over a soil so rich in that species of mineral. This marble vies
with the most beautiful for the fineness of its polish, nor are its
variegated accidents or color inferior to any. It contains abun-
dance of calcareous spar, and some, probably, oxide of iron, which
shows itself in scarlet spots of the most gaudy hue. This ledge,
about four feet in thickness, stands between two strata of lime-
stone. The undermost has been used to this day as a fine build-
ing material. It is that of which our curbstones are made and
our streets are macadamized. It receives also a very fine polish ;
it is then of a cream color, with light gray veins. Under this
stratum is one of silex. Mr. Head has also discovered in the
same quarry another kind of marble of a nankeen hue, with
black veins running through, pretty much in imitation of scales
of a fish. The last specimen has, however, been found in but
small detached pieces. There is scarcely any doubt when the
subject is further investigated but what some new discoveries
will be made. The banks of the river for some considerable
distance appear to be of the same nature, and must contain the
same or some other mineral wealth, which may become a source
of profitable exportation to the community at large.''
St. Louis possesses the advantage of being built in
a location and upon ground where the best of bricks
are easily attainable at low prices. It is worthy of
note that the appearance presented by the walls of the
many thousands of fine residences and business houses
attracts the attention of every visitor to the city. To
build up a city like St. Louis, almost entirely of brick,
requires a large supply of suitable clay for their man-
ufacture, but, as great as the draft has been, the supply
is as yet comparatively untouched, and as demands are
made and investigations prosecuted, the quality in-
creases in value and importance, and foreign markets,
that but a few years ago furnished clay for crucibles
used in smelting furnaces, fire-brick, etc., now use
that of St. Louis for their supplies, thereby acknowl-
edging the superiority of the clay found in St. Louis
over that of other sections. So important is this
branch of trade becoming, that several firms make
this traffic an especial business, and are almost daily
filling orders for Cincinnati, Louisville, Boston, New
York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and other large man-
ufacturing cities in our own country, while orders have
also come from Stourbridge, England, from whence
clay used to be shipped to different cities of this
country.
The manufacture of brick enters very largely into
the active use of capital, and, like every other branch
of industrial manufacture, has undergone many
changes and has been attended with many improve-
ments within the period of time that has passed
since the St. Louis trading-post began to give way be-
SAINT LOUIS AS A CENTRE OF TRADE.
1033
fore the march of progress, and the manufacturers of
the rude pieces of tempered earthen mortar they called
brick — some of which may still be seen in some of
the pioneer brick houses of St. Louis — would look
with wonder upon the almost scientific nicety and
difference in shape of the brick now made as com-
pared with those they fashioned, if it were possible
for them to be raised from their sleep of death and
shown through some of the St. Louis brick-yards.
But, notwithstanding the many different kinds of
brick-making machines that have been invented, the
old hand process seems to be regarded with a very
great degree of partiality, as affording a better and
more perfect brick for building purposes than any
machine ever yet introduced, although some of the
machines turn out an excellent quality. With ma-
chinery, brick can be made much faster than by hand,
but it is maintained by many builders and owners of
houses that the rapidity with which they are made
renders it impossible for them to be made perfect and
solid in every respect, and particularly so with those
made from dry clay. A smooth, even surface and solid
formation are the qualities requisite to a good brick,
and in many localities clay from which such bricks
can be made is scarcely attainable. Its absence ac-
counts for the rough, cracked, and almost shale-like
appearance of many of the walls of brick houses to be
seen in many sections of the country.
In some places it is impossible to find a clay that
will not crack either in sun-drying or burning, how-
ever well-tempered the mortar may have been, and
instances have been known where kilns, in which a
hundred thousand had been set, would not turn out
more than twenty-five to fifty thousand merchantable
brick. In such cases heavy pecuniary loss was un-
avoidable, and hence the importance to brick-moulders
of finding clay that would withstand the action of the
sun when turned out in the yard to dry, or of the fire
while kiln-burning. In the earlier times slop brick
— that is, brick made by rolling the mortar in water
and casting it in wet moulds — were more generally
made than any other kind, but the difficulty of obtaining
a smooth surface, a very desirable consideration, was a
great objection to that style of brick, and it gradually
gave way to other methods, as did also the old way of
preparing the mortar by tramping it with horses, oxen,
or even, in some instances, by men and horses. But
these methods of brick-making gave way to sand
brick. These are made by rolling the mortar in
sand on the moulding-table and casting it into
moulds, which are also well sanded by being dipped
in a box of sand by the off-bearers after every turn-
ing out on the yard. It is very justly maintained that
this process secures more smoothly-surfaced, nicely-
cornered, and more solid brick than those moulded
in slop or water, and that it also secures a brighter,
better color in burning. This process of brick-mould-
ing is universally followed by the different hand brick-
yards of St. Louis.
White Brick. — A great part of this brick formerly
used was brought from other sections, Milwau-
kee, Wis., being the most noted place of the man-
ufacture of that variety. Within the last twenty
years, however, it has been satisfactorily settled that
in St. Louis there is even a better quality of clay for
their manufacture than that used at Milwaukee, and
their manufacture has begun on a large scale. The
bed of clay from which they are made is supposed to
be inexhaustible.
This clay burns to a beautiful white, producing a
brick every way equal to, and in certain respects su-
perior to, those made at Milwaukee. Their color
when properly made is lighter and more uniform,
while the shrinkage is uniform, far more so than in
the Milwaukee brick. From tests made by the engi-
neers of the water-works and others, their tenacity
is shown to be equal to any in government reports,
sustaining flatways two thousand pounds on supports
six inches apart with a fulcrum in the centre. Their
manufacture was attempted before the late war, and
about one hundred thousand made and burnt, but on
account of the war the enterprise was abandoned
until 1867. Pressed white brick, it is said, are
much less expensive than stone fronts and look
nearly as well, and it is therefore a source of con-
gratulation that they are manufactured in St. Louis
instead of imported from Milwaukee.
Fire-Clay. — The increase in the establishment of
furnaces requiring the use of fire-brick, crucibles,
retorts, etc., has necessarily increased the demand
for these articles. In the earlier periods of the
manufacturing interests of our country, clay for the
manufacture of crucibles, retorts, etc., as well as some
of the manufactured articles, were brought from
Stourbridge, England, and Germany. The cost of
either the clay or the manufactured article was a
matter of no little moment, and hence the discovery
of fire-clay in this country became a matter of con-
gratulation to manufacturers, and as investigations
and discoveries have been extended, beds of the
purest and best of this material have been found,
and now, instead of importing it either from Ger-
many or England, it is exported* from America to all
the manufacturing points of Europe; but while it is
found in many sections of our country, none rank
higher among manufacturers than that found at
1034
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Cheltenham and vicinity, four miles from St. Louis.
The properties of the best pot- and fire-clay consists
of the following percentage of component parts :
Silica 64.05
Alumina 23.15
Oxide of iron 1.85
Carbonate of magnesia 95
Water... .. 10.00
100.00
An analysis of the Stourbridge clay (for a long
period of years regarded as the most nearly perfect of
any offered to the trade), made by Willis (see Watt's
Diet. Chem., Eng. Ed., vol. ii. p. 653), showed the
following proportion of ingredients :
Silica 67.34
Alumina 21.01
Oxide of iron 2.03
Alkalies 1.38
Water 8.24
100.00
An analysis of the Cheltenham clay, by Profes- |
sor A. Litton, shows that it is much nearer a perfect
article, taking the analysis of the best pot-clay, as
submitted by Richardson, as authority, than that I
known as Homer's best pot-clay from Stourbridge, j
England. The analysis of both the crude and washed
clay is as follows :
Crude Clay.
Silica 61.02
Alumina 25.64
Oxide of iron 1.70
Lime 70
Magnesia .08
Potassa .48
Soda 25
Sulphur 45
Water 9.68
100.00
W linked Clay.
Silica 59.60
Alumina 26.41
Oxide of iron 1.61
1.00
07
29
16
, 38
Water 10.48
Lime
Magnesia
Potassa...
Soda
Sulphur
100.00
Of the exact date of the finding of the clay at Chel-
tenham we are not fully advised, but Paul M. Gratiot
engaged in the manufacture of fire-brick in a small
way as early as 1837-38. His works were situated
on what is now known as the Glassby heirs' farm, on j
King's Highway, and near the residence of Hon. John \
S. McClure. Since then, however, the discovery of j
immense beds of the^clay have been made, and several
large fire-brick manufactories erected, employing a
large capital and several hundred mechanics, laborers,
etc.
No substance has ever been found anywhere that
approaches the Cheltenham clay. This clay on being
first brought to the surface and exposed to the light
has an appearance similar to that of stone, but after
being exposed to the weather for a few days it disin-
tegrates and falls to pieces. One-third of the mate-
rial thus unearthed is preserved from exposure to the
weather, and this portion of it is burned or calcined,
this process being necessary to the proper working up
of the material. After being burned it is passed
through a process of grinding or reduction from its
large lumps to a certain degree of pulverization neces-
sary to the manufacture of fire-brick or whatever else
may be intended, and from the Iron Age we extract
the following description of the process to which the
clay is submitted. This description relates to other
works, but embraces the same principles and ma-
chinery as that used in St. Louis. It says, —
" Much care has to be exerdised in the selection of the clay
and its combinations in proper proportions. The brick are to
resist the intense heat of the puddling furnace, the iron cupola,
the locomotive and boiler grate, as well as the continuous heat
in other places where the action of fire is to be resisted. The
brick made directly from the clay is found to be too solid and
too liable to fracture from the heat. To remedy this and secure
a porous article the pure and best fire-clays are calcined, then
it is taken and crushed by means of large iron rollers. By this
process it is reduced to a mass of small particles ready for mix-
ing with the pure clays. When the proper ingredients are thus
combined, the mixture is put into a large box or vat and let
soak about a day. Then it goes through the pug-mill, by which
it is ground fine. It is then ready to be modeled into any of
the required shapes, and they are legion. After this has been
done the bricks are placed on the drying floor, where they
remain from six to ten hours. They are then pressed, to give
them their regular shape. After pressing they are again placed
upon a drying floor, where they remain until dry enough to be
set in the kilns for burning. The brick from the modelers will
have to be handled five times before they are ready for use.
The two defects that have heretofore existed in pressing blocks
flatwise and by hand are said to be, 1st, the blocks were not
pressed hard enough; 2d, they came out of the mould of an un-
even thickness. To remedy these evils machinery has been in-
vented within a few years for pressing the blocks edgewise, so
that they come out fully pressed and with a perfect uniform
thickness. This make of blocks, therefore, has the advantngo
that they require no chipping or dressing in laying them up.
This saves a great amount of labor in lining or relining furnaces.
It also makes a much better job than when laid with uneven
blocks.
"Next comes the baking process. Here the round kilns are
used, which is the form preferred by the English and other
foreign makers. These improved, circular, high-coned kilns
are fired with anthracite coal, and have a large number of fire-
chambers around, and the heat is drawn to the centre of the
kiln. This arrangement makes the heat equal throughout the
whole kiln, burning top and bottom brick alike. Between the
fire-chambers and the bricks, after they are set in the kiln, are
protection-walls that prevent the heat from striking them,
carry it up to the top of the kiln, and then down through its
centre, enabling it to escape through a flue or pipe leading
SAINT LOUIS AS A CENTRE OF TRADE.
1035
from the bottom underground to the smokestack of the manu-
facturing machinery. It makes heat fast and very intense,
burning all the brick thoroughly and equally. Thirty-six
hours of full heat are generally required to burn the brick,
and about twenty-four hours are required to attain this heat.
The time required for cooling, of course, varies with the
season.
" A large number of the fire-bricks manufactured here are
sent to the manufacturing establishments of the Lake Superior
regions, while a great many are shipped to the South, and almost
all other points where manufactories requiring intense heating
apparatuses are established; and so superior are the manufac-
tures of the St. Louis and Cheltenham works that wherever
they have been introduced they have been awarded the pre-
mium, both as to the quality of the clay and superiority of
manufacture. The clay is becoming an article of commerce in
itself, and is sought after from the various manufacturing cities
of our own country, while some orders have come from Europe.
One or two firms exist in this city that engage exclusively in
its traffic. It is usually put up in barrels, and is worth in this
market sixteen dollars per ton. Fire-bricks made at the Chel-
tenham and Oak Hill Works have been submitted to the severest
tests known to the business, and pronounced by experienced
men to be of the very best quality. For retorts and crucibles,
and everything else designed to be exposed to the action of a
great heat, the fire-clay found in St. Louis County is unsur-
passed, and is a source of wealth little dreamed of by the pio-
neer settlers of this part of the Mississippi valley. As yet it is
not fully developed or worked to any extent by other than the
establishments already named ; but it is not saying too much
to predict that the time is not far in the future when the estab-
lishments to be built up here to shape and convert into articles
of usefulness will be equal to those of any part of the Old
World, to which America looked for many years for her supply
of clay for crucibles, retorts, etc., and thus add millions of
money to our home capital, and increase our population by
thousands."
According to the tax assessor's report for 1882, the
valuation of the real estate in the city of St. Louis is
us follows : In the old limits, or within the limits
before 1877, there are 63,652 lots, valued at $143,-
585,820, and 1417 acres, valued at $3,440,270 ; total,
$147,026,090. In the area between the old and
present limits there are 18,367 lots, valued at $7,233,-
670, and 19,056 acres, valued at $7,917,850 ; total,
$15,151,520. The grand total for the entire city for
the 82,019 lots and 20,473 acres is $162,177,610.
St. Louis now has about one-third of its area cov-
ered with building and park improvements. There
are about three hundred and thirty miles of improved
streets, two hundred and fifteen miles of public and
district sewers, two hundred and thirty miles of water-
pipe, eighteen street railroads, having nearly one hun-
dred and thirty miles of route through the city, and
sixteen steam railroads centering at Union Depot.
- The United States government now owns property
in real estate and buildings in St. Louis to the value
of $5,787,800, and the St. Louis school board owns
property valued at $2,382,342. The valuation of
property owned by private schools and convents is
$1,418,465, and by church corporations, $3,610,586.
The total amount of real estate exempt from taxation
in the city is about $35,000,000.
The increase in the assessed value of real estate
in St. Louis in 1882 was about fifteen per cent, as
to the entire city. In the central part of the city
twenty and twenty-five per cent, increase was made,
while in the suburban sections five to ten per cent,
additional value was placed on real estate. But few
owners made petitions appealing from these additional
valuations.
Below are given samples of the assessments on
Washington Avenue and Olive Street for the past
two years, from which some idea may be obtained of
the increased values.
Washington Avenue.
Between Fourth and Fifth Streets:
Ames' estate, 90 feet front, valued at $187,500 in 1881, and
$190,000 in 1882.
William G. Clark, owner, 112 feet front; increased from
$155,750 to $174,500.
Mercantile Block, 18 feet front; increased from $17,720 to
$26,520.
Between Fifth and Sixth Streets :
Mary F. Barrett, 71 feet front ; increased from $82,140 to
$94,860.
John H. Beach, 23 feet front; from $20,570 to $23,180.
Alford Bradford, 70 feet ; increased from $94,800 to $105,-
800.
Charles Bradford, 30 feet; from $43,200 to $48,200.
State Savings Association, 27 feet ; from $19,280 to $21,000.
Between Sixth and Seventh Streets:
Ames' estate, 90 feet; from $87,200 to $100,000.
New Lindell Hotel Company, 182 feet; from $474,150 to
$587,000.
Between Seventh and Eighth Streets :
Gerard B. Allen, 235 feet; from $94,580 to $138,080.
George W. Bull, 22 feet; from $17,930 to $22,240.
Between Eighth and Ninth Streets :
First Methodist Church, 94 feet; from $35,880 to $38,000.
Between Ninth and Tenth Streets:
Esther Collins, 24 feet; from $32,330 to $37,500.
Olive Street.
Between Fourth and Fifth Streets :
Third National Bank, 37 feet; from $97,000 to $103,750.
Between Sixth and Seventh Streets :
Provident Savings-Bank, 25 feet; from $39,500 to $44,500.
John B. Sarpy, 50 feet; from $46,330 to $52,900.
Between Sixth and Seventh Streets :
Alice Bacon, 25 feet; from $13,870 to $15,200.
Between Seventh and Eighth Streets :
T. Benoist, 44 feet; from $33,040 to $40,000.
Between Eighth and Ninth Streets:
Laura A. Blossom, 25 feet ; from $12,290 to $15,450.
Odd-Fellows' Hall Association, 127 f«et; from $54,000 to
$60,000.
Between Ninth and Tenth Streets :
Gerard B. Allen, 100 feet; from $70,500 to $92,500.
Pelagie Berthold, 50 feet; from $23,500 to $26,500.
Between Tenth and Eleventh Streets:
Mary A. Calhoun, 24 feet; from $8250 to $12,250.
1036
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Between Eleventh and Twelfth Streets :
Daniel Catlin, 24 feet ; from $8720 to $9720.
Nathan Cole, 29 feet; from $11,410 to $12,800.
John Byrne, Jr., the pioneer, perhaps, in what has
grown to be the colossal real estate business of St.
Louis, was born in New York City, Aug. 3, 1805.
His parents were John Byrne and Margaret O'Don-
nell, both natives of County Donegal, Ireland. Little
is recorded of his boyhood, except that he was edu-
cated at Georgetown, D. C., leaving school in 1819 and
removing with his parents to Mobile, Ala., where,
although a mere boy, he was immediately associated
with his father in mercantile pursuits, for which he
early exhibited a special aptitude.
On the 5th of March, 1832, he was married to Sarah
M. Fitzimmons, a native of Asheville, N. C., and of
Irish parentage. This union has proved a long and
happy one, and on the 5th of March, 1882, the cou-
ple had the pleasure of celebrating their golden wed-
ding, amid the congratulations of a large company of
their friends in St. Louis.
The ruin wrought by the panic of 1837 compelled
Mr. Byrne to seek a new location. Accordingly he
removed to St. Louis, where he established a modest
dry goods house on Market Street. Few of those
then engaged in business in St. Louis are now living,
but one of the few is Eugene Kelly, who kept a store
within a few doors of his, and who is now a wealthy
banker of New York.
In 1840, Mr. Byrne opened a real estate office in a
little building on Chestnut Street, near Fourth.
Although the honor has been claimed for others, he
was perhaps the pioneer in this business, and H. W.
Leffingwell appears to have been the next person to
engage in this as yet untried field.
Mr. Byrne's industry and fidelity to the interests of
his patrons were speedily recognized, and he soon had
the satisfaction of seeing his business established on
a substantial basis. Its increase has been singularly
uniform, a result due perhaps to his conservatism,
which prevented his engaging in the wild speculations
that proved so ruinous to others in the real estate
trade. This caution begot confidence in him and
gained him custom, and some of the largest estates in
St. Louis have passed through his hands. It is now
forty-two years since the business was inaugurated,
and the generous competence which Mr. Byrne is
now enjoying in the evening of his days is the fitting
reward for years of watchful and incessant indus-
try.
Although not a politician, Mr. Byrne has not de-
clined to serve the public when called upon. At one
time he was a member of the Board of Education,
serving with Chancellor Eliot, and proved himself a
progressive friend of the public school system.
He is a devoted member of the Catholic Church,
and was one of the founders of the St. Vincent de
Paul Association. When he arrived in St. Louis he
says the population was only eighteen thousand. The
court-house was the only public building, and that
was unfinished. The only Catholic Churches were
the cathedral and the chapel of the St. Louis Uni-
versity, and the only two Catholic institutions were
the St. Louis University, under Father Ellet, and the
Convent of the Sacred Heart.
Mr. Byrne was a director in the Central Savings-
Bank, and when it failed he lost his investments and
the deposits of his house. He is now a director in
the Safe Deposit Company.
Mr. Byrne has had two children. Mary Elizabeth
was born in New York in 1833, and in 1856 was
married in St. Louis to Dr. F. L. Haydel, of St.
James Parish, La. Dr. Haydel has been associated
with his father-in-law for many years as superintend-
ent of his business.
The fate of James Fitzsimmons Byrne was a tragic
one. He was born in St. Louis, May 27, 1842 ; at-
tended school at Antwerp, Belgium, for four years,
and on June 8, 1864, was drowned in the Rhine at
Bonn, Prussia. He was a young man of exceptional
promise, and his sudden death fell with crushing
weight upon his parents.
Although now considerably beyond the Scriptural
limit of " threescore years and ten," Mr. Byrne has
not until lately exhibited any marked decay of body
or mind. He appears occasionally at his business,
and attends to many details, and still manifests con-
siderable interest in affairs. Of a retiring nature, he
has always shunned publicity, and would prefer, if
judged at all, to be judged by his deeds. According
to such a standard, there are few of the business men
of St. Louis who have accomplished more, not merely
in winning success in business, but in demonstrating
the fact that enduring success is the natural result of
patient, painstaking, and unostentatious labor.
Marcus A. Wolff, another prominent real estate
i agent, was born in Louisville, Ky., May 14, 1831.
1 His father was born in London, England, of Polish
'• parents, and came to this country when only nineteen
years old. He was a mechanic in moderate circum-
stances. Eventually he married Miss Susan Frank-
lin, of Kentucky. The elder Wolff was a man of
sound common sense, and, so far as he was able, gave
his son a good common-school education. When the
boy was only ten years of age, however, necessity
compelled him to leave school, in order to contribute
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
1037
to his own support and to that of the other and
younger members of the family.
Hoping to better his condition, his father removed
to St. Louis, and Marcus found employment as a
newsboy and in various capacities in the newspaper
offices. The papers of the city then were the Mis-
souri Republican, the Evening Gazette, the Missou-
rian, and the Reveille. For several years he was a
carrier on the Evening Gazette and the Reveille, and
in 1847 he went on the Republican, working at the
press and carrying papers. The chief incidents of the
latter engagement were the fire that destroyed the
office of the paper and the cholera epidemic of 1849.
While the malady was raging young Wolff gave a
signal display of energy : three of the carriers of the
paper were stricken down, and he insisted upon deliv-
ering the papers on their routes in addition to his
own, and for some time did the work of four men,
beginning at one o'clock A.M. and walking continu-
ously until noon. Such service won the gratitude
and respect of his employers and the admiration of his
acquaintances. In this eminently practical school Mr.
Wolff completed his business education.
In December, 1852, he married Miss Eliza J. Curtis,
of St. Louis, and about the same time obtained a po-
sition as teller and clerk in a private banking-house,
in which position he soon acquired the reputation of
being the best judge of bank-notes in the city, a dis-
tinction to be proud of, for in those days there were
about twelve hundred banks throughout the country
issuing notes of differing denomination. By judicious
investment of his savings he was enabled in 1859 to
establish himself in business as junior member of the
real estate firm of Porter & Wolff. The house soon
became known as one of the most successful in St.
Louis. In 1868, Mr. Porter retired, and Mr. Wolff \
continued the business, having purchased his partner's
interest. In 1872 the firm of M. A. Wolff & Co.
was established. Under Mr. Wolff's energetic man-
agement the business grew rapidly, and has long been
perhaps the largest and most prosperous of its kind
in St. Louis.
Pre-eminently a business man, Mr. Wolff has never
held office, although a stanch Democrat, and often
solicited to allow his name to be used. But recogniz-
ing the fact that his own prosperity depended on that
of the city, he has always taken a deep interest in
whatever promised to advance her progress. He was
one of the original stockholders in the Boatmen's
Savings Institution, and holds or has held an interest
(mostly as director) in the following institutions:
Second National Bank, East St. Louis Elevator Com-
pany, Hope Mutual Insurance Company, St. Louis
66
Distillery Company, Rapid Transit Company, South
St. Louis Street Railroad Company, and Real Estate
Exchange. Generally, it may be said that no legiti-
mate enterprise promising the advancement of the
city and State has yet been inaugurated in which he
has not manifested a deep interes't.
Mr. Wolff is of a social nature, and is a Mason,
Knight Templar, Knight of St. Patrick, and a mem-
ber of the St. Louis Legion of Honor and other so-
cieties. Throughout his life he has been industrious,
prudent, and saving, and as a consequence has amassed
a handsome competency. His residence at Cote Bril-
liante is one of the most attractive in the city.
Still in the prime of life, Mr. Wolff has lost none of
the spirit and dash that characterized his early career,
and appears good for many years to come.
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
As the commercial metropolis of the Mississippi
valley, St. Louis lays under contribution not only the
great Mississippi River, but. all the numerous streams
which swell this mighty current. Situated twenty
miles below the mouth of the Missouri and one hun-
dred and seventy-four miles above the mouth of the
Ohio, St. Louis holds, as has been frequently pointed
out in this work, the key to the industrial develop-
ment of that vast and fertile region which is drained
by the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Ohio, and the
numerous smaller rivers, and her commercial existence
is indissolubly linked to that of the great valley.
" Many years ago the late Governor Clark and my-
self," says Hon. Thomas H. Benton,1 " undertook to
calculate the extent of beatable water in the valley of
the Mississippi ; we made it about fifty thousand
miles ! of which thirty thousand were computed to
unite above St. Louis, and twenty thousand below.
Of course, we counted all the infant streams on which
a flat, a keel, or a bateau could be floated, and justly ;
for every tributary of the humblest beatable character
helps to swell not only the volume of the central
waters, but the commerce upon them. Of this im-
mense extent of river navigation, all combined in one
system of waters, St. Louis is the centre and the
entrepot, presenting even now, in its infancy, an
astonishing and almost incredible amount of com-
merce, destined to increase forever." The Missis-
1 Letter to the St. Louis delegation to the Chicago Convention,
dated June 20, 1847.
1038
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
sippi, the conduit of them all to the ocean, must
ever remain the central figure in the group. Rising
in Lake Itasca, about three thousand two hundred
miles from the Gulf of Mexico, near the " divide"
which turns the water-fall of that country into the
Red River of the North, it flows for over one thou-
sand miles through a rich and abundant land, until
its waters are broken by the Falls of St. Anthony,
near which the thriving cities of Minneapolis and St.
Paul are located. The river at these falls is eighteen
hundred feet wide, and its waters are precipitated over
a ledge of limestone rock seventeen feet in height,
forming a dam, the water of which supplies power to
many manufacturing establishments in Minneapolis,
the chief of which is that of flour. For continuing
the improvement of these falls, twenty-five thousand
dollars was appropriated by the River and Harbor
Act of 1882. St. Paul, near these falls, is seven hun-
dred and ninety-eight miles from St. Louis, and is the
head of steamboat communication with St. Louis,
though the river is navigable far above the falls.
Not the least of the remarkable features of the
Mississippi River are the physical characteristics
which it has stamped upon the delta which it has
created and through which it flows. The scientists
who have made a study of this river regard the
delta of the Mississippi as beginning near the village
of Commerce, about twenty-eight miles above the
mouth of the Ohio, where the rock in situ is first en-
countered on both sides of its channel, and supposed
to underlie its bed. If that be assumed as a fact, it
involves the further assumption that at some remote
period there existed a cataract or rapids of far greater
descent than that at Niagara somewhere above the
mouth of the Ohio River. The elevation of the low-
water surface of the Mississippi about Cape Girardeau
is two hundred and eighty five feet above the level of
the ocean, and if ever the level of the sea extended
up to that point, the Mississippi must then and there
have precipitated its waters over a ledge two hundred
and eighty-five feet high. If we imagine a great
plane, extending from the mouth of the Ohio, six
hundred miles in length and thirty to forty in width,
with its northern extremity elevated two hundred and
eighty-five feet, we shall have some idea of the delta
which the river has created in the progress of time.
This plane, containing forty thousand square miles,
has been formed in the course of ages from the ma-
terial washed down from the uplands by the river
and its tributaries. The river has therefore raised
above the sea the soil which constitutes its own bed,
and flows down this plane of its own creation in a
serpentine course, frequently crowding the hills and
bluffs. The actual distance from the mouth of the
Ohio to the gulf is in round numbers five hundred
miles, the length of the Mississippi from the same
point to the gulf is eleven hundred and seventy-
eight miles, and the average descent at high water is
three and a quarter inches per mile. The course of
the river is therefore lengthened out nearly seven hun-
dred miles, or more than doubled by the remarkable
flexures of its channel, and the rate of descent is re-
duced by these flexures to less than one-half the in-
clination of the plane down which it flows.
The Mississippi bears along at all times, but es-
pecially in the periods of the floods, a vast amount of
earthy matter suspended in its waters, which the cur-
rent is able to carry forward so long as the water is
confined to the channel. But when the water over-
flows the banks its velocity is checked, and it imme-
diately deposits the heaviest particles which it trans-
ports and leaves them upon its borders, and as the
water continues to spread farther from its banks, it
continues to let down more and more of this sus-
pended material, the heaviest particles being deposited
on the banks, and the finest clay conveyed to positions
more remote. The consequence is that the borders
of the river which received the first and heaviest
particles are raised higher above the general level of
the plane than the soil which is more remote, and
that while the plane of the delta dips towards the
sea at the rate of eight inches per mile, the soil ad-
jacent to the banks slopes off at right angles to the
course of the river into the interior for five or six
miles at the rate of three or four feet to the mile.
The lands immediately on the borders of the river are
extremely fertile, and often highly cultivated, but as
they are all subject to inundation during the high
floods of the river, they are guarded by artificial em-
bankments. The water pressing upon these embank-
ments often produces breaches or crevasses through
them, and rushes in a deep column into the low
grounds, and sweeps over every improvement. The
width, depth, and area of cross section of the Mis-
sissippi below St. Louis will be found in the following
table, from the memoir of Charles Ellet, Jr. :
Points on the River. ^rdt.h>
t eeu
At Cape Girardeau, 1% miles above— 2500
66.5
77.5
71.3
102.5
72.8
81.5
81.0
103.6
79.1
87.6
102.1
120.0
84.0
96.3
91.3
Area of
Cross Section,
Square Feet.
105,544
... 4031
235,333
143,212
161,221
171,190
196,300
170,160
187,170
178,220
108,130
1 fid, 164
207,800
187.220
256.292
... 2830
At Horse-Shoe Cut-Off
Above Arkansas River, -^ mile
Below " " % ni''e
At American Bend, upper side
.. 2940
.. 2*U
... 3730
. 3365
.. 3285
.. 3440
... 3540
.. 3513
Below " 3 "
.. 4400
.. 4048
Below " " ..
.. 5613
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
1039
Points on the River.
Above Grand Gulf, 4 miles
Below " " 3 "
Above Red River, 1^ mile
Below " " 1 "
In Racourci Cut-Off.
At Tunica Bend
Baton Kougc
Above Plaquemine, 1J^ miles
Below " " "
Above Donaldsonville, 1 mile
Bonnet Carr6 Bend, above Crevasse..
" " " below " ..
SauvS's plantation ...........................
McMaster's plantation .....................
Feet.
3644
5900
2545
3665
1761
3323
2500
2170
2790
2483
3553
2925
2983
2375
2425
Feet.
105.5
76.5
118.0
128.0
107.0
87.7
......
123,5
128.0
117.5
lo:?.2
107.9
76.4
135.3
100.0
Area of
Cross Section,
Square Feet.
175,773
264,797
194,530
268,646
148,790
233,892
212,500
181,500
199,280
200,250
114,580
198,734
152,443
182,031
166,172
The average area of high-water section of the
whole from the mouth of the Ohio to New Orleans
is two hundred thousand square feet. The estimate
for the discharge of high water by the Mississippi at
the top of the flood of 1854 was one million two
hundred and eighty thousand cubic feet per second.
At the time of the Revolution there were able
men who conceived that the Atlantic States, hemmed
in by the sea and by a chain of mountains, embraced
too great a diversity of surface and products, and were
too widely scattered not to present discordant elements
and jarring interests, which could only be reconciled
and held in check by a powerful centralized govern-
ment. They could not imagine that the barriers of
the mountains would be overleaped, and that other
States would spring up in the remote West; that
their descendants would intermingle on the Pacific
coast with the people of Asia, and claim the Sand-
wich Islands for their neighbors ; that Mexico would
present but a feeble barrier to their interminable
progress, or that States would flourish in the Missis-
sippi valley, in which one of the States, Missouri,
unexplored at the period of the Revolution, has a
population, resources, and wealth greater than all the
original thirteen when their independence was achieved,
and a city, St. Louis, is more populous, wealthy, and
enterprising than all the cities of the Atlantic coast
at the same epoch.
The distances from St. Louis to points on the
upper Mississippi are as follows :
Miles.
To mouth of Missouri 20
Alton 5
Grafton 18
Cap auGris 27
Worthington 10
Hamburg 10
Clarksville 15
Louisiana
Cincinnati, 111 15
Saverton
Hannibal 7
Marion 10
Quincy 10
La Grange 10
Canton
Tully 2
Warsaw 20
Keokuk 5
Montrose 12
Total.
20
25
43
70
80
90
105
117
132
140
147
157
167
177
185
187
207
212
224
Miles. Total.
Fort Madison 12 236
Pontoosac 6 242
Dallas 2 244 •
Burlington 15 259
Oquawka 15 274
Keithbury 12 286
New Boston g 294
Port Louisa 12 306
Muscatine ]g 324
Hock Island 30 354
Hampton 12 366
Le Clair 6 372
Camanche 18 390
Albany 2 392
Fulton 10 402
Sabula ig 420
Savanna 2 422
Galena 30 452
Dubuque 25 477
Will's Landing 12 489
Waupaton 8 497
Buena Vista 6 503
Cassville 4 507
Guttenberg 10 517
McGregor 22 539
Prairie du Chien 3 542
Red House Landing 3 545
Johnson's Landing 1 546
Columbus 29 579
Lansing 2 677
Winneshiek 8 585
Victory 5 590
Warner's Landing 11 601
Wild Cats' Bluffs 12 613
La Crosse 16 629
Black River 12 641
Fortune's Landing 6 647
Montoville 4 651
Winona 7 658
Wabashaw Prairie 4 662
Honie's Landing 10 672
Hall's Landing 10 682
Wabasha 25 707
Nelson's Landing 2 709
Reed's Landing 2 711
LakePepin 1 712
Wells' Lauding 14 726
Bullard's Landing 8 734
Red Wing 8 742
Point Prescott 22 764
Point Douglas 1 765
Hastings 25 790
Crow Village 3 793
St. Paul 5 798
Falls of St. Anthony « 8 806
Mendota 6 812
FortSnelling 1 813
Itasca 37 850
Sauk Rapids 49 899
Fort Ripley 46 945
The distances from St. Louis to points on the Mis-
sissippi to Cairo are as follows :
Miles. Total.
To Cahokia 4 4
Carondelet 1 5
Jefferson Barracks 5 10
Sneck's Landing 10 20
Widow Waters' Landing 1 21
Sulphur Springs 2 23
Rattlesnake Springs 2 25
Harlow's 5 30
Platin Rock 2 32
Selina 3
Rushtower 6 40
John Brickley's 5 45
Fort Chartres 5 50
Ste. Genevieve 10
St. Mary's 10 70
Pratt's 2 72
Kaskaskia 3 75
Chester 5 80
1040
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Miles. Total.
Maynard 1
Fort Perry 1
Liberty
Underbill's.
Herring's ..
Baily's
Wilkinson..
Linhoop.
Sellers ,
Grand Tower.
Birmingham..
Hines
Preston's
Bennet's
Neelev's
5
1
4
5
1
Wittenburg 14
1
'".'".'.'.'.".! 6
1
1
1
1
V a null's 1
Willard's 2
Bainbridge 1
Clear Creek 9
Cape Girardeau 5
Thebes 10
Commerce .• 3
Thornton's 5
Price's 2
Lane's 3
Hunt's 1
Rodney's 15
Cairo 5
Mouth of Ohio 5
Ohio City 5
81
82
90
95
96
100
105
106
120
121
122
128
129
130
131
132
133
135
136
145
150
160
163
168
170
173
174
189
194
194
194
The river system of the Mississippi valley, of
which St. Louis is the centre, the entrepot, may be
summarized as follows :
Miles.
Mississippi from St. Anthony's Falls to
the Gulf of Mexico
Red River to head of navigation
Arkansas to Neosho River
White River to Batesville
St. Francis River
Missouri River
Osage River 300
Kansas 300
Other tributaries '.... 600
Des Moines
St. Peter's
Yazoo
Ohio
Its tributaries — Tennessee 600
Cumberland ., 300
Wabash 300
Green, Kentucky, and Muskingum.. 500
Allegheny 400
The Illinois
Rock River, Galena, Wisconsin, and St.
Croix
2,200
1,100
600
400
100
2,000
1,200
300
300
100
1,000
2,100
300
500
Making the total river navigation.. 12,200
At Fort Snelling the St. Peter's, or Minnesota
River empties into the Mississippi, eight hundred and
thirteen miles above St. Louis, and is navigable for
sixty miles. By the River and Harbor Act of 1882
the Secretary of War is directed to cause examina-
tions and surveys to be made of " the source of this
river, near the foot of Big Stone Lake, with a view
to its being added to the reservoir system of the
Mississippi and its tributaries." The St. Croix
River, with its large lumber trade, is about two
hundred miles in length, and enters the Mississippi
at a point seven hundred and sixty-five miles above
St. Louis ; the chief river points on the St. Croix are
Hudson, Stillwater, Osceola, and St. Croix Falls.1
The Chippewa River empties into the Mississippi
six hundred and eighty-six miles above St. Louis,
near the end of Lake Pepin, upon which a harbor of
refuge at Lake City is to be constructed under the
River and Harbor Act of 1882. This river is naviga-
ble for steamboats about seventy miles, and upon its
surface large quantities of timber are annually rafted
to St. Louis ; its length is three hundred miles, and
its chief tributaries are the Clearwater and Red
Cedar Rivers. For the improvement of the Chip-
pewa River thirty-five thousand dollars was appro-
priated by the River and Harbor Act of 1882.
The Wisconsin River empties into the Mississippi
four miles below Prairie du Chien, and five hundred
and thirty-eight miles above St. Louis. This river is
navigable for steamboats as far as Portage, where the
canal connects it with the Fox River, which flows
into Green Bay, and connects the Mississippi system
with the lake system of navigation. The length of
the Wisconsin is six hundred miles, and it receives
the waters of many tributaries, some of them streams
of considerable volume. The Fevre River, upon
which Galena is situated, enters the Mississippi a few
miles below Duluth, and is navigable a part of the
year to Galena. The Wapsipinicon River, at a point
seven miles below Camanche, and three hundred and
eighty-three miles above St. Louis, empties into the
Mississippi. Its length is two hundred miles, but it
is not navigable. The Rock River, rising in Fon du
Lac County, Wis., near Lake Winnebago, flows south-
westerly, and enters the Mississippi River two miles
below Rock Island, at a point three hundred and
fifty-two miles above St. Louis. Its navigation is
dependent upon high water, and extends two hundred
and twenty-five miles.
The distances on Rock River from Watertown to
the Mississippi are :
Miles.
From Watertown to Jefferson 16
To Fort Atkinson S
Janesville 34
Beloit 18
Roscoe 8
Rockford 12
Byron
Oregon 10
Dixon 20
Sterling :
Lyndon 16
Prophetstown 2
Camden 45
Mississippi River 1
The Iowa River takes its rise in Hancock County,
Iowa, and is navigable for small steamboats in the
Total.
16
24
58
76
84
96
108
118
138
150
166
168
213
214
1 Thirty thousand dollars was appropriated by the River
and Harbor Act of 1882 for improving this river.
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
1041
high-water season for eighty miles from its mouth, on
the Mississippi River, two hundred and ninety-four
miles above St. Louis, near New Boston. Its length
is about three hundred miles, and its course south-
easterly.
The Des Moines River, rising in the southern part
of Minnesota, flows through an exceedingly fertile
and productive country for four hundred miles, of
which two hundred are navigable. It enters the
Mississippi near Alexandria, Mo., about two hundred
and seven miles above St. Louis. The distances upon
this river are :
Miles. Total.
From Fort Des Moines to Dudley 14 14
To Lafayette 5 19
Bennington 10 29
Red Rock 16 45
Amsterdam 12 57
Bellefontaine 12 69
Auburn 12 81
Des Moines City 8 89
Eddyville 2 91
Chillicothe 8 99
Ottuinwa 12 111
New Market 20 131
Portland 6 137
Philadelphia 8 145
Pittsburgh 7 152
Pleasant Hill 5 157
Vernon 8 165
Bonaparte 5 170
Fnrmington 8 178
Black Hawk 3 181
Croton 3 184 ,
Athens 5 189
Belfast 6 195
St. Francisville 10 205
Mississippi River 15 220
Quincy, 111., one hundred and sixty-seven miles
above St. Louis, on the Mississippi, is situated in one
of the finest agricultural sections of the country.
Hannibal, Mo., one hundred and forty-seven miles
above St. Louis, is an important point for the ship-
ment of pork, hemp, tobacco, and other produce.
Both of these thriving cities are important centres of
the trade and commerce of St. Louis.
The Illinois River empties into the Mississippi at
Grafton, 111., forty-three miles above St. Louis. The
Kankakee and Des Plaines Rivers uniting at Dresden
form the Illinois, which, receiving the waters of Ver-
milion River, then becomes navigable for steamboats
during a part of the year. The productiveness of
the country through which the Illinois flows makes
the commerce of that river very valuable. The dis-
tances from St. Louis to trading-points on the Illinois
River are as follows :
Miles. Total.
To Mason's Landing 42 42
Hurdin 25 67
Columbians 10 77
Apple Creek 4
Bridgeport.
Miles.
Total.
Meredosia ,
6
119
10
129
4
143
Browning
6
149
6
155
Bath
12
167
12
179
10
189
Copperas
12
201
Lancaster
8
209
Kingston
2
211
Pekin
10
221
Wesley City
6
227
Peoria
3
230
Spring Bay
14
244
Rome
6
250
Chillicothe
2
252
20
272
30
302
La Salle
1
303
SI
83
Monte/ uina 14
Florence 6 103
Griggsville 6 109
Naples 4 113
The Missouri River unites with the Mississippi
twenty miles above St. Louis. The springs in the
Rocky Mountains from which its head-waters flow
are not more than a mile from those which supply
the Columbia River, which empties into the Pacific
Ocean. The Jefferson, Gallatin, and Madison, three
small streams, unite to form the Missouri. The
" Gates of the Rocky Mountains," which, rising
perpendicularly from the water's edge to the height
of twelve hundred feet, compress the river into a
breadth of four hundred and fifty feet, are four
hundred and forty-one miles from the extreme point
of navigation of the branches. The " Great Falls," a
series of rapids, having a fall of three hundred and
fifty-one feet in sixteen miles, are one hundred and
ten miles below the " Gates." These falls are broken
into four leaps, of which the first in the descent of
the river is twenty-six feet ; the second, forty-seven
feet ; the third, nineteen feet ; and the fourth, ninety-
eight feet. Below the falls navigation is unobstructed
by any permanent barrier, and only impeded by low
waters after the July flood has passed down. The
great number of islands and sand-bars that have
formed in the river render the channel intricate and
difficult for navigation, which, with the numerous
"snags," make steamboating extremely hazardous.
The first important tributary, the Yellowstone, is as
yet not of any material importance from a commercial
point of view. It is navigable for a considerable dis-
tance by the steamboats of the upper Missouri, and
when the country through which it flows shall have
been settled and cultivated, the trade of the Yellow-
stone will doubtless become very valuable.
The Platte, or Nebraska River enters the Missouri
seven hundred and forty miles from St. Louis.
Formed by its North and South Forks, which rise in
the Rocky Mountains, the Platte flows easterly for
two thousand miles, but is shallow, and, except in the
great freshets of the spring, is not navigable.
1042
HISTORY OP SAINT LOUIS.
Sixteen miles above Kansas City and four hundred
and seventy-three from St. Louis, the Little Platte
from Iowa enters the Missouri. It is two hundred
miles in length, shallow, and not of much importance
commercially.
One of the largest tributaries of the Missouri is the
Kansas, which enters that river near Kansas City,
four hundred and fifty-nine miles from St. Louis.
Rising in the Rocky Mountains, and flowing east-
ward through the rich State of Kansas, its length is
twelve hundred miles, nine hundred of which, with
some improvement, might be made navigable. It is
one thousand feet wide at its mouth, and has many
tributaries, of which Solomon's Fork, seven hundred
miles long, and Smoky Hill Fork, eight hundred
miles long, are the largest.
Grand River enters the Missouri three hundred and
one miles from St. Louis. It is two hundred and
forty miles in length, and navigable one hundred
miles between the Missouri and Madison, Iowa.
Five miles below Cambridge, Iowa, and two hun-
dred and sixty-nine above St. Louis, the Chariton
River from Iowa enters the Missouri. It is navigable
for thirty miles, and its length is one hundred miles.
Eight miles below Arrow Rock and two hundred
and forty miles from St. Louis, the La Mine River
enters the Missouri. It is navigable for about thirty
miles.
The Osage River is about five hundred miles in
length, and runs through a very fertile and productive
country, and enters the Missouri one hundred and
sixty-nine miles from St. Louis. It is navigable for
about two hundred miles.
The Gasconade, rising in Wright County, Mo.,
runs nearly two hundred miles, and empties into the
Missouri one hundred and twenty-nine miles from St.
Louis. It is important only as supplying water-power,
and is not navigable.
The distances from St. Louis to points on the Mis-
souri River are as follows :
Miles. Total.
To inouth of Missouri River.
Bellefontaine Bend.
Jamestown
Charbonier
St. Charles
Howard Bend
Bonhorame Island..
Howell's Ferry
Dozier
Port Royal
Tavern Rock
Mount Albans
Augusta
Jones Point
Houth Point
Basonia
Washington
Tuque Point.
20
5
2
II)
12
1
4
5
1
1
1
6
2
4
1
1
1
St. John's Landing 2
20
25
27
35
45
57
58
62
67
68
69
70
76
78
82
83
M
85
87
Miles. Total.
Newport Landing 2 89
Miller's Landing 9 98
Hermann 23 121
Gasconade 8 129
Portland 12 141
St.Aubert's 10 151
Shipley's 4 155
Bonnot's Mills 7 162
Osage 2 164
Moreau 5 169
Jefferson City 5 174
Claysville 7 181
Marion 10 191
Martin's Landing 7 198
Nashville 7 205
Mount Vernon 7 212
Rocheport 8 220
Boonville ... 12 232
La Mine 8 240
Arrow Rock 8 248
Glasgow 17 265
Cambridge 9 274
Brunswick 26 300
Miami 15 315
Waverly 31 346
Dover Landing 13 359
Lexington 12 371
Wellington 8 379
Camden 10 389
Napoleon 8 397
Richfield 24 421
Liberty 15 436
Kansas City 21 457
Kansas River 2 459
Leavenworth 13 472
Little Platte 1 473
Weston 33 506
Atchison 15 521
Doniphan 7 528
Maysville 28 556
Palermo 24 580
St. Joseph 11 591
Nodaway 25 616
Iowa Point 30 646
Brownsville 40 686
NebraskaCity 30 716
Plattsmouth 21 737
Platte River 3 740
St. Mary's 2 742
Council Bluffs 15 757
Florence 10 767
Fort Calhoun 10 777
DeRoto 15 792
Tekama 30 822
Sioux City 60 882
Yellowstone River 1075 1957
Great Falls 675 2632
Rocky Mountain Gates 110 2742
The Ohio, which enters the Mississippi at Cairo,
one hundred and seventy-four miles below St. Louis,
is formed at Pittsburgh, one thousand and nineteen
miles from Cairo, by the junction of the Allegheny
and Youghiogheny. The Allegheny, which is the
proper continuation of the Ohio, rises on the borders
of Lake Erie, where its tributaries terminate in
Lake Chautauqua, one thousand three hundred feet
above the level of the sea, and seven hundred feet
above the level of Lake Erie. A boat may start
from these sources, within seven miles of Lake Erie,
in sight sometimes of the sails which whiten the ap-
proach to the harbor of Buffalo, and float securely
down the Conewango or Cassadaga to the Allegheny,
down that river to the Ohio, and thence uninterrupt-
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
1043
edly to the Gulf of Mexico. In all this distance of
two thousand four hundred miles the descent is so
uniform and gentle, so little accelerated by rapids,
that when there is sufficient water to float the vessel,
and sufficient power to govern it, the downward voy-
age may be performed without difficulty or danger in
the channels as they were formed by nature. Steam-
boats have ascended the Allegheny to Olean Point,
two thousand three hundred miles from the mouth of
the Mississippi, and two hundred and fifty miles
above Pittsburgh. From the junction of the two prin-
cipal tributaries of the Ohio at Pittsburgh, to Point
Pleasant, where the Great Kanawha River from West
Virginia enters the Ohio, there are only small and un-
important streams entering the Ohio. Point Pleasant
is distant from St. Louis nine hundred and forty-two
miles. The Great Kanawha is navigable for small
boats, and the products of salt, coal, and iron which
in great quantities are sent down that river find at
St. Louis a market. The salt manufactures along
the Great Kanawha amount to eight million bushels
annually.
Improvement of the Mississippi and Tribu-
taries.— Prior to the construction of the New York
and Canadian canals, and the opening of railways be-
tween the Western and Eastern States, the Missis-
sippi River and its navigable tributaries were the only
highways of commerce between the vast territory
embracing the Western States and the other States of
the Union. The closing of the mouth of the Missis-
sippi during the civil war, the general paralysis of
Southern industry and trade incident to that war, and
the increase in the size of ocean vessels turned the
current of commerce from the southern to the eastern
route, and from the bosom of the Mississippi to the
canals and railways that led to Northern Atlantic
cities. This deflection of the commerce of the Western
States from the southern to the northern routes dim-
inished, without destroying, the value of the Missis-
sippi River as a great commercial highway. The
relative economy of water over rail transportation for
heavy freights, and the failure of the railways to sup-
ply sufficient cheap transportation to meet the demands
of a rapidly increasing commerce between the great
central basin of this continent and the markets of
the world, created that public sentiment, to which
Congress has within a few years past responded, for
the improvement of the navigation of the Mississippi
and its tributaries. Previous to the public recogni-
tion of the vast importance of this national under-
taking, the prevention of " inundations of the delta
of the Mississippi" had attracted attention, together
with the practicability and cost of improving the
navigation of Western rivers, as incidental rather
than primary reasons for those improvements. The
memoir of Charles Ellet, Jr.,1 was prepared under
the authority of an act of Congress directing the
Secretary of War to institute such surveys and in-
vestigations as were necessary to the preparation of
adequate plans for protecting the delta from inunda-
tions, and increasing the depth of water on the bars
at the mouth of the Mississippi. Mr. Ellet, though
j not an officer of the government or in the employ of
the War Department, was called to this important
duty, and authorized to make such investigations
as would enable him to devise and report suitable
plans for the protection of the delta from inunda-
tions by overflows.
As- early as 1841 the attention of Congress was
called to the condition of the Mississippi above the
mouth of the Ohio. From 1836 to 1841 it was said
that more property had been destroyed from the
mouth of the Ohio to St. Louis by snags than on all
the other parts of the river and its tributaries.2 Not-
withstanding the general government had provided
; snag-boats for the lower river, the manifest neglect of
the Western rivers was entailing an annual loss of
millions of dollars upon the commerce of the West,
owing to the dangerous and destructive condition of
the then only commercial highway for that great sec-
tion of the country. A theory of constitutional con-
struction intervened to obstruct the work of improve-
ment, which became so obviously absurd that to avoid
its inconveniences Mr. Calhoun designated the Missis-
sippi River as an " inland sea," to the improvement
of which the powers of the general government
might be applied. Notwithstanding the vast extent
and wonderful fertility of the country which those
rivers drain, the nature, variety, and location of the
products seeking transportation, and the almost incal-
culable commerce which demanded the facilities of
easy and safe movement, their navigation was left un-
improved until the competition of the railroads gave
weight and influence to the demands of an injured
public.
In 1870, Congress, in addition to the usual appro-
priation for river improvements and surveys, made an
1 " The Mississippi and Ohio Rivers : containing plans for the
protection of the delta from inundations; and investigations
of the practicability and cost of improving the navigation of
the Ohio and other rivers by means of reservoirs, with appendix
on the bars at the mouth of the Mississippi, by Charles Ellet,
Jr., Civil Engineer."
2 John A. Scudder, before the Senate Committee on Transpor-
tation Routes to the Seaboard, in 1 873, said, " I suppose there are
five thousand wrecks between this (St. Louis) and Cairo alone.
I speak now of all the boats that are sunk." P. 615.
1044
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
allowance of funds for the survey and examination of
various small streams tributary to the Mississippi and
its great branches. Among the streams to be exam-
ined were the Cuivre River in Missouri, the Current
River in Missouri, Black River, Missouri and Ark-
ansas, White River, flowing through the same States,
the Fourche la Faire in Arkansas, and Bayou Bar-
tholomew in Louisiana. The surveys of these rivers
were made by Brevet Maj. Charles J. Allen, Engi-
neer Corps, who in that year reported to Gen. William
T. Reynolds, U. S. Engineer Corps, in charge of
Western rivers at St. Louis. In addition to the ex-
amination of these rivers, the same Congress which
authorized this work ordered a complete survey of the
Ouachita River from Trinity, La., to Camden, Ark.,
a distance of three hundred miles. This survey was
made in order to ascertain the practicability of im-
proving navigation on that stream by the construction
of locks and dams.
The opening up of the Little Missouri River for
the navigation of light-draught steamboats, a work of
immense value to all that section of country adjacent
to its waters, as well as to the general interests of
Western commerce, was accomplished that year. The
country through which it flows is a very productive
region, but the fact that it was in a measure cut off
from markets prevented its development. Cotton,
the chief product of this rich region, had to be hauled
on wagons a distance of one hundred miles, which
placed an embargo on its production.
The work, however, accomplished by Maj. Allen,
in which St. Louis is most deeply interested, was his
thorough and complete survey of that portion of the
Mississippi River extending from the mouth of the
Missouri to the mouth of the Maramec, which in-
cludes the harbor of St. Louis. A careful examina-
tion of the bars, chutes, and bank abrasions was made,
and the particular force of the current in certain
localities was ascertained.
During the season of 1871,1 Gen. Reynolds re-
1 The snag-boat fleet in 1871 under the command of Gen.
Reynolds was composed of the "Thayer," the "Octavia," the
"S. H. Long," the " R. E. DeRussey," and the " J. J. Abert."
The " Thayer" operated in the Missouri, between St. Joseph
and Omaha, from the time the river opened until the close of
September, when she was sent to the upper White, Black, and
Little Red Rivers.
The " R. E. DeRussey" operated in the Missouri, between
Kansas City and St. Joseph, from early in the season until the
1st of September.
After her arrival at St. Louis she was loaned to the city au-
thorities to remove obstructions in the harbor, the city paying
all her expenses. This was a benefit to the city and no loss to
the general commerce, for the reason that the appropriation was
not enough to keep the boats at work until the 1st of July.
moved over four thousand snags, roots and all, from
the streams, as well as " rack heaps" destroyed and
wrecks removed, and thousands of trees cut to pre-
vent their becoming snags, and aid given to vessels
aground or in distress, which was always rendered
when possible and never charged for.
In the upper Ouachita and Little Missouri, where
snag-boats could not go, flat-boats drawing not over
ten inches of water were set at work " cutting" snags
which their light power could not pull out. The
work was done under the superintendence of experi-
enced pilots of those streams, and at a low stage of
water. This was the only cutting that was done, ex-
cepting in the case of chutes, in two or three cases,
when they were so low that the yawl only could go
through. This method was adopted to render the
chute available when a rise should come.
Under the law of Congress 2 allowing the employ-
ment of civil engineers for the purpose of executing
the surveys and improvements of Western and North-
western rivers, much work has been done on the nav-
igable waters of the Mississippi valley.
In 1845 the Memphis Convention, for the purpose
of bringing the condition of navigation on Western
rivers to the attention of Congress, was held. John
The " Long" operated in the Missouri, from Kansas City to-
Hermann, until about the 1st of September, when she was with-
drawn. After she reached the Mississippi she worked a few
days in the St. Louis harbor, and on the 1st of November was
ordered below, between Memphis and the mouth of the Ar-
kansas.
The " J. J. Abert" worked in the Missouri, below St. Aubert,
until the middle of August, when she came into the Mississippi,
and worked between the mouth of the Missouri and Memphis.
The "Octavia" was employed the entire season between
Keokuk and Cairo, endeavoring to keep a good depth of water
between these points, until it was necessary to send her into
the Missouri to help the "DeRussey" and "Abert" out of that
river.
The work of the " Octavia" was of great service between St.
Louis and Keokuk, but owing to the nature of the river from
St. Louis to Cairo the benefit was not so great. Channels across
the worst bars were cut several times during the season, but
they soon filled up.
The amount available for running and operating the dredge
and snag-boats after using enough for repairs was only one hun-
dred and fifty thousand dollars. With this they were run about
nine months each, which, as there were five boats in all, was an
average cost of about three thousand four hundred dollars per
month, or less than one hundred and twenty dollars per day.
The Missouri from Omaha to the mouth, the Mississippi from
Keokuk to Vicksburg, the Arkansas from its mouth probably
to Little Rock, the Ouachita from its mouth to (.'anxlen, the
White from its mouth to Jacksonport, the Little Red, Black,
ami St. Francis Rivers from their mouths as far up as the boats
can go well, were all passed over by the snag-boats at least
twice, and the greater part of the distance four or more times
during that season.
» March 29, 1867: Rev. Stat., Sec. 5253.
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
1045
C. Calhoun presided, and was made chairman of the
committee to memorialize Congress. In that memo-
rial Mr. Calhoun took the broadest ground in favor
of the improvements being made by the Federal gov-
ernment without regard to their cost.
A convention was held in Chicago July 4, 1847,
to consider the subject of the improvement of the
Mississippi River and its principal tributaries, to
which delegates from St. Louis were appointed.
These delegates prepared an able report upon the
subject, which was published in pamphlet form,1 from
which it appears that there were 1190 steamboats
and 4000 keel- and flat-boats engaged in the commerce
of Western rivers, employing 61,650 persons, the cost
of which is set at $16,188,561, and the running ex-
penses at $32,725,000. The cost of river transporta-
tion was summed up as follows :
Cost of running 1190 steamboats $32,725,000
Insurance, at 12 percent 1,942,627
Interest,at 6 percent 971,313
Wear and tear, at 24 per cent 3,885,254
Tolls on Louisville and Portland Canal 250,000
Cost of flat-boats (included because
sacrificed at New Orleans) 1,380,000
Total cost of transportation $41,154,194
This vast sum was an annual " tax upon the surplus
produce, enterprise, industry, and trade of the coun-
try." The aggregate annual tonnage transported was
set at 10,126,160 tons; and the "grand aggregate value
of commerce afloat upon the navigable waters of the
valley of the Mississippi" was estimated by this com-
mittee at $432,621,240, "being nearly double the
amount of the whole foreign commerce of the United
States." Taking into consideration the loss of steam-
boats and cargoes, the committee regarded it as not
" too high an estimate to put down the actual losses
at two millions of dollars per annum. This is anni-
hilated,— so much destroyed of the wealth of the
country, — amounting every ten years to a sum equal
to the purchase-money paid by the government for all
Louisiana."
This was the era in Federal politics when the au-
thority of the general government to undertake works
of internal improvement was denied by a powerful
and often successful party. It was also a time when
the discipline of party was stronger and more binding
than the interests of States and sections. That theory
as well as discipline may be said to have departed
1 " The Commerce and Navigation of the Valley of the Missis-
sippi, and also that appertaining to the city of St. Louis, con-
sidered with reference to the improvement by the general gov-
ernment of the Mississippi and its principal tributaries, being
a report prepared by authority of the delegates from the city
of St. Louis for the use of the Chicago Convention of July 5,
1847."
forever from the politics of the country, since the
River and Harbor bill of 1882 appropriated nearly
$20,000,000 for the improvement of the rivers and
harbors of the country, of which $4,123,000 was for
the Mississippi River. Up to 1873 the United States
government had expended for the improvement of
rivers and harbors on
The Atlanticcoast $9,587,173
The Gulf coast 579,706
The Pacific coast 638,003
The Northern lakes 10,437,158
The Western rivers 11,438,300
Total $32,680,340
Above the Falls of St. Anthony to Leech Lake, a
distance of six hundred and seventy-five miles, the
Mississippi may be navigated in certain conditions
of the rainfall. A reconnoissance of this part of the
river was made in 1869 by Francis Cook, civil engi-
neer, under the direction of Gen. G. K. Warren, of the
United States Engineer Corps. In his report of Jan.
22, 1870,2 Mr. Cook presents much valuable informa-
tion in regard to the improvement of the upper Mis-
sissippi, and revives the " reservoir" plan of Mr. Ellet
for supplying the river both above and below the
Falls of St. Anthony during dry seasons. A lockage
at Sauk Rapids of eighteen feet will connect the reaches
of the river and extend the navigation to Little Falls,
where a lockage of fourteen feet will form a connec-
tion with another navigable reach extending to the
mouth of Pine River, where the removal of bowlders
and the opening of cut-ofis will extend navigation to
Pokegama Falls. At that point a lockage of thirty
feet will open the navigable waters above to Lake Leech
and Winnebagoshish Lake. Thus continuous naviga-
tion will be had for six hundred and seventy-five miles
above the Falls of St. Anthony. The natural reser-
voirs that would supply the Mississippi River, both
above and below the Falls of St. Anthony, during
the seasons of low water are to be formed by con-
structing a dam at Pokegama Falls, by which a supply
of 37,057,638,400 cubic feet of water could be ob-
tained, and a dam raising Lake Mille Lacs two feet
would increase that amount 10,036,224,000 cubic feet.
The estimated cost of these reservoirs was one hun-
dred and fourteen thousand dollars, and they would
supply to the upper Mississippi a permanent depth of
from four and a half to five feet during the entire
season. In a report to the War Department, Dec. 22,
1873,3 Maj. F. W. Farquhar, of the United States
Engineer Corps, recommended that a complete survey
be made of the navigable portions of the Mississippi
* K.\. Doc. 285, Forty-first Congress, Second Session.
3 Ex. Doc. 145, Forty-third Congress, First Session.
1046
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
River above the Falls of St. Anthony, and urged the
further improvement of the river between St. Anthony
and St. Cloud. These improvements have all been
undertaken by the general government, and for con-
tinuing operations on the reservoirs at the head-waters
of the Mississippi, Congress appropriated, Aug. 2, i
1882,1 three hundred thousand dollars. By the same
act twenty-five thousand dollars was appropriated for
the removal of snags, ten thousand dollars for contin-
uing the improvement of the Mississippi River above
the Falls of St. Anthony, and twenty-five thousand
dollars for improving the falls.
Upon the Mississippi between St. Paul and St.
Louis two dredge-boats have been employed since
1867, operating chiefly upon sand-bars, removing
snags and overhanging trees. The Rock Island
Rapids2 have been improved by excavating a chan-
nel so as to give a width of two hundred feet and a
navigable depth of four feet at extreme low water, |
and a canal 6.7 miles in length was constructed at
Keokuk Rapids. This canal is from two hundred and
fifty to three hundred feet in width, with a minimum
depth of five feet. The act of Aug. 2, 1882,8 appro-
priated two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for con-
tinuing the improvement of the Mississippi River from
St. Paul to Des Moines Rapids, and thirty thousand
dollars for the construction of a dry-dock at the Des
Moines Rapids Canal, and thirty thousand dollars for
improving Des Moines Rapids Canal. " The widening
of the channel at Rock Island," 4 said a committee of
St. Louis business men in a letter to a committee of
Congress, " the completion of the canal at Des Moines,
the construction of the wing-dams before alluded to,
the removal of wrecks and snags, and the construction
of the Fort St. Philip Canal would, we believe, result
in the utilizing of this great waterway from St. Paul
to New Orleans, and reduce the cost of transportation
to a uniform cost not exceeding the lowest average
as shown by the tables of freight accompanying this
report. In the opinion of this committee, the removal
of wrecks and snags between St. Louis and New Or-
1 River and Harbor Bill.
1 In .1836, Lieut. R. E. Lee was in charge of the improve-
ments, and continued work thereon until 1839. No appropria-
tion was made from 1839 to 1852, when, under an appropriation
by Congress, the work was intrusted to Lieut. Warren, of the
topographical engineers. In 1856, Maj. Floyd was put in
charge of the work, and since then it has been prosecuted under
the supervision of engineers of the United States.
s River and Harbor Bill.
* Letter signed E. 0. Stanard, chairman, Erastus Wells, W.
H. Stone, Lewis V. Bogy, R. P. Tausey, Webster M. Samuel,
George Bain, H. C. Haarstick, Isaac M. Mason. Myron Coloney,
George H. Morgan, in report of Transportation Committee, page
598.
leans is of vital importance to the commerce of the
river. Wrecks between St. Louis and Cairo, sunken
many years ago and forgotten, are so numerous that,
from the extra hazard they present, our rate of insur-
ance is not only increased upon boat hulls and cargoes,
but steamers with thin hulls and light draught are re-
fused insurance at any rate. It is necessary, there-
fore, to construct much stronger and more expensive
hulls, and necessarily of deeper draught, than would
be acceptable to underwriters were these wrecks and
snags removed." The opinions of these leading com-
mercial men, as well as the reports of engineers, at
length created so strong a public sentiment in regard
to the improvement of the Mississippi River that Con-
gress, by the act of June 18, 1879, created the Mis-
sissippi River Commission, to examine and report
such plans, specifications, and estimates as would ren-
der the river, when the work was completed, fully equal
to the demands of commerce. For the commence-
ment of this great work there was appropriated by
the act of August, 1882, the sum of $4,123,000 for
the improvement of the Mississippi River " from
the head of the Passes to Cairo," and $600,000 for
improving the river " from Cairo to the Des Moines
Rapids." The estimates of the cost of the various im-
provements of the Mississippi and its tributaries,
made by the Merchants' Exchange of St. Louis,
amounted to $16,010,000, and are supposed to cover
the entire cost of the radical improvements of these
rivers, with the exception of the Ohio.
The improvement of the latter river so as to secure
a uniform depth of six feet at low water from Pitts-
burgh to Cairo has long been recognized as being
demanded by the vast interests that line the banks of
that mighty stream. The length of the river between
those points is nine hundred and twenty-seven miles.
Six States border upon it, viz. : Pennsylvania, West
Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, and
the territory drained by it embraces 214,000 square
miles. W. Milnor Roberts, in 1868, estimated the
value of the commerce of the cities and towns on the
river at $1,623,000,000. The coal and other mineral
interests are of immense value and importance. The
coal area embraces a territory of 122,000 square
miles, and the shipments of coal by the river in 1873
amounted to 60,000,000 bushels, or 2,300,000 tons.
Almost all the coal consumed in the cities, towns,
and country bordering on the Mississippi River and
its navigable tributaries below St. Louis, consumed
by steamers on the Mississippi River, and to a great
extent by ocean-steamers from New Orleans, is shipped
on the Ohio River. During a single rise in that river
forty-six fleets, composed of three hundred and sixty-
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
1047
nine barges, and carrying 4,156,000 bushels of coal,
started from Pittsburgh within three days.
A board of commissioners for the improvement of
the Ohio River was created in 1872 by the joint
action of the States of Pennsylvania, Ohio, West
Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, and Illinois,
which presented a memorial to Congress Dec. 16,
1872, asking the general government to undertake
the work, which was stated to be " not one of en-
gineering but of finance." The difficulty which em- '
barrasses the navigation of the Ohio arises from a
descent of four hundred and twenty-six feet between
Pittsburgh and Cairo, in consequence of which the
current varies from one and a half to three and a half
miles per hour. In 1870, W. Milnor Roberts, United
States engineer, suggested a plan of improvement, the
estimated cost of which was twenty-three million
seven hundred and seventy-seven thousand six hun-
dred and sixty-two dollars, and Gen. G. Weitzel, major
of engineers, and W. E. Merrill, major of engineers,
as a board of commissioners, appointed by the War
Department April 16, 1872, reported a plan of im-
provement Jan. 31, 1874.1 With the exception of
the purchase of the Louisville and Portland Canal
around the falls of the Ohio and making the same
free, very little of any importance and nothing of any
permanent value has been done towards the improve-
ment of the Ohio River by the Federal government.
The improvement of the Illinois River was begun as
early as 1836 with the construction of the Illinois and
Michigan Canal, which was to extend from Chicago to
the Illinois River at La Salle, a distance of about one
hundred miles, but in the general financial crash of
1837 the work was suspended. The bonds issued for •
the construction of the canal were owned principally in j
England. In 1844 a proposition was made to the Eng-
lish bondholders that if they would advance sixteen
hundred thousand dollars for the completion of the i
canal it should pass into their hands, and its revenue i
go, with what lands2 the State owned, — the avails of
the bonds being paid into the canal funds to reimburse
the State, — to pay the bonds, interest and principal.
In accordance with this suggestion the English bond-
holders appointed two trustees and the State one,
under whose control the work remained until May 1,
1872. The original plan of building the canal was
to give it an incline from the Chicago River to the
Des Plaines River at Lockport, and then supply a
portion of the water by pumping-works at Bridge-
port, at the commencement of the canal. The city of
1 Ex. Doc. No. 127, Forty-third Congress, First Session.
* Lands donated in 1S31 by United States along the canal.
Chicago, under authority from the State, removed the
"bench," or summit level, thus securing a constant
flow of water from the Chicago River to Lockport.
A distance of twenty-seven miles was thus deepened
to eight feet, at a cost of about three millions of
dollars. The original design of this canal was to
connect the navigable waters of the Illinois River
with Lake Michigan. The tolls and revenues of the
canal were never sufficient to pay even the interest on
the bonds, owing to the fact that the Illinois River
of late years has had less water in it than when the
canal was projected. Though the improvement of the
Illinois River had been urged upon Congress tor many
years, it was not until about 1865 that an appropriation
of eighty-five thousand dollars was made for that work,
but very little was done under that appropriation, the
money being diverted by the Secretary of War to the
improvement of the Rock Island Rapids. In 1869 the
Legislature of Illinois appropriated four hundred and
fifty thousand dollars for the work, and in the same year
Congress appropriated two millions for Western rivers,
of which sum eighty-five thousand dollars was ex-
pended on this river. In 1870, Congress appropriated
one hundred thousand dollars for the work. In 1873
the estimated cost of its completion was two million two
hundred thousand dollars, and by the River and Harbor
bill of 1882 there was appropriated one hundred and
seventy-five thousand dollars for continuing the work,
which is now being carried on by the general govern-
ment. In addition, the further improvement of the
navigation of the Illinois River is contemplated by
the construction of the Hennepin Canal from Henne-
pin to Rock Island. The estimated cost of this work
is four million five hundred thousand dollars,3 for
which the River and Harbor bill of 1882 appropri-
ated the sum of thirty thousand dollars, with, how-
ever, the proviso " that nothing herein shall be con-
strued to commit the government to proceed with the
construction of the said improvement." The im-
provements of this river now completed and in con-
templation will form with the Hennepin Canal a con-
tinuous line of canal and slack-water navigation from
Chicago to the Mississippi River, as follows :
Illinois and Michigan Canal, Chicago to La Salle... 96 miles.
Slack water, Illinois River, La Salle to Hennepin... 19 '
Hennepin Canal, Illinois to Mississippi River 65 '
Total 180 «
The improvements of the upper Mississippi now
in progress will, when completed, afford seven hundred
and sixty-one miles of continuous navigation between
s Mr. Utley, of the Board of Canal Commissioners of Illinois :
Transportation Report, p. L':>J.
1048
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
St. Louis and St. Paul for barges, which can pass
through the Hennepin and the Illinois and Michigan
Canals to the city of Chicago, thus affording compe-
tition with ail railroad lines which cross the Missis-
sippi River between St. Paul and St. Louis.
Beyond the removal of the snags by the govern-
ment snag-boats, nothing has been done for the im-
provement of the navigation of the Missouri River.
The Missouri River Improvement Association in 1881
addressed a memorial to Congress upon the sub-
ject, but it is conspicuous by its absence from the
bulky volume of the River and Harbor bill of 1882.
The Fox and Wisconsin Rivers have formed an
important highway for two hundred years. It was
by pursuing this route that Marquette in 1673 dis-
covered the upper Mississippi, and along these rivers
the French missionaries and traders made the earliest
settlements in the West. _ In the ordinance for the
government of the Northwestern Territory, adopted
July 14, 1787, it was provided that the navigable
waters leading into the Mississippi and the St. Law-
rence, and the carrying places between the same, should
be common highways and forever free. The same
provision is embodied, in substance, in the act of
Congress of Aug. 7, 1789, after the adoption of the
Constitution ; in the act of Congress establishing a j
Territorial government for Wisconsin, approved April
20, 1836 ; in the act admitting Wisconsin as a State, |
Aug. 6, 1846, and in the Constitution of the State
of Wisconsin. A preliminary survey of the cost of
the improvement of these rivers was made by Capt.
Cram, of the United States Topographical Engineers,
in 1839. By the act of Congress Aug. 8, 1846, a
grant of land was made to the State of Wisconsin for
the purpose of improving the navigation of these
rivers, and for constructing a canal through the di-
vide, or " portage," to unite them, in which the j
declaration was reasserted that this channel should be
free to the commerce of the United States. The
State of Wisconsin, by its Board of Public Works,
and afterwards by corporations duly authorized, under-
took the improvement of these rivers, in the prosecu-
tion of which over two millions of dollars, including
the proceeds of the sale of the lands granted by Con-
gress, were expended. The Fox River was improved
so as to pass at low water boats of four feet draught
from Green Bay to Lake Winnebago, and boats of
two and a half feet draught from Lake Winnebago to
the Wisconsin River. Little or no work was done on
the latter river.
The improvement utterly failed to meet the re-
quirements of commerce, because it did not admit of
the passage of boats from the Mississippi up the
Wisconsin River. On the Fox River the improve-
ment aided in the development of that portion of the
State, — a development which is traceable not only to
the utilization of the water-power, but probably in a
greater degree to the competition, although neces-
sarily small, existing between water and rail. In
1870, Congress directed the Secretary of War to
adopt such a plan for the improvement of the Wis-
consin as should be approved by the chief of engi-
neers, and authorized him to appoint arbitrators to
ascertain the sum which ought to be paid for the
transfer of all rights in the works of improvement
then held by the corporation created under the laws
of Wisconsin. The sum fixed upon was one hundred
and forty-five thousand dollars. By the act of July
7, 1870,1 Congress further directed that all tolls and
revenues derived from the improvement, after pro-
viding for current expenses, should be paid into
the treasury until the United States was reimbursed
for all sums advanced for the same with interest
thereon, after which the tolls were to be reduced to
the least sum which, with any other revenue derived
from the improvement, would be sufficient to operate
and keep the improvement in repair. In 1871, Con-
gress made the appropriation of one hundred and
forty-five thousand dollars, and the deed of transfer
was executed and delivered to the United States.
Subsequently appropriations amounting to four hun-
dred thousand dollars were made. The report of Col.
Houston, then engineer in charge,2 in 1873, says,
" The work now in the hands of the government is
different from any other work of this character, and
the appropriation that was made last year (1872) is
too small an appropriation to carry on the work to
advantage." In the River and Harbor bill for 1882
the sum of two hundred thousand dollars was appro-
priated for continuing the improvement.
The efforts to improve navigation at the mouths of
the Mississippi have a history running through more
than a century and a half, — a history made up in large
part of controversy and discussion among engineers,
wherein almost every fact advanced by one was con-
troverted by another, and every theory advocated was
subsequently assailed or exploded. The vexed ques-
tion has at last been definitely settled, and it is only
necessary now to present in chronological order the
historical facts in connection with this vast enterprise.
In 1722 the present South Pass was examined by
M. Pauger, an engineer in the employ of the West-
ern Company, and described as being " straighter
1 Rev. Stat., Sec. 5249.
2 Evidence before Committee on Transportation, pp. 229-32.
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
1049
than the ancient pass, but narrower." It was added
that " at the outlet of this Pass there is a bar upon
which there is but nine to ten feet water, and which
is about one hundred toises wide." According to this
engineer, there was an average draught on the bar of the
South Pass, one hundred and sixty years ago, of about ,
ten English feet. From the year 1764 to 1771, we ;
learn from Gault's map, made from the Admiralty j
surveys, that the depth on the bar at the Pass was !
from eight to nine feet English. From that time to
1838 there are no data as to the depth of water. In
that year (1838) a survey was made, under the direc-
tion of the special board of United States engineers,
by George G. Meade, who ascertained that " eight
feet could be carried over the west and principal
channel." After the Meade survey a spit of sand
formed directly in the mouth of the Pass, which en-
tirely closed up the entrance, so far as commercial
purposes were concerned.
The Northeast Pass, or a branch thereof called the
Southeast Pass, was in the early period of the navi-
gation of the river the principal avenue of its com-
merce. But this preference was probably due rather
to its position, favoring vessels from the east, than to
the actual depth of water at its mouth. The earliest
notices of the bars speak of the entrance to the river
as if there were but one that was used by the ship-
ping, and Mr. Ellet says " it cannot be doubted that
the Southeast Pass, or the Northeast Pass (which
were in fact at that day, as they were fifty years
later, but two distinct channels through the shoal
water at the outlet of the Northeast Pass), is the
channel to which these early notices apply." * The
following allusion to this outlet is from a dispatch
from Bienville, then Governor of the province, to
the French minister in 1722 : " I have had the honor
to inform the Council by my last letters concerning
the entrance to the river, and to assure them that
vessels drawing not over thirteen feet (French) could
then enter at full sail without touching, and that it
would not be difficult to render the Pass practicable
for vessels of the largest size, the bottom being
nothing but a soft and movable mud." Mr. Ellet
adds that " Bienville would have undertaken to
deepen the water on the bar if the engineers who
were specially charged with such works had con-
curred with him in opinion upon the practicability of
the enterprise." The difference of opinion among
engineers which existed at that early day has con-
tinued for a century and a half, and postponed the
1 Appendix to " Memoir on Mississippi and Ohio Rivers,"
p. 329.
work until Mr. Eads forced it through by assuming
all risk, and undertaking its construction upon the
terms of no pay without success.
As early as 1722 the engineer, Pauger, expressed
the opinion that the deposit from the river " could be
broken and carried off by stopping up some of the
Passes of the Mississippi, by means of old vessels
sunk to the bottom, together with trees, of which a
prodigious quantity descends during the two first
months of the year," and he proposed a system of
dikes and brushwood for establishing the current of
the river. This plan of improvement by dikes and
brushwood, suggested in 1722 by M. Pauger, was
assailed as useless and impracticable by Charles Ellet,
Jr., in his memoir on the Mississippi and Ohio
Rivers :
"If we increase the velocity of the fresh-water currents by
contracting the channel, or by stopping up the secondary out-
lets, we shall certainly increase the depth and velocity of the
column of fresh water flowing into the gulf on top of the sea-
water. But that will not sweep out the bar. No part of the
fresh water comes within eight feet of the top of the bar which
it is expected to remove.
" The immediate effect of this increased force of fresh water
will be to carry the upper portion of the salt water immediately
below it farther out, and to transfer the place of deposit to some
other point still on the bar, but nearer the sea, just as it is now
transferred sometimes from above the head of the Passes, where
it is occasionally found in extreme low water, to within half a
mile of the edge of the gulf, to which point it recedes in com-
mon high water. But this will not prevent an under current of
salt water from flowing in and an upper current from flowing
out, nor will it prevent deposits from taking place at the points
where the direction changes, though with the same volume, of
water it will change the position of that deposit."
Mr. Ellet further contended that
" while the effect of increasing the velocity of the current by
contracting the embouchure of the river will not be felt in the
removal of the bars, this increase of current will take place at
the surface, and hence act with increased power upon the very
works by which it is produced. These works must rest on foun-
dations of loose mud, which has been deposited in the existing
order of things. There is, therefore, reason to believe, at least
to apprehend, that any material increase of littoral velocity
would carry off this deposit, undermine the works, and conse-
quently overthrow them."
In this opposition to what is now known as the
jetty system Maj. C. W. Howell, of the United States
engineers, concurred in his letter to Capt. J. H. Ogles-
by, president of the New Orleans Chamber of Com-
merce, saying, —
"The theory is attractive from its apparent simplicity, and
for the same reason is the first to claim the attention of dabblers
in hydraulic engineering, who either do not know, or else lose
sight of the condition essential to its successful application. The
principles of these conditions are two: 1. That the character of
the bed and banks of the river at the point of application be
Buch that scouring will be effected in the bed in preference to
1050
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
the banks; in other words, the banks must be firm enough to
withstand the action of the current, and the bottom yielding
enough to permit scour.
" The second condition is thut there shall exist a current (lit-
toral), passing the outer extremities of the jetties perpendicular
to them, capable of sweeping to one side or the other all deposit
made about the jetty-heads and tending to form a new bar out-
side.
" No such current has been discovered at the mouth of the
Mississippi, although carefully sought. In default of it jetties
•would have to be built farther and farther out, not annually,
but steadily every day each year, to keep pace with the advance
of the river deposit into the gulf, provided they are attempted,
and the attempt warranted by having the relative character of
bed and bank favorable.
" For the reasons that these two conditions are not to be found
at the mouth of the Mississippi, careful engineers have time
and again pronounced the application of jetties at either South-
west Pass or Pass a 1'Outre not worthy of a trial at government
expense. If enthusiastic jetty men wish to pass from theory to
practice, they can always gain consent to spend their own money
in building jetties at Southwest Pass, and if they succeed in
doing good they will have a fair claim on government for recom-
pense. . . . Jetties have been attempted there, and not only
reported a failure by the inspecting officer, but abandoned by
Messrs. Craig & Righter, who made the attempt.1
" The full particulars of this may be found in Ex. Doc. No.
5 H. R., 36th Cong., 2d sess. The practical experience gained
by that failure, I presume, will deter the government, though it
will not deter adventurous jetty men, from sinking more money i
in such attempts."
The " adventurous jetty men" were Capt. James
B. Eads and his associates, who, as is well known, have
made the jetty system a grand success. It is not
necessary to recapitulate here the controversy which,
in the newspapers as well as in Congress, have agi-
tated the whole Mississippi valley concerning this
method of deepening the water at the mouth of the
great river.
The various modes which have been attempted of
increasing the depth of the channel through the
Passes have been the following :
1. Dredging. Under instructions of the War Department,
Capt. Talcott attempted in 1839 to open the Southwest Pass
with the ordinary bucket-drag. The gulf waves in a single
storm swept in " twice as much mud" as he had taken out.
2. By rake and harrow. This method was once tried under
the direction and at the expense of the government by a tow-
boat association, but their efforts were equally fruitless. The
channel was temporarily opened to a depth of eighteen feet,
but again suddenly closed by a gulf storm.
3. In 1836 the government entered into a contract with
Messrs. Craig & Righter to open a channel one thousand feet
wide and eighteen feet deep, which was to be executed by
closing all the Passes except those designated for navigation.
The contract was abandoned.
4. In 1868-70 the government caused to be constructed a
1 Craig & Righter built but one jetty, and not jetties, as ap-
pears from a foot-note to page 455, stating that "the contrac-
tors (Messrs. Craig <t Righter,) merely built one insecure jetty
of a single row of pile-planks, about a mile long."
steam propeller dredge, at a cost of three hundred and fifty
thousand dollars, which was placed under the command of an
officer of the navy. This experiment was faithfully made, but
it " failed to maintain a much greater depth of water than that
which nature has prescribed as the regimen depth of the Pass."
The results of this mode were at least but temporary, and to
have been of any service would have had to be continued from
year to year, while the labors of an entire season were liable to
be destroyed at any time by a single storm.
5. By the Fort St. Philip Canal, which was strongly recom-
mended by a majority of the board of engineers appointed by
the War Department. This canal was proposed as early as
1832, since which time many surveys and reconnoissances have
been made as to its proper location, expense, and commercial
practicability.
A report of the United States board of engineers
in 1874 favored the canal scheme and opposed the
jetties, holding that the cost of producing a depth
of twenty-seven feet would be twenty-three million
dollars.
In February, 1874, James B. Eads proposed to Con-
gress to open the mouth of the river, making a depth
of twenty-eight feet, for ten million dollars, at the
entire risk of himself and his associates, not a dollar
to be paid until a depth of twenty feet was secured.
The controversy created by Capt. Eads' proposition be-
came quite warm and personal. A committee of civil
engineers was appointed to investigate the question,
and particularly the European jetties and their ef-
fects.
The result of their investigation was favorable to
the jetties, and on March 3, 1875, the President
signed the bill entering into a contract with Capt. Eads
to deepen the mouth of the river. South Pass, which
had previously had a depth of nine feet, was chosen,
and work begun in June, 1875. By May, 1876, when
very little work had been done, it was found that one
million nine hundred thousand cubic yards of material
had been scoured out, and that the minimum depth
was 16.9 feet. Even with this showing many persons
still failed to have confidence in the jetties, and stories
of new bars, mud, lumps, etc., were told almost every
day in the local press. In November, 1877, the
dredge-boat " Bayley" was used in scouring the
channel of the jetties.
A survey made Dec. 15, 1877, showed a channel
twenty-two feet deep, and more than two hundred
feet wide, existing from the deeper water in South
Pass to the deeper water in the gulf. On this show-
ing the first award of five hundred thousand dollars,
under the contract made between Eads and the gov-
ernment, was paid over to him. Work was continued
on the jetties in 1877 and 1878, in which year it was
completed, the concrete and crib-work at the sea ends
being erected.
The following table will show the depth in the
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
1051
channel at ten thousand feet from East Point, the
worst part of the Pass, at various times :
June, 1875 9.2 feet.
May, 1876 15 "
August, 1876 19.8 "
July, 1877 20.3 "
June, 1878 21.9 "
February, 1879 22.2 feet.
March, 1879 24.8 "
June, 1879 28 "
July, 1879 30.5 "
In the summer of 1881 the least depth in the
channel in South Pass, not in the jetties, was 26 } feet,
97,000 feet above East Point and at Bayou Grande ;
and 29 feet at Picayune Bayou, and at a point 90,000
feet above East Point. At no point in the jetties
proper is the depth of channel less than 30 J feet.
James B. Eads, whose name is permanently asso-
ciated with three gigantic enterprises, — the building
of the jetties, the construction of the gunboat fleet
at St. Louis during the war, and the erection of the
great bridge across the Mississippi, — may justly be
regarded as one of the foremost engineers of his day,
and it is quite within bounds to say that no man has
ever surmounted greater mechanical difficulties or
wrested a larger measure of success from doubtful
and hostile conditions. Two of the three great ex-
periments whose practicability he so signally demon-
strated may be classed among the wonders of the
age, for it is a matter of history that the construc-
tion both of the Mississippi bridge and jetties was
regarded by leading engineers and scientific men as
impracticable, dangerous, and altogether beyond the
limits of reasonable calculation. With that un-
bounded faith in the correctness of his own judg-
ment and that indomitable courage and endurance
which have ever been recognized as the first essen-
tials to success in all great undertakings, Capt. Eads
maintained his position in the face of criticism, de-
traction, personal abuse, and determined professional
hostility working through various channels, and at
last, by sheer pluck and persistence, fully vindicated
the soundness of his views and covered his critics
with confusion.
Capt. Eads was born in Lawrenceburg, Ind., May
23, 1820, and his early education was acquired in
the schools of Louisville and Cincinnati. Before he
had succeeded in mastering the rudiments, however,
his father experienced reverses which necessitated his
withdrawal from school, to which he never returned.
At a very early age he developed a taste for mechan-
ics and a fondness for experimenting with machinery,
which was afterwards to become the ruling passion of
his wonderful career. Among the anecdotes related
of him is one to the effect that when only nine years
old, having embarked on an Ohio River steamboat,
he exhibited such an intelligent interest in the engine
that the engineer volunteered to explain to him the de-
tails of its mechanism and operation, finding in him an
absorbed and quickly responsive pupil. Four years
later the boy was able to construct a miniature work-
ing steam-engine without assistance.
In September, 1833, when only thirteen years of
age, he arrived in St. Louis under very unpropitious
circumstances, the steamboat on which his father
with his family had embarked to seek a home farther
West having been burned, thus rendering the family
destitute. In order to contribute something to the
common fund, young Eads sold apples on the street,
and succeeded not only in providing for his own sup-
port but also in assisting his mother. After a while
he obtained a position with a mercantile firm, the
senior partner of which, Barrett Williams, having
discovered his mechanical tastes and aspirations, gave
him free access to his library, where he eagerly em-
braced the opportunity to study mechanics, machin-
ery, and civil engineering. After spending some time
in this occupation he obtained a position as clerk on
a steamboat, which he retained two years, and during
this period obtained a valuable fund of information
concerning the great river whose restless current he
was afterwards to bridle and control at will. In 1842
he entered into a partnership with Case & Nelson,
boat-builders, for the purpose of recovering steam-
boats and cargoes which had been wrecked or sunk
1052
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
in the river. At first the operations of the firm were
limited, their machinery and appliances being very
primitive and quite inadequate to the work which
they undertook to perform. Such were the energy,
versatility, and industry of Capt. Eads, however, that
the business rapidly expanded, until, in the space of
about ten years, it extended the entire length of the
Mississippi, and the property of the firm had increased
to half a million dollars. In 1845, Capt. Eads sev-
ered his relations with Messrs. Case & Nelson and
established a factory for the manufacture of glass-
ware. To Capt. Eads belongs the credit of having
made the first glassware west of the Mississippi.
The enterprise not proving remunerative, however, he
returned to his old business of recovering steamboat
property, etc., from the river.
In the winter of 1855-56, Capt. Eads submitted
to Congress a proposition to keep the Western rivers
open for a term of years by removing all obstructions
and keeping the channels free. A bill embodying
his proposal passed the House of Representatives, but
was defeated in the Senate. In 1857 he retired from
active business on account of ill health, but on the
breaking out of the war his large and varied expe-
rience in navigating the Mississippi and its tributaries,
his thorough knowledge of those rivers, his immense
industry and energy, and his almost intuitively sound
judgment were promptly placed at the disposal of the
Union government. While a stanch supporter of the
war measures of the Lincoln administration, Capt.
Eads by no means approved the enforcement of harsh
and arbitrary measures of coercion, and, as elsewhere
narrated, at a crisis when peculiar courage was re-
quired to assume such a position, took strong ground
against the levying of contributions on Southern sym-
pathizers, and headed a movement for raising a fund
to take the place of that which the military authori-
ties had determined to exact from alleged friends of
the Confederacy in St. Louis. When the government
took into consideration the feasibility of forming a
gunboat fleet on the Mississippi, Capt. Eads was
summoned to Washington for consultation, and in
pursuance of his advice the construction of a number
of ironclads was undertaken. Capt. Eads received
the contract for building the first seven of these ves-
sels, and accomplished the gigantic task with con-
spicuous ability and success. His labors in this con-
nection have already been fully set forth in this work
in the chapter on the civil war.
Capt. Eads' next great feat was the construction of
the bridge across the Mississippi. He was the origi-
nator and creator of this vast enterprise, and as its
chief engineer personally superintended the prosecution
of the work, — a work attended by innumerable diffi-
culties, delays, and embarrassments, — which he con-
ducted to a triumphant consummation by the steady
and persistent exercise of his rare energy and in-
domitable will.
Even when most actively engaged with the multi-
farious duties of this grave trust, and weighted down
with its responsibilities, he found time and thought
to give to the important problem of securing a suffi-
cient depth of water at the mouth of the Mississippi
for vessels of the largest draught. After long and
mature deliberation he came to the conclusion that
the only practicable method of securing this object
was by an elaborate and costly system of jetties,
which he defines as being " simply dikes or levees
under water, . . . intended to act as banks to the
river to prevent its expanding and diffusing itself as
it enters the sea. It is a notable fact that where the
banks of a river extend boldly out into the sea no bar
is formed at the entrance. It is where the banks or
fauces terrx (jaws of earth) are absent, as is the case
in delta-forming rivers, that the bar is an invariable
feature. The bar results from the diffusion of the
stream as it spreads out fan-like in entering the sea.
The diffusion of the river being the cause, the remedy
manifestly lies in contracting it or in preventing the
diffusion."
In 1852 a board of engineers composed of Maj.
Chase and Capts. Barnard and Beauregard, of the
army, and Capt. Latimer, of the navy, recommended
that in order to increase the depth of water at the
mouth of the Mississippi the process of stirring up
the bottom of the river by suitable machinery be
tried, and that if this failed, dredging by buckets be
employed. If both failed, they recommended that
jetties be constructed at the Southwest Pass, to be ex-
tended annually into the gulf as experience should
show to be necessary. Should it then be needed, they
advised that the lateral outlets should be closed, and,
finally, if all these expedients failed, that a ship-canal
might be resorted to.
Dredging, as we have seen, was tried without suc-
cess, and repeated experiments with other plans re-
sulted in nothing until, in 1875, Capt. Eads began the
construction of his jetty works, the contract having
been awarded to James Andrews & Co. within two
months after the passage by Congress of the act
authorizing the experiment. On the 23d of March,
1875, a complimentary banquet in honor of Capt.
Eads was given by leading citizens of St. Louis at the
Southern Hotel, at which the mayor of the city pre-
sided. In the course of an address on this occasion
Capt. Eads said, —
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
1053
" If the profession of the engineer were not based upon exact |
science, I might tremble for the result, in view of the immensity
of the interests which are dependent upon my success. But j
every atom that moves onward in the river, from the moment it
leaves its home and crystal springs or mountain snows, through-
out the fifteen hundred leagues of its devious pathway, until it I
is finally lost in the vast waters of the gulf, is controlled by laws
as fixed and certain as those which direct the majestic march
of the heavenly spheres. Every phenomenon and apparent
eccentricity of the river, its scouring and depositing action, its
curving banks, the formation of the bars at its mouth, the
effect of the waves and tides of the sea upon its currents and ,
deposits, are controlled by laws as immutable as the Creator, and
the engineer needs only to be assured that he does not ignore
the existence of any of these laws to feel positively certain of
the result he aims at. I therefore undertake the work with a
faith based upon the ever constant ordinances of God himself,
and so certain as He will spare my life and faculties for two
years more, I will give to the Mississippi River, through His
grace and the application of His laws, a deep, open, safe, and
permanent outlet to the sea."
That this prediction of Capt. Eads, so confidently
uttered, was no empty boast or over-sanguine declara-
tion has been amply demonstrated by the magnificent
success which has crowned his labors. At the present
time the largest ocean vessels sail in and out the
mouth of the river without danger or difficulty, and to
the energy, skill, and wonderful prescience of James
B. Eads is due the completion of a work of improve-
ment which has already contributed immensely to the
prosperity of the Mississippi valley.
Capt. Eads' fertile brain is never at rest, and is con-
stantly employed in devising great enterprises. Of
these the most conspicuous in recent years is a plan
for the construction of a railway for the transportation
of ships across the isthmus of Panama, thus obviating
the necessity for the proposed ship-canal, — a scheme
which he has advocated with characteristic ardor and
great ability, and which is still fresh in the public mind.
In the summer of 1875 the Scientific American sug-
gested his name as a candidate for President of the
United States, and the nomination was indorsed by a
number of leading journals throughout the country
as being that of a man whose genius, experience, and
wonderful achievements eminently fitted him for so
exalted a station. Capt. Eads, however, has no politi-
cal aspirations, and can well afford to rest content with
the laurels he has earned.
In 1845 he married Martha N., daughter of Patrick
M. Dillon, of St. Louis (who died in 1852), and subse-
quently his present wife, Mrs. Eunice S. Eads. He
has five daughters, three of whom are married respec-
tively to John A. Ubsdell, of New York, and Estill
McHenry and James F. How, of St. Louis.
In recognition of his achievements in his profession
the Missouri State University conferred the degree of
67
LL.D. on Capt. Eads, and the St. Louis Academy of
Sciences twice elected him its president. Besides
these positions he has filled many other offices of trust
and honor in various important corporations, among
which may be mentioned the National Bank of the
State of Missouri, the St. Louis, Kansas City and
Northern Railway, the St. Charles Bridge Company,
and the Third National Bank.
In St. Louis Capt. Eads enjoys the universal respect
and esteem of the community, which is justly proud
of one whose career has been almost without a parallel
in this country, and whose success in the face of
herculean difficulties has extorted the admiration of
even his opponents.
The Harbor of St. Louis. — Almost coincidently
with the arrival of the first steamboat at St. Louis in
1817 a sand-bar formed in the bend at the lower end
of the town, which gradually extended up as far as
Market Street, making a naked beach at low water.
Another bar soon formed in the river at the upper
end of the city, west of Bloody Island. Thus, at
the very outset of the commercial progress of St.
Louis, the current of the Mississippi, cutting deeper
and deeper into the American Bottom on the eastern
side of Bloody Island, was threatening the city with
the diversion of its channel to the east side of the
island, leaving St. Louis " high and dry," with a
sand-bar in front of it.
In this crisis it was generally predicted that the
city would amount to nothing in a commercial point
of view, and the timid refused to make investments
in real estate, fearing that the town would be left
without the facility of availing itself of the benefits
which the new steam system of navigation prom-
ised.1
1 " Pursuant to the notice given by the Board of Aldermen,
November 20th," says the Republican of Dec. 4, 1832, "a large
number of our most respected citizens assembled last evening,
at an early hour, in the city hall, to consider the propriety
of taking measures for the removal of the sand-bar in front of
the city. The meeting was called to order by Mr. P. Ferguson,
and on motion, Thornton Griinsley, Esq., was called to the
chair, and Nathan Ranney was appointed secretary.
"The meeting was addressed in a plain and lucid manner by
the following gentlemen i Hon. James H. Peck, P. Ferguson,
Mr. Tabor, A. L. Maginnis, Mr. McKee, J. F. Darby, W. K.
Rule, R. Simpson, and Thomas Cohe, when a report of a com-
mittee previously appointed by the board of aldermen to examine
the channel of the river was called for and ordered to be read.
" On motion of J. F. Darby, seconded by R. Simpson, it was
resolved that a committee of seven gentlemen be appointed to
draft resolutions expressive of the sense of this meeting, where-
upon the chair named the following gentlemen to constitute the
said committee: A. L. Maginnis, Gen. Bernard Pratte, James
Clemens, G. Paul, A. Gamble, G. Morton, and J. F. Darby,
Esqs.
1054
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
In 1833 the city authorities, becoming alarmed for
the commercial prosperity of the city, undertook the
removal of the sand-bars, and with that view em-
ployed John Goodfellow to plow them up with ox-teams
and plows, thus loosening the sand, which high water
was expected to wash away. The idea was suggested
by Col. Thomas F. Riddick, and the means were sup-
plied by Gen. Bernard Pratte and some other wealthy
citizens. About three thousand dollars was expended
in the plowing process without making any impression
upon the sand-bar.
Steamboats had grounded, and could not land as
high up as Olive Street, and daily indications were
given that the river would ultimately sweep around
to the eastern side of Bloody Island and leave the ,
Missouri shore.
The mayor of St. Louis in 1835 was John F.
Darby, who, fully realizing the danger that threatened
the present and future welfare of the city, induced
the Board of Aldermen to petition Congress for aid
to improve and construct the harbor of St. Louis.
The representative of St. Louis in Congress at that
time was Gen. William H. Ashley,1 who by constantly
urging the committee of the House of Representatives
to which the petition was referred, of which Patrick
Henry Pope, from the Louisville, Ky., district was
chairman, finally secured the reporting of a bill recom-
mending the improvement of the harbor, and appro-
priating one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for
that purpose. Col. Thomas H. Benton, then in the
United States Senate, hampered and hindered by his
"After the committee had retired fora short time it returned,
and submitted the following resolutions, which were unani-
mously adopted :
"1. Resolved, That in the opinion of this meeting the in-
crease of the sand-bar opposite this city would be alike injuri-
ous to its health and commercial prosperity.
" 2. Resolved, That in the opinion of this meeting the course
pursued by the corporate authorities of this city for the removal j
of the grievance complained of is justly deserving of and hereby
receives its decided support, and that this meeting cordially
approve of the city authorities effecting said removal by pro-
curing funds for such object, whether by loan or otherwise, and
that they also concur in requesting the corporate authorities to
solicit the aid of the State and general government therefor."
1 Gen. Ashley was warmly attached" to the people of St. Louis,
where he had lived so long and had so many devoted friends.
This circumstance gave great encouragement and hope. His
daring adventures, perils, and enterprises in the Rocky Moun-
tains, whereby he had accumulated great wealth, the elegance
of his entertainments at Washington, and his gentlemanly bear-
ing, all had given him a position of commanding influence, and
made him one of the most popular men in the House of Repre-
sentatives; and although he was no speaker himself, his pleas-
ant demeanor and his genial manner were so winning, that a
dozen members of eloquence and ability on the floor were always
ready to spring to their feet and advocate his measures.
allegiance to the Democratic party, which, since Gen.
Jackson's veto of the Lexington and Maysville road
bill, had opposed all internal improvements by the
general government, could not very zealously advocate
the bill for the improvement of St. Louis harbor,
though he offered no opposition to its passage.2
The work of preserving the harbor of St. Louis
was to be done under the supervision of Gen. Charles
Gratiot. Mayor Darby immediately opened corre-
spondence with Gen. Gratiot, urging him to visit St.
Louis and examine the harbor. This visit was made,
and the river fully examined. Gen. Gratiot was in-
troduced by Mayor Darby to the Board of Aldermen,
on which occasion the Hon. Wilson Priinm, then presi-
dent of the board, addressed him in happy terms,
alluding to his association and connection with the
city and its inhabitants.
Gen. Gratiot, immediately upon his return to
Washington, sent Lieut. Robert E. Lee to St. Louis,
charged with the immediate supervision of the work
of preserving the harbor. This was in 1837, and the
work was continued by Lieut. Lee, with Henry Kay-
ser as his assistant, until 1839, when the appropria-
tion made by Congress was exhausted.
In December, 1837, Lieut. Lee wrote as follows
concerning the St. Louis harbor :
"The appropriation for the improvement of the harbor has
for its object the removal of a large sand-bar occupying, below
the city, the former position of the main channel of the Missis-
sippi, which, gradually augmenting for many years, has now
become an island of more than two hundred acres in extent, and
reaching from the lower part of St. Louis to two miles below.
The extensive shoals formed around its base extend on the east
to the middle of the river, and connecting with the mainland
on the west afford at low water a dry communication between.
A flat bar projects from the upper end to the foot of Bloody Is-
land, opposite the town, which at low stages of the river presents
an obstacle to the approach of the city, and gives reason to appre-
hend that at some future day this passage may be closed. This
is rendered more probable by the course of the river above. The
united waters of the Missouri and Mississippi for some miles
below their junction sweep with great velocity along the Illi-
nois shore, where they are deflected to the other side. The
1 In 1847, Col. Benton wrote a letter to the St. Louis delega-
tion to the Chicago Internal Improvement Convention, defining
his position upon the question of internal improvements, say-
ing, " I have always been a friend of that system, but not to
its abuses ; and here lies the difficulty, the danger, and the
stumbling-block to its success. Objects of general and national
importance can alone claim the aid of the Federal government;
and in favor of such objects I believe all the departments of the
government to be united. Confined to them, and the Constitu-
tion can reach them and the treasury sustain them : extended
to local or sectional objects, and neither the Constitution nor the
treasury could uphold them. National objects of improvement
are few in number, definite in character, and manageable by
the treasury ; local and sectional objects are innumerable and
indefinite and ruinous to the treasury."
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
1055
main body, passing west of Cascarot (now Cabaret) Island,
joins with the lesser portion at its foot, and the whole is com-
pressed in a narrow gorge (opposite Bissell's Point). Spreading
out in the wide area below, the main current still keeps to the
Missouri shore, while a large part of the river directed toward
the Illinois side is fast wearing away its bank and cutting out
a large channel east of Bloody Island. . . . The two channels
again uniting at the foot of Bloody Island, the whole body of
water sweeps down the Illinois shore, and, its velocity becoming
aijain increased by the narrowing of its bed, the abrasion of its
bottom recommences, all the deep water being here on the Il-
linois side and all the shoal on that of Duncan Island. . . .
But in order to arrest the wearing away of the eastern bank of
the river and to protect the Illinois shore, it will be necessary to
divert from it the force of the current. This may be done by
running a dike from above the small slough on that side, par-
allel with the western shore, sufficiently far to throw the water
west of Bloody Island. . . , The same effect would be produced
by throwing a dam across directly from the head of Bloody Is-
land to the Illinois shore. ... In addition to these works, the
head of Bloody Island will have to be protected, from its head
to the centre, so as to secure it from the action of the current."
The report also recommended a dike extending
down stream from the foot of Bloody Island. In the
following year Capt. Lee reported the commencement
of the work, and said that, with the small part of the
work actually completed, about seven hundred feet of
Duncan Island had been washed off.
The work under Lieut. Lee during two years turned
the current of the Mississippi back to the Missouri side,
washed out the sand-bars, and deepened the water in
the harbor, but dikes were required to be built to pre-
serve and protect what had already been accomplished.
Dr. William Carr Lane succeeded to the mayoralty
of St. Louis in 1839, and the city authorities, without
assistance or aid from any quarter, continued the work
in the improvement of the harbor under the direction
of the able assistant of Lieut. .Lee, Henry Kayser.
But they were harassed and annoyed by injunctions of
certain parties in Illinois ; and the mayor and some of
his subordinates were indicted on account of the work
being done on the Illinois shore by some of the public
functionaries of that State, from which, so long as the
work was under the direction of the general govern-
ment, they were exempt. Still the work in the face
of all these trials progressed.1
"- In 1846-47 the St. Louis authorities and the owners of the
land on the Illinois side projected a dike, and agreed to extend
it from the west side of Bloody Island to the main Illinois shore
near where Vaughan's dike now is. It was begun in 1847, and
prosecuted at great expense, which was borne exclusively by St.
Louis.
In September, 1848, Governor French, of Illinois, directed
the State's attorney at Belleville to ask the court there for an
injunction against the work on the dike, which was yet incom-
plete. The injunction was asked and granted on the ground of
the invasion by St. Louis of the State rights of Illinois.
An appeal was taken by St. Louis to the Supreme Court of the
In 1840, Mr. Darby was again elected mayor, and
the wo»k on the harbor was continued by the city
government. The application was renewed to Con-
gress for aid in behalf of the city, for further appro-
priations to continue the harbor improvements, but
without success. The work was continued by the city
for about fifteen years, under the supervision and man-
agement at first of Henry Kayser, and subsequently
of Gen. S. B. Curtis.
In 1844, Capt. T. J. Cram, United States Corps of
Topographical Engineers, wrote as follows of St. Louis
harbor :
State of Illinois. That tribunal having expressed the opinion at
its December term in 1848 that not the judiciary but the Legis-
lature could properly determine what the interest of the State of
Illinois required in the premises, the Legislature of 1848-49
was appealed to by St. Louis, in the celebrated case Illinois vs.
St. Louis. In January, 1849, a joint resolution was passed au-
thorizing the city of St. Louis to construct a highway over the
dike then in progress of construction. The work was at once
resumed, and progressed until June, 1851, when the dike and
road, made of stone and earth, near completion, were swept
away by the flood of that year. After the water abated, how-
ever, in the fall of 1851, one-fourth of a mile north of the site
of the first dike and nearly parallel, another, the present dike,
was projected. It was laid out by L. M. Kennett, mayor of St.
Louis, and the city engineer, Gen. Curtis. It was finished in
1856, in the same status in which it now is. Its cost was one
hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. The land belonged
to the Wiggins Ferry Company.
Thus the channel on this side was stopped, and by the in-
creased volume and velocity of the St. Louis channel, Duncan's
Island was removed therefrom, and the port of St. Louis re-
stored.— History of East St. Louis, by Robert A. Tyson, page 28.
The Bepublican of March 24, 1852, speaking of Duncan's
Island, said, —
" This bone of contention between this city and a number of
claimants is about to be lost among the things that were. Some
two years past the tongue of land from Duncan's Island reached
as high almost as Market Street, and while the Levee about that
point had become perfectly inaccessible to boats, the sand con-
tinued still to accumulate and the island to extend upwards.
Every one can call to mind the apprehended total ruin of the
South Levee from this cause, and property-owners in lower
St. Louis know best the disastrous consequences which such
damages would have involved. The dikes and other works
about Bloody Island have effected a thorough change in the
river at that locality. Duncan's Island having been curtailed
materially of its proportions, has become almost unrecognizable.
Two or three days since we strolled along the Levee, witnessing
the vast and costly improvements which have sprung up on every
side. We were surprised to see the head of Duncan's Island
entirely washed away and its uppermost limits removed some-
where opposite the gas-works. A large body of water fills the
slough, still washing away the island on its west side, while
the main current of the river, which strikes directly against the
head, is carrying it away at the opposite east side. The river
along the whole southern landing is more than deep enough for
the largest class of steamers. Whatever may be said of the
works in our harbor, the owners of property in South St. Louis
have had material cause to know their efficiency in averting a
great evil, for which nothing could have repaid them."
1056
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
" In so far as the general natural main tendencies of the di-
rection and force of the currents in different reaches o£the river
are being exerted, that portion of the river represented on the
chart west of Bloody Island and forming the harbor of St. Louis,
I regret to say, must be regarded in the condition of fast becom-
ing a mere slough. ... In the last six years, since the survey
of Capt. Lee was made, the abrasion east of Bloody Island has
been such as to wash away a strip three hundred feet wide and
fifty feet deep. ... It appears that in 1839, 1840, and 1841
an extent of nine hundred and twenty-five feet of the dike
recommended by Capt. Lee was constructed, extending from the
foot of Bloody Island, in order to wash away the bar, costing
about forty-six thousand dollars, when the work was stopped
for want of funds and left to its fate, before it had been carried
to one-half of Capt. Lee's estimated cost. Of all the piles that
were driven, only forty-two could be found standing in Novem-
ber, 1843. The work seems to have been constructed by driv-
ing two rows of piles from twenty to forty feet apart and distant
in the same row from each other six to ten feet, and the space
between the rows of piles filled with brush and stone, battened
from the piles outwards, one foot in three. The idea of a dam
directly across from the head of Bloody Island to the Illinois
shore seems to have been abandoned, and the oblique dike
commenced starting from the Illinois shore near Venice, and
extending in the direction as recommended in Capt. Lee's re-
port. The funds for this work were furnished by the city of St.
Louis, and executed at a cost of sixteen thousand dollars, ex-
clusive of machinery. Commencing at the upper extremity of
this work, about twelve hundred feet have sunk four and a quar-
ter feet below its original level or been swept away by ice and
drift or by the force of the current. There for an extent of
eleven hundred feet it has either been swept entirely away or
sunk eleven feet below its original level. In the next reach of
four hundred and thirty-five feet it has either been swept away
or sunk nine and a quarter feet. In all the remainder of the
work, twelve hundred and sixty-five feet, quite to its lowest
extremity, where it extended into the strongest part of the cur-
rent, it must have been swept away or sunk fifteen feet below
its original level. Throughout the whole of this dike there
are but few piles found standing. The city has also expended
about eleven thousand six hundred and seventeen dollars in the
construction of cross-dikes of stone, thrown without piles or
brush, to protect the west bank of Bloody Island from abrasion.
It is observable that in most of these cross-dikes, which were
extended from the shore perpendicular to the thread of the
stream, the water has cut into the bank on their down-stream
sides, in virtue of a current setting along the lower face of the
dike directly into the bank. Also the bed of the stream has
immediately below the dikes been made deeper by the plunge
of water passing over their summits, as is always the tendency
under the fall over a waste weir."
Capt. Cram quotes from the reports of Capt. Lee,
in 1840, to show what had been the effect of the
work begun in 1837. The report said, —
" The pier on the Illinois shore (i.e., from Venice south) has
served to throw the main body of water west of Bloody Island,
which has cut a broad and deep channel through the flat shoal
that extended from the head of Bloody Island to the Missouri
shore. As this channel enlarges that east of the island diminishes,
and between the pier and head of Bloody Island is becoming more
and more shoal. The pier from the foot of Bloody Island con-
fines the water to the Missouri shore, and directs the current
against the head of Duncan Island. A large portion of the
head and eastern face of this island has been washed away
during the past year. The deep water now extends close to it,
and admits the largest boats to the lower wharf of the city.
The depth of the river on the Illinois side is diminishing. . . .
Both piers, however, require to be finished. The upper ought
to be strengthened and extended down the river and the lower
completed."
The appropriations recommended, however, were
not made, and the work went to pieces. Capt. Cram
says (1844),—
" Had ample means been appropriated and expended accord-
ing to the views of that officer, in all probability the harbor
would have needed little more, except to fill up for the subse-
I quent settling of the work, the damage occurring from ice,
abrasion, and driftwood. These would have cost considerably
more than generally supposed, but I think that plan, if pur-
sued to completion and to have been successful, would ulti-
mately have resulted in a completely connected work, extending
from near the foot of Kerr's Island quite to the head of Bloody
Island, then along the west shore of that island by a revetment
to connect with the dike, making two miles of dike-work, one
mile of revetment, and nine hundred and twenty-five feet of
dike." . . .
The report of the city engineer in March, 1846,
stated that in 1842 the lower part of the harbor was
so obstructed by bars that the ferry-boat was com-
pelled to land at the foot of Vine Street. In the
winter of 1845-46, although the water was two feet
lower than had ever been known before, the boat
could use her landing at the foot of Market Street,
showing a decided improvement instead of impairment
of the wharf front, as had been charged by parties hos-
tile to the plan of the city extending the dikes at
Hazel and Mulberry Streets. He further said, —
" The improvement of the harbor requires, first, a regular
shore on the Missouri side, which in time will be afforded by
the improved Levee; second, a regular and nearly parallel shore
on the Illinois side; third, regulation of the bed of the river
above the city so as to direct the water into the channel under
favorable conditions. The first is the work of the city, the latter
two are and should be in the hands of the United States."
Congress at this time seemed entirely willing to
make what at that time would have been considered
liberal appropriations for the harbor of St. Louis and
other public works, but all bills of this character were
consistently vetoed by President Polk. As a result
of the vetoes the question of internal improvements
became a political issue of no little importance in the
Northwest and West. Additional appropriations be-
ing unobtainable, inquiry was made as to what had
become of the unexpended appropriation of 1844.
From all that can now be ascertained the balance,
twenty-two thousand seven hundred and nine dollars,
was never expended.
The controversy, already alluded to, with the Illinois
authorities in regard to the river-front of East St.
Louis being happily ended by the joint resolution of
the Illinois Legislature, the construction of the dike
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
1057
opposite Duncan's Island was resumed in the spring of
1851. The river was then five thousand two hun-
dred feet in width opposite the lower part of the city,
and it was proposed to narrow it to eighteen hundred
feet. In 1852, chiefly as a result of the efforts to
close Bloody Island chute, which had not then fully
succeeded, the east side had been removed until the
island extended but five hundred feet east of the pro-
posed wharf line. A small strip of the island was
joined to the main land by cross-dikes in 1852-53. *
From that time and up to 1866 the chute west of
the island was unnavigable. In 1866 the city engi-
neer advocated straightening the river from the city
to Carondelet by a front line passing through the
island. About this time the west chute became the
main channel, and the wharf line was left as estab-
lished in 1864 to the then city limits at Keokuk
Street. As this line ended seven hundred and fifty
feet from the shore, its adoption involved the widen-
ing of the chute by washing away the west side of
the island. Several small spur-dikes were pushed out
from the Missouri shore behind the island previous to
1858, but not far enough to exert any controlling in-
fluence during the time when it was uncertain which
plan would finally be adopted. After the extension
of the city in 1870, absorbing the old town of Caron-
delet, the extension of the line in front of the newly-
acquired territory was brought forward, and a project
submitted by the city engineer accepting the line as
then established by ordinance, nearly in the middle of
the channel, affording an opportunity to make many
blocks of ground.
The project of making the west chute the perma-
nent channel was acquiesced in by all. The board of
engineers in their report of April 13, 1872, had in-
dorsed it to the extent of saying by implication that
the United States should close the eastern channel if
observation showed danger of the river leaving the
channel to the west. Before this proposed extension
of the wharf line was formally laid before the City
Council, an ordinance was passed ordering the con-
struction of a dike at the foot of Bryan Street. As
no necessity was apparent for this dike, it is not un-
reasonable to suppose that it was moved and passed
with a view chiefly to. commit the city to the proposed
1 The Republican of Feb. 25, 1874, gives the following as the
measurements of the river: "At the foot of Pine Street it is
1560 feet wide; foot of Wash Street, 1500 feet; at Biddle Street,
1500 across to Bloody Island ; North Market to the main shore
below the dike, 3900; Warren Street to the end of the long
dike, before the government commenced work, 2380 feet wide;
to the shore below the dike, 3500 feet; from Destrehan to
the Venice Ferry landing, 2580 feet; from Angelica Street to
Bishoff's dike, 1450 feet."
line. Work on this dike was prosecuted so vigor-
ously that the first intimation of its commencement
to many was the complaint made by boatmen that the
channel was obstructed, but the work had progressed
far enough to cross the main channel, which had been
along the main Missouri shore. The work being
done in the spring, or at the season when the general
tendency of the river is to rise, the conditions were
unfavorable to the ostensible purpose of the dike,
which was to compel the washing away of the west
side of the island.
As the stage of water afforded a free discharge of
the obstructed water by way of the eastern chute,
that channel was deepened, and eventually became the
main channel.
Growing out of the discussion which followed the re-
turn of the channel to Cahokia chute, an urgent demand
for the closure of that chute was made by all parties
interested, for once all agreeing in desiring this action,
and a survey was made by United States engineers in
the summer of 1874, with special reference to this
matter. The construction of a dam across Cahokia
Creek was authorized by Congress. The act of Con-
gress making appropriations for this dam specifically
limits it to a low dam, although it was clearly stated
in the report that as such it would necessarily fail to
accomplish all the requirements of the case.
Very little has actually been done towards the per-
manent improvement of the harbor below the arsenal.
The plans contemplate considerable reclamations of
ground from the river, which must be a slow process.
These proposed reclamations extend from above the
arsenal to near Dover Street, from Fillmore to Stein
Street, and from Stein Street nearly to Jefferson
Barracks. When complete the alignment of the wharf
south will be convex from Market Street to Bryan,
a distance of sixteen thousand feet, and concave from
there to Jefferson Barracks, thirty-six thousand feet.
On the east side of the river the corrected width is
defined only at the Illinois and St. Louis Railroad
dike, opposite Chouteau Avenue and opposite Marine
Avenue, by the revetment of part of Arsenal Island,
opposite Carondelet, by the incline of the East St.
Louis and Carondelet Railroad, by the Waterloo Ferry
dike and the coal-dump of the St. Louis and Cairo
Narrow-Gauge Railroad. Farther down the United
States dikes for the improvement of Horsetail Bar,
with two thousand four hundred feet of partially-
constructed training-wall, are steps toward the defin-
ition of a line extending to the head of Carroll Island.
Arsenal Island belongs to the city of St. Louis,
having been purchased from the school board for
thirty-three thousand dollars in 1866. It was pat-
1058
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
ented to the school board in 1864 by J. M. Edmunds,
commissioner of the general land office at Washing-
ton. All of the land within the island previous to
this time was known as " Quarantine Island," and
sometimes called Arsenal Island. The total number
of acres contained in the island at that time was 119.57.
The deed to the city was signed by Felix Coste, pres-
ident of the school board, and George M. Fitchten-
kamp, secretary. During the civil war the upper
portion of the island was used as a burial-ground by
the government. After the city got possession it
was used for a smallpox hospital. Many of the old
graves, not otherwise removed, were washed away by
the encroachments of the river.
Going back to the surveys, the first shore line we
have a record of (in 1862) was opposite the north line
of the arsenal. The head of the island moved down
three hundred feet by 1865, in which year the main
channel was on the east side of the island. At that
time one could go from the St. Louis side to the head
of the island on a sand-bar during low water, from
October to about March. The next survey was made
in 1874, when it was found that the head of the
island had moved down one thousand three hundred
feet from the survey of 1865, making the retrocession
of the island altogether since the survey of 1862
about one thousand six hundred feet, over one-fourth
of a mile in twelve years. The survey of 1874 showed
the channel to be located on the west side, between
the island and the Missouri shore. The change of
the channel at that time was caused by dikes built
by the Cahokia Ferry Company for the purpose of
making a steam ferry-boat landing at Cahokia.
The survey of this island by City Engineer John
G. Joyce in 1880 shows that the head of the island
has moved down four thousand eight hundred feet
from the survey of 1862, nearly a mile. The chan-
nel still remains on the west side of the island. It is
interesting to remark here that the dike built by City
Engineer Moulton about 1867-68, at the foot of
Bryan Street, diverted the channel from the west to
the east side of the island, and also washed the head
of the island down some three thousand feet. A cor-
respondence sprang up about that time between the
Governor of Illinois and Mayor Brown in reference
to the Bryan Street dike, the Governor opposing the
construction of the dike on account of the damage
that would accrue to the farmers on the Illinois side
in consequence of diverting the current to the Illi-
nois shore ; the result was that the building of the dike
was stopped, and the general government had to erect
a dike from Arsenal Island to the Illinois shore from
the upper eastern shoulder of the island.
The survey of Mr. Joyce shows the acreage of Ar-
senal Island to be 247.32 acres. The revetment
made by the United States government engineers
along the west shore, extending from a little below
the northern apex towards the southern extremity,
with revetment and dike on the east shore, would
justify the conclusion that there will be little, if any,
washing away in the future ; but, on the contrary, a
steady increase. The dike which was built on the
east side some two or three years ago, above alluded
to, has already formed a sand-bar on its south and ad-
joining the island of some two hundred and sixteen
acres, which will steadily increase by accretion. This
in time will be as high as the island proper. The
dike is bound to obstruct the current forever on that
side, and its being built on a foundation of brushwood
fastened by piling and the whole imbedded with rock,
justifies the belief that it is a permanent fixture.
The improvements of the harbor of St. Louis have
passed through two stages. The first, arising out of
a difficulty in the way of approach to the harbor,
has already been considered. This difficulty stood also
in the way of all the commerce passing St. Louis, and
therefore the improvement was in no proper sense a
local one. The second stage dates from about 1841
or 1843, and is marked by the addition to the former
difficulty of an apprehension that the harbor would
be entirely lost; not only that the main channel would
be to the eastward of the island, but that the Missouri
shore would speedily become inaccessible to boats.
Upon the authority of Capt. Cram, it appears that
the volume of water in 1843 west of the island was
to that east of it as ten to six. In December, 1845,
the same officer says, the quantity running into the
city channel was to the quantity running into the Il-
linois as 1 is to 1.01. These changes rendered the
closure of the chute east of Bloody Island a necessity
to St. Louis, and the hope of being benefited by the
misfortune of their rival accounts for the interest taken
by Alton and Quincy in the matter of closing the chute
much more satisfactorily than the pretended fear of
injury from back-water caused by forcing the Missis-
sippi to pass through a channel only four hundred and
fifty yards wide.
In the years following the closure of the Bloody
Island channel no matter of general interest arose
until by the growth of the city and its trade the ex-
tension of wharf facilities was required, and a third
stage in the development of the demand for harbor
improvement was introduced by the necessities of the
traffic across the stream, the number of persons and
railroad transfers requiring that both shores should be
permanently accessible at numerous points.
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
1059
The central and south wharves have now plenty of
water. Regarding the establishment of the present
north wharf line and clearing away the bar in front of
it, the report of Col. W. E. Merrill, United States
Engineers, after showing that the Grand Chain dike
should be abandoned, as it only made matters worse at
Sawyer's Bend, has the following : " The central har-
bor being in good condition during the low stage, it is
manifest that if we can make the northern harbor like
the central we may expect the same results in it. In
other words, if we can canalize this portion of the river
to a sufficiently small section, giving it revetted banks,
we may confidently expect a sufficiency of water.
Moreover, when once this work is properly performed
we need have no further apprehensions about the
angle at which the river current enters the city
limits. It will be forced through so narrow a channel
as to make the variations of the current a matter of
indifference. If we could succeed in getting the river
to abandon the Sawyer Bend and to take the eastern
channel by Cabaret Island we would doubtless attain
our object, and a shoal extending from Venice west-
ward would ultimately narrow the water-way to the
prescribed width. But having concluded that no re-
liance could be placed upon any means under our
control for effecting this change, it only remains to
see if we cannot accomplish the same thing in a dif-
ferent manner. Our object will be to contract the
water-way in the northern harbor so as to force the
water to run in the channel which we wish, notwith-
standing it comes from Sawyer's Bend. There is a
permanent low-water channel already established in the
northern harbor, though it is not alongside the north-
ern wharf. Either the city must move to this channel
or the channel must be made to come to the city. The
former method would be more natural, and in an en-
gineering point of view would be much preferable.
Our studies have shown us that in its natural condition
a river has no right lines, passing directly from a curve
bending one way into a curve bending in the opposite
direction. If, then, the northern wharf line were
moved out to the edge of the bar and made to conform
to the curve of the channel, we should have a natu-
' i
rally formed river from below the Grand Chain to the
elevator. With shore lines thus established there
would be no difficulty in making permanent revet-
ments." After instancing a number of objections to
this course, such as the abandonment of a line on
which much work had been done, lengthening the
sewers, damages to water-front owners, etc., the engi-
neer's report says, —
"Under these circumstances the only course that :<eems left
is to force the river to come to the wharf, which the city has
established. That this can be done I have no doubt, though
the channel so formed will be an unnatural and, therefore, ex-
pensive one. ... To force the water channel over to the city
wharf we must drive it by a series of dikes. Th-j dikes already
constructed by City -Engineer Bischoff will be the first of the
system, the long dike extended will be the third, an interme-
diate dike at or near Venice Landing will be the second, and
a fourth dike may be needed at the head of Bloody Island. I
would recommend that they be raised to the height of fourteen
feet above low water." . . .
It is upon this report of Col. Merrill that the city
has based its latter-day wharf plans.1
The present United States engineers are not so san-
guine that the river can be brought to the wharf, but
think the wharf must go to the river.
According to their reports, the complete improve-
ment of the harbor of St. Louis requires, first, the
fixation of the banks above the city so as to control
the approach to the harbor and preserve the condi-
tions of entrance invariable ; second, the regulation
of the width and depth in front of the city by regu-
lar permanent lines of definition at high and low
stages.
1 The Republican of March 20, 1857, speaking of the wharf,
said, —
" The whole of this magnificent work, from Market Street to
Locust, has been completed and is now ready for use. Those
who recollect the condition of the Levee when Mr. Kennett came
into office, less than a year ago, can hardly realize the change
which it has undergone. It was then a narrow, unpaved, and
irregular spot, upon which business could be done only in the
greatest confusion and with still greater delay. A narrow street
afforded very little room for the receiving and discharging of
freight, and the drays were so jammed together that it was im-
possible to get along. Now, thanks to Mr. Kennett's sound
judgment, knowledge of the demands of commerce, and energy
in carrying out his plans, he has, with the aid of the Council,
built up and carried out a levee which has not its like in the
United States. The work before him was enough to startle a
man less bold and less confident of the ability to carry out his
plans than himself. It was necessary not only to extend the
wharf into the river, but also to fill up the ground several feet,
and upon this a solid and durable pavement was to be laid. All
this has been accomplished under circumstances of a very dis-
couraging character. Merchants can now do their business
with some comfort, the boats can discharge and receive their
freight in one-half the time and in good condition, and the
draymen can pursue their laborious calling without delay and
without being constantly jammed against each other. For this
improvement the community is indebted to Mr. Kennett. Be-
fore he came into office it was going on at a snail's pace, and
upon so narrow and contracted a plan that no advantage could
have been derived from it, even if it had been paved.
" If Mr. Kennett is continued in office — and the citizens will
do great injustice to themselves if they do not elect him without
a serious contest — seven additional blocks south of Main Street
will be completed before the end of the summer, and then what
a magnificent levee it will be ! The work is going on as rap-
idly as possible; it gives employment to hundreds of men, and
the sooner it is all completed the sooner the city will be able to
effect a reduction in the rates of wharfage."
1060
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
" The first requires the revetment of the right bank for the
whole length of Sawyer Bend, and possibly a section of the j
Illinois shore opposite to and above the Chain of Rocks, also j
the closing of Cabaret slough by a high embankment and re- j
vetment of the head of the island. Besides the work here
named it is improbable that any will be required for many years
upon that part of the city front above the water-works. The
concave bank insures the permanent location of the channel
close to the Missouri shore, and the west side of Cabaret Island
is more likely to receive accretions than suffer abrasion. There-
fore, unless by the growth of new interests or unforeseen ex-
pansion of those existing, a necessity should arise for deep water
on the east side, this part of the river may be considered the ap-
proach to the harbor, and, except the work named, may be left
to nature. The extent of bank to be revetted in Sawyer's Bend
is twenty-seven thousand feet.
" The regulated canalized river harbor will begin near the
city water-works, and the upper limit may be fixed at the pres-
ent Bischoff's dike, which now extends from the Illinois shore
to within one thousand five hundred and seventy feet of the
St. Louis wharf."
By the River and Harbor Act of 1882 it is pro-
vided
" that the unexpended sums heretofore appropriated for an ice-
harbor at St. Louis, Mo., be and the same are hereby transferred
and appropriated, to be expended, under the direction of the
Secretary of War, for the improvement of the channel of the
Mississippi River opposite the city of St. Louis, Mo., by repair-
ing and raising the low dam across the channel east of Arse-
nal Island, known as Cahokia chute, and by the construction
of such other works in or near said Cahokia chute as may bo
deemed advisable to accomplish the same purpose."
The harbor of St. Louis, extending from the Des
Peres River on the south to the northern extremity
of the city, is nearly fourteen miles in length, of
which' nearly four miles are paved, and embraces an
area of water of nearly five square miles.
The total expenditures for the improvement of the
harbor of St. Louis from Ofetober,, 1840, to April,
1869, amounted to $1,012,551.68.
Floods in the Mississippi and Tributaries, and
the Levee System. — The Mississippi River and its
tributaries drain an area above and including the Red
River as follows :
Square
Miles.
I. The Missouri River and tributaries 519,400
II. The Ohio " " " 202,400
III. The Upper Mississippi River and trib-
utaries 184,500
IV. The Arkansas and White Rivers and
tributaries 176,700
V. The Red River and tributaries 102,200
VI. The Yazoo, Obion, and Black Rivers
and tributaries 29,300
VII. The St. Francis River and tributaries.. 12,100
Total 1,226,600
The rainfall over this vast extent of country has been
carefully investigated, and forty inches has been fixed
upon as the annual downfall, which must, of course,
be carried off, either by evaporation or drainage.
Supposing, says Charles Ellet, Jr., that " from any
cause, — as the tillage of the prairies, the destruc-
tion of the vegetable growth, or the better drain-
age of the fields, — out of the forty inches of rain,
two-fifths of an inch, or nearly one per cent, of
the whole, should be discharged into the Mississippi
in the course of sixty days of flood over and above
the present discharge. If this slight increase of
the total discharge were distributed uniformly over
the whole period of sixty days of high water, it would
require that the channel of the river should be com-
petent to give vent to an increased volume equal to
two hundred and twenty thousand cubic feetjper second.
If this increased volume be retained in the channel by
levees, these levees must be raised six feet higher
than the tops of the present (1854) embankments." *
The object of the computations by which this conclu-
sion was arrived at by Mr. Ellet was to show how
sensitive is the discharge of the Mississippi River to
every variation, however inconsiderable, of the drain-
age of the country ; and to prove that if the evapo-
ration be slightly reduced, or the drainage slightly
hastened or increased by the causes which are pro-
gressing with increasing population and the extension
of cultivation, then for every fifth part of an inch
by which the total drainage is increased in the period
of high water there must be experienced an average
increase of about three feet in the heights of the
floods, unless the water can find its accustomed vents
into the swamps. This statement will aid in form-
ing some estimate of the consequences which are to
spring from the extension of society over the yet un-
peopled West, and the cultivation of the vast territory
which is drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries,
increasing the amount of water poured down the
lower Mississippi, while the population of that por-
tion of the valley is closing the accustomed outlets of
the river in the extension of the levees.
A great flood is the result of a simultaneous dis-
charge of the great tributaries which ordinarily run
off successively. The high water produced by the
Red and Arkansas Rivers, in the ordinary course of
things, has begun to subside before that of the Ohio,
Cumberland, and Tennessee comes down ; and these,
again, begin to recede before the upper Mississippi
discharges its vojume ; and this, in its turn, subsides
before the snows of the Rocky Mountains are melted
by the tardy sun in those high latitudes, and the water
has time to flow off through the three thousand miles
of channel intervening between the sources of those
distant streams and the head of the delta. It is a
1 " Mississippi and Ohio Rivers," by Charles Ellet, Jr.
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
1061
part of the natural order of events that these great
rivers should discharge successively. But when, under
circumstances over which there exists no control, the
ordinary order of successive discharge is changed for
a simultaneous pouring out of all the tributaries, then
comes the "year of great waters," like 1785, 1811,
1823, 1826, 1844, 1858, and 1881.
The first unusual rise of the Mississippi River of
which we have any account took place in 1542. In
March of that year, while De Soto and his followers
were at an Indian village on the western side of the
" Rio Grande," as the early Spaniards called the Mis-
sissippi, which from its elevated description indicates
the site of Helena, in Arkansas, there was a rise in
the river which covered all the surrounding country
as far as the eye could reach. In the village (repre-
sented to have been on high ground) the water rose
from five to six feet above the earth, and the roofs of
the Indian cabins were the only places of shelter.
The river remained at this height for several days,
and then subsided rapidly.
The earliest authentic account of the American
Bottom being submerged is that of the flood of 1724.
A document is to be found in the archives of Kaskaskia,
which consists of a petition to the crown of France,
in 1725. for a grant of land, in which the damage
sustained the preceding year (1724) by the rise of
the water is mentioned. The villagers were driven
to the bluffs on the opposite side of the Kaskaskia
River, their gardens and corn-fields were destroyed,
and their buildings and property much injured. We
have no evidence of its exact height, but the whole
American Bottom was submerged. This was proba-
bly in June.
There was a tradition among the old French peo-
ple many years since that there was an extraordinary
rise of the river between 1740 and 1750, but we find
no written or printed account of it.
In the year 1772 another flood came, and portions
of the American Bottom were again covered. Fort
Chartres, in 1756, stood half a mile from the Missis- j
sippi River; in 1776 it was eighty yards. Two years
after, Capt. Pittman, who surveyed the fort in 1768,
states, —
" The bank of the Mississippi next the fort is continually fall-
ing in, being worn away by the current, which has been turned
from its course by a sand-bank, now increased to a considerable
island covered with willows. Many experiments have been
tried to stop this growing evil, but to no purpose. Eight years
ago the river was fordable to the island; the channel is now
forty feet deep."
About the year 1770 the river made further en-
croachments, but in 1772, when it inundated portions
of the American Bottom, it swept away the land to
the fort and undermined the wall on that side, which
tumbled into the river. A large and heavily-timbered
island now occupies the " sand-bar" of Capt. Pittman's
time, between which and the site of the fort a slough
runs.
The next period of extreme high water was in 1785,
during which Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and large portions
of the American Bottom were submerged. Concern-
ing this great inundation we have but meagre infor-
mation. This year, however, is known in the annals
of Western history as Fannee des grandes eaux, —
the year of the great waters. In 1844 it was con-
tended by some of the old inhabitants of Kaskaskia
and Cahokia, who remembered the great flood of
1785, that the water attained a greater height then
than in the last-mentioned year. It is certain that at
Kaskaskia the water attained a greater height in 1844
than was reached in 1785. This is not predicated
upon the mere recollections of individuals, but was
ascertained from existing marks of the height of the
flood of that year after the subsidence of the water
in 1844. It was then proved that in this last-men-
tioned year the water rose two feet and five inches
above the high-water mark of 1785. The destruction
of property by this freshet was comparatively small.
The mighty stream spread over a wilderness tenanted
only by wild beasts and birds, and the few inhabitants
then residing within the range of its destructive
sweep easily escaped with small loss to the highlands.
Gen. Edgar once said that in Kaskaskia the water
rose to the surface of the door-sill of the house of the
late Robert Morrison, but that in one place, where the
court-house stood a few years since, the ground was
above the water. That season the inhabitants passed
by means of water-craft through the prairies and lakes
from Cahokia to Kaskaskia. This flood destroyed all
the crops, and did much damage about the French
villages on the American Bo.ttom.
There were high waters so as to overflow the low
grounds and fill the lakes and sloughs on the Ameri-
can Bottom at other seasons subsequent to 1785, but
none that deserve attention until that of 1811. It
was in the summer preceding the " shakes," as the
earthquakes were called.
This flood resulted in part from the annual rise of
the Missouri, as did the ones previously noticed. The
flood in the Missouri always occurs between the 15th
and 30th of June, and is caused by the snows melt-
ing in the mountains at the heads of the main Mis-
souri. In some seasons the Yellowstone, which is in
a more southern latitude, pours out a flood which
reaches St. Louis about the last of May or 1st of
June.
1062
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
In 1811 the Mississippi River commenced rising
early in May, and by the 15th the water had spread
over a large portion of the American Bottom. The
water began to subside, and by the 1st of June was
only over the banks in low places. By the 6th of
June the river again commenced rising, and continued
to rise until the 14th, when it came to a stand. At
this time the greater part of the American Bottom
was under water, and Kaskaskia, Cahokia, Prairie du
Pont, Cantien, and nearly all the settlements in the
bottom were inundated, and the inhabitants had fled
to the high lands.
The " common fields" belonging to Ste. Genevieve
were on the bottom land adjacent to the river, much
of which has since been swept away, the steamboats
now running over the same spot. The water entirely
submerged the field, and nearly covered the growing
corn. A story is still narrated by the oldest inhab-
itants that at the time of the flood some of the
panic-stricken inhabitants waited on Father Maxwell,
the village priest, to " pray away the water." It is
said he gave no direct encouragement at first, until he
perceived the water at a stand, when he proposed to
the corn-growers to drive off the waters by saying
masses for a share of all the corn they raised. The
bargain was struck, the masses were said, and the
waters suddenly retired from their fields. The ground
was soon dry and in good order, the corn looked green,
and the priest, it is said, shared in the luxuriant
crop.
There was considerable destruction of property by
this freshet, and a great many cattle drowned. The
height attained by the water during this freshet has
never been precisely ascertained. But it is believed
that the flood was not so great as that during Vannee
des grandes eaux.
The flood of 1811 was much greater than any that
followed until 1823, when a sudden change in the
temperature after a winter when the snowfall was
unprecedentedly heavy throughout the Northwest and
the fall of very heavy rains caused the Mississippi to
commence rising rapidly about the 8th of May, 1823.
It continued to rise rapidly until the 23d of the
month, when it came to a stand. At that time the
water entirely covered the American Bottom, and the
citizens of Kaskaskia, Cahokia, Cantien, French Vil-
lage, Wood River, Madison, and other settlements
had been compelled to abandon their homes and seek
refuge on the bluffs and in St. Louis. The houses in
the lower part of St. Louis were surrounded by water.
The Levee was submerged, and the river rose to the
lower room in the old store at the foot of Oak Street
(then kept by John Shackford) about five feet. The
water overflowed all the low grounds about East St.
Louis.1
The loss of cattle was very great, and the farmers
suffered heavily throughout the American Bottom.
The high land about where that part of East St.
Louis known as Papstown is now built, and la bate
d renard, or the Fox Mound, which had escaped sub-
mersion during the flood of Tannee des grandes
eaux, were the only dry ground in the American
Bottom, except some mounds whose tops were of
no great extent. In this, as in the flood of 1811,
there exists no means of ascertaining the height which
the river attained, nor are there the means of as-
certaining the amount of destruction which was ac-
complished by this great freshet.
The season of 1826 was characterized by tremen-
dous rainfalls throughout the whole Northwest, and
the Mississippi was very high throughout the spring
from about the 15th of April. Towards the close of
May the river had overflowed its banks and spread for
miles over the country. By the 8th of June Cahokia,
Kaskaskia, Prairie du Pont, Cantien, and the common
fields of Ste. Genevieve were submerged. The loss
of stock and other property was very great. The in-
habitants of the " bottoms" sought refuge either on
the bluffs back in Illinois or among the hills of Mis-
souri, or in St. Louis. There is, so far as we can
ascertain, no record left of the height attained this
year by the water in the river. The river came to a
stand on the 10th of the month, and on the llth was
falling rapidly. By the 25th the river had reached
an ordinary stage, — the great flood had been lost in
the vast volume of waters of the gulf.
The winter of 1843—44 was not one of unusual
severity, though there were tremendous snow-storms
throughout the Northwest. The winter broke up
early in May, but the weather continued cool, and the
spring was characterized by the severest rain-storms
ever known in the Northwest. Early in the season
the river began to rise, and by the 1st of May was
full almost to overflowing. The population of Mis-
souri and Illinois had greatly increased, farming had
improved the soil and largely facilitated the drainage
of the land. Towns and settlements had sprung up
everywhere, and along the river-banks centres of popu-
lation had gathered and garnered great wealth.
1 Many of the citizens of St. Louis recollect when the east
bank of the river opposite Oak Street was where the island now
is, which was farther up the river and nearer the St. Louis
shore. There was a village of some twenty small houses at and
above where the dike joins the island, and a ferry of the French
fashion (two canoes with a light platform over them) crossed
the river from that village to the foot of Oak Street.
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
1063
When, therefore, they saw the mighty rivers bank- ,
full in April they were not alarmed ; and when on
the 3d of May the great streams began to recede, all !
fear passed away with the decline in the volume of
the waters. But thick clouds gathered, and deluges ;
of water were poured out over the face of the whole
country.1 Little brooks became swollen creeks, and
small creeks great rivers, and little rivers great floods,
all pouring into the mighty Missouri and Mississippi
their vast contributions to the overwhelming waters
that rose above the barriers which confined them and
deluged the fairest part of the great West.
By the 10th of May the river began rising, and by
the 16th the flood began to create alarm at St. Louis. ;
The Republican of the 17th of May calls it " a tre- ;
mendous flood," and adds, —
" The waters were coming down upon us from every quarter.
The Mississippi is now as high as it has been known for many
•years, and is still rising. Just above Oak Street it was last i
evening within six or eight feet of touching the curbstone.
The cellars all above the wharf are filling with water. It was
still rising last evening at the rate of twelve inches in twenty-
four hours, and this notwithstanding an immense volume of
water is pouring over the Illinois shore. The whole of the
American Bottom, from Alton to Kaskaskia, will be, we fear,
submerged. The people are deserting their homes in Illinois
towns."
The river continued to rise throughout the 18th,
19th, and 20th, reaching the doors of the stores on
Front Street north of Pine, and extending to the
Pap house on the Illinois side, a distance of two and
a half miles. The merchants on Front Street had all
been compelled to move their stock of goo'ds into the j
second stories. The waters came to a stand on the
21st, with prospects of a decline, which began rapidly
on the 23d, and continued until the river was again j
within its banks on the 7th of June. But the flood
from the Missouri was coming down. From the 3d '•
to the 10th of June there was a continued succession
of the most terrible rain-storms ever witnessed. These
tremendous rains were general throughout the North-
west. The Mississippi again commenced rising at St.
Louis on the 8ch of June. The rise was steady, though
not alarmingly rapid. The upper Mississippi, Illinois,
Missouri, Des Moines, Gasconade, Osage, Kaw, Platte,
and all the tributaries were pouring out their floods.
Steadily, slowly, but inexorably the great floods from
the prairies, hills, and mountains came sweeping down
to the lower valleys. Before the 12th of the month
the river was again breaking over the banks in places.
By the 15th the floods began to alarm the people of
the valley, and " the great flood of 1844" had com-
menced its devastations.
There were five hundred persons in St. Louis who
were driven from their homes by this flood.2
At Bon Secour there were camped, all in open camps,
one hundred and twenty-two persons. Several of these
families left their homes with from four to nine chil-
dren, and with less than fifty pounds of flour and a
small quantity of meat.
The water covered all of Illinoistown, rose above the
first story of the houses, and reached within a few
inches of the height attained in the freshets of 1823
and 1826. A considerable portion of the curbstones
on Water Street were covered, and the water was run-
ning into the lower stories of the houses of Battle Row,
corner of Laurel Street.
All the rivers above were reported to be rising, but
the principal rise was from the Missouri, said to be
the June freshet from the mountains. The Missouri,
the upper Mississippi, and the Illinois, and their trib-
utaries were overflowing their banks and rising rapidly,
spreading destruction and consternation among the in-
habitants of the bottoms, whose losses were very great.
Many of their farms were completely under water, and
their crops were entirely destroyed, and their stock
either carried off by the flood or scattered over the
country.
The Illinois River was within six inches of the high-
water mark of the great flood that occurred seventeen
years before, and at Naples it had overflowed the bank
and the streets were under water.
On June 17th the river was about six inches higher
than the water- mark of the month before. North of
Locust Street, on Front Street, and above Vine Street
the water rose over the sidewalks and into many of
the stores, forcing the merchants to carry their dam-
ageable goods into the second stories, and to place the
remainder on shelves and counters. On the 18th the
steamer " Missouri Mail" brought the alarming news
of a great rise in the Missouri, which on the 13th was
rising at St. Joseph at the rate of seven feet in twenty-
four hours.
The whole country between Weston and Glasgow
was under water. Camden Bottom was covered to a
depth of six to eight feet. The officers of the " Mail"
1 It rained continually for ten days. According to the esti-
mate made* by Dr. B. B. Brown, the quantity of rainfall was
nine inches, being a greater quantity than that of the whole of
the year 1843.
2 " Nearly all the people of Brooklyn, Venice, Cahokia, and
Six-Mile Prairie and other points along the river-banks are in
the city. In the vicinity of Anderson's Mill, in the upper part
of the city, there are upwards of fifty families and more than
two hundred persons, many of whom are destitute, and all are
without shelter, except such temporary covering as they have
been able to erect." — Republican, June 24.
1064
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
spent nearly one entire day in relieving and saving
those who were in danger, and the accounts they related
were peculiarly distressing ; quite a number of persons
were missing, many of whom were doubtless lost.
Cattle in large numbers were seen floating down
amidst the drift, their heads only visible. Many
houses were also seen floating on the flood.
The editorial of the Republican of June 19th
"We have taken some pains to ascertain with certainty the
height of the present rise in the river compared with former
freshets. We have been very unsuccessful. Within the memory
of many of the oldest inhabitants there have been three extra-
ordinary freshets, — one in 1811, one in 1823, and the last in 1826.
If there were any others, we have not been able to learn the par-
ticulars. The freshet of 1811 appears to have been the highest.
That year the Ste. Genevieve common fields, and in fact the
whole bottom, was covered with water. Boats passed with ease
to and from Ste. Genevieve to Kaskaskia. There is a great dif-
ference of opinion as to the height attained by the water in 1826.
Some say it was higher than now ; others insist that at present
the water is higher than during that year."
On Thursday, the 20th, the Mississippi was from
three to six miles wide, and in many places nine.
It covered all Front Street and the sidewalk ; it was
over the boilers in Cathcart's mill, and the steamer
" Lightner" was resting her bow against the front of
Henry N. Davis' store at the corner of Front and
Morgan Streets. The water was up along Battle Row
nearly to the door-hatches. At J. & E. Walsh's store,
corner of Vine and Front Streets, the water was up to
within about fourteen inches of the locks on the doors.
At the corner of Pine and Front Streets it was just up to
the top of the sill of the door of Mr. Collins' warehouse.
At Market Street it was between nine and ten inches
below the sill of the east door of Coons & Gallagher's
store. The lower part of the city, in the vicinity of
Mill Creek, was all submerged. The water covered
Second Street below the bridge. Mr. Stiles and most
of the people in that quarter, especially along Convent
Street, removed, and the communication was main-
tained by means of boats.
Several houses up in the direction of the dam were
several feet under water. Of course all the low lands
in Soulard's addition and St. George's were overflowed.
On the Illinois side everything was under water ;
at Cahokia the inhabitants were forced to flee to the
bluffs, and several houses in Illinoistown were moved
from their foundations, and some overturned.
The " Indiana," which made fast at the door of the
female academy, brought up from Kaskaskia the Sis-
ters of Charity at the convent and the priests con-
nected with the church at that place, and several fam-
ilies and such furniture as they had saved. The town
was from ten to twenty feet under water. Several
dwelling-houses that were most exposed to the cur-
rent of the river, together with many barns, stables,
and outhouses, were swept away.
The city engineer, about twelve o'clock on the 22d,
ascertained that the water was over the city direc-
trix, the curbstone on Front Street, east of the mar-
ket-house, three feet four inches. This gave thirty-
four feet nine inches plumb water above low-water
mark. From half-past seven o'clock on Thursday
morning until half-past seven Friday evening the rise
was seventeen inches. This was an immense and un-
paralleled rise, and can only be properly estimated
when the whole width of the river is considered. In
many places it was from ten to fifteen miles wide. In
Second Street the water extended from Hazel to the
junction of Second and Fifth -Streets, being in some
places from four to five feet deep. The low land in
front and all the low lands between Second and
Third and Fifth Streets were several feet under water.
On June 22d the editor of the RepuUican
"took a trip across the river in the row-boat ' Ripple,' a boat
which is owned and manned by a company of young gentle-
men, amateur boatmen, and had a most pleasant time of it. We
left the foot of Market Street and crossed to the ferry landing.
From thence we passed over several streets of Illinoistown, and
to ' Old Pap's house,' a mile and a half from the ferry landing.
Thence we rowed through a corn-field and an oat-field to the
railroad, passed along it some distance and through another
field to the big lake near the Pittsburgh coal-mines, a distance
of about nine miles. On our return we crossed to the east side
of Bloody Island, and passed round the head of the island.
Everywhere we witnessed the destruction of whole crops, the
year's subsistence of the farmer and his family."
For the 'twenty-four hours of Sunday, June 23d,
the water rose fourteen inches, and reached the climax
of the flood, where it remained nearly stationary until
the 28th, when it commenced receding. In order to
relieve the needs of the destitute the City Council by
ordinance placed one thousand dollars at the disposi-
tion of the mayor and other officers. The number
encamped was as follows: At Bon Secour, 122; at
Mr. Cremer's, 45 ; at John Cohen's, 18 ; at John
Sharp's, 5 ; at Game's, 21 ; at Falling Spring, 31 ; at
Edward Hebert's, 4 ; at Prairie du Pont, 41 ; at Jo-
seph Boismenen's, 40; at the Grand Marias Pass, 40
families.
The water continued to recede with great rapidity.
By the middle of July the river had reached an or-
dinary stage. The weather became settled, the
atmosphere void of moisture. July, August, and
September proved very dry, and before the close of the
season the river had reached an exceedingly low stage.1
1 The following interesting account of the great flood of 18-14
was written in July of the same year by the late Dr. B. W.
Brooks., of Jonesboro', 111. :
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
1065
The long-continued and ruinous flood of 1851 did newspapers of St. Louis of May 29, 1851. Two
not begin to attract particular attention until " fearful days after the river began to rise rapidly at St. Louis,
accounts of the rise in the upper Mississippi," the I and by sundown of the 30th was fifteen feet eight
river being over its banks in many places, reached the
" The Mississippi, being at a good boating stage of water,
commenced rising rapidly on the 18th day of May, 1844, and
continued rising at the rate of from two feet to thirty inches
every twenty-four hours until the first day of June, at which
time it was within eighteen inches of high-water mark in the
years 1811 and 1826. It then commenced falling gradually
until the 10th of June, at which time it had fallen some five or
six feet, so as to leave all the farms free from water, which
were previously about half covered with water generally, with
the exception of Jacob Treese's farm and a few others. This
rise was presumed to come out of the Mississippi lliver. On
the llth of June the Missouri flood came down, and the Mis-
sissippi commenced rising again, and continued to rise at the
rate of from one foot to eighteen inches every twenty-four
hours until it inundated the entire bottom, covering every
farm in it from eighteen to thirty feet, that being the depth of
soundings on the road from Jonesboro' to Littleton's old ferry,
and to Willard's ferry. Horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs were
destroyed in vast numbers, notwithstanding every exertion
was used by the benevolent and enterprising citizens through-
out the county. Wood-boats, ferry-flats, canoes, and skiffs, and
divers rafts or other crafts, made upon the spur of the moment,
were employed in collecting and boating the stock and house-
hold property of the alarmed and distressed citizens to the
high lands. Many of the citizens living near the banks on
the Illinois shore fled with their families in consternation to
the Missouri shore, leaving all their horses, cattle, and house-
hold effects to their fate. This latter rise and overflow of the
river continued until the 29th of June, when it came to a
stand, the citizens having in a great degree made an end of
removing the effects of the suffering inhabitants to the neigh-
boring hills. On the 1st of July the waters began greatly to
recede, and continued to fall until ... it became confined
within the banks of the river. It is worthy of remark that
about one-half of the houses in the Mississippi Bottom were
removed from their foundations; all the fences wholly removed
and washed away. All the warehouses on the bank fell into
the river, and many dwelling-houses shared a like fate.
" This inundation was ten or twelve feet higher than that of
1811, or of 1826, and higher than ever known, except in 1785,
when it rose thirty feet above the common level, and from the
reports recorded in Beck's 'History of Illinois and Missouri,'
it was the greatest flood known during the last one hundred and
fifty years, at which period the Mississippi washed in a part*of
Fort Chartres. Mr. Cerre, the oldest French settler in St.
Louis, says the inundation of the Mississippi and Missouri was
not as high by some four or five feet in 1785 as it was this
year, 1844, and all the old settlers of Kaskaskia agree in
saying that the overflow of 1785 left one dry spot in the town
of Kaskaskia, which was covered in 1844 with water five feet
deep. The steamer ' Indiana' was chartered by the nuns to
take the pupils of the nunnery to St. Louis, and received them
on board at Col. Menard's door, and passed along the road to
St. Louis, on which there was from six to fifteen feet of water,
leaving the river far to the left the whole route. Some two
hundred citizens went up from Kaskaskia on the ' Indiana,'
and about three hundred found shelter on the premises of Col.
Men»rd, and many more spread their tents along the bluffs.
" Millions of dollars will not cover the loss sustained by this
flood in the States of Illinois and Missouri. Some of the most
inches below the high-water mark of 1844, as marked
valuable farms in those two States have been rendered worth-
less for several years. The whole American Bottom from Alton
to Cairo was submerged, containing seven hundred square
miles of the finest land in the world. La Bute si Renard was
the only point of land out of water in 1785 : so says the St.
Louis Kepiiblicmi.
" The great flood was occasioned by the swelling of the north-
ern rivers which empty into the Missouri and upper Mississippi,
and by the melting of the snow on the eastern declivity of the
Rocky Mountains.
" The Spanish and Portuguese historians of De Soto's maraud-
ing expedition tell us that in March, 1542, all the high grounds
on the west side of the Mississippi, from the mouth of the Ohio
to Red River, were submerged several feet. There is a docu-
ment in the clerk's office of Randolph County, 111., at Kaskiiskia,
dated 1725, soliciting a grant of lots and lands from the crown
of France, and urging as a reason the 'great flood' of the
preceding year, 1724, which overflowed the village, destroyed
the houses, and drove the inhabitants to the bluffs.
"The bottom lands along the Mississippi from Alton to Cairo,
at the mouth of the Ohio, average five miles in width. Since
the Mississippi was first discovered by Europeans, the waters
had passed over all the low grounds from bluff to bluff
several times. In 1785 this bottom was covered, and small
boats passed from St. Louis to Kaskaskia over the land. In
1811, at the annual June rise of the Missouri, a part of the
American Bottom and the common fields of Ste. Genevieve
were inundated. In 1826 the river inundated the town of
Illinois, opposite St. Louis, and also the lowlands along the
American Bottom, but not as high by ten feet as this flood of
1844. The flood at St. Louis attained its greatest height on
the 24th of June, 1844, and was thirty-eight feet seven inches
above low-water mark at that city."
William L. Murfree, Sr., gives a graphic description of the
flood of 1844 in Scribner's Mayazine : "The shallowest water,
for indefinite miles in any direction, was two feet deep, the
nearest land 'the hills of the Arkansaw,' thirty miles away.
The mules were quartered on the upper floor of the gin-house ;
the cattle had all been drowned long ago ; planter, negro, and
overseer were confined to their respective domiciles; the grist-
mill was under water, and there was no means of preparing
corn for culinary purposes except a wooden hominy mortar.
The hog-and-hominy diet (so highly extolled by some people
who have never lived on it) was adopted of necessity, the
former being represented by mess-pork salter than tongue can
tell. There were no visitors, except now and then a sociable
snake, which, no doubt, bored by swimming around indefinitely
in the overflow, and craving even human companionship, would
glide up on the gallery of some of the houses. There was no
means of locomotion except the skiff and the humble but
ever serviceable ' dugout,' nowhere to go, and nobody within
a day's journey otherwise or more comfortably situated. The
only sense of sympathy from without was had from remote and
infrequent glimpses of the gallant steamer ' J. M. White,'
which, leaping from point to point, made better time from New
Orleans to St. Louis than was ever made before or for many
years after. That year nineteen plantations out of twenty failed
to produce a single pound of cotton or a single bushel of corn,
and when the flood was over and the swamp Noahs came out of
their respective arks, they were, to say the least, malcontent."
1066
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
on the column in front of the Centre Market, and
eight feet and one-half inch below the city directrix,
or the curbstone at the corner of Market Street and
the Levee. The top of the stonework of the dike is
two feet lower than the city directrix. A large
portion of the east side of Duncan's Island, and seven
houses, and a portion of the dike erected by the city
between the island and the Illinois shore, were washed
away. * About one million feet of lumber from the
upper part of the city was also washed away. Through
almost all of June the river continued to rise, until
June 23d it had risen four feet nine and a half inches
below the high-water mark of 1844 ; from this date
the waters commenced to decline.
The desolation which visited the States watered by
the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Wabash, the Illinois,
and their tributaries was beyond all calculation.
In 1854 the river was very high, the water
almost entirely submerging the Levee at St. Louis.
Great damage was done, especially in the lower portion
of the course of the river. The destruction of property
was immense in Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana.
In 1858 the water rose to a point within about
two and a half feet of the flood of 1844. Many
towns were inundated, and vast destruction of property
was effected. The water broke over the levee at
Cairo, 111., and completely submerged that city. The
water in the Ohio was also very high. The planters
in the delta and the farmers throughout the low
country suffered immense losses.
In 1863 the river rose very high, and the flood
swept away much property. The water came into the
stores on the Levee at St. Louis. This was the last
great flood until 1881, though the water rose quite
high in 1867, and again in 1871 and 1875. But
these floods did little damage in the upper valley. In
Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana great destruction
was wrought in 1867, 1871, and 1875.
The flood of 1881 began in May, and on the 4th
of that month, from the foot of Anna Street, on the
St. Louis side, the only limit for the water was the
bluff, three miles to the east. East Carondelet, as
the little village opposite Carondelet is called, was
flooded by the breaking of the dike at the head of
the island, and the inhabitants took their children in
their arms and sought safety on the high grounds.
Many of them crossed in the ferry-boat and found
quarters in Carondelet. Over a hundred persons
were thus rendered homeless. From the arsenal,
steamboats could be seen through the willows which
were once on the bank of the river, plying in the
overflow. The width of the river at that point was
estimated at three miles.
The country surrounding the little town of Venice,
opposite the north wharf, was inundated. Night-
fall found East St. Louis still exempt from inundation,
but the situation there was extremely critical, and
the alarm among the inhabitants was general. At
2.35 o'clock, May 3d, the steamboats lying along the
East St. Louis side of the river set up a combined
whistling, which conveyed to people on the St. Louis
side of the river the impression that the town of East
St. Louis was in danger of being swept away, but
whistling was the signal agreed on whenever the break
should occur in the Madison County dike. Fortunately
the alarm, though far from causeless, did not herald
such great disaster. A break had occurred in the
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad embank-
ment, and a great volume of water poured through it,
threatening to sweep down on East St. Louis and
send the inhabitants fleeing for their lives. The
water had two courses to take, — one up Cahokia
Creek, where it would do no great damage immedi-
ately, the other down the creek, where it would
drown out East St. Louis. When the possibility of
the embankment's breaking had been canvassed before-
hand, there was scarcely any one who did not suppose
that the water would come down the creek, but,
strangely enough, it took the other course, and the
Ohio and Mississippi embankment for the time kept
it away from East St. Louis.
The greatest actual damage which occurred in one
place was the loss of the bridge, valued at twenty
thousand dollars, across Cahokia Creek.
On May 5th the river had risen half a foot within
twenty-four hours, and was above the high-water mark
of 1876, and still rising. East St. Louis was in
greater danger than ever.
The water on the 4th came near taking in com-
pletely what little of the levee-front it had left the
day before. From Biddle Street to Locust sidewalks
were only to be seen in spots. From Washington
Avenue to Locust the water was running over the
pavement and against the lintels of the houses. From
Spruce Street to Chouteau Avenue there was no pas-
sage for pedestrians, and as early as six o'clock in the
afternoon a skiff tied to the awning-post in front of 607
South Levee was floating over the sidewalk in a foot of
water. Between East St. Louis and Fish Lake thou-
sands of acres of wheat were under water. In East
Carondelet there were some sixteen houses above
water, each of which was crowded with those whose
homes were submerged.
The floods on the Mississippi of which more par-
ticular accounts have been given were selected because
of the exceptionally high stage of the water, but almost
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
1067
every year witnesses very high water, and the annual
loss of property is very great. These constantly occur-
ring stages of high water, in which the flood wave,
overleaping the banks, spreads over the adjacent !
country, have caused the construction of artificial
banks along the tops of those created by the stream
itself, and as these new banks have been extended
along both banks of the river, they have assumed a
regular system of protection, which is known as the
levee system. This system, though located on the
river below St. Louis, is yet of very great importance
to the trade and commerce of a city whose situation
naturally makes it the great commercial capital of the
river-drained country. It was to find " means of
obviating the disasters incident" to these floods, and
" to prevent the overflow of these low grounds, or
swamp lands generally, covering, as is supposed, nearly
forty thousand square miles,1 that the investigations
made by Charles Ellet, Jr., were undertaken.
" The lands which are now annual!}' overflowed may cer-
tainly be estimated at fully 1 6,000,000 of acres, which, if relieved
by any effectual process, would be worth at the government
price $20,000,000 ; but converted as they may be into sugar and
cotton-fields, would possess a value that it might seem extrava-
gant to state, while the annual loss and distress inflicted on the
present population by the inundations of the river can scarcely
find a parallel in many localities, excepting in the effects of na-
tional hostilities." a
These levees extend on one side or the other about
eighteen hundred miles, and represent in first cost and
present value twenty million dollars. But even the
present system is regarded as entirely inadequate, for
the levees, which are constantly breaking or threatening
to break, protect but a comparatively small strip along
the main stream and its principal tributaries, whereas
by protection against overflow and by proper drain-
age an enormous expanse of what is now waste swamp
land would be brought into cultivation, — a stretch of
country beside which the areas reclaimed from the sea
in the Netherlands sink into insignificance, — while the
work of reclamation, gigantic as it would have to be
in relation to its results, in the amount of time and
labor required, would be comparatively small beside
the work of the industrious Dutch. There would
thus be rendered available along the Mississippi not
1 " The area is as large as the States of New Hampshire, Ver-
mont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Jer-
sey combined. Less than eight per cent, of this area is now
under cultivation. It is estimated that if protected and im-
proved these lands would be worth $2,043,858,251. As their
present value is but $107,628,833, the increase would be a sum
nearly equal to the national debt. It is therefore claimed that
the returns would justify the outlay of the largest sum which
the improvement would be likely to cost."
* Ellet's " Memoir on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers," p. 27.
less than two million five hundred thousand acres
of sugar land, about seven million- acres of cotton
land, and one million acres of corn land, all of unsur-
passed fertility. On the eastern side of the river is the
great swamp of Mississippi, fifty miles wide, extend-
ing from just below Memphis to Vicksburg, one hun-
dred and seventy miles in a direct line, and nearly four
hundred miles along the river. On the other side is
another vast and fertile region, embracing the lower
part of Missouri, all the alluvial front of Arkansas and
of Louisiana as far down as the mouth of the Red River.
This land is not so favorably situated for reclamation
as that on the eastern side, where there is no tributary
of the Mississippi until the Yazoo is reached, within
a few miles of the Walnut Hills, near Vicksburg.
But on the west side are a number of tributary
streams, themselves all liable to overflow, while all
are subject to back-water from the Mississippi, which
would make levees necessary as far as the line of
back-water extends. Much fine land, however, has
been reclaimed here, although the line of levees is
more fragmentary than on the other side. Below the
Red River there are no tributaries entering the Mis-
sissippi, and on the other hand the waters are de-
pleted by numerous outlets to the gulf.
The levee system was begun in Louisiana in the
early part of the last century, but the reclamation of
swamp lands in Mississippi and Arkansas has origi-
nated in recent years. Congress,3 by a general grant
of all the inundated lands to the States in which they
lie, for the express purpose of making " the necessary
levees and drains to reclaim swamp and overflowed
lands," offered inducements to the States, and through
the States to individual enterprise, to commence
a vast system of embankment, with a view to the
ultimate exclusion of the water of the Mississippi
and its great tributaries from all the inundated lands
upon their borders. To this legislation the State of
Missouri responded by an appropriation of fifty thou-
sand dollars to begin the work of reclamation at the
head of the delta, where many hundreds of square
miles of inundated territory might be reclaimed by
art, and the land brought under cultivation. The
State of Arkansas with equal promptness passed an
act granting to all proprietors who may construct
front levees the right to enter the donated lands where
they may choose to select them, in payment for the
cost of the levees which they might construct. The
Legislature of Mississippi, even prior to the act of
Congress, gave authority to the five northern counties
of that State to levy a tax of ten cents per acre on
8 Act approved Sept. 28, 1850.
1068
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
all the lands in each of these counties, for the pur-
pose of constructing front levees and shutting out the
waters of the Mississippi from the great swamps ex-
tending back to the Yazoo. The State of Louisiana
was not less prompt in this matter than the other
States, and by the incorporation of the Louisiana
Levee Company has provided both authority and
power with appropriate means for restraining the
waters within the banks of the river.
A discussion of the wisdom of the levee system is
not within the province of this work, the aim of
which is only to relate what has taken place, and not
to forecast what may result from closing all the nat-
ural and existing outlets by which in former years the
flood wave of the Mississippi found a vent.1
But it cannot be denied that the reclamation of the
drowned lands in the Mississippi valley will improve j
the climate of a vast region of country and make it
more salubrious, adding vastly to the wealth of those
States by giving value to the lands, and greatly in-
crease their commercial resources by bringing im-
mense regions of these vacant lands under cultivation,
while improving the navigation of the river. An
object of so much importance to the health and pros-
perity of so many people in so many States cannot
be without great influence upon the trade, commerce,
and prosperity of the city of St. Louis.
Ferries. — Prior to 1797 there was a ferry between
the Missouri and Illinois shores, starting from a point j
below the town of St. Louis, but in that year a ferry
between Cahokia and St. Louis was established, which
seems to have been the only one for a considerable
period.2
1 In 1874 a national commission recommended an elaborate
levee system. As this was regarded as but a temporary expe-
dient, the commission appointed under the law of 1879 consid-
ered more comprehensive plans. Chief of these are two which
are designed to make a subordinate element of the levees, and
possibly to make it possible to dispense with them altogether.
One of these is called the " outlet system," and is designed to
carry off the superfluous waters by making large and adequate
outlets, possibly diverting the Red River, so that it shall reach
the gulf independently of the Mississippi.
2 In "Annals of the West," page 122, the following reference
to the ferry occurs :
" At that time [at the period of the foundation of St. Louis]
a skirt of tall timber lined the bank of the river, free from under-
growth, which extended back to a line about the range of Eighth
Street. In the rear was an extensive prairie. The first cabins
were erected near the river and market; no ' Bloody Island' or
' Duncan's Island' then existed. Directly opposite the old
Market Square the river was narrow and deep, and until about
the commencement of the present century persons could be dis-
tinctly heard from the opposite shore. Opposite Duncan's
Island and South St. Louis was an island covered with heavy
timber and separated from the Illinois shore by a slough. Many
persons are now living (1850) who recollect the only ferry from
About 1783, Capt. James S. Piggott established a
fort not far from the bluffs in the American Bottom,
west of the present town of Columbia, in Monroe
County, which was called " Piggott's Fort ;" and Gover-
nor St. Clair, knowing the character of Capt. Piggott'a
services during the Revolutionary war, made him pre-
siding judge of the court of St. Cfair County, the seat
of which was at Cahokia. Capt. Piggott was not only
a brave soldier, but a shrewd and enterprising man,
and set to work at once to develop the resources of
the little community. In the winter of 1792-93 he
erected two log cabins on the site of East St. Louis,
and continued the work of improvement during the
winter months (in the summer the workmen would
have been in constant danger from the Indians) until
1795. After the successful campaign of Gen. Wayne
against the Indians, Capt. Piggott removed his family
from the fort to the site of the future Illinoistown.
Having completed a road and bridge over Cahokia
Creek and established a ferry from the Illinois to the
Missouri shore, he petitioned, on the 15th of August,
1797, for the exclusive right to collect ferriage in St.
Louis, then under the dominion of the Spanish crown.
His petition was in the following words :
"Si. CLAIR Co., TERRITQRY OF THE UNITED STATES,
" NORTHWEST OF THE RIVER OHIO.
"To Mr. Zenon Trudean, Commander at St. Louis:
"SiR, — Though unacquainted, through a certain confidence
of your love of justice and equity, I venture to lay before you
the following petition, which, from reasons following, I am con-
fident you will find just to allow.
" The petition is that Your Honor will grant me the whole
benefit of this ferry to and from the town of St. Louis. I do
not desire to infringe upon the ferry privileges below the town,
which have been long established, but that no person in the
town may be allowed to set people across the river for pay (at
this place), so long as you shall allow that the benefits of this
ferry hath made compensation for my private expenses in open-
ing a new road and making it good from this ferry to Cahokia
Town, and making and maintaining a bridge over the River
Abbe of a hundred and fifty feet in length.
" Your consideration and answer to this is the request of your
humble petitioner; and as an acknowledgment of the favor
petitioned for, if granted, I will be under the same regulations
with my ferry, respecting crossing passengers or property from
your shore as your-ferry-men are below the town ; and should
your people choose to cross the river in their own crafts, my
landing and road shall be free to them.
"And should you wish me to procure you anything that
comes to market from the country on this side, I shall alwayi
be ready to serve you.
"And should you have need of timber or anything that is
the product of my land, it may be had at the lowest rates.
" I am, sir, with due respect, your humble servant,
"JAMES PIGGOTT.
"Aug. 15, 1797."
Illinois to St. Louis passed from Cahokia, below this island, and
landed on the Missouri shore near the site of the United States
arsenal."
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
1069
Although the Spanish commandant was anxious to
have the ferry regularly carried on by Piggott, because
it was of great use to St. Louis, yet he devised a plan
by which it was done without having it said that he
had granted the ferry-right to a foreigner, viz., he
granted Piggott the ferry landing below Market Street,
on which Piggott then erected a small ferry-house,
which was occupied mostly by one of his ferry hands,
who at any time could transport foot passengers in a
canoe ; but when horses, etc., were to be taken across
a platform had to be used, which required three men
to manage it.
This platform was surrounded by a railing, and
floated on Indian " pirogues," made by hollowing out
trees. The craft was " poled or paddled with long
sweeps handled by Creoles." Not only was Piggott
granted the right of establishing a ferry-house at St.
Louis, but he was made a citizen of the town by the
commandant, and clothed with other powers and
privileges. At this time, it is said, the river was so
narrow that persons wishing to cross from either side
could easily make Capt. Piggott hear " the old-time
shout of '0— ver!'"
The ferry was managed by Capt. or Judge Piggott
until the 20th of February, 1799, when he died,
leaving his wife the executrix of his will. Mrs.
Piggott rented the ferry to Dr. Wallis for the years
1800-2, and then to a Mr. Adams. About this
time Mrs. Piggott married Jacob Collard, and removed
from Illinois to St. Louis, Mo. Before leaving she
leased the ferry to John Campbell for ten years from
the 5th day of May, 1805. Campbell, however,
procured a license for a ferry in his own name
during the time of the lease, and hence for a short j
time it was called " Campbell's ferry." But after
a lawsuit Campbell and confederates were beaten,
and the ferry reconveyed to Piggott's heirs, one of
whom, assisted by men named Solomon, Blundy, and
Porter, operated the ferry until part of the heirs sold
out to McKnight & Brady.
For some time the ferry-boats landed at Illinois-
town, about the northwest end of Main and Market
Streets, near which was the spot where the bridge
constructed by Capt. Piggott crossed the River 1' Abbe,
more commonly known as Cahokia Creek. Although
many tenants subsequently occupied the ferry tract of
land, none of them had a fee title therein, the
property being owned by the heirs of James Piggott
or their assigns, who derived their title in part from
a grant made by Governor William H. Harrison, of
Indiana Territory, March 12, 1803, of a tract of
land which afterwards became the site of East St.
Louis.
68
On the 7th of December, 1808, the following an-
nouncement was made of the rates of ferriage :
" To TRAVELERS.
" Rates of ferriage, as established by law, from St. Louis to
the opposite shore.
For a single person $0.25
Horse 50
Neat cattle, each 50
Calash 50
Wagon 50
Lumber of any kind, per cwt 12£"
In 1813 a rival ferry appears, from the subjoined
advertisement published May 15, 1813, to have been
established :
"We, the subscribers, take the liberty to inform the public
that any person or persons who may think proper to cross with
us at our ferry to St. Louis, and for which pay us the customary
prices established by law, that we will return them back free of
ferriage at all times when our boat is on the west side of the
Mississippi River at St. Louis. This measure became indis-
pensably necessary in consequence of an indirect course of con-
duct practiced towards us.
"BrRD <fe CHARLES LOCKHART,
" Lockhart's Ferry, opposite St. Louis."
The following ofier to rent Piggott's ferry was made
on the 30th of September in the same year :
"Ferry. On the 13th November next I will rent to the
highest bidder the ferry opposite St. Louis ; due attendance
will be given by me at the house where John Porter now lives,
and other particulars will be made known at the time of leasing.
" JOSEPH PIGQOTT."
On the 4th of January, 1815, five-sevenths of Pig-
gott's heirs conveyed their interest in the ferry to Mc-
Knight & Brady, who had, under special contract,
been running it on trial one year previous, and on the
4th of March, 1820, the other two-sevenths of Pig-
gott's heirs conveyed their interest in the land and
ferry to Samuel Wiggins, who, under special contract
with them, had been running a ferry in competition
with McKnight & Brady during 1819, and on the
19th of May, 1821, McKnight & Brady conveyed
their ferry right to Samuel Wiggins.1
Edwin Draper, writing of his own experience in
crossing the Mississippi in 1815, says, —
" The ferry-boat in which we crossed was a small keel-boat,
without upper deck or cabin, and was propelled by four oars by
hand. The wagons, then the only means of land travel, were
run by hand on to the boat, across which were placed broad
planks transversely, resting on the gunwales of the boat, while
the tongue of the wagon projected beyond the side of the boat,
and as the latter swayed gracefully to the motion of the waves
1 Another account states that " Pigot" (meaning, of course,
not Capt. Piggott, but another member of the family) " operated
the ferry in the same old fashion with canoes until 1815 or 1817.
It probably passed then into the hands of Day, a squire and
tavern-keeper in Illinoistown. In 1819, Day sold to Samuel
Wiggins. Day had improved somewhat on the old system, and
had run a boat operated by one horse, who, by a treadmill step,
had worked stern- or side-wheels."
1070
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
the tongue-chains would dip politely into the water, as if ac-
knowledging the power of the mighty monarch they were daring
to stride. The horses, wagon, and saddle, family, slaves, and
dogs were stowed in the bottom of the boat between the wagons,
and thus we triumphantly entered Missouri. Our crossing, with
many other families, was detained several days by high winds
and waves preventing the safe crossing of the boat. Whether
this boat was merely improvised for the occasion, or was the
regular class of boats then in use I do not know, but that was
the boat then used. Since that date I have lived in Missouri
to see and experience its many changes, and have been more or
less familiar with its history. My first crossing of the great
water certainly inspired tne with some fear, but I did not know
then but it was among the common products or everyday sights j
in this country. . . .
" The statement I make is this, that at the time I first crossed
the stream in 1815 it was fully a quarter of a mile wider at St.
Louis than it is at the present time. I do not state the exact
number of feet and inches it has diminished, but about the
above distance. How this wonderful change in the width of
the river at your great city was brought about it is not my
business or purpose to explain."
Another writer thus describes the old ferry a few
years later :
" There were at that time two ferry-boats making regular
trips, one at the foot of Market Street and one near Morgan
Street. In front of the city was a sand-bar, which in 1819
reached from Market to Morgan Streets, and extended two-
thirds of the way across the river.
" The ferries were owned by Mr. Nash and E. M. Van Ansdel.
One of the boats crossed above Bloody Island, and the other
below. Skiffs and keel boats were also much used in the trans-
fer of freight and passengers. Mr. Day started the first horse
ferry-boat about 1824, which was also the first one that had any
cover or protection from the weather."
In November, 1816, five persons lost their lives by
the upsetting of the ferry-boat. The newspaper ac-
count of the disaster at the time of its occurrence is
as follows:
" On Tuesday morning last the ferry-boat which is
accustomed to ply between this town and the opposite
shore of the Mississippi upset in the middle of the
stream, by which five persons lost their lives. The
ferryman, Mr. Dubay, and his two assistants died on
being taken ashore from the wreck ; Ezekiel Woolfort,
son of Mr. Woolfort, of this place, and a Mr. Stark, of
Bourbon County, Ky., sunk before the boats reached
the wreck, and are not found. What adds poignancy
to this unusual catastrophe, some of the ferrymen
spoke after they were taken up, but died from ex-
cessive fatigue and cold, without an immediate remedy
being applied, and which generally succeeds in cases
of suspended animation.
" Dubay was a useful citizen, and attended to the
town ferry with unprecedented attention. He has left
a helpless family, whose situation claims the attention
of the benevolent.
" Mr. John Jacoby, of St. Louis, has authorized
us to offer a reward of fifty dollars for the body of
Mr. Stark, or if it should be taken up too far down
the river for conveyance to this place, those to whose
lot it may fall to pay the last sad offices to the de-
ceased are informed that every expense will be paid
for his decent interment. Mr. Woolfort will no doubt
liberally reward those who will find and inter his son
as above."
On the 17th of March, 1819, it was announced
that application had been made-" to the Legislature
of Illinois at its present session for the privilege of
running a ferry-boat from the town of Illinois to St.
Louis by steam- or horse-power, and that Legislature,
with a laudable view of encouraging useful improve-
ments for public accommodation, have authorized the
establishment of such ferry-boat."
Besides managing the ferry, Mr. Wiggins appears
also to have kept a tavern in Illinoistown, and was
evidently a thrifty and progressive citizen.1
In 1820, Mr. Wiggins procured a boat which was
worked by one-horse power, but still employed
French Creoles from Cahokia to ferry passengers and
horses over by means of canoes lashed together. The
new boat was crushed in the ice in the winter of
1824-25, near the foot of Morgan (then Oak) Street,
Mr. Wiggins then built a larger and better boat,
which he christened the " Sea Serpent," of one-horse
power, and from this until 1828 all the ferriage was
performed by boats of this class. So largely did the
business increase that he was compelled to enlarge his
fleet, and two other boats, also of one-horse power,
1 "After the establishment of the Piggott ferry successive at-
tempts were made to establish towns, which bore various names.
Some of these were laid out immediately on the shore of the
river, and as there were no paved levees to protect the banks,
the river kept constantly encroaching upon the land, and the
towns were washed away. The first was named Washington.
It was situated on the Illinois shore, eastward and opposite to
the St. Louis grain elevator. It consisted of a tavern, owned
by Mr. Samuel AViggins, and four or five dwelling-houses. A
gentleman now living near Belleville, once clerk of St. Clair
Count}', relates an incident that occurred to him during the
time when Washington was gradually washing away. lie
states that he had been to St. Louis with produce from his
father's farm, fifteen miles eastward. He says, 'One night I
slept in Wiggins' tavern. It was pretty close to the shore. A
big sycamore-tree stood eight feet from the house on the bank.
Along about midnight I heard wnter. It seemed from the sound
to be under the house. I thought it must be the river. I partly
dressed as quickly as I could, and ran out shoreward. Wiggins
and everybody else that was in it ran out too, expecting the
house to go. The big sycamore was gone. It had taken with
it a piece of ground from under the .house, and the river was
running under the outer wall. But it stood till morning. I
got breakfast there, when they moved it back farther from the
river.'. Subsequently all the town of Washington was washed
away." — Hist. East St. Louis, by Robert A. Tyson, pp. 19
and 20.
<**<
v^
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
1071
named the " Rhinoceros'' and " Antelope," were added
to the number, making three in all. In 1828 a new
boat, with steam-power, named the " St. Clair," was
added, and made two landings each day, calling at the
foot of Market Street, then at Morgan, and thence
across to the Illinois shore. In 1830 the business
had increased to such an extent as to demand another
boat, and the " Ibex" was added. In 1832, Samuel
Wiggins sold his ferry franchises to Bernard Pratte,
father of Gen. Bernard Pratte, John O'Fallon, John
H. Gay, Charles Mulliken, Andrew Christy, Samuel
C. Christy, Adain L. Mills, and William C. Wiggins.
In 1838, John H. Gay bought the interest of John
O'Fallon. Shortly after this Andrew Christy pur-
chased the remaining interest of Col. O'Fallon, and
afterwards the entire interest of Mr. Gay. At this
time Mr. Christy and his sister-in-law, Mrs. McLane
Christy, owned ten shares, over one-half of the stock.
Andrew Christy was born in Warren County, Ohio,
in 1799, and when quite young removed with his
parents to Lawrence County, 111., where they located
on a farm near Sumner, the county-seat of that
county. In his youth Andrew engaged for a time
in teaching school near Ridge Prairie, St. Clair
Co., in the same State.
In 1826, in company with Francis and Vital, sons
of Nicholas Jarrot, of Cahokia, he engaged in lead-
mining at Galena, 111., which business he pursued
during several years. He then removed to St. Clair
County, opposite St. Louis, and entered into business
with his brother, Samuel C. Christy.
In 1832, as stated above, he and his brother, with
Bernard Pratte and others, purchased from Samuel
Wiggins the ferry franchise and boats belonging to
the Wiggins Ferry Company, and continued a member
of this company until his death. From 1835 to 1840
he was engaged in the grocery and commission busi-
ness in St. Louis with Samuel B. Wiggins, in Chou-
teau's Row, on the street then between Market and
W'ulnut Streets and Main Street and the Levee.
He represented St. Louis in the Legislature of
Missouri in 1851.
Mr. Christy was a public-spirited man, and among
the important enterprises which he was active in pro-
moting were operations for the preservation of the
harbor of St. Louis by turning the current of the
river toward the Missouri shore, and thus preventing
the shoaling of the water on that side. He was also
identified with early efforts for the establishment of
railroads leading to St. Louis. In short, he was a
promoter of every enterprise that promised to advance
the prosperity of the city.
By the exercise of his excellent judgment and keen
foresight, together with his indomitable energy, he
accumulated a large fortune, which he bequeathed to
his brothers and sisters, or their descendants. He
was never married. Mr. Christy died of paralysis
Aug. 11, 1869.
In 1832 the steam ferry-boat " Ozark" was added
to the vessels of the ferry company ; thep, as the busi-
ness increased, the " Vindicator" and the " Icelander"
were put on, the latter being destroyed by fire in 1844.
The " Wagoner" was built in 1846, and then the
" Grampus." The " St. Louis" was added in 1848.
Her boilers exploded Feb. 21, 1851, killing thirteen
persons, including the engineer, a daughter of Mr.
Jarvis, the pilot, and Captain Trendley's son, who
had just arrived from California, having been in the
city but two days. The accident occurred at the foot
of Spruce Street, just after the boat left the landing.
After the "St. Louis" there followed in turn, as occa-
sion demanded, the "Illinois," "John Trendley,"
" Illinois, No. 2," lost in the ice in 1864, the " Amer-
ica," and the " New Era," which became the flag-ship
" Essex" of Admiral Foote, and saw hard service in
the civil war. In addition to these were the " Charles
Mulliken," " Samuel C. Christy," " Cahokia," " Belle-
ville," "Edward C. Wiggins," "East St. Louis,"
" Springfield," " Edwardsville," " Ram," " Lewis V.
Bogy," and the tugs " H. C. Crevelin," "S. C. Clubb,"
and " D. W. Hewitt." The " Vindicator" was wrecked
in 1871, and in 1875 the " S. C. Clubb" was nearly
destroyed by fire, but was afterwards repaired.
Owing to the difficulty and danger experienced by
the ordinary ferry-boats in crossing the river when
encumbered by ice, the company, in July, 1839, con-
tracted with a boat-builder at New Albany, Ind., for
an ice steam ferry-boat, with which they would be
" able to cross the river at all times, except when the
ice is stationary." The vessel was to be constructed
after plans prepared by Mr. Mulliken, of Mulliken &
Pratte, merchants of St. Louis, with an iron bow,
" in such a manner as to admit of her being driven
through any amount of floating ice." The boat was
completed in the following fail, and arrived at St.
Louis on the 3d of December. She was about one
hundred feet in length, forty feet beam, and four feet
hold. Her hull was plated with sheet-iron one-sixth
of an inch in thickness, with an iron cutwater seven
inches thick. She carried four hundred tons and
drew twenty-five inches of water.
In 1842 a new ferry company was formed, as ap-
pears from the following announcement in the Rcpujj.
lican of February 5th of that year : " We understand
that the new ferry company have contracted with the
Dry-Dock Company for a ferry-boat. This company
1072
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
have obtained the right of ferriage from the foot of
Spruce Street, and from a road laid out by the author-
ities of St. Clair County to the river-bank."
In 1 847 the landing-place of the ferry at St. Louis
was at the foot of Locust Street, but complaint was
made that this location was inconvenient, and that
delay was caused by the crowding of other boats " into
the landing at that point."
On the 22d of January, 1848, it was announced
that a new steam ferry had been established at Car-
19
CAHOKIA IN 1840.
ondelet across the Mississippi Eiver. This, it was
added, would open a new line of travel to all Southern
Illinois. The distance from the Kaskaskia road to
the river was about two miles, and between these points
a substantial road was built. <( By this route," said
the announcement, " travelers avoid the difficulties of
crossing the American Bottom."
On the 7th of January, 1852, the Republican
stated that the ferry company had " with their usual
liberality placed their ferry-boats at the disposition of
the railroad company for the transportation of persons
to and from the demonstration to be made to-day.
The boats will be free to persons going to or return-
ing from the celebration."
In 1853 the Wiggins charter, granted in 1819, ex-
pired, and application was made to the Legislature for
a renewal. Commenting upon this application at the
time (Feb. 3, 1853) the Republican said, —
" Under their charter and various amendments since obtained
they have heen doing a highly prosperous business. They have
managed to keep the field and destroy measurably all compe-
tition. They are now applying to the Legislature for an im-
mense addition to their powers. They are asking the Legisla-
ture to re-charter them with a capital of one million, and with
power to own fifteen hundred acres (three hundred of coal land),
and also with power to build a city on Bloody Island, to charge
wharfage fees, to build and to run any number of ferry-boats from
said island to St. Louis, and generally to engage in any busi-
ness required by the exigencies of a city proprietorship. '
" The city on Bloody Island, with all its wharves, lots, streets,
and alleys, would probably belong for many generations to
come to this incorporated company. St. Louis has felt, and
Cairo has felt, and both cities now feel the evil of having a great
mass of their property in the hands of one man or a few
men."
When Samuel Wiggins sold his franchises to the
company in 1832, he transferred to them about eight
or nine hundred acres lying between Brooklyn and
the Cahokia commons. The company
leased the river front of the Cahokia
commons, embracing between five and
six thousand acres, and gave the Ca-
hokians a free ferriage to and from
St. Louis and three hundred dollars
per year for twenty years. On the
3^yfj|£* expiration of the lease the Cahokians
re-leased a portion of the lands to in-
dividuals, the revenue of which went
" to the support of schools and law-
yers." The commons extended from
the ancient city of Cahokia to the
Pittsburgh coal landing at the dike
opposite Chouteau Avenue, and were
extremely fertile.
Notwithstanding the opposition to
the company's application for a new charter and addi-t
tional franchises, a perpetual charter for ferry purposes
was granted to Andrew Christy, William C. Wiggins,1
1 William C. Wiggins, brother of Samuel Wiggins, was born
in 1783 atNewburgh, N. Y., and the early portion of his life was
spent in the cities of New York and Albany. He then removed
to Charleston, S. C., where he lived ten years and was married.
After this he returned to the city of New York, remained there
some years, and in 1818 started for the West, arriving in St.
Louis in the same year. In 1822 he took charge of the " Wig-
gins Ferry," of which he remained in charge for thirty years.
He was the last of the original purchasers of the stock of the
company, and realized from his exertions and industry a hand-
some fortune. Mr. Wiggins died on the 25th of November,
1853.
Samuel B. Wiggins, son of William C. Wiggins, was born in
Charleston, S. C., Dec. 11, 1814. He first commenced business
in Illinois, but subsequently returned to St. Louis and opened a
house in company with S. C. Christy, under the style of Christy
& Wiggins. When Mr. Christy retired, Mr. Wiggins carried
on the business alone until he took his brother into partnership,
the new firm being known as S. B. Wiggins & Co. After con-
tinuing for some time it was again reorganized under the name
of Wiggins & Anderson, and was a prominent grocery and
dry-goods firm. It was dissolved in 1859, and Mr. Wiggins,
withdrew entirely from active business life. During the period
of his commercial career and afterwards he occupied various
important positions in business circles. He was a director in
the Southern Bank, in the Pacific Insurance Company, and
for fifteen years in the Citizens' Insurance Company. For
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
1073
Adam L. Mills, Lewis V. Bogy, and Napoleon B.
Mulliken.
The company, although it enjoyed for many years
a practical monopoly of the ferriage business, appears,
on the whole, to have pursued a liberal policy. The ;
entire river-front of East St. Louis, for a distance of j
four miles, was owned by it, and in 1875 its property !
was estimated to be worth several millions of dollars. |
The company contributed greatly to the development j
and growth of East St. Louis, and co-operated with
the railroad companies in providing additional traveling
facilities for St. Louis by granting suitable grounds
for tracks, depots, warehouses, yards, and machine-
shops. For eighteen years Hon. Lewis V. Bogy,
afterwards United States > senator from Missouri, was i
president of the company, and Capt. John Trendley,1
after whom also one of the ferry-boats was named,
served the company continuously from the 7th of May,
1825, for a period of more than half a century.
In 1865 the average number of passengers carried
daily by the ferry fleet to and from St. Louis was j
from 1000 to 1500; bushels of coal, 10,000 to 15,000;
transfer-wagons, 500 to 600 ; farmers' and market-
wagons, 100 to 150 ; omnibuses, 30 to 40. The ag-
gregate receipts for 1865 were very little less than
$300,000, while in 1873 the aggregate receipts were
largely over $500,000. At this time (1873) there
were 10,000 shares, representing nominally a million
of dollars, " but," remarked a newspaper writer, " if
any one desires to know how much they are worth at
a marketable or selling price over the par value of
8100, he can do so by wanting to purchase." In
addition to the eight ferry-boats and three transfer-
boats which the company then owned, the East St.
Louis real estate and wharf franchises were very
valuable. Much the largest amount of stock was
held by the Christys, which had been sub-divided, and
was then represented by perhaps twenty-five heirs.
The sales of real estate subsequent to 1865 and up
to 1873, none being sold prior to 1865, and all of it
having been purchased by Capt. Samuel Wiggins at
several years he was president of the Wiggins Ferry Company, I
in which he was a large stockholder. He died on the 24th of j
July, 1868.
1 A newspaper writer, describing the ferry at an early period,
eays, "There was no levee at that time, and the boat was landed !
under the cliffs and rocks. A road led down from the village ;
(St. Louis) to the ferry landing. Capt. Trendley used fre-
quently to run in under the cliffs to get out of a shower. The
ferry landing at that early time on the Illinois shore was at the
old brick tavern then kept by Dr. Tiffin (which has since been
swept away), and about two hundred yards west of the Illinois
and Terre Haute round-house. The fare at that time was a
' long bit' for a footman, a market-wagon seventy-five cents,
and for a two-horse wagon one dollar."
the government price of one dollar and twenty-five
cents per acre, amounted to almost one million dollars,
and what was left was considered in 1873 to be
worth more than the whole estimated value of 1865.
In 1875 the officers of the company were N. Mul-
liken, president ; F. M. Christy, vice-president ; S.
C. Clubb, general superintendent ; Henry Sackman,
assistant superintendent ; John Trendley, agent ;
first grade directors, N. Mulliken, F. M. Christy, S.
C. Clubb, J. H. Beach, Ernest Pegnet. In 1882,
Samuel C. Clubb, president; F. L. Ridgely, vice-
president ; Henry L. Clark, secretary and treasurer ;
E. C. Newkirk, assistant secretary ; directors, Sam-
uel C. Clubb, F. L. Ridgely, Charles Shaw, Ernest
Pegnet, and Charles Wiggins, Jr.
The St. Charles ferry was established by Marshall
Brotherton2 and John L. Ferguson.
The South St. Louis and Cahokia ferry was estab-
lished in 1870, and opened to travel on the 19th of
June of that year. The following account of the
inauguration of the ferry was printed in a St. Louis
newspaper of the 20th :
" The tow-boat ' Florence/ Henry Kuter, captain, left the
foot of Anna Street yesterday afternoon for Cahokia with a
large excursion party on board. The occasion was the celebra-
tion of the opening of a ferry between South St. Louis and
z Marshall Brotherton was born in Erie County, Pa., Jan. 6,
1811, and when an infant was brought out into the wilds of
St. Louis County by his parents. The family located upon a
piece of ground not far from St. Louis, and Mr. Brotherton,
the elder, lived there as a thrifty farmer up to the time of his
death. James Brotherton, a brother of Marshall, was elected
sheriff of St. Louis County, and Marshall, then a young man,
removed to St. Louis and worked in the office of his brother as
deputy. When James died, Marshall, who had made a very
efficient officer, was elected sheriff, and occupied that office for
several terms. He then engaged in mercantile pursuits in St.
Louis, his business being mainly that of a lumber dealer. He
was also interested in other matters, notable among them being
a partnership with John L. Ferguson in the ownership of the
St. Charles ferry. At various periods he held the offices of
sheriff, county judge, fund commissioner, and president of the
board of managers of the House of Refuge. About 1854 or
1855 he was put forward as a candidate for the mayoralty, but
was not elected. He was uniformly successful in business,
owing to his sound judgment, active habits, and great popular-
ity. At the time of his death, which occurred in the latter
part of November, 1875, his ferry interest and the North Mis-
souri Planing-Mill, situated on the river-bank, at the foot of
Bremen Avenue, were the only active operations which he still
controlled. He was, however, president of the Bremen Savings-
Bank, which position he had held ever since that institution
was organized.
In early manhood Mr. Brotherton married Miss Ferguson, a
sister of his partner, John L. Ferguson. His wife died a few
years after they were married, and in 1840 or 1841 he married
Miss Herndon, a daughter of Rev. John C. Herndon, by whom
he had two daughters, afterwards Mrs. Oscar Reed and Mrs..
Stephen M. Yeaman.
1074
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Cahokia. The South St. Louis and Cahokia Ferry Company
was established in March last, with a nominal capital of two
hundred thousand dollars, divided into shares of fifty dol-
lars; each share to receive the benefit of one lot twenty by
one hundred and forty feet in what is denominated Southeast
St. Louis, to wit : a sand-bar, a portion of Cahokia commons,
and so much of the Mississippi River as may be recovered by a
contemplated dike from the main shore to Cobb Island ' by
accretion.' The lease of these lands has been obtained by the
ferry company for ninety-nine years. About seven hundred
acres of land is comprised in this lease, for which the company is
to pay twenty-five dollars per acre per annum, and the present
inhabitants of Cahokia to pass over free during their lives. This
privilege does not extend to their offspring, and it accordingly
behooves the beneficiaries to live on to a good old age. The
lease was made also on condition that one thousand dollars be
expended by the company for improvements within eight
months, and that at least one ferry-boat be put in operation
within fifteen months.
" The officers of the company are Robert J. Rombauer, presi-
dent; Henry Saenger, secretary and treasurer, with the follow-
ing directors : George Bayha, E. W. Decker, George Rathwaite,
Antoine Faller, John D. Abry, of East St. Louis; E. H. Illin-
ski, of Cahokia ; Francis Mohrhardt. The bargain on the part
of the Cahokians was signed by Francis Lavallee, supervisor,
and George Labenhoffer and John Palmer, trustees."
The officers of the Cahokia and St. Louis Ferry
Company in 1882 were Julius Pitzman, president,
and W. S. Hopkins, secretary.1
In addition to the foregoing, the following ferry
companies have offices in St. Louis :
Madison County ferry, landing foot of North
Market Street; boats ply between St. Louis and
Venice, 111. ; president in 1882, John J. Mitchell.
St. Louis and Illinois Railroad ferry, from foot of
Chouteau Avenue to the coal dike, East St. Louis.
1 In 1864 Arsenal Island, containing about one hundred and
twenty acres of ground, was allotted by the Secretary of the
Interior and the commissioners of the general land office to the
St. Louis public schools, and in 1866 the school board sold it to
the city for thirty-three thousand dollars. It was occupied for
hospital purposes by the city until 1869, when the hospitals
were removed to Quarantine. In 1874, Benjamin Segar settled
on the island, and put part of it in cultivation, and continued
to live there under a lease granted him by the city. The island
for a number of years had been moving down stream, and finally
fronted on a parcel of ground in the Cahokia commons on the
Illinois shore, owned by Judge Rombauer, as trustee for the
Cahokia Ferry Company. When the island had reached a point
in front of the ground mentioned, the ferry company claimed the
right to extend their north and south lines across it to the
water's edge on the western side thereof, and to take possession
of so much of the island as was contained within those lines,
and they entered on the island and built a wire fence on their
north line. This fence was torn down as soon as its existence
came to the knowledge of the city authorities, and sign -boards
were erected warning all persons from trespassing there. Sub-
sequently an action was instituted in the Circuit Court at Belle-
ville by Judge Rombauer, as trustee, against M. Segar, the
tenant of the city, to recover the possession of the fifty acres
of ground embraced within the lines spoken of.
The St. Louis and Illinois Coal Company and
Ferry was originally chartered in 1841 under the
style of the " St. Clair Railroad Company," and
under that name continued until 1865, when the
present company was organized, and became the pur-
chasers of the franchises of the St. Clair Railroad
Company. The incorporators were William C. An-
derson and John D. Whitesides. The company does
a general coal transportation and ferry business.
Joseph W. Branch was elected president in 1865, and
has ever since continued to hold that position. The
present capital stock is one million five hundred thou-
sand dollars. The board of directors consists of
the following : Joseph W. Branch, Adolphus Meier,
C. S. Greeley, W. A. Hargadine, N. Campbell, John
D. Perry, George Knapp. The officers are Joseph
W. Branch, president; Adolphus Meier, vice-presi-
dent ; P. T. Burke, secretary and treasurer.
Waterloo Turnpike Road and Ferry Company, W.
H. Grapevine, superintendent ; ferry landing, foot of
David Street ; transfer, foot of Franklin Street, Car-
ondelet.
The Great St. Louis Steel Bridge across the Mis-
sissippi River.2 — The first proposition for the erection
of a bridge across the Mississippi River at St. Louis
was made by Charles Ellet, Jr., in 1839.3 Mr. Ellet
proposed a suspension bridge having a central span of
twelve hundred feet, and two side spans of nine hun-
dred feet each ; but the city fathers stood aghast at
the enormous estimate of the cost, seven hundred and
thirty-seven thousand six hundred dollars, for a high-
way bridge alone. Mr. Ellet revived his project in
September, 1848, but nothing was accomplished. In
January, 1853, it was stated in one of the St. Louis
newspapers * that u some years ago Mr. Charles Col-
lins obtained the passage of a law authorizing the
building of a suspension bridge across the Mississippi
at St. Louis, and if he had lived there is every
reason to believe that he would have accomplished it ;
but with him died all the enterprise of the northern
part of the city, and nothing has been heard of it
since."5
1 For the history of the construction of the great bridge, the
author is mainly indebted to Professor C. M. Woodward, of
Washington University.
* The first bridge to span the Mississippi River was a wire
suspension bridge at Minneapolis, Minn., built in 1854 by
Thomas M. Griffith, at a cost of nearly fifty thousand dollars.
< Republican, Jan. 13, 1853.
6" Yesterday," said the same paper of March 17, 1854, "we
examined the drawing and profile of a bridge for the Mississippi
River, drawn by B. Andreas, engineer, corner of Second and
Chestnut Streets, over Ellis & Hutton's. He has located it across
the river at or near the shot-tower above Carondelet, and has
(Ml
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
1075
In 1855,1 Josiah Dent organized a company, with
Maj. J. W. Bissell as engineer, and a second plan
for a suspension railway bridge was proposed. The
cost was estimated at one million five hundred thou-
sand dollars. For the want of financial support the
scheme was soon abandoned. The incorporators of
the company, which was known as the St. Louis and
Illinois Bridge Company, were : St. Louis, John
How, J. H. Lucas, John O'Fallon, Samuel Gaty, An-
drew Christy, Josiah Dent, S. J. Smith, D. A. Janu-
ary, William M. Morrison ; Illinois, J. A. Matter-
son, Curtis Blakeman, J. D. Morrison, S. B. Chand-
ler, William C. Kinney, Gustavus Koerner, William
S. Wait, Vital Jarrot, William N. Wickliffe, John M.
Palmer, John D. Arnold, Joseph Gillespie.
In 1867 the time seemed to have arrived for com-
mencing operations in earnest. Strangely enough,
after nearly thirty years of inactivity, two rival com-
panies appeared in the field ; one was regularly organ-
ized (in April, 1867) under the laws of Missouri,
and included among its managers several prominent
citizens of St. Louis ; the other claimed an exclusive
right under a charter granted by the State of Illinois,
and was controlled by a well-known bridge-builder of
Chicago. James B. Eads was the chief engineer of
the St. Louis company (known as the St. Louis and
Illinois Bridge Company) ; L. B. Boomer was mana-
ger of the Illinois company, which was known as the
Illinois and St. Louis Bridge Company.
The Illinois company was incorporated Feb. 21,
1867, the incorporators being Joseph Gillespie, John
M. Palmer, Jesse K. Dubois, William Shepard, John
Williams, William R. Morrison, L. A. Parks, Levi
Davis, T. B. Blackstone, H. C. Moore, Peter H. Wil-
lard, R. P. Tansey, Gustavus A. Koerner, C. P. Hea-
ton, L. B. Boomer, Fred. T. Krafft, L. B. Parsons,
John Baker, and A. H. Lee.
The officers were L. B. Boomer, president ; R. P.
Tansey, secretary; directors, L. B. Boomer, R. P.
made his drawings to correspond. AVe understand that his
plan is made with strict regard to the measurement of the river
at that point in width and the elevations on either side. He
proposes to cross the river by five spans, each three hundred and
fifty feet, the base of the carriage-way to be sixty feet above the
high water of 1844, or one hundred and twenty feet above ordi-
nary low water, the bridge to rest on piers of rock or cast iron.
The superstructure is to be of lattice-work of wrought iron, well
secured together, with two ways in breadth and two for use, one
placed above the other, the low ways for railroad tracks and the
upper for the ordinary travel of horses, carriages, wagons, etc."
1 " Last winter," said the Republican of July 11, 1855, "the
legislatures of Missouri and Illinois, anticipating the necessity
which might exist for bridging the Mississippi at this point be-
fore the time for reassembling should again come round, passed
the requisite legal provisions for such n purpose."
Tansey, George Judd, William R. Morrison, and C.
Beckwith. The location selected by the Missouri
Company was at the foot of Washington Avenue,
where the width of the river at ordinary stages is but
little over fifteen hundred feet, and the plan consisted
of three steel arches, supported by two masonry piers
in the river and an abutment on each shore. All the
foundations were to be sunk to the rock, which was
known to be nearly ninety feet below low-water at the
site of the east pier. The Illinois company, on the
other hand, had selected a location about half a mile
above, and proposed to build an iron truss-bridge, the
longest spans of which should be three hundred and
fifty feet, supported by piers formed of cast-iron col-
umns, those nearest the Missouri shore to be sunk to
the rock,, and those on the east side bedded in the
sand fifty or sixty feet below low water. For a time
the contest between these two companies was very
sharp, though confined principally to the newspapers
and the courts. In March, 1863, the controversy
was terminated by the nominal consolidation of the
two companies, and the actual absorption of the Illi-
nois company by its rival, to which the former had
sold out, the new corporation taking the name of the
Illinois and St. Louis Bridge Company. The officers
of the old St. Louis company retained their positions
in the new organization, and Capt. James B. Eads
continued as chief engineer and a principal stock-
holder.
From the first Capt. Eads was the leading spirit in
the enterprise. As chief engineer during the entire
period of seven years (from 1867 to 1874) occupied
by the building of the bridge, he was responsible for
every novelty, both of design and execution, and his
personal genius impressed itself upon every detail of
the structure.
Col. Henry Flad* was Capt. Eads' first assistant
2 Henry Flad, one of the most distinguished engineers of the
West, was a graduate of the University of Munich, and his first
professional engagement was in connection with hydraulic
works on the Rhine. He came to America at the time of the
German revolution of 1848, and for a period of eleven years
was connected with some of the most important railroads in the
country. In 1854 he removed to Missouri, and was employed
as resident engineer of the Iron Mountain road, a considerable
portion of which was constructed by him. He also made sur-
veys for several other roads in Missouri.
In connection with Mr. Kirkwood, he made plans for the
water-works of Compton Hill and Bissell's Point, and a large
measure of the success of that great improvement is due to his
skill. After the completion of this work he filled the office of
commissioner of water-works for eight years. At the outbreak
of the war he entered the army as a private, but his skill as an
engineer soon brought him into prominence, and he rose rapidly
to the rank of colonel of engineers.
Col. Flad's name will always be associated with that of Capt.
1076
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
throughout, and brought to the work great practical
experience, a ready power of analysis, and mechanical
ingenuity of a high order. He was ably seconded by
Walter Katte. The theory of the structure was the
joint product of Charles Pfeifer and Professor William
Chauvenet, of Washington University.
The presidents of the bridge company in order
were Charles K. Dickson, William M. McPherson,
and Gerard B. Allen. J. C. Cabot was the first sec-
retary, J. H. Britton the first treasurer. Dr. William
Taussig held the position of chairman of the execu-
tive committee through all the administrations.1
All the great foundations of the bridge, two abut-
ments and two river piers, stand on the solid rock
which underlies the ordinary river-bed. The con-
struction of these foundations was the most difficult
part of the work. To interfere as little as possible
with the navigation of the river, and to diminish the
cost of the foundations, the arches were designed
with long spans, and the two channel piers were given
great stability. The contract for the whole of the
masonry work on the bridge was awarded in August,
1867, to James Andrews, of Allegheny, Pa.
The first stone in the western abutment pier was
laid on the bed-rock Feb. 25, 1868 ; the first stone
was laid on the caisson of the east channel pier Oct.
25. 1869, and the first stone on the caisson of the
west channel pier was laid the 15th of January, 1870.
During the first half of the year 1868 the minutest
details of the work were critically examined by the
board of engineers. The mathematical calculations
and investigations were conducted by Col. Flad and
Mr. Pfeifer, and then submitted to Capt. Bads,
and by him referred to the analysis and examination
of Professor W. Chauvenet, LL.D., chancellor of
Washington University. In this way the most won-
derful mathematical exactness was secured. By the
middle of the year the drawings and all the de-
tails of the bridge had been gone through with by
the engineers, and the mighty structure was complete
in the mind of the chief engineer and his assistants.
Eads in connection with the St. Louis bridge and tunnel. He
had charge of all the details of their construction, and it is a
matter of history that on every occasion Capt. Eads insisted
upon a division of the honors of their united success in this
great undertaking. Among other works of Col. Flad may be
mentioned the lowering of the track of the Missouri Pacific Rail-
road through the city, and the concentration of tracks at the
Union Depot.
1 A "History of the St. Louis Bridge, containing a full ac-
count of every step in its construction and erection, and in-
cluding the theory of the ribbed arch and the tests of mate-
rials," written by Professor C. M. Woodward, was published in
1882, by G. I. Jones & Co., of St. Louis.
The foundation of the west abutment was laid in
a coffer-dam at a depth of fifty-five feet below extreme
high water. The other great piers were "sunk " to
much greater depths by the aid of compressed air.
The west pier stands on the rock ninety-one feet below
high water ; the foundation of the east pier is one
hundred and twenty-seven feet below high-water
mark, and the east abutment extends one hundred
and thirty-five feet below the surface of extreme high
water. The sinking of these piers was a great feat
of engineering and full of interest. The sinking of
the east pier is thus described :
The caisson of the east pier was built of iron, and
was eighty-two feet long, sixty feet wide, and nine
feet deep.
The roof and sides were made of thick iron plates
riveted air-tight and strengthened by girders and
brackets. A temporary wooden bottom was used
until the admission of compressed air from powerful
air-pumps kept the interior free from water down to
the " cutting edge" of the caisson. The masonry of
the pier was laid upon the roof of the caisson, which
it completely covered. The weight of the masonry
soon caused the caisson to sink deep in the river, ren-
dering an increased air-pressure necessary to keep
the caisson free of water and to support the load
above. On the roof of the caisson a coffer-dam was
constructed to exclude the river. The caisson was
furnished with bearing-timbers along its walls and
under its roof, and when it reached the river bottom
they rested evenly upon the sand and gave sufficient
support to allow the masonry to be built above the
surface of the river. At this point the guides and
suspension rods which had been used to control the
motion of the caisson were removed, and the further
progress of the pier was effected by undermining the
bearing-timbers and letting the whole mass go down
as additional masonry was laid in the open air above.
The space within the caisson was known as the
" air-chamber," and it is evident that workmen were
needed inside, and that there must be ready means
for passing in and out.
Entrance to and exit from the air-chamber was
through " air-locks," seven in number. These air-
locks were in form vertical cylinders, made of one-
half inch plate-iron. The central lock, which was
six feet in diameter and six feet high, was wholly
within the air-chamber. In fact, the roof of the
caisson formed its upper base. Adjoining this lock
was a second iron cylinder five feet in diameter and
five feet deep, sunk through the roof of the cais-
son and entirely open at the top. The air-lock had
two strong, tight- fitting doors, one communicating
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
1077
Extreme High Water.
City Directrix.
A, Air Looks.
B, Air Chamber.
C, Timber Girdo
D, Discharge i
Sand Pump.
E, Sand Pumps.
with the open air-cylinder just mentioned and swing-
ing into the lock, the other opening into the air-
chamber and swinging from the lock. Workmen
generally passed in and out through the central lock.
The method of going in or out was very simple.
The outer door of the air-lock being open, and the
inner one, of course, closed, the party of visitors, for
example, descended into the open cylinder near the
central lock, crawled through the opening into the
lock, and closed the door. A cock
was then opened which allowed
the compressed air from the
chamber to enter the lock. When
the air-pressure within the lock
equaled that in the chamber, the
other door readily swung open
and the party entered the air-
chamber. The time required
in entering depended upon the
pressure in the chamber and
the ability of the persons in the
lock to endure the change. If
the air was let on rapidly, and
the pressure was considerable,
the sensation produced was very
disagreeable. The compression
of the air in the lock was at-
tended by the evolution of heat,
and though the air was saturated
with moisture as well as warm,
there was no difficulty connected
with one's breathing. The only
serious difficulty to a visitor was
felt in his ears. The pressure
upon the exterior of the drum
was very painful unless soon bal-
anced by internal pressure. This
could generally be produced by
vigorously blowing the nose,
thus forcing air into the interior
cavity of the ear. Capt. Eads
found that the act of swallowing
would often give relief, and had
a pail of water and a cup placed
in the lock. In some cases, however, these simple
remedies were of no avail, and intense pain was the
result. In that event the air was admitted very slowly.
In returning from the chamber the operation was
equally simple. The party entered the lock, closed
the inner door, and opened a cock which allowed the
air of the lock to escape to the outside. As soon as
the air-pressure was reduced to that of the atmos-
phere, the outer door was readily opened. The phys-
ical effects of reducing the pressure were very different
from those experienced when going in. The expand-
ing air absorbed heat, and one literally felt the chill
to the very marrow. So much vital heat was lost
that in some cases the effect was very disastrous.
There was much in the habit of undergoing these
changes. Certain air-lock men, whose duty it was to
take visitors, engineers, and workmen in and out,
became so used to sudden changes that they could,
+7'58
METRES.
!•'. Main Entrance
Shaft.
(J, Side Shafts.
H, Iron Envelope.
1, Bracing for Shell.
(). Strengthening
I'.raukets.
SECTION OF EAST PIER AND CAISSON.
without apparent injury or even inconvenience, endure
surprisingly rapid changes of pressure.
As the caisson continued to sink it was necessary
to remove the sand from the air-chamber. This was
done by means of the "sand-pumps," an exceedingly
ingenious device invented by Capt. Eads. The sand
mixed with water was thrown out in jets with great
rapidity. A three-inch pump was capable of discharg-
ing sand at the rate of three hundred cubic yards in
1078
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
twenty-four hours. The pier settled on the average
about fifteen inches per day.
No difficulty was experienced in causing the caisson
to settle evenly and gently. The sand was trenched
beside the bearing-timbers, thus allowing a slight lateral
motion of the sand as it yielded to the pressure. It
was soon learned that the admission of water into the
air-chamber, consequent upon a slight reduction in
the air-pressure, had the effect of increasing the
mobility of the sand so as to bring the caisson down
with an exceedingly gradual motion.
The progress of the east pier down through the
sand is clearly shown in the illustration on the pre-
ceding page. It gives a cross-section of the pier
through the main stairway, a circular well through
which the workmen descended to the air-chamber.
A sand-pump is represented as at work within the
caisson, and men are supplying it with sand.
The intensity of the air-pressure in the air-chamber
of the east pier reached a maximum of about sixty-
five pounds per square inch, or about fifty pounds
above the normal. The physiological effects of long
exposure to this pressure and of sudden release from
it were at times very severe. During the construc-
tion of the deep piers over one hundred men were
violently attacked with cramps and chills, and thirteen
died from them.
The caissons were constructed at Carondelet, under
the direction of the chief engineer and Capt. William
L. Nelson and H. G. McComas, the great caisson for
the last of the channel piers being completed and
launched Oct. 18, 1869.
The whole time occupied in sinking the east pier
to the rock was one hundred and twenty-six days,
during several of which it was too cold to lay ma-
sonry, and at other times it was impossible to furnish
stone on account of the ice.
The west pier was sunk in seventy-seven days.
The east abutment, the largest and deepest of all,
was sunk in one hundred and thirty-four days. The
caisson of the latter contained many improvements
over the others. All the large piers are faced with
gray granite down to low water. All the piers had
reached the rock-bed by the beginning of 1872, and
before the close of that year the masonry was com-
pleted, including the approach arches across the levees
in St. Louis and East St. Louis.
The size of the foundations is shown as follows :
Extreme height from Cubic yards
base to top of cornice, of masonry.
West abutment 112 feet 8J inches. 12,643
West pier 172 " 1 " U,170
East pier 197 " H " 17,820
East abutment 192 " 9 " 24,093
The plan of the superstructure of the great bridge
(which was contracted for Feb. 26, 1870) is as bold
as the foundations and even more original. It con-
sists of three magnificent steel arches, supporting two
railway tracks, and a broad paved causeway for high-
way traffic on the top of the structure.
The spans of the side arches are each five hundred
and two feet in the clear, and the central arch stretches
five hundred and twenty feet over deep water. Each
arch consists of four equal ribs placed side by side at
intervals of sixteen and half feet, twelve feet, and
sixteen and a half feet, these distances being between
centres.
Each rib consists of two parallel members or sys-
tems of tubes, twelve feet apart, connected by a single
system of bracketing, in appearance like a curved tri-
angular truss. Each tube is eighteen inches in ex-
ternal diameter and about twelve feet long, and is per-
fectly straight, with slightly beveled ends. The tubes
of each member are securely coupled together by two
enveloping half-cylinders, and the steel pins which re-,
ceive the brace-bars on their ends pass through both
. couplings and tubes. A tube consists of six bars of
steel, rolled in the shape of straight staves, from one
and three-sixteenths to two and one-eighth inches in
thickness, and snugly inserted in an envelope of steel
i one-quarter of an inch thick.
The tubes are exquisitely made, and the arches as
beautiful as works of art.
The lateral or wind bracing consists of a series of
diagonal steel ties and wrought-iron tubular struts be-
tween the ribs, and an upper truss between the two
roadways. The latter truss for the centre span is of
iron, forty-nine feet wide and five hundred and forty
feet in extreme length.
The erection of the arches was effected by a method
entirely new and of a most interesting character, in-
vented by Col. Henry Flad. Only the briefest ac-
count of its successful execution can be given here.
The end tubes of each rib screw into massive
wrought-iron " skew-backs," which are bolted to the
masonry by long steel bolts six inches in diameter.
In the case of the channel piers the anchor-bolts are
over thirty feet long, passing quite through the ma-
sonry and securing the skew-backs on both faces. In
this way the ribs were made self-supporting, as they
were built out from the masonry. In some instances
nearly a hundred feet was thus built without addi-
tional support. The weight of the unfinished ribs,
however, caused the outer ends to fall below their
normal positions, and it was necessary to draw them
up by cables passing over towers erected on the ma-
sonry. These cables were strained, as occasion re-
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
1079
quired, by powerful hydraulic jacks, which lifted the
towers. The cables lifted the deflected arches to
their normal position (and even above it), and allowed
the ribs to be built still farther out. The deflected
ends of these second extensions were supported by
secondary cables, which passed over masts standing
on the ribs at the joints, supported directly by the
primary cables, and thence down to the pins in the
skew-back tubes.
By such means semi-ribs, stretching two hundred
and fifty feet over the Mississippi, were fully sup-
ported until they were successfully " closed" at the
crown. The minute details of the operation of closing
the ribs form an interesting feature in the history of
the bridge. The influence of temperature and elas-
ticity was strikingly shown. The magnitude of the
main cables may be estimated from the fact that they
were made of the best rolled iron, and each had a
cross-section of forty-two square inches.
The total weight of one naked rib of the centre span
is four hundred and eighty-eight thousand two hundred
and two pounds. The total amount of steel in the
three arches is four million seven hundred and eighty
thousand pounds. Of wrought iron there are six
million three hundred and thirteen thousand pounds.
The superstructure of the bridge was constructed
by the Keystone Bridge Company, of Pittsburgh,
Pa., and its cost was $2,122,781.65. The approaches
were built by the Baltimore Bridge Company. The
total cost of the entire bridge, including the approaches,
was $6,536,729.99. If to this we add interest, land
damages, commissions for charters and financial agents,
hospital expenses, etc., the sum total is swelled to
nearly ten million dollars. The bridge was completed
and opened to public travel on the 23d of May,
1874.1
1 " The long-looked-for opening of the bridge to public travel,"
said the Republican of May 24th, "took place yesterday morn-
ing, as previously announced. Six o'clock was the hour fixed
for the opening, but long before that time a great multitude of
people had gathered around the office, each anxious to get the
first ticket. The pressure on the ticket-sellers continued for
two or three hours, and during the entire day they were kept
reasonably busy. Many more tickets were sold than were used,
as many persons, for economy's sake, purchased packages. It
is understood that the recipts for the day were about one thou-
sand dollars."
The first person who purchased tickets on May 23d, accord-
ing to the same authority, was Charles Gallagher, night clerk in
the office of the Republican. In announcing this fact that paper
added, " He was present waiting for the office to open, and has
the following certificate to show the facts :
" ' Charles Gallagher bought first one dollar's worth of tickets
and crossed the bridge.
(Signed) ' F. W. GEISEKER.
'"May 23, 1874.'
On the 9th of June the first train of three passen-
ger-coaches, in which was seated a select party of
about fifty invited guests, connected with the track of
the bridge-approach from the St. Louis and Vandalia
Railway and crossed the river, running as far into the
tunnel as Seventh Street.
At the suggestion of Sylvester H. Laflin, an im-
posing celebration in honor of the completion of the
bridge was held on the Fourth of July, 1874. Bar-
ton Able, George Bain, and other leading citizens of
St. Louis promptly seconded Mr. Laflin's proposition,
and a meeting to take preliminary action was held at
the Merchants' Exchange on the 13th of June. Capt.
Barton Able presided, and George H. Morgan acted
as secretary. A committee was appointed to make
the necessary arrangements, and on the 13th a com-
mittee on programme, Chauncey I. Filley, chairman ; a
finance committee, Sylvester H. Laflin, chairman ; and
a committee jon transportation, Capt. John N. Bofin-
ger, chairman, were selected. On the 1 6th a committee
on printing was appointed, with George H. Morgan
as chairman, and Arthur B. Barret, afterwards mayor
of the city, was made grand marshal of the day. Mr.
Barret subsequently appointed Col. C. Maguire as-
sistant marshal, and G. 0. Kalb and Henry Benecke
as adjutants. The committees as finally completed
were composed of the following persons :
Committee of Arrangements. — Barton Able (chairman), George
H. Morgan (secretary.), S. H. Laflin, George Bain, John S. Cav-
ender, W. H. Maurice, M. J. Lippman, Web. M. Samuel, D. P.
Rowland, John B. Maude, R. M. Scruggs, C. 0. Dutcher, John
N. Bofinger, John W. Carroll, Chauncey I. Filley, L. L. Ash-
brook, C. Maguire, John 0. Farrar, Arthur B. Barret, J. 0.
Broadhead, S. E. Hoffman, L. S. Metcalf, C. M. Woodward,
Charles Osborne, Henry Benecke, George D. Capen, C. L.
Thompson, Henry T. Blow, Charles Speck, Isaac M. Mason,
John Riggin, Jr., Robert A. Campbell, J. B. C. Lucas, H. Clay
Sexton, L. Dorshimer, R. P. Tansey, Daniel G. Taylor, George
Knapp, G. W. Fishback, William McKee, Charles A. Mantz,
Stilson Hutchins, W. V. Wolcott, Emil Preetorius, A. J. Spaun-
horst, Carl Daenzer, Henry Gambs, Daniel Able, W. A. Braw-
ner, H. M. Blossom, M. L. Cohn, D. R. Risley, John McDonald,
Abram Nave, Thomas Kennard, G. W. Chadbourne, E. A. Carr,
George I. Barnett, B. M. Chambers, W. H. Scudder, Daniel Cat-
lin, Joseph Brown, L. A. Moffett, J. T. Howenstein, C. B. Bray,
Miles Sells, Gen. Grierson, Capt. Babbitt, Maj. E. B. Grimes,
Gen. John Turner, Col. C. C. Penrose, Capt. William Hawley,
James Doyle, John H. Beach, Charles Parsons, R. J. Lack-
land, J. G. Chapman, R. C. Clowry, John H. McCluney, G. 0.
Kalb, Wallace Delafield, II. W. Hough, W. A. Hargadine, John
Cantwell, R. M. Renick, J. C. Cabot, George Minch, Charles P.
Warner, James M. Brawner, W. H. Pulsifer, E. S. Walton, A.
W. Slayback, H. H. Wernse, John G. Prather, A. B. Pendle-
" It has been stated, as we understand, that Mr. McMahon, a
superintendent of the bridge, was the first man to cross. This is
incorrect. Mr. McMahon purchased his ticket the night previous,
and was not legitimately a passenger, being an employ^ of the
company. Mr. Gallagher is clearly entitled to the honor."
1080
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
ton, James B. Clemens, William H. Smith, Nicholas Wall, Fred.
Von Phul, W. B. Thompson, Forester Dolhonde, Edmund
Froehlich, N. Stevens, M. M. Buck, Herman Rechtien, Robert j
A. Betts, N. M. Bell, Goodman King, Joseph Franklin, C. N. !
Hoblitzell, J. L. D. Morrison, Joseph A. Wherry, E. S. Mira-
goli.
Committee on Finance. — S. H. Laflin (chairman), John B.
Maude, Chauncey I. Filley, George Bain, C. 0. Butcher, J. T.
Howenstein, S. Metcalf, Arthur B. Barret, George I. Barnett, ;
D. P. Rowland, W. A. Hargadine, John H. McCluney, Wallace ;
Delafield, George D. Capen, C. L. Thompson, H. H. Wernse, L. I
L. Ashbrook, John Cantwell, W. A. Brawner, H. M. Blossom,
M. L. Cohn, Thomas Kennard, Charles Speck, S. M. Dodd, H.
W. Hough, A. W. Slayback, John Kennard, C. B. Bray, E. S.
Walton, James S. Brawner, W. B. Thompson, Robert A. Betts,
Goodman King, Joseph Franklin, C. J. L. Hoblitzell.
Committee on Fireworks. — S. H. Laflin (chairman), W. H.
Maurice, John B. Maude, R. M. Scruggs, D. P. Rowland.
Committee on Programmes and Invitations. — Chauncey I.
Filley (chairman), D. P. Rowland, John B. Maude, Arthur B.
Barret, John W. Carroll, Barton Able.
Committee on Transportation. — Arthur B. Barret (chairman),
John N. Bofinger, S. H. Laflin, R. P. Tansey.
Committee on Printing. — George H. Morgan (chairman),
Leslie A. Moffett, J. T. Howenstein.
Committee on Decorations. — George I. Barnett (chairman),
Dr. J. 0. Farrar, Maj. E. B. Grimes, E. S. Miragoli, Charles
Speck, Daniel Able,D. R. Risley, J. H. McCluney, C. B. Bray,
G. 0. Kalb.
Committee on Ordnance. — Capt. Babbitt (chairman), S. H.
Laflin, F. W. Fuchs, John B. Gray, John S. Cavender.
Committee on Music. — George Bain (chairman), G. H. Mor-
gan, C. 0. Butcher, Rich. J. Compton.
Committee on Harlor and Police. — L. Borsheimer (chairman),
James Boyle, H. Rechtien.
Committee on Fire Department. — H. Clay Sexton.
Press Committee. — George W. Gilson, Democrat; George
Mills, Times ; C. Winter, Westliche Post ; W. B. Stevens, Dis-
patch ; J. G. Bill, Republican; T. Mitchell, Globe ; C. B.
Kargau, Anzeiger ; Lewis Willich, Amerika ; F. Haarson,
Courier ; Thomas J. Meek, Journal ; Charles J. Osborn, agent
Associated Press. •
The programme determined on comprised a pro-
cession, addresses, display of fireworks, etc. The
east and west approaches to the bridge were elabo-
rately decorated, and at the Third Street entrance a
gigantic portrait of Capt. James B. Eads was dis-
played. Immediately underneath the portrait were
exhibited two large symbolical figures, which repre-
sented Missouri and Illinois clasping hands. At the |
east end of the bridge, and just at the point where
the two roadways separate and begin the descent to <
the Illinois shore, a great triumphal arch was erected,
extending from side to side of the bridge, and sur-
mounting a pavilion which separated the two passage-
ways of the arch was a colossal statue of the Goddess
of Liberty. To the left of the Third Street entrance-
gate a platform was erected for the accommodation of
the invited guests. Farther on, on the same side of
the roadway, a series of elevated seats was provided
on one of the buildings adjoining the bridge for the
families of the bridge officials. The decorations were
of an elaborate and tasteful character, and on the
morning of the Fourth of July, beneath a cloudless
sky, presented a beautiful and imposing spectacle.
Many buildings in the city were also decorated, and
at Washington Avenue and Ninth Street a handsome
triumphal arch was erected by St. Xavier's College.
On the wings of the east front the heraldic arms
of the States of Illinois and Missouri were painted,
with the legend above, " A link of steel unites the
East and West ;" and on the western front of the
arch, tastefully decorated with evergreens and fifty feet
high, a medallion portrait of Capt. Eads. On the
wings were the following : " The Mississippi dis-
covered by Marquette, 1673 ; spanned by Capt.
Eads, 1874." "St. Louis founded by Laclede,
1764 ; crowned Queen of the West, 1874."
Salutes in honor of the bridge and the day were
fired by Simpson Battery, under the direction of
Lieut.-Col. F. W. Fuchs, inspecting and mustering
officer for St. Louis City and County, who was placed
in charge of the ordnance and firing for the occasion.
The battery consisted of four guns, four caissons,
and fifty-six men, commanded by First Lieut. Charles
Hiltwein and Second Lieut. A. B. Bayer.
At daylight a salute of thirteen guns was fired by
the battery near the bridge for the old original States.
At nine o'clock A.M. one hundred guns were fired
for the bridge, fifty on each side of the river, by the
same battery, the firing being alternate, commencing
with Missouri. At twelve o'clock (noon) a salute of
thirty-seven guns for the States and Territories of the
Union was fired on the Levee by the ordnance depart-
ment of Jefferson Barracks, under command of Capt.
Babbitt. At daylight a Federal salute, and at nine
A.M. a national salute was fired by Gen. Grierson at
the old arsenal grounds. •
The procession moved at a few minutes past nine
o'clock from the junction of Washington and Jeffer-
son Avenues, headed by a squad of Metropolitan po-
lice under command of Capt. Huebler, and followed
immediately by the grand marshal and his aids, twenty-
two of whom were boys mounted on ponies and wear-
ing uniforms of black jacket, white pantaloons, and
red sash.
Next in order came the following organizations :
Company of United States cavalry, Companies A and
B National Guards, company of Uhlans, Knights of
Pythias, Ancient Order of Hibernians, Knights of
Father Mathew, Druids, Sons of Hermann, members
of the French National Aid Society, Turners, Bohe-
mian Gymnastic Club, Western Star Commandery
(Knights Templar), Same (Encampment), United
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
1081
Brethren of Friendship, Mutual Aid Society, Labor-
ers' Aid Society, United League, No. 1, Real Estate
and Beneficial Society, Old Temperance Society, pre-
ceded by the Bavarian Band, Irish American Benev-
olent Society, No. 1.
In addition to these societies the procession com-
prised the following organizations:
Merchants' Exchange, represented by a large ban-
ner bearing a picture of the Exchange, and the offi-
cers and members in carriages.
Fire Department, with engines and apparatus deco-
rated with flags, wreaths of flowers, etc. H. Clay
Sexton, chief, on horseback ; Richard Beggs, J. W.
Barne, and Jacob Trice, assistants, in buggies, and
J. W. Tennelle, secretary, on horseback.
German Singing Societies, Professor E. Froelich,
leader. The societies, headed by the New Orleans
Orchestra, numbered six hundred men, and made a
fine display with banners and decorations.
Mechanics' and Manufacturers' Exchange, with an
Exchange building in miniature. The building had
a large number of windows, each supposed to light
the office of one of the many trades represented in
the Exchange membership, and over each of these
windows was painted the trade represented, such as
" bricklayer," " carpenter," etc. Following this, in
the order in which they were employed, were repre-
sentatives on wagons in long procession of all the dif-
ferent processes necessary to the construction of a
complete house, — architects, excavators, stone-masons,
stone-cutters, brick-makers, bricklayers, architectural
iron-workers, carpenters, stair-builders, roofers, tin-
ners, lightning-rod men, plumbers, plasterers, gas-
fitters, painters and glaziers, paper-hangers, grate and
mantel manufacturers.
The marshal of this department was Henry Mil-
burn, and the following were his aids: T. J. Flanagan,
adjutant; Henry Perks, Lewis Luthy, James Gilfoyle,
C. K. Ramsey, C. Franz, and C. Kammerer.
The directors of the Exchange preceded this portion
of the procession in carriages. They were as follows:
James Luthy, president ; David Cavanaugh, C. H.
Frank, J. H. Maurice, John Norris, William McCully,
C. Lynch, T. P. McKelleget, James Garvin, Martin
Ittner, John Stoddart, A. S. McBride, W. S. Stamps,
secretary.
St. Louis Life Insurance Company, of which Capt.
Eads was president, with afac-simile of the company's
building at Sixth and Locust Streets.
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, numbering
from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred men.
Grand officers of Grand Lodge : L. T. Minturn, M.
W. G. M. ; Alfred Bennett, R! W. D. G. M. ; J. S.
Maitland, R. W. G. W. ; E. M. Sloan, R. W. G. Sec. ;
W. H. Thompson, R. W. G. Treas. ;- A. M. Alexander,
M. C. Libby, R. W. G. Representatives ; Rev. E. D.
Isbell, W. G. Chap. ; J. M. Gilkeson, W. G. Marshal.
Past Grand Masters : Gerard B. Allen, Elihu H.
Shepard, Isaac M. Veitch, Henry Holmes, C. C.
Archer, Isaiah Forbes, J. F. Sheifer, J. R. Lackland,
Ira Stansberry, J. C. Nulsen, John Doniphan, E. M.
i Sloan, H. H. Bodeman, M. C. Libby, E. Wilkerson,
| W. H. Thompson.
Grand officers of Grand Encampment : J. J. Meier,
! M. W. G. P. ; J. S. Maitland, M. E. G. H. P. ; E.
1 S. Pike, R. W. G. S. W. ; R. E. McNuly, R. W. G.
I Scribe; William Berry, R. W. G. Treas.; Daniel
Kerwin, E. R. Shipley, R. W. G. Representatives.
Past Grand Patriarchs : A. G. Braun, Alexander
Peterson, Thomas Gerrard, A. G. Trevor, W. H.
| Woodward.
Uniformed Patriarchs: E. Wilkerson, chief mar-
shal ; A. G. Hequembourg, first assistant marshal (in
j command) ; F. A. Cavendish, second assistant mar-
! shal.
First Division, Daniel Kerwin, marshal ; Second
Division, Thomas Bennet, marshal ; Third Division,
j Henry Diers, marshal.
United States officials. The custom -house employes
! exhibited a full-rigged brig, twenty-six feet long, em-
i blematic of commerce, mounted on wheels, and drawn
' by eight horses. The vessel was named the " James B.
i Eads," and was " commanded" by Henry P. Wyman,
special deputy collector. The post-office was repre-
sented by a six-horse wagon bearing the post-office
seal, post- rider, railway train, and telegraph wire, with
coat of arms of the United States, the whole deoorated
with flags, evergreens, etc., three messenger-wagons,
— one each for North, South, and West St. Louis,
— and one hundred letter-carriers, mounted and on
foot.
Brewers' Association, with a representation of King
Gambrinus on his throne, the king being personated
by Jacob Schorr.
The various other trades and industries of St. Louis
were also fully represented by delegations, with ban-
ners, appropriate devices, etc.
The St. Louis Rowing Club had a boat suspended
to a wagon, with oars, flags, and other decorations.
A number of the members of the club were in the
boat, imitating nautical acts.
The Western Rowing Club had two boats and two
teams, likewise accompanied by members of the club,
and finely decorated.
The members of the City Council in carriages, and
all the engines and hose-carriages in the city in holi-
1082
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
day attire, led by Chief Sexton, were the closing fea-
tures of the procession. The engines had hardly
gotten into line, however, after waiting all the fore-
noon, when an alarm of fire was sounded from Seven-
teenth and Franklin Avenue. By a previous under- |
standing, those engines which were already under
head of steam responded to the alarm, and as they
darted through the crowded streets with the horses at
a gallop there was great confusion and excitement.
No accidents happened, however, and order was soon
restored, the procession ending as was laid down in
the programme, after having passed through the prin-
cipal streets in the city to the bridge.
One of the features of the celebration was the pas-
sage of a train of cars across the bridge from East St.
Louis to the exit of the tunnel on the St. Louis side.
The train was composed of fifteen palace sleeping-
cars and three powerful locomotives, contributed by
the Vandalia and Illinois Central Companies. The
entire train was in charge of W. H. Finkbine, con-
ductor on the Vandalia road for twenty-three years.
His assistants were, on the first engine, No. 62, Wil-
liam Consen ; second engine, No. 70, William Vansen.
The brakemen were Job Graves, William Colburn, H.
Schumaker, A. C. Thornton, H. W. Orvell, Thomas
Mirton, John Brown, John Mallory, James Binkley,
M. B. Mason, and Michael Brazill.
The officials of the Vandalia Railway on board the
train in crossing were John E. Simpson, general super-
intendent; N. Stevens, general agent; and N. K. El-
liott, master of transportation.
Among the passengers on the train were Senator L.
V. Bogy, Hon. Silas Woodson, Governor of Missouri;
Governor Beveridge, of Illinois ; Governor Hendricks,
of Indiana ; Judge Napton, St. Louis ; Judge H. M.
Jones, St. Louis; Judge Hamilton, St. Louis; Judge
John M. Krum, St. Louis ; Hon. Hugh Moffat, mayor
of Detroit ; Hon. D. R. Wright, mayor of Oswego,
Kan. ; Hon. E. 0. Stanard, Hon. James S. Rollins,
Columbia, Mo. ; Hon. George Bain, Capt. Bart Able,
Web M. Samuel, president Merchants' Exchange, and
many other leading citizens of St. Louis and elsewhere.
On the grand stand on the open area at the corner
of Washington Avenue and Third Street, were seated
the following persons, named in the order of their
arrival : Gen. W. S. Harney, Hon. T. C. Harris, mem-
ber of the Legislature from Phelps County ; Hon.
George B. Clark, State Auditor ; J. H. Waugh, of
Columbia; Hon. H. Clay Ewing, attorney-general of
Missouri; ex-Governor B. Gratz Brown, Judge Sam-
uel Treat, Hon. E. 0. Stanard, Dr. Samuel Read,
president of Missouri State University ; Hon. John F. j
Cooke, British vice-consul ; Gerard B. Allen, Capt. I
James B. Eads, Barton Able, Maj. Grimes, United
States army ; Hon. James S. Rollins, Hon. L. V.
Bogy, Col. R. B. Price, of Columbia ; Judge John
M. Krum, Chauncey I. Filley, S. D. Barlow, George
I. Barnett, Hon. N. M. Bell, Capt. Samuel Pepper,
ex-Governor Thomas C. Fletcher, Judge Speck, Col.
J. L. D. Morrison, William A. Lynch, Governor Bev-
eridge, of Illinois ; Hon. John D. Perry, Rev. Dr.
Brookes, Maj. -Gen. W. S. Hancock, Richard Dow-
ling, J. Wilson McDonald, the sculptor ; Hon. Web
M. Samuel, president of the Merchants' Exchange ;
John Baptiste Hortey, the oldest native citizen of St.
Louis ; Unit Pasin, David A. Harvey, L. Harrigan,
chief of police; William A. Cozens, Sullivan Blood,
Samuel Hawken, Robert D. Sutton, H. B. Belt, David
A. Harris, Arrible and Antone Cayore, J. H. Britton,
James H. Heath, Hon. Charles H. Hardin and Hon.
David Moore, of the State Senate ; Col. Joseph L.
Stevens, of Boonville ; Capt. John Sibille, a veteran
of the war of 1812 ; Gen. Nathan Ranney, Hon. Wells
Blodgett, Hon. John F. Darby, Col. John L. Phillips,
of Sedalia; John F. Tolle, United States Senator
Ferry, of Michigan ; Hon. Erastus Wells, W. Milnor
Roberts, consulting engineer of the bridge, and C.
Shaler Smith, engineer; Hon. H. C. Brockmeyer,
United States collector; E. W. Fox, Col. D. M.
Renick, Dr. Barret, S. H. Laflin, Col. R. A. Camp-
bell, L. H. Murray, of Springfield, Mo. ; D. Robert
Barclay, Col. Ferdinand Myers, Dr. William Taussig,
Carlos S. Greeley, Governor Woodson, Miles Sells,
State Senator Allen, George Bain, Mayor Brown, Gen.
Wilson, J. R. Lionberger, John Jackson, J. S. Welsh,
N. S. Chouteau, Capt. Fitch, United States navy ; J.
F. How.
Among the ladies who graced the occasion with
their presence were Mrs. Governor Woodson, Mrs.
Governor Brown, Mrs. H. Clay Ewing, Mrs. J. H.
Britton, Miss Hutt, of Troy, Mo. ; Miss Fanny Britton,
Mrs. C. K. Dickson, Miss Dickson, Miss Chouteau,
Mrs. J. Jackson, Mrs. J. B. Eads, Miss Addie Eads,
Mrs. J. H. Britton, Miss F. Britton, Mrs. J. R. Lion-
berger, Miss Lionberger, Mrs. William Taussig, Miss
Taussig, Mrs. H. Flad, Miss Flad, Mrs. G. B. Allen,
Miss Hodgman.
The exercises opened with prayer by Rev. Dr.
Brookes, after which addresses were delivered by Capt.
Barton Able, Hon. Joseph Brown, mayor of St.
Louis, Governor Beveridge, of Illinois, Governor
Woodson, of Missouri, Hon. B. Gratz Brown,1 Capt.
1 In the course of his address Governor Brown gave an inter-
esting sketch of the legislation of Congress in relation to the
bridge, as follows : " Ever since the earliest act incorporating
St. Louis the necessity of establishing some permanent way
THE MISSISSIPPI KIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
1083
James B. Eads.1 Governor Hendricks, of Indiana,
and Hon. Thomas W. Ferry, of Michigan. The
speeches were varied with singing by the various
singing societies present, led by Professor E. Froelich.
across the great river has impressed itself upon the minds of our
people. On two or three occasions this has taken shape in char-
ters proposed or passed by the Legislatures of the adjoining
States, but as they were necessarily inoperative in the absence
of any congressional sanction, they failed to attract investment.
At length, however, the demand for greater facilities of transit
forced itself into national importance, and in commemoration of
the enterprise it may be stated that it was on the 4th day of
December, 1865, that notice was given in the Senate of the
United States of intent to bring in a bill to authorize the con-
struction of a bridge across the Mississippi River at the city of
St. Louis. On the 18th day of December the bill was presented
and appropriately referred. It was reported back from the
committee March 22, 1866, and laid over until a subsequent [
day for action. The discussion which followed was animated, :
elicited much hostile criticism, and the bill was only passed
after an elucidation which seemed to render it innocuous in the
eyes of its most violent opponents. Subsequently a bill re-
lating exclusively to bridges and post-routes on the upper Mis-
sissippi caine back to the Senate from the House of Representa-
tives, and was referred to the Committee on Post-offices. The
bill, which had passed the Senate, it was found had been sup-
pressed in the committee of the House. The situation was
critical, the calendar was loaded down, the session was closing.
It was then that the appeal was made to the committee in the
Senate to engraft by way of amendment the Senate bill upon
the House bill, and after much (fontroversy this was finally as-
sented to, so reported back and passed, the House concurring
therein in the expiring hours of the Congress.
" It was in virtue of riparian rights conceded by Illinois and
Missouri, under the sanction of an act of the National Congress,
and sustained by the indorsement of our own Chamber of Com-
merce, that this bridge was undertaken. Historically, therefore^
it seemed to grow out of the necessities of the age. But the
point to which I wish to invite your attention is this, that, so
great was the antagonism from rival commercial routes, it was
only when the provisions of the congressional act had been
made to declare that the central span should not be less than
five hundred feet nor the elevation less than fifty feet above the
city directrix that hostility could be so allayed as to permit the
passage of the bill. It was upon the tacit assumption by its
opponents of its utter impracticability that antagonism gave
way. In fact, the utterance was then and there boldly made
that the genius did not exist in the country capable of erecting
such a structure. Others, however, had more faith, and to-day
you behold the accomplishment of what was thus derided as im-
possible; you see the requirement of the law fulfilled in all its
strictness; you see those spans of five hundred feet leaping
agile from base to base; you see those tapering piers bedded on
the immovable rock, deep down below the homeless sands, and
rising to gather the threads of railways and roadways high in
the upper air; and you see, caught as if by inspiration, beauty
there in all its flowing proportion, and science there in its rare
analysis of the strength of materials, and an endurance there
for all time in its bond of iron and steel and granite to resist
force and fire and flood."
1 With regard to the permanence of the structure, Capt. Eads
said, " I am justified in declaring that the bridge will exist just
as long as it continues to be useful to the people who come after
us, even if its years should number those of the pyramids. That
In addition to the ceremonies at the bridge, there
was a display of steamboats in the harbor, which were
arranged near the bridge according to " the rainbow
plan," the boats taking position in three tiers, the
smallest vessels being in front.
At night there was a grand display of fireworks
from the bridge, among the pieces being a representa-
tion of the bridge itself, a colossal statue of Washing-
ton, a grand " Temple of Honor," with a statue of Capt.
Eads in the centre, and a representation of the new
Chamber of Commerce building.
The bridge as it now stands is one of the marvels
of modern engineering. It is a two-story structure,
the great arches which we have described carrying
double-track railways, and above, a broad highway
seventy-five feet in width. On this are promenades
on either side and four tracks or iron tramways for
street-cars and ordinary road-wagons. Thus four ve-
hicles may be hauled abreast along this spacious ele-
vated roadway and then not blockade it so as to prevent
persons passing on foot and on horseback.
This roadway is formed by transverse iron beams
twelve inches in depth, supported by iron struts of
cruciform sections resting on the arches at the points
where the vertical bracings of the latter are secured.
The railways beneath are carried on transverse arch-
like beams of steel secured to the struts, which, based
upon the arches, support the right of the carriageway
as well. Between the iron beams forming the road-
ways four parallel systems of longitudinal wooden
members are introduced, extending from pier to pier,
which serve the purpose of maintaining the iron in
position. The ends of these wooden beams rest upon
the flanges of the beams, and are thus secured from
moving. On these the sills of the roadway and the
cross-ties of the railways are laid. From the oppo-
site ends of the iron beams, a double system of diag-
its piers will thus endure but few will doubt, while the peculiar
construction of its superstructure is such lhat any piece jn it can
be easily taken out and examined, and replaced or renewed,
without interrupting the traffic on the bridge. The effect of
temperature upon the arches is such that in oold weather the
lower central tubes and the upper abutment tubes composing the
spans are so relieved of strain that any one of them may be un-
coupled from the others and easily removed. In hot weather
the upper ones of the centre and the lower ones near the piers
may be similarly removed. In completing the western span,
two of the lower tubes of the inside ribs near the middle of the
span were injured during erection, and were actually uncoupled
and taken out without any difficulty whatever after the span
was completed, and two new ones put in their place within a
few hours.
"This is a feature in its construction possessed by no other
similar work in the world, and it justifies me in saying that this
bridge will endure as long as it is useful to man."
1084
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
onal horizontal iron bracing serves to bind the whole
firmly together, and gives additional support against
wind-pressure.
The calculation made for the strength of the bridge
was that it should carry the weight of the greatest
number of people who could stand on the roadway
above, and at the same time have each railway track
below covered from end to end with locomotives, and
this enormous load to tax the strength of the bridge
to the extent of less than one-sixth of the ultimate
strength of the steel of which the arches have been
constructed. It is computed that the ultimate strength
of the material of which this structure is composed
will sustain on the three arches twenty-eight thousand
nine hundred and seventy-two tons before it would
give way under it. The maximum load, however,
which can be allowed on the bridge at any one time
is much less than the enormous burden which we have
mentioned. The weight of the bridge and the load
which it should sustain at the maximum of the al-
lowance for perfect safety is 7 ^5- tons per lineal
foot, or about 10,865 tons. The thrust of each end
of the arch is received on a surface of granite equal
to 24 square feet, and as each span has four arches, it
follows, therefore, that the thrust of the arches is re-
ceived on a surface of 576 square feet of granite. At
10,000 pounds to the square inch — a low rate of
strength for granite — to crush it 414,770 tons would
be required. A weight so enormous could never be
placed on the piers or arches. No danger then exists
of the piers being crushed by the tremendous thrust of
the immense five hundred feet arches.
There is no other bridge of the arch or truss pat-
tern which can be compared to this. The Kuilinburg j
bridge across the Leek, an arm of the Rhine, or rather j
the Zuyder Zee, in Holland, which is one of the most
famous structures of the kind in Europe, is a truss
bridge of 515 feet span. The Menai bridge is an
arch of 500 feet.
The eastern approach is a great work apart from
the bridge to which it leads. This portion of the
work was executed by the Baltimore Bridge Company,
under the supervision of Col. C. Shaler Smith. The
grand highway, leaving the stone arch supports on the
East St. Louis side, is carried across a space of some
sixty feet on immense steel columns, which support
great iron girders. About eighty feet from the stone
arch the' road divides, and begins to descend at the
rate of about three feet to the hundred. This divis-
ion was rendered essential in order to conduct the
railway tracks along at a rate of descent of about one
foot to the hundred. About four hundred feet to the
eastward of the bridge proper the highways and rail-
road tracks are on a level. But the railways from
that point eastward, because of its easier grade, are
elevated above the roadways on either side. At Third
Street, East St. Louis, the highways are terminated
on the level of the street. Where the grade of the
railways rises about ten feet above the grade of the
carriageways there is a broad level platform, and a
double roadway turns westward under the railway and
reaches the grade of the street on Second Street. The
roadways from this turning platform are continued on
to the level of Dike Avenue beyond, about two hun-
dred feet. The railways are conducted over Dike
Avenue, East St. Louis, on an iron viaduct, at a grade
of one foot to the hundred, about three thousand
feet, to the east bank of Cahokia Creek, where it at-
tains the level of the concentring railways. The
railways and the roadways as well turn an easy curve
to the northeast when about two hundred and fifty
feet east of the stone piers. This approach of itself
is a great work splendidly accomplished.
The situation of the bridge and the peculiar topog-
raphy of the city made it impossible that the work
could be accomplished without rendering the construc-
tion of a subterranean approach necessary. * If the
bridge had been built on a more elevated plan it
would have necessitated the passage of steam-pro-
pelled trains across and tnrough the thronged thor-
oughfares of a populous city. Had the bridge been
located at Biddle or Bates Street it would have been
necessary to carry the railways over the streets and
on out Cass Avenue, a much-traveled thoroughfare.
The height of the bridge above the water is the mini-
mum which a due regard for the great navigation in-
terests of the river would have permitted. The western
landing of the bridge is on one of the highest points
of Third Street. The grade brings the highway from
the bridge arches down to the level of this street,
leaving at that place a depth of fourteen feet in which
to commence the underground passageway from the
bridge to the Mill Creek^ valley. It seems as though
nature intended that in St. Louis a mighty railway
interest should concentrate and be provided with facili-
ties for the transaction of business without iuterferin°'
O
with intercommunication in the city. In the future,
even more than now, will the selection of a location
for the bridge, which necessitated a tunnel, be es-
teemed the wisest that could have been made. The
great traffic of the railways can go on and the throng-
ing myriads of the city's population will rush along
undisturbed by the trains that carry the products of
a vast continent underneath the ground.
It was early seen that an approach tunnel would
have to be built to get trains to the western terminus
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
1085
of the bridge. Indeed, that followed inevitably the
Eads location of the bridge itself. For the construc-
tion of the tunnel a company was organized with Dr.
William Taussig as president.
After mature consideration a plan was drawn up
which involved the building of a double tunnel, and
was adopted. A route along Washington Avenue to
Seventh Street, with a curve from that point to Eighth
and Locust Streets, thence down Eighth Street to Pop-
lar, was selected, and arrangements perfected to put
the work under contract.
The necessary financial arrangements, surveys, and
estimates having been made, the tunnel company, in
the autumn of 1872, awarded a contract to Messrs.
Skrainka & Co., who, after working several months,
threw up the contract, which was then awarded to
James Andrews, of Allegheny, Pa. The new con-
tractor set about the execution of the task April 16,
1873, with great energy. A large number of laborers
were employed, and the work of excavating the great
tunnel and building the huge stone walls to support
the heavy arches was pushed forward with great ra-
pidity.
It was no small task the contractor had assumed.
Before it was completed there had been removed two
hundred and fifteen thousand cubic yards of earth
from the tunnel canal, and the stone masonry required
on the work was fifty thousand cubic yards. Thirteen
millions of bricks have been used in the arches of this
great underground passageway. The. whole length
of the tunnel is four thousand eight hundred and
eighty feet, or sixteen hundred and twenty-three yards
and one foot, almost one mile. There are two tunnels
really, divided by a heavy wall which supports the
arches that spring from it in either direction. The
width of these tunnels is fourteen feet each, except
at the curve, where they are fifteen feet wide. From
the top of the rail to the interior crown of the arches
the height is sixteen feet six inches.
The arrangement of a double tunnel covered under
the street by two longitudinal arches not only renders
collisions in the tunnel absolutely impossible, but also
greatly increases the strength of the arches, which
not only support their own weight, but must carry the
weight of the streets and the immense traffic of the
most traveled thoroughfare in the city. On Eighth
Street between Locust and Olive, the location of the
new post-office, the roof of the tunnel is composed of
immense longitudinal iron girders, supported on heavy
cast-iron pillars. On these longitudinal sills of iron
rest lateral girders scarcely less ponderous. The
spaces between these are filled by transverse brick
arches. At this point the roadways open wider so as
69
to admit of the exchange of mails. By means of
hopper-like receptacles the mail on the cars may be
completely discharged in thirty seconds, and a similar
place of deposit for the outgoing mails enables the
train agent to get the bags on board in about the same
time.
The distance from the entrance of the tunnel at its
southern terminus to the northern terminus of the
railway approach east of Cahokia Creek, East St.
Louis, is eleven thousand feet, which is three thou-
sand six hundred and sixty-six yards and two feet, or
two miles, one hundred and forty-six yards, and two
feet. This is really the length of the bridge railway.
The last stone for the arches of the tunnel was
placed in position Thursday, June 24, 1874. During
the progress of the work two serious mishaps to the
tunnel delayed operations for a time. In 1873 about
two hundred feet of the massive stone wall of the
open cut was overthrown during a great rain-storm by
the tremendous pressure of twenty-eight feet of water
collected behind. In the winter of 1874 a serious
break in the completed tunnel took place on Wash-
ington Avenue above Sixth Street. These were re-
paired. In the first case the wall had to be rebuilt,
in the last the arch was taken out, the wall strength-
ened, and the arch replaced. Notwithstanding so many
men were employed, and there was so large an amount
of work, there were comparatively few fatal casualties.
The railway tracks were completed through the tunnel
in July, 1874.
On the 20th of December, 1878, the bridge was
sold under foreclosure of mortgage, at the east front
of the court-house, a little after twelve o'clock. The
sale was in virtue of a decree of the United States
Circuit Court, rendered on the 17th of October, in
the suit of John Pierpont Morgan and Solon Hum-
phreys against the bridge company and others. Eze-
kiel W. Woodward was the commissioner appointed
to make the sale, and the property to be sold included
the bridge proper, its approaches in St. Louis and
East St. Louis, and all its appurtenances, franchises,
and other property. The terms of the sale were fifty
thousand dollars to be paid in bidding off the prop-
erty, and the balance in the manner described in the
decree of the court. The purchaser was also to pay
in cash, on the confirmation of the sale by the court,
the costs of the suit, including the expenses of sale,
commissions to the trustees, and fees to the solicitors
and counsel as determined by the court, and in addi-
tion to and over his bid. in cash, the amount of the
certificates of the indebtedness of the receivers in the
suit that were outstanding and amounting to three
hundred and fifty thousand dollars, more or less.
1086
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Bidding was invited, and Charles B. Tracy bid two
million dollars. There the matter hung, and all the
eloquence of the auctioneer was futile to procure an-
other bid. When it became quite certain that no
advance would be made on Mr. Tracy's bid, the auc-
tioneer, with the usual warning of " once, twice, three
times," knocked down the bridge at two million dollars.
The name being called for, Mr. Tracy announced An-
thony J. Thomas, of New York, as the purchaser.
On inquiry Mr. Thomas was ascertained to be a mer-
chant in New York, who had bought the bridge for
the first mortgage bondholders, who were also the
principal, if not the sole, holders of the second mort-
gage bonds.
E. W. Woodward stated subsequently that the
bridge had failed to yield enough money to pay the
interest on its indebtedness. There were three mort-
gages. The fourth one was canceled and wiped out
of existence. The suit for foreclosure was brought
by the first and second bondholders jointly. The
bridge company organized soon after the sale by the
election of J. Pierpont Morgan and Solon Hum-
phreys, of New York ; and Gerard B. Allen, Julius
Walsh, and Kzekiel W. Woodward, of St. Louis, as
directors. The new company thereupon elected the
following officers : Solon Humphreys, president ;
Ezekiel W. Woodward, vice-president ; Edward
Walsh, secretary ; and Anthony J. Thomas, treas-
urer.
On the 1st of July, 1881, the bridge was leased to
the Missouri Pacific and Wabash, St. Louis and Pa-
cific Eailway companies at an annual rental equaling
interest on bonds, semi-annual dividends on first pre-
ferred stock at the rate of five per cent, per annum
for three years to and ending in July, 1885, and there-
after at the rate of six per cent. ; and semi-annual
dividends of three per cent, on second preferred
stock, the first payment to be made July 1, 1884.
Dividends payable in gold free of all charges. The
companies further agreed to pay all taxes, assess-
ments, and other charges ; to pay two thousand five
hundred dollars a year for maintaining organization,
and to provide and maintain offices for the company
in St. Louis and New York. In addition it is pro-
vided that the bonds of the company as they mature
shall be paid by the lessee companies. The funded
debt consists of $5,000,000 seven per cent, gold
bonds, dated April 1, 1879, due 1928; interest pay-
able April and October ; first preferred stock $2,490,-
000 ; second preferred stock $3,000,000 ; common
stock $2,500,000. The directors of the St. Louis
Bridge Company in 1882 were Solon Humphreys,
J. Pierpont Morgan, New York ; E. W. Woodward,
Gerard B. Allen, Edward Walsh, Jr., St. Louis, Mo. ;
President, Julius S. Walsh, St. Louis.
One of the most active and energetic promoters of
the great bridge enterprise was John R. Lionberger,
who was a director of the company from its incipiency,
1 and a member of the executive and construction com-
I mittee. Mr. Lionberger was a stanch, unwavering
supporter of the project through its darkest hours,
and contributed his share and something more to-
wards providing means to resume work on the bridge
and push its construction to completion.
John Robert Lionberger was born in Virginia,
Aug. 22, 1829. As the name indicates, his father
was of German, his mother of English-Scotch descent^
— a mixture of blood calculated to produce an enter-
prising and aggressive race. His father was engaged
in mercantile business in Virginia, which he resumed
upon the removal of the family, in 1837, to Boonville,
Cooper Co., Md.
Up to the age of sixteen young Lionberger attended
the Rioted Kemper's Academy in Boonville, and sub-
sequently entered the University of the State of Mis-
souri at Columbia, and took a classical course. Al-
though thus equipped with an education which fitted
him for a professional career, his tastes led him to
engage in mercantile pursuits, and he spent some
years thus occupied at Boonville. The small and
quiet town, however, offered at best only a limited
prospect to a young man of energy and enterprise,
and in 1855 he removed to St. Louis, and established
the wholesale boot- and shoe-house of Lionberger '&
! Shields, on Main Street. This partnership lasted
some two years, when Mr. Lionberger purchased Mr.
Shields' interest, and for some time managed the
business as sole proprietor under his own name.
Subsequently junior partners were admitted, and the
firm became known as J. R. Lionberger & Co., under
which title it flourished until 1867, when he retired,
leaving to his associates a well-established and pros-
perous trade, and having made for himself a fortune
and reputation for rectitude and business sagacity
second to none of the merchants of that period.
But in retiring from trade he did not retire from
business. On the contrary, he immediately entered
upon a field of much greater activity, and thenceforth
his energies were exerted in connection with many
enterprises of great public importance, and promising
much to the city of his adoption. All the great pro-
jects of the past twenty-five years have had his earnest
and energetic support. He has been foremost in devel-
oping the transportation system of St. Louis, and was
specially prominent in the affairs of the North Mis-
souri Railroad. When the fortunes of that road were
NAVIGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
1087
at a low ebb, the company with which he was identi-
fied took the road and completed it to Kansas City
and the Iowa State line. As has been seen, he was
very active and efficient in promoting the construction
of the bridge across the Mississippi. He was also a
director of the Chamber of Commerce Association,
and a member of the building committee which su-
pervised the erection of the Merchants' Exchange,
perhaps the most stately and ornamental structure of
which the city can boast. He is a member of the Board
of Trade, and has served it in many honorable and use-
ful capacities ; was a delegate to the Boston Convention
of the National Board, and was also its representative
in the New Orleans Convention, where his fellow-
delegates showed their estimation of his character as
a representative business man of St. Louis by electing
him their chairman. It may therefore be said with-
out exaggeration that in all matters relating to the
public welfare, and in all enterprises undertaken for
the benefit of the city, Mr. Lionberger has manifested
the keenest interest, and has contributed generously
of his own means towards any object that seemed
likely to build up St. Louis.
One of the later enterprises which he has assisted,
and one of the most important, is the Union Depot
and Shipping Company, which in 1881 erected a ware-
house with an elevator five hundred by seventy feet,
and four stories high, with an elevator capacity of
seven hundred and fifty thousand bushels of grain.
Other corporations with which Mr. Lionberger has
been connected have done much to improve the city
in the erection of tasteful and ornamental buildings.
When the street railway system was introduced,
Mr. Lionberger at once appreciated its importance as
an agency in developing the city, and promptly gave
it his attention and support. He is a large owner of
street railway stock, and his efforts have always been
directed towards the management of the street car
companies with reference to the convenience of the
community.
Mr. Lionberger was one of the organizers of the
Safe Deposit Company, one of the most substantial
corporations of its kind in the country, and has been
its president for several years. He was also one of
the organizers of the old Southern Bank in 1857,
served actively as a director, and was for many years
its vice-president. When in 1864 it organized under
the National banking law and became the Third
National Bank, Mr. Lionberger retained his interest
in the corporation, and in 18G7 was elected president,
a position which he held until 1876, when he re-
signed and made a long European journey. On his
return from abroad he was elected vice-president, in
which position his judgment and foresight have con-
tributed largely towards making the bank one of the
strongest and most highly respected financial insti-
tutions in the Mississippi valley. In December,
1882, after twenty-five years of continuous service in
different capacities, he resigned the vice-presidency
and directorship in this institution.
In 1852, Mr. Lionberger married Miss Margaret
M. Clarkson, of Columbia, Mo., a lady of engaging
and estimable qualities, and their union has yielded
four children.
The many public positions which Mr. Lionberger
has held have exposed him to the severest scrutiny
of the community, which has only served to demon-
strate his sterling integrity, and to set forth conspicu-
ously his pure and unblemished character. As a
public-spirited man, he occupies a prominent place
among the citizens of St. Louis, while in private life
he is esteemed for his engaging qualities of head and
heart. His work is not yet finished, and if the past
is any augury of the future, it may be assumed that
he will for many years to come be heard of in con-
nection with schemes to advance the public good and
further still more the " manifest destiny" of St. Louis.
CHAPTER XXVII.
NAVIGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
AFTER the bark canoe, in the progress of naviga-
tion on the Mississippi, came the Mackinaw boat, car-
rying from fifteen hundredweight to three tons, and
then the keel-boat, or barge, capable of carrying from
thirty to forty tons. The first appearance of the keel-
boat on the Mississippi above the mouth of the Ohio
of which there is any account was in 1751, when a
fleet of boats, commanded by Bossu, a captain of French
marines, ascended as far as Fort Chartres. This en-
terprise, also, was the first to ascertain by actual ex-
perience the perils of navigating the Mississippi. One
of the boats, the " Saint Louis," struck a sand-bar
above the mouth of the Ohio, and was unladen and
detained two days. Three days later, says the traveler,
" my boat ran against a tree, of which the Mississippi
is full ; . . . the shock burst the boat, and such a
quantity of water got in that it sunk in less than an
hour." * This was probably the first commercial boat
" snagged" on the Mississippi. From three to four
months were required to make a voyage from New
1 Bossu, vol. i. p. 114.
1088
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Orleans to the settlement in the vicinity of St. Louis.
For years afterwards, and until the era of steam navi-
gation, a journey on the river was a matter of no small
moment, serious consideration, and prudent domestic
and personal preparation. It had to be made on craft
of a peculiarly constructed and constricted form, having
but limited living arrangements, and of slow, uncertain
progress, where, besides being deprived of the usual
comforts of even an ordinarily-supplied home, the trav-
eler was thrown into immediate association with a wild,
reckless, rollicking set of voyageurs, whose manual
labors alone aided or urged the craft, either with or
against wind and current, by the use of oars, poles, i
and other contrivances. The shippers on these boats,
after forwarding their goods and products thereon, were
satisfied to have returns therefrom in five or six months
after the shipment, and not very much surprised or
disappointed when they heard that boat and cargo were
resting quietly on the bottom of the river, near the
foot of some snag, or upset in a storm, or reposing
high and dry on a sand-bar, where they must remain
till the next high water floated them off. True, such
disasters and delays were not always attendant upon
this mode of navigation, — if they had been, the whole
system would have fallen into disuse very soon and
altogether, — but they were of frequent occurrence, and
were viewed as being, more or less, a natural result of
the primitive powers and material they were compelled
to bring into service.
Flat-boats (of about the same model we have now)
and barges were the kind of craft mostly in use on the
Ohio and Mississippi and their navigable tributaries
at the beginning of the immigration and settlements
along those rivers, in the early part of this century,
and for several of the closing decades of the previous
century, the former for transporting their few market-
able products, and for the conveyance of families and
stock to new settlements that could be reached, or
mainly so, by water. As the country became more
populous and developed, the interchange of products
and manufactures became a desirable necessity, espec-
ially along and with the southern coasts and towns.
For this purpose barges were introduced and made
common carriers, up and down, and from point to
point. Like flat-boats, they were broad and square at
the ends, but were raked fore and aft, and instead of
being entirely covered in, not more than half their
hull was decked over, and on the part thus decked a
cabin was placed for the use of the crew and such
few passengers as might venture with them. The re-
mainder was left open, or only oar-decked, where was
stored the cargo, which was covered with some suita-
ble material to protect it from the weather. The
space under the cabin was devoted to stowage also.
Being designed for continued and active service,
they were stronger, better built, and more properly
fitted out for navigation than flat-boats, and instead of
being sold at the end of the trip for whatever they
would bring, or otherwise disposed of (as the flat-
boat was), were brought back to their home-ports by
the crew, against winds and current, by a constant
and arduous heaving on oars, poles, and cordelles, with
an occasional use of the sail when the breeze was
sufficiently strong and favorable. Many of these crafts
were owned and run by individuals who made barge-
ing their avocation, and in person commanded and
controlled their operations, but established lines of
barges (not regular) owned by companies or firms
were not uncommon from the principal towns of the
upper rivers to New Orleans, the boats of which
were placed in charge of competent men experienced
in river navigation, who acted as patroon (captain)
and pilot, aided by a crew of their own selection.
These boats carried from one hundred to two hundred
tons, and some as much as four hundred, but not
many, the latter being too unwieldy and unmanage-
able, and difficult to land except in high water. The
trip down, say from Cincinnati or St. Louis to New
Orleans, was made in about five weeks, unless they
were favored with bright nights, when it would be made
more quickly. The return occupied eighty or ninety
days, and frequently much longer. The crew was
eight to fifteen men on the downward and twenty to
thirty-six on the upward trip. Fast time was fre-
quently attempted, and often successfully performed
according to the prevailing ideas. A quick trip was
made in February, 1811, by the keel-boat "Susan
Amelia," which descended from the Falls of the Ohio
to Natchez in fourteen days and five hours. This
trip was a famous one in its day, and the boat's time
from and to different points was made the standard of
swiftness for many years, as was that of the steamer
" J. M. White" in a later day. But it was deemed
a very risky and imprudent exhibition by the cautious
men of the time. An old river chronicler in speak-
ing of it said, " Nothing ought to induce such run-
ning but a case of life and death."
" Before the panting of the steam-engine was heard
on these (Western) waters," says Lloyd's Steamboat
Directory, " the only river contrivance for conveyance
of freight and passengers was a species of boat called
a barge, or largee, according to French nomenclature.
The length of this boat was from seventy-five to one
hundred feet; breadth of beam from fifteen to twenty
feet ; capacity from sixty to one hundred tons. The
receptacle for the freight was a large covered coffer,
NAVIGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
1089
called the cargo-box, which occupied a considerable
portion of the hulk. Near the stern was an apology
for a cabin, a straitened apartment six or eight feet in
length, in which the aristocracy of the boat, viz., the
captain and patroon, or steersman, were generally
quartered at night. The roof of the ' cabin' was
slightly elevated above the level of the deck, and on
this eminence the helmsman was stationed to direct the
movements of the boat. The barge was commonly
provided with two masts, though some carried but one.
The chief reliance of the boatmen was on a square
sail forward, which when the wind was in the right
direction accelerated the progressive motion of the
boat and relieved the hands, who at other times were
obliged to propel the barge by such laborious methods
as rowing, warping, and the cordelle."
Keel-boating proper was an institution of a later
day. The keeled craft were not in general use on the
rivers until 1808-9, though all the early river navi-
gation is now referred to under the generic term of
keel-boating. Naturally the bargemen became the
keel-boatmen ; the commercial interests, designs, and
working of the two modes were, in fact, about the
same, and, for all the purposes of the present sketch,
essentially alike. But keel-boats were much of an
advance over barges in celerity and diminution of time
and labor. They were longer and narrower, had a keel-
shaped, instead of a broad flat bottom, carried as much
freight on a less amount of current expenses, furnished
less resisting surface, and therefore were more easily
handled in cross currents, bends, and other places re-
quiring speedy movement, made quicker trips, and
for several other good reasons became in a short time
after their introduction the universal freight-carriers,
holding their position as such for nearly twenty
years, or until the running of steam-craft came with
a sufficient frequency and tonnage to supply the de-
mands of commerce, when of course they were aban-
doned for the superior advantages offered by steam-
boats. They were also generally quite artistically
built, presenting a neat appearance on the water, in
many respects resembling the canal-boats of this day.
As a rule, however, the river-craft was unshapely and
cumbrous. The lines of least resistance were not
then understood, and different kinds of boats were
used according to the needs of the locality and the
nature of the freight, including canoes, pirogues,
barges, keel- and flat-boats. " The Indian birch canoe
was ordinarily thirty feet long, four feet wide in the
broadest part, two and a half feet deep in the centre,
and two feet deep at each end. The pirogue was
larger than the canoe, but smaller than the other
other boats. The barge was wider, but not so long
as the keel-boats, and was chiefly used between St.
Louis and New Orleans. The barges sometimes had
a capacity of forty tons. The boats designed for the
Indian trade were of peculiar construction, from
forty to sixty feet in length, with low sides and a
bottom almost flat. Their narrowness and light
draught fitted them for swift or shallow water. In
ascending the river, the boatmen, in order to prevent
a useless expenditure of strength, avoided the rapid
current of the channel of the river and sought the
slower water near the shore ; and in order that they
might approach close to the bank, the boats were
constructed with a flat bottom and provided with
short oars. The low side of the boat, by bringing
the oarlock nearer to the water, lessened the resist-
ance, and consequently lightened the labors of the
rowers. The capacity of these boats varied from fif-
teen thousand to twenty-five thousand pounds, and the
size of the crew was determined by the allowance of
one boatman for every three thousand pounds of
freight. The oarsmen were generally Creoles and
French mulattoes.
" The crookedness of the Mississippi between St.
Louis and New Orleans necessitated long detours.
In one place a circuit of fifty-four miles represented
an actual gain of only five miles ; at another point the
neck of a bend thirty miles long was but a mile
and a half across. In ascending these bends the boats
always avoided the concave side of the stream, for the
double purpose of escaping the force of the current
and the peril of caving banks. Large masses of earth
undermined by the action of the water sometimes fell
suddenly into the river, and a boat overtaken by such
an accident was in imminent danger of submersion.
In order to shun this risk, as well as to avoid the main
current of the stream, the boats kept close to the con-
vex bank of the bends. The extreme crookedness of
the river necessitated frequent crossings, and it has
been stated that the number of times a boat was com-
pelled to cross the Mississippi in the ascent from New
Orleans to St. Louis was three hundred and ninety.
These crossings, and the distance that a heavily
freighted boat would be borne down stream in going
from one side to the other, added nearly five hundred
miles to the length of the voyage. In descending the
river the boatmen reversed their course of action, and
followed the concave side of the bends in order to
avail themselves of the effective aid of the current.
In violent storms or high winds, when it was not safe
to move, the boats were fastened to trees on the oppo-
site bank.
" A voyage from St. Louis to New Orleans and re-
turn occupied from four to six months ; consequently
1090
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
only two round trips could be made in a year. Even
with the assistance of sails, a row-boat could not make
the ascent in less than seventy or eighty days. A
keel-boat could be brought by cordelle from Louisville
to St. Louis in twenty-five days."1 In addition to
the use of sails and oars, " warping," " cordelling,"
and " poling" were employed as means of propulsion.
" In ' warping' a long rope was fastened to some im-
movable object on the bank, and then the crew, stand-
ing in the bow and pulling hand over hand, drew the
boat forward ; the hands of the crew serving the pur-
poses of a capstan. The progress was slow but steady.
In ' cordelling' the crew walked along the bank and
drew the boat after them by means of a rope. It was,
in fact, identical with canal-boat navigation, except
that the motive-power was men instead of mules or
horses. ' Poling' consisted in pushing the boat up
stream by the aid of long poles. The men succes-
sively took their places at the bow, and firmly resting
their poles on the bed of the river, walked towards
the stern pushing the boat forward. Whenever a man
reached the stern, he pulled up his pole and ran rap- ;
idly back to resume his place in the line. Hence the
spaces on each side of the boat where this con-
stant circuit was going on were called the ' running
boards.' " 2
The boatmen were a class by themselves, a hardy, |
adventurous, muscular set of men, inured to constant
peril and privation, and accustomed to severe and un-
remitting toil. For weeks, and even months at a
time, they saw no faces but those of their companions
among the crew or in some passing craft, and their
days from dawn until dark were spent in constant
work at the oars or poles, or tugging at the rope either
in the boat or on the shore, as they were employed
either in warping or cordelling. At night, after
" tying up," their time was generally spent in gaming,
carousing, story-telling, etc., the amusements of the
evening being varied not infrequently with a fisticuff
encounter.
The labor involved in their occupation was of the
severest character, and the constant and arduous ex-
ercise produced in most of them an extraordinary
physical development. So intense was the exertion
usually required to propel and guide the boat that a
rest was necessary every hour, and from fourteen to
twenty miles a day was all the progress that could be
made against the stream. The sense of physical
power which naturally accompanied the steady exer- j
cise of the muscles inspired the average boatman not
merely with insensibility to danger, but a bellicoseness
«f disposition which seems to have been characteris-
tic of his class. The champion pugilist of a boat
was entitled to wear a red feather in his cap, and this
badge of pre-eminence was universally regarded as a
challenge to all rivals.3
In summer the boatmen were usually stripped to
the waist, and their bodies, exposed to the sun, were
tanned to the swarthy hues of the Indian ; in winter
they were clothed in buckskin breeches and blankets,
(capots), a grotesque combination of French and In-
dian styles which gave their attire a wild and peculiar
aspect. Their food was of the simplest character.
" After a hard day's toil," says Monette,4 " at night
they took their ' fillee' or ration of whiskey, swallowed
their homely supper of meat half burned and bread
half baked, and retiring to sleep they stretched them-
selves upon the deck without covering, under the open
canopy of heaven, or probably enveloped in a blanket,
until the steersman's horn called them to their morn-
ing ' fillee' and their toil.
" Hard and fatiguing was the life of a boatman,
yet it was rare that any of them ever changed his
vocation. There was a charm in the excesses, in the
frolics, and in the fightings which they anticipated
at the end of the voyage which cheered them on. Of
weariness none would complain, but rising from his
bed at the first dawn of day, and reanimated by his
morning draught, he was prepared to hear and obey
the wonted order, 'Stand to your poles and set off!"
The boatmen were masters of the winding horn and the
fiddle, and as the boat moved off from her moorings,
some, to cheer their labors or to ' scare off the devil
and secure good luck,' would wind the animating blast
of the horn, which, mingling with the sweet music of
the fiddle and reverberating along the sounding shores,
greeted the solitary dwellers on the banks with news
from New Orleans."
Levity and volatility were conspicuous traits of
the boatman's character, and while he was willing to
perform excessive and long-continued labor, he would
render such service only to a " patroon" whom he
respected. In fine, the average keel-boatman was
cool, reckless, courageous to the verge of rashness,
1 Professor S. Waterhouse.
2 Ibid.
1 " Their athletic labors gave strength incredible to their
muscles, which they were vain to exhibit, and fist-fighting was
their pastime. He who could boast that he had never been
whipped was bound to fight whoever disputed his manhood.
Keel-boatmen and bargemen looked upon flat-boatmen as their
natural enemies, and a meeting was th«* prelude to a ' battle-
royal.' They were great sticklers for ' fair play,' and whoso-
ever was worsted in battle must bide the issue without assist-
ance."— Monette's History of the Valley of the Mississippi,
p. 20.
4 Ibid., pp. 19 and 20.
NAVIGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
1091
and pugnacious, but, notwithstanding certain grave
shortcomings, an unmitigated hater of all the darker
shades of sin and wrong-doing, such as stealing, rob-
bing, and murdering for plunder, crimes that in his
day were frequently and boldly perpetrated along the
sparsely-settled banks and at lonely islands of the
Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.
" The departure of a boat was an important inci-
dent in the uneventful village life of St. Louis. On
such occasions it was customary for their friends to
assemble on the banks to bid adieu to the voyageurs.
Sometimes half the population of the village was
present to tender their wishes for a prosperous trip.
" For years it was believed that no keel-boat, could
ascend the Missouri. The rapidity of the current
was supposed to be an insuperable obstacle to naviga-
tion by such craft. The doubt was settled by the
enterprise of George Sarpy, who sent a keel-boat
under Capt. Labrosse to try the difficult experi-
ment of ascending the Missouri. The success of the
undertaking marked a signal advance in Western
navigation, and supplied the merchants of St. Louis
with new facilities for the transportation of their
goods," 1 while it also greatly extended the operations
of the boatmen and increased their numbers.
Of the keel-boatmen, when classed by nativity, the
Kentuckians bore the most unenviable reputation, on
account of the fact that they were generally charac-
terized by excessive recklessness and bellicoseness,
and we are told so gloomy was the reputation of the
Kentuckians that travelers were liable at every place
(except the miserable wayside taverns) to have the
door shut in their face on applying for refreshments
or a night's lodgings. Nor would any plea or cir-
cumstance alter the decided refusal of the master or
mistress, unless it might be the uncommonly genteel
appearance and the equipage of the traveler.
For a similar reason, possibly, badly-built boats,
with poor or injured plank in their bottoms, which
had been sold to unsuspecting or inexperienced per-
sons, were known as " Kentucky boats/'
" In 1807," says a writer on " Early Navigators"
in a St. Louis newspaper, " a Mr. Winchester's boat
struck a rock in the Ohio, below Pittsburgh a short
distance, and one of her bottom planks being badly
stove in, she sunk immediately, having on board a
valuable cargo of dry-goods. The proprietor, not
being with the boat at the time, conceived, when
informed of the disaster, that it had been caused by
carelessness of the person to whom he had intrusted
the boat and cargo, and brought suit against him for
1 Professor Waterhouse.
damages; and indeed it was somewhat evident, from
all that could be ascertained, that the patroon had no
business in the neighborhood of the rock, and could
and should have avoided it. The defendant's position
was rather gloomy, but his resources proved equal to
the emergency. The suit was before (Dr.) Justice
Richardson, of Pittsburgh, who himself had had some
sad experiences with Kentucky boats. The defendant
knowing or being informed of this, hired two men,
went down to the wreck, and with some difficulty
procured several pieces of the plank that had given
way. On the day of trial, after the plaintiff had, as
every one present thought, fully established his charges
and demands, the justice asked the defendant if he had
any rebutting evidence to offer. ' Yes, your Honor,' he
replied, ' I have ;' and reaching down under his seat,
he drew out the pieces of plank aforementioned and
said, ' I have no evidence to offer, your Honor, ex-
cept these pieces, which I can prove to your Honor
are part of the same plank, the breaking of which
caused the boat to sink, which, I say, would not have
occurred if the plank had been reasonably sound.
Look at them ! Your Honor will see that it was my
misfortune to have been placed in charge of one of
these d — d Kentucky boats.' Without in any way
noticing the blasphemous expression, the justice ex-
amined the pieces, which proved to be thoroughly
rotten and defective, unfit to be put anywhere, much
less in the bottom of a boat. After hearing from the
defendant's helpers that these pieces were taken from
the boat in question, at the identical place where she
had broken, the court delivered its mind as follows :
' This court had the misfortune once to place a valu-
able cargo on a Kentucky boat, not knowing it to be
such, which sunk and went down in seventeen feet of
water, this court verily believed, by coming in contact
with the head of a yellow-bellied catfish, there being
no snag, rock, or other obstruction near her at the
time ; and this court, being satisfied of the premises
in this cause, doth order that the same be dismissed
at plaintiff's costs, to have included therein the ex-
penses of the defendant in going to and returning
from the wreck, for the purpose of obtaining such
damnable and irrefutable evidence as this bottom
plank has furnished.' And the bottom plank was
deemed proof so conclusive, and the prejudice against
Kentucky boats in the public mind was so extended
and settled, that it was thought inadvisable to urge
the suit any further."
Besides the ordinary dangers of the treacherous cur-
rents, " cave-ins," shoals and snags of the Mississippi,
and occasional assaults from prowling savages, the
early boatmen were often called upon to face the more
1092
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
serious peril of an attack by river pirates. " Many a
boatload of costly merchandise intended for the ware-
houses of St. Louis never reached its destination. The
misdeeds of the robbers were not always limited to the
seizure of goods. The proof of rapine was often ex-
tinguished by the murder of the witnesses. The caves
of the pirates were rich with the spoils of a plundered
commerce, and the depredations became more frequent
in proportion to the impunity with which they were
committed. At last the interruption of trade became
so grave and the danger to life so imminent that the
Governor-General of Louisiana was constrained to take
more effective steps for the suppression of the bandits.
An official order excluding single boats from the Mis-
sissippi granted the privilege of navigation only to
flotillas that were strong enough to repel their assail-
ants. The plan succeeded and the pirates were ulti-
mately driven from their haunts. The arrival at St.
Louis in 1788 of the flotilla of ten boats was a memor-
able occasion in the annals of the village." 1
The arrival of this flotilla gave the name of " tan-
n6e des dix bateaux" to the year 1788, which was
the last year of Don Francisco Cruzat's second ad-
ministration. In the year before, M. Beausoliel, a
New Orleans merchant, had been captured by pirates
near the island that still bears his name, and subse-
quently escaping, recaptured his boat and killed the
pirates. He then returned to New Orleans and re-
ported his experience to the Governor, who thereupon
issued the order already, referred to that all boats
bound for St. Louis the following spring should sail
together for mutual protection. This was carried out,
and the flotilla " des dix bateaux" made the voyage,
capturing at Cottonwood Creek the camp and supplies
of the pirates, with a valuable assortment of miscel-
laneous plunder which had been taken from many
boats on previous occasions.
" In an advertisement published in 1794 the patrons
of a special line of boats were assured of their safety.
The statements which were made to allay apprehen-
sions showed that the fear of pirates was not then
groundless. A large crew skillful in the use of arms,
a plentiful supply of muskets and ammunition, an
equipment on each boat of six one-pound cannon and
a loop-holed rifle-proof cabin for the passengers were
the means of defense provided, on which were based
the hopes of security. So formidable an array of
weapons was not well calculated to inspire timid na-
tures with confidence in the safety of the voyage." 2
The boatmen were very active and energetic in
rooting out the nests of pirates, and not infrequently
1 Professor Waterhouse.
* Ibid.
administered lynch-law in summary fashion. One of
the most sanguinary incidents of this character was
that which occurred in 1809.
Island 94 (called Stack Island, or Crows' Nest),
one hundred and seventy miles above Natchez, was
notorious for many years for being a den for the ren-
dezvous of a gang of horse- thieves, counterfeiters,
robbers, and murderers. It was a small island located
in the middle of Nine-Mile Reach. From hence they
would sally forth, stop passing boats, and murder the
crew, or if this appeared impracticable, would buy their
horses, flour, whiskey, etc., and pay for them. Their
villanies became notorious, and several years' pursuit
by the civil law officers failed to produce any results
in the way of punishment or eradication. But they
were at length made to disappear by an application of
lynch-law from several keel-boat crews. The full his-
tory of this affair has never been fully unfolded, and
perhaps never will be, but for terrible retribution and
complete annihilation, outside of any authorized de-
crees, it never had its equal in any administration of
lynch-law, the recitals of which cast so many shadows
on the annals of the West and South. The autumn
and winter immediately preceding the month of April,
1809, had been marked by numerous atrocities on the
part of the bandits of the Crows' Nest. Several
boats and their entire crews had disappeared at that
point, and no traces could be found of them afterward.
The country around and up and down the river had
been victimized and robbed in almost every conceiv-
able form by depredators whose movements could be
satisfactorily traced as tending towards the Crows'
Nest. In that month it occurred that seven keel-
boats were concentrated at the head of Nine-Mile
Reach, within speaking distance of each other, being
detained by heavy contrary winds. The crews of
these were well informed as to the villanies of those
who harbored on the little island a few miles below
them. Many of them had friends and old comrades
who were known to have been on the missing boats.
By what means it was brought about, at whose sug-
gestion or influence was never made known, but one
dark night, a few hours before daylight, eighty or
ninety men from these wind-bound craft, well armed,
descended silently in their small boats to the Crows'
Nest and surprised its occupants, whom they secured
after a short encounter, in which two of the boatmen
were wounded and several of the robbers killed.
Nineteen men, a boy of fifteen, and two women were
thus captured. Shortly after sunrise the boy (on ac-
count of his extreme youth) and the two women were
allowed to depart. What was the manner of punish-
ment meted out to the men, whether shot or hanged,
NAVIGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
1093
was never ascertained with any degree of certainty.
None but the boatmen, the boy, and the two women,
however, ever left the island alive, and by twelve
o'clock noon the crews were back to their boats, and
the wind having calmed the night previous they
shoved out, and by sunset were far down the river
and away from the scene of the indisputably just
though unlawful retribution. Two years afterward
came the terrible earthquake, which, with the floods
of 1811-13, destroyed every vestige of the Crows'
Nest, leaving nothing of it to be seen but a low sand-
bar, and with it passed away from public sight and
mind all signs of its bandits, their crimes, and the
awful doom that befell them.
Some years later a new type of river desperadoes
appeared, who, if tradition and history do not greatly
belie them, were not much more exemplary in their con-
duct than the pirates and buccaneers who preceded
them. " Mike" Fink in particular, the model hero of
the Mississippi boatmen, who has figured on the pages of
popular romance, was a ruffian of surpassing strength
and courage. His rifle was unerring, and his con-
science was as easy and accommodating as a man in
his line of business could wish. His earliest vocation
was that of a boatman, but he had belonged to a com-
pany of government spies or scouts whose duty it was
to watch the movements of the Indians on the fron-
tier. At that time Pittsburgh was on the extreme
verge of the white population, and the spies, who were
constantly employed, generally extended their recon-
noissances forty or fifty miles west of that place.
Going out singly and living in Indian style, they as-
similated themselves to the habits, tastes, and feelings
of the Indians. In their border warfare the scalp of
a Shawnee was esteemed about as valuable as the skin
of a panther. " Mike" Fink, tiring of this after a
while, returned to the water life, and engrafting sev-
eral other occupations on that of the boatman, put all
mankind, except his friends and employer, to whom
he was honest and faithful, under contribution, and
became nothing more nor less than a freebooter.
" Mike," haying murdered " Joe" Stevens, was killed
by one of Joe's brothers. James Girty, another of the
famous Mississippi boatmen, was represented as a
" natural prodigy," not " constructed like ordinary
men, for, instead of ribs, bountiful nature had pro-
vided him with a solid bony casing on both sides,
without any interstices through which a knife, dirk,
or bullet could penetrate." He possessed amazing
muscular power, and courage in proportion, and his
great boast was that he had " never been whipped." l
Lloyd's Steamboat Directory, p. 38.
The trade conducted by these boats was of consid-
erable proportions. As early as 1802 the annual ex-
ports of the Mississippi valley amounted to $2,160,000,
and the imports to $2,500,000. Up to 1804 the
annual value of the fur trade of Upper Louisiana
amounted to $203,750. The province then exported
lead, salt, beef, and pork, and received Indian goods
from Canada, domestics from Philadelphia and Bal-
timore, groceries from New Orleans, and hardware
from the Ohio River.
Short notices in the newspapers of that day, an-
nouncing, " Wanted to freight, from this place to
Louisville, about sixteen hundredweight, apply at
the printing-office," 2 or (; thirteen boatmen are wanted
to navigate a few boats to New Orleans, to start about
the 15th of next month ; the customary wages will be
given,"3 or that " the barge ' Scott' will start from St.
Louis on the 1st of March, and will take freight for
Louisville or Frankfort, in Kentucky, on reasonable
terms, apply to John Steele,"4are too laconic to more
than indicate the existence of a commerce, without
affording any reliable data of its dimensions or the
appliances by which it was carried on.5
8 Minsouri Gazette, July 5, 1809.
» Ibid., Aug. 30, 1809.
« Ibid., Dec. 22, 1809.
5 " FREIGHT FROM NEW ORLEANS TO KASKASKIA IN 1741. —
We doubt whether so unique or so old a bill of lading can be
found in the valley of the Mississippi as that which follows.
It is a translation from a bill of sale executed the 18th of May,
1741, by Barois, notary in Kaskaskia. What would our steam-
boatmen say now at receiving such a price for an old salt-kettle,
when they are in the practice of transporting one thousand to
twelve hundred tons of goods between the ports of New Orleans
and St. Louis, and are in a very bad humor if by chance they
fail to make the trip in six days ? ' And has been further agreed
that said Mettager promises to deliver to said Bienvena, at the
landing-place of this town of Kaskaskia, at his own risks, the
fortunes of war excepted, an iron kettle, weighing about two
hundred and ninety pounds, used for the manufacture of salt,
and which said Bienvena owns in New Orleans, and said Bien-
vena promises to pay to said Mettager, for his salary and
freight, after the delivery of said kettle, a steer in good order,
three bushels of salt, two hundred pounds of bacon, and twenty
bushels of Indian corn, under the penalty of all costs, etc.' " —
Republican, Nov. 30, 1850.
PETER PROVENCHERE'S BILL OP LADING.
Shipped by Peter Provenchere, of the town of St. Louis,
merchant, on board the boat " J. Maddison," whereof Charles
Quirey is master, now lying at the landing before the town of
St. Louis and ready immediately to depart for Louisville, Ky.
F. T. Six packs of deer-skins, marked and numbered as per
margin, and a barrel of bear-oil, containing about thirty -
96 two gallons, all in good order and well conditioned, which
I promise to deliver in like good order and condition
99 (unavoidable accident excepted) unto Mr. Francis Tar-
ascon, merchant, Louisville, or to his assigns.
109 And, moreover, I acknowledge to have of the said
Peter Provenchere a note of Peter Menard on Louis
1094
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
At the period of the introduction of steam upon
the Mississippi, 1817, the whole commerce from New
Orleans to the upper country was transported in about
twenty barges of an average of one hundred tons each,
and making but one trip in a year. The number of
keel-boats on the Ohio was estimated at one hundred
and sixty, carrying thirty tons each. The whole
tonnage was estimated at between six thousand and
seven thousand.
The advent of steam, of course, superseded the use
of the keel-boat, and the picturesque features of the
earlier navigation passed away. In the presence of
the mighty energy which has revolutionized the com-
merce of the world, the warp and cordelle, the pole
and running-board forever disappeared from the bosom
of the Mississippi.
" The commerce of St. Louis had humble begin-
nings. The facilities for transportation were limited
to the rudest row-boats, but in course of time there
has grown from the birch canoe a vast inland fleet,
which in 1880 bore to the port of St. Louis about
two million tons of merchandise." 1
Steamboating. — In " The First Steamboat Voyage
on the Western Waters," John H. B. Latrobe says,
" Whether steam could be employed on the West-
ern rivers was a question that its success between New
York and Albany was not regarded as having entirely
solved, and after the idea had been suggested of
building a boat at Pittsburgh, to ply between Natchez
and New Orleans, it was considered necessary that
investigations should be made as to the currents of
the rivers to be navigated in regard to the new sys-
tem." These investigations were undertaken by Nich-
olas J. Roosevelt, who repairing in May, 1809, to
Pittsburgh, there constructed a flat-boat in which he
proceeded to New Orleans for the purpose of studying
and investigating the new conditions of navigation to
which the steam system was about to be subjected.
These investigations proved entirely satisfactory, not
!
111 Lorimier, inhabitant of Cape Girardeau, for one thou-
sand pounds of reeeiptable deer-skins, the said note
112 transferred to my order, and I bind and engage myself
to ask of the said Louis Lorimier the payment of the j
113 said note, and if I reclaim it to deliver to the said Fran- |
cis Tarascon or assign the thousand pounds of deer- j
skins, together with the six packs and the barrel now
received, and in case of no payment to return the note
to Mr. Tarascon, he or they paying freight.
In witness whereof I have set my hand to three bills of lading,
all of the same tenor and date, one being accomplished, the others
null and void.
CHARLES QUIREY.
Test, WILLIAM C. CARR.
St. Louis, the 8th, A.D. 1809.
1 Professor Waterhouse.
only to Mr. Roosevelt but also to Messrs. Fulton and
Livingston, who were to furnish the capital, and Mr.
Roosevelt in 1811 took up his residence in Pittsburgh,
to superintend the construction of the boat and engine
that were to open the Western waters to the new sys-
tem of steam navigation.
The " New Orleans" was the first steamboat con-
structed on Western waters. She was one hundred
and sixteen feet in length, with twenty feet beam, and
her engine had a thirty-four-inch cylinder, with boiler
and other parts in proportion. She was about four
hundred tons burden, and cost in the neighborhood
of thirty-eight thousand dollars. There were two
cabins, one aft for ladies, and a larger one forward for
gentlemen. The ladies' cabin, which was comfortably
furnished, contained four berths. The " New Orleans"
was launched in March, 1811 ; left Pittsburgh in
October of the same year; passed Cincinnati October
27th, and reached Louisville the next day, in sixty-
four hours' running time from Pittsburgh. The water
was too low for her to cross the falls, and while at
Louisville waiting for sufficient water she made several
short excursions. She also made one trip to Cincin-
nati, arriving there in forty-five hours' running time
from Louisville, Nov. 27, 1811. While here she
made an excursion trip to Columbia, charging one dol-
lar per head. Shortly afterward, the river rising, she
left this place for New Orleans, December, 1811.
Her voyage down the river was perilous in the ex-
treme, as shortly after leaving Louisville the great
earthquakes began. She ran between Natchez and
New Orleans, her trips averaging about three weeks.
July 13, 1814, she landed on her upward voyage two
miles above Baton Rouge, on the opposite side, and
spent the night taking in wood, the night being thought
too dark to run with safety. At daylight the next
morning she got up steam, and on starting the engine
it was found she would not move ahead, but kept
swinging around. The water had fallen during the
night, and the captain found she was resting on
a stump. An anchor was put out on her starboard
quarter, and by the aid of her capstan she was soon
hove off; but on clearing her it was discovered she
had sprunk a leak and was sinking rapidly. She was
immediately run into the bank and tied fast, but sunk
so rapidly her passengers had barely time to get off
with their baggage.*
4 The "Navigator," an old and rare book printed at Pittsburgh,
Pa., in the early part of this century, records many interest-
ing facts concerning the '• early navigators." From this source
we learn something of the expenses and profits of the " New
Orleans" when a packet between Natchez and New Orleans.
This old chronicle says, " Her accommodations are good and
NAVIGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
1095
The history of the early steamboats following the
" New Orleans" will be found interesting, as showing
her passengers generally numerous, seldom less from Natchez
than from ten to twenty, at eighteen dollars per head, and when
she starts from New Orleans generally from thirty to fifty, and
sometimes as many as eight}7 passengers, at twenty-five dollars
each to Natchez. According to the observations of Capt.
Morris, of New Orleans, who attended her as pilot several trips,
the boat's receipts for freight, upwards, have averaged the last
year seven hundred dollars, passenger money nine hundred
dollars; downward, three hundred dollars for freight, five hun-
dred for passengers. She performs thirteen trips in the year,
which, at two thousand four hundred dollars per trip, amount
to thirty-one thousand two hundred dollars. Her expenses
are, twelve hands at twenty dollars per month, four thou-
sand three hundred and twenty dollars ; captain, one thousand
dollars ; seventy cords of wood each trip, at one dollar and
seventy-five cents, which amounts to one thousand five hundred
and eighty-six dollars; in all six thousand nine hundred
and six dollars. It is presumed that the boat's extra trips
for pleasure or otherwise, out of her usual route trade, have paid
for all the expenses of repairs, and with the profits of the bar-
room, for the boat's provisions, in which case there will remain
a net gain of twenty-four thousand two hundred and ninety-
four dollars for the first year The owners estimate the boat's
value at forty thousand dollars, which gives an interest of two
thousand four hundred dollars ; and by giving one thousand
eight hundred and ninety-four dollars more for furniture, etc.,
we have the clear gain of twenty thousand dollars for the first
year's labor of the steamboat ' New Orleans.'
" The steamboat goes up in about seven or eight days, and de- j
scends in two or three, stopping several times for freight, passen-
gers, etc. She stays at the extremes of her journey, Natchez
and New Orleans, about four or five days to discharge and take
in loading."
The first sea-vessel on the Western waters was a brig called
the "St. Clair," one hundred and twenty tons burden, built at
Marietta, Ohio, by Commodore Preble, in 1798 or '99, who went
down the rivers in her to New Orleans, from thence to Havana
and Philadelphia, and at the latter port he sold her. From
1799 to 1805 there were built at Pittsburgh four ships, three
brigs, and several schooners, but misfortunes and accidents
happening to most of them in going down the rivers to the gulf,
ship-building at Pittsburgh and the upper Ohio went into a
decline, until revived some years after in the shape of steam-
boat architecture. One of these ships took out her clearance
papers at Pittsburgh for Leghorn, Italy, and in illustrating
the commercial habits and enterprise of the American people,
Henry Clay, in a speech in Congress, related the following
anecdote about her : When the vessel arrived at Leghorn, the
captain presented his papers to the custom officer there,
but he would not credit them, and said to the master, " Sir,
your papers are forged, there is no such place as Pittsburgh in
the world, your vessel must be confiscated." The trembling
captain asked if he had a map of the United States, which he
fortunately had, and produced, and the captain, taking the
officer's finger, put it down at the mouth of the Mississippi,
then led it a thousand miles up that river, and thence another
thousand up to Pittsburgh, and said, " There, sir, is the port
whence my vessel cleared from." The astonished officer, who,
before he saw the map, would as soon have believed the vessel
had been navigated from the moon, exclaimed, " I knew that
America could show many wonderful things, but a fresh-water
seaport is something I never dreamed of."
how quickly the innovation made itself felt, and how
speedily the new system obliterated the old.
The second boat was the " Comet," of twenty-five
tons, owned by Samuel Smith, built at Pittsburgh by
Daniel French ; stern-wheel and vibrating cylinder,
French's patent granted in 1809. The " Comet"
made a voyage to Louisville in 1813, and to New
Orleans in the spring of 1814 ; made two trips to
Natchez, and was sold, the engine being put up on a
plantation to drive a cotton-gin. Third boat, the
" Vesuvius," three hundred and forty tons, built at
Pittsburgh by Robert Fulton, and owned by a com-
pany belonging to New York and New Orleans ; left
Pittsburgh for New Orleans in the spring of 1814,
commanded by Capt. Frank Ogden. She started
from New Orleans, bound for Louisville, the 1st of
June, 1814, and grounded on a bar seven hundred miles
up the Mississippi, where she lay until the 3d of De-
cember, when the river rose and she floated off. She
returned to New Orleans, where she ran aground the
second time on the batture, where she lay until the
1st of March, when the river rose and floated her off.
She was then employed some months between New
Orleans and Natchez, under the command of Capt.
Clemment, who was succeeded by Capt. John De-
Hart. Shortly after she took fire near New Orleans
and burned to the water's edge, having a valuable
cargo aboard. The fire was supposed to have been
communicated from the boiler, which was in the hold.
The bottom was raised and built upon at New Or-
leans, and she went into the Louisville trade, but was
soon after sold to a company at Natchez. On ex-
amination subsequent to the sale she was pronounced
unfit for use, was libeled by her commander, and sold
at public auction. Fourth boat, the " Enterprise,"
forty-five tons, built at Brownsville, Pa., -by Daniel
French, under his patent, and owned by a company at
that place, made two trips to Louisville in the summer
of 1814, under the command of Capt. J. Gregg.
On the 1st of December she took in a cargo of ord-
nance stores at Pittsburgh, and left for New Orleans,
commanded by Capt. Henry M. Shreve, and ar-
rived at New Orleans on the 14th of the same month.
She was then dispatched up the river in search of two
keel-boats laden with small-arms which had been
delayed on the river. She got twelve miles above
Natchez, where she met the keels, took their masters
and cargoes on board, and returned to New Orleans,
having been but six and a half days absent, in which
time she ran six hundred and twenty-four miles.
She was then for some time actively employed in
transporting troops. She made one trip to the Gulf
of Mexico as a cartel, and one trip to the rapids of the
1096
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Red River with troops, and nine voyages to Natchez.
She left New Orleans for Pittsburgh on the 6th of
May, and arrived at Shippingport on the 30th, twenty-
five days out, being the first boat that ever arrived at
that port from New Orleans. She then proceeded on
to Pittsburgh, and the command was given to D.
Worley, who lost her in Rock Harbor, at Shipping-
port. Fifth boat, the " ^tna," three hundred and
forty tons, built at Pittsburgh, and owned by the same
company as the " Vesuvius," left Pittsburgh for New
Orleans in March, 1815, under the command of Capt.
A. Gale, and arrived at that port in April follow-
ing ; was placed in the Natchez trade ; was then
placed under the command of Capt. Robinson De
Hart, who made six trips on her to Louisville.
The sixth boat was the " Zebulon M. Pike,"1 built
by Mr. Prentiss at Henderson, Ky., on the Ohio
River, in 1815. The " Pike" deserves special men-
tion, as she was the first steamboat to ascend the
Mississippi above the mouth of the Ohio, and the first
to touch at St. Louis. Her first trip was made in the
spring of 1815 to Louisville, Ky., two hundred and
fifty miles in sixty-seven hours, making three and
three-quarter miles per hour against the current. On
her voyage to St. Louis she was commanded by Capt.
1 Named after Zebulon Montgomery Pike, formerly a briga-
dier-general in the United States army, who was born at Lamber-
ton, N. J., Jan. 5, 1779, and killed at York, near Toronto, Upper
Canada, on the 27th of April, 1813. Zebulon, his father, was
born in New Jersey in 1751, and died at Lawrenceburg, Ind.,
July 27, 1834. He was a captain in the Revolutionary army,
was present at St. Clair's defeat in 1791, and was brevet lieu-
tenant-colonel in the United States army July 10, 1812. His
son was appointed a cadet in the regiment of his father March
3, 1799, and was made first lieutenant in November and captain
in August, 1806. Skilled in mathematics and in the languages,
he was appointed after the purchase of Louisiana to conduct an.
expedition to trace the Mississippi to its source. Leaving St.
Louis, Aug. 9, 1805, he performed this service satisfactorily, re-
turning after eight months and twenty days of exploration and
exposure to constant hardship. In 1806-7 he was engaged in
geographical explorations of Louisiana, during which, being
found on Spanish territory, he with his party was taken to
Santa Fe, and after a long examination and the seizure of his
papers was escorted home, arriving at Natchitoches July 1,
1807. In 1810 he published a narrative of his expeditions,
with valuable maps and charts. Receiving the thanks of the
government, he was made major of the Sixth Infantry, May 3,
1808; lieutenant-colonel of the Fourth Infantry, Dec. 31, 1809;
deputy quartermaster-general, April 3, 1812; colonel Fifteenth
Infantry, July 3,1812; and brigadier-general, March 12, 1813.
Early in 1813 he was assigned to the principal army as adjutant-
and inspector-general, and was selected to command an expedi-
tion against York, the capital of Upper Canada. Landing under
a heavy fire, he charged the enemy in person, and put them to
flight, carried one battery by assault, and was moving to the
attack of the main works, when the explosion of the British
magazine mortally wounded him, speedily causing his death on
April 27, 1813.
Jacob Read. " The hull," says Professor Water-
house, " was built on the model of a barge. The
cabin was situated on the lower deck, inside of the
' running-boards.'
" The boat was driven by a low-pressure engine, with
a walking-beam. The wheels had no wheel-houses.
The boat had but one smoke-stack. In the encounter
with a rapid current the crew reinforced steam with
the impulse of their own strength. They used the
poles and running-boards just as in the push-boat
navigation of barges. The boat ran only by day, and
was six weeks in making this first trip from Louis-
ville to St. Louis. It landed at the foot of Market
Street Aug. 2, 1817. The inhabitants of the village
gathered on the bank to welcome the novel visitor.
Among them was a group of Indians. As the boat
approached, the glare of its furnace fires and the
volumes of murky smoke filled the Indians with dis-
may. They fled to the high ground in the rear of
the village, and no assurances of safety could induce
them to go one step nearer to the object of their
fears. They ascribed supernatural powers to a boat
that could ascend a rapid stream without the aid of
sail or oar. Their superstitious imaginations beheld
a monster breathing flame and threatening the ex-
tinction of the red man. In a symbolic sense, their
fancy was prophetic : the progress of civilization, of
which the steamboat may be taken as a type, is fast
sweeping the Indian race into the grave of buried
nations."
The first notice we have of the expected arrival of
the " Pike" at St. Louis is the following announce-
ment in the Missouri Gazette of the 14-th of July,
1817:
" A steamboat is expected here from Louisville to-morrow.
There is no doubt but what we shall have a regular communi-
cation with Louisville, or at least the mouth of the Ohio, by a
steam packet."
On the 2d of August the Gazette published this
notice :
"The steamboat 'Pike' will be ready to take in freight to-
morrow for Louisville or any of the towns on the Ohio. She
will sail for Louisville on Monday morning, the 4th August,
from ten to twelve o'clock. For freight or passage apply to the
master on board.
" JACOB READ, Master."
The return trip of the " Pike" is also mentioned in
the Gazette of September 2d as follows :
" The steamboat ' Pike' will arrive in a day or two from Louis-
ville. This vessel will ply regularly between that place and this,
and will take in her return cargo shortly after her arrival. Per-
sons who may have freight, or want passage for Louisville or any
of the towns on the Ohio, will do well to make early application
to the master on board. On her passage from this to Louisville
she will make a stop at Herculaneum, where Mr. M. 'Austin will
NAVIGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
1097
act as agent; also at Ste. Genevieve and Cape Girardeau. At
the former place Mr. Le Meilleur and at the latter Mr. Stein-
beck will act as agents, with whom freight for the ' Pike' may
be deposited and shipped.
" Persons wanting passage in this vessel will apply as above.
She will p'erform her present voyage to and from Louisville in
about four weeks, and will always afford an expeditious and safe
passage for the transportation of freight or passengers.
" JACOB READ, Master."
Again on the 22d of November the Gazette an-
nounced that " the steamboat ' Pike' with passengers
and freight arrived here yesterday from Louisville."
The " Pike" had a capacity of thirty-seven tons, old
government tonnage. She made a trip to New Or-
leans, and several between Louisville and Pittsburgh,
after which she was engaged in the Red 'River trade.
She was snagged in March, 1818.1
The next vessel after the " Pike" to arrive at St.
Louis was the " Constitution," Capt. R. T. Guyard,
which arrived Oct. 2, 1817. The steamboat ceased
in 1818 to be a novelty on the Mississippi, and be-
1 The seventh boat on the Mississippi was the " Dispatch,"
twenty-five tons, built at Brownsville, Pa., by the same com-
pany that owned the " Enterprise," and under French's patent.
She made several trips from Pittsburgh to Louisville, and one
to New Orleans and back to Shippingport, where she was wrecked
and her engine taken out. She was commanded by Capt. J.
Gregg.
The eighth boat was the " Buffalo," three hundred tons, built
at Pittsburgh by Benjamin H. Latrobe, Sr., the distinguished
architect of the capitol at Washington. She was afterwards sold
at sheriff's sale in Louisville for eight hundred dollars.
We find in the American Weekly Messenger, published in
Philadelphia, July 2, 1814, the following letter, which relates
the circumstances of the launch of the steamboat " Buffalo" :
« PITTSBURGH, June 3, 1814.
" We omitted to mention that the steamboat ' Buffalo' was
safely launched on the1 13th ult. from the yard of Mr. Latrobe.
This boat, which was intended to complete the line of steam-
boats from New Orleans to Pittsburgh, is a fine and uncom-
monly well built vessel of two hundred and eighty-five tons
burden, carpenters' measurement, and is intended to trade reg-
ularly between Louisville and Pittsburgh once a month as long
as the water will admit. She has two cabins and four state-
rooms for private families, and will conveniently accommodate
one hundred persons with beds. Should it be found that her
draught of water, which will be about two feet six inches when
her machinery 'is on board, is too great for the summer months,
it is intended immediately to put on the stocks another boat or
boats of smaller draught and less bulky construction. It is
expected that the 'Buffalo' will be finished in time to bring up
the cargo of the steamboat ' Vesuvius' from New Orleans."
A succeeding number of the same paper, the Weekly American
Messeiifjer, contains the following items from St. Louis :
"ST. Louis (I. T.), July 2, 1814.
'' On Sunday last an armed boat arrived here from Prairie du
Chien, under the command of Capt. John Sullivan, with his
company of militia and thirty-two men from the gunboat ' Gov-
ernor Clark,' their terms of service (sixty days) having expired.
Capt. Yeizer, who commands on board the ' Governor Clark,' off
Prairie du Chien, reports that his vessel is completely manned,
that the fort is finished, christened Fort Shelby, and occupied
by the regulars, and that all are anxious for a visit from Dick-
son and his red troops. The Indians are hovering around the
village, stealing horses, and have been successful in obtaining a
prisoner, a Frenchman, who had gone out to look for his horses."
Ninth boat, the "James Monroe," one hundred and twenty
tons, built at Pittsburgh, by Mr. Latrobe, owned by a company
at Bayou Sara, and run in the Natchez trade.
Tenth boat, the " Washington," four hundred tons, a two-
decker, built at Wheeling, Va., constructed and partly owned
by Capt. Henry M. Shreve.* The engine of the "Washing-
ton" was built at Brownsville, Pa., under the immediate direc-
tion of Capt. Shreve; her boilers were on the upper deck, being
the first boat on that plan, a valuable improvement by Capt.
Shreve, which is now generally in use. The "Washington"
crossed the falls in September, 1816, under the command of
Capt. Shreve, bound for New Orleans, and returned to Louis-
ville during the following winter. In the month of March,
1817, she left Shippingport a second time, and proceeded to
New Orleans, and returned to Shippingport, being absent only
forty-five days. This was the trip that convinced the despair-
ing public that steamboat navigation would succeed on the
Western waters.
Eleventh boat, the " Franklin," one hundred and twenty-
five tons, built at Pittsburgh, by Messrs. Shiras <t Cromwell,
engine built by George Evans, left Pittsburgh in December,
1816, was sold at New Orleans, and was subsequently employed
in the Louisville and St. Louis trade. She was sunk in the
Mississippi, near Ste. Genevieve, in 1819, on her way to St.
Louis, commanded by Capt. Revels.
Twelfth boat, the "Oliver Evans" (afterwards the "Con-
stitution"), seventy tons, built at Pittsburgh, by George Evans,
engines his patent. She left Pittsburgh in December, 1816, for
New Orleans; she burst one of her boilers in April, 1817, off
Point Coupee, by which eleven men lost their lives, principally
passengers. Owned by George Sulton and others of Pitts-
burgh.
Thirteenth boat, the " Harriet," forty tons, built at Pitts-
burgh, constructed and owned by Mr. Armstrong, of Williams-
port, Pa. She left Pittsburgh, October, 1816, for New Orleans,
crossed the falls in March, 1817, made one trip to New Orleans,
and subsequently ran between that place and Muscle Shoals, on
the Tennessee River.
Fourteenth boat, the " Kentucky," eighty tons, built at
Frankfort, Ky., in 1817, and owned by Hanson & Beswell, en-
gaged in the Louisville trade.
* The St. Louis Republican of March 7, 1851, thus Dotes the death of
this eminent steamboat-man: "This worthy citizen died at the resi-
dence of his son-in-law in this city yesterday. He was for nearly forty
years closely identified with the commerce of the West, either in flat-
boats or steam navigation. During the administrations of Adams,
Jackson, and Van Bureu he filled the post of United States superin-
tendent of Western river improvements, and by the steam snag-boat,
of which he was the inventor, contributed largely to the safety of West-
ern commerce. To him belongs the honor of demonstrating the prac-
ticability of navigating the Mississippi Kiver with steamboats. He
commanded the first steamer that ever ascended that river, and made
several and valuable improvements, both of the steam-engine and of the
hull and cabins of the Western steamboats. While the British were
threatening New Orleans in 1814-15, he was employed by Gen. Jack-
son in several hazardous enterprises, and during the battle of the 8th of
January served one of the field-pieces which destroyed the advancing
column led by Gen. Keane. His name lias become historically associated
with Western river navigation, and will long be cherished by his numer-
ous friends throughout this valley."
1098
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
came a recognized agent of the commerce of the
valley.
The arrivals and departures of vessels about this
time were occasionally noticed by the Gazette as fol-
lows :
Fifteenth boat, the "Governor Shelby," ninety tons, built
at Louisville, engine by Bolton & Ebolt, of England. In 1819
she was running very successfully in the Louisville trade.
Sixteenth boat, the ''New Orleans," three hundred tons,
built at Pittsburgh by Messrs. Fulton & Livingston in 1817, for
the Natchez trade, sunk near Baton Rouge, but was raised, and
sunk again near New Orleans in February, 1819, about two
months after her first sinking.
Seventeenth boat, the " Vesta," one hundred tons, built at
Cincinnati in 1817, and owned by Messrs. Bosson, Cowdin <t
Co. She plied regularly as a packet between Cincinnati and
Louisville.
Eighteenth boat, the "George Madison," two hundred tons,
built at Pittsburgh in 1818, by Messrs. Voorhees, Mitchell,
Rodgers & Todd, of Frankfort, Ky., was engaged in the Louis-
ville trade in 1819.
Nineteenth boat, the "Ohio," four hundred and forty-three
tons, built at New Albany, Ind., in 1818, by Messrs. Shreve &
Blair, in the Louisville trade.
Twentieth boat, the " Napoleon," three hundred and thirty-
two tons, built at Shippingport in 1818, by Messrs. Shreve,
Miller & Breckinridge, of Louisville, engaged in the Louisville
trade.
Twenty-first boat, the "Volcano," two hundred and fifty
tons, built at New Albany, Ind., by Messrs. John & Robinson
De Hart in 1818. She was purchased in 1819 by a company at
Natchez, and ran between that port and New Orleans.
Twenty-second boat, the "General Jackson," one hundred
and fifty tons, built at Pittsburgh in 1818, and owned by R.
Whiting, of Pittsburgh, and Gen. Carroll, of Tennessee, in the
Nashville trade.
Twenty-third boat, the " Eagle," seventy tons, built at Cin-
cinnati in 1818, owned by James Berthoud & Son, of Ship-
pingport, Ky., in the Natchez trade.
Twenty-fourth boat, the " Hecla," seventy tons, built at
Cincinnati in 1818, and owned by Messrs. Honoris & Barbaror,
of Louisville, in the Louisville trade.
Twenty-fifth boat, the " Henderson," eighty-five tons, built
at Cincinnati in 1818, and owned by Messrs. Bowers, of Hen-
derson, Ky., in the Henderson and Louisville trade.
Twenty-sixth boat, the "Johnson," eighty tons, built at
AVheeling, Vn., in 1818, and in 1819 engaged in the Yellow-
stone expedition.
Twenty-seventh boat, the " Cincinnati," one hundred and
twenty tons, built at Cincinnati in 1818, and owned by Messrs.
Paxon & Co., of New Albany, Ind., in the Louisville trade.
Twenty-eighth boat, the " Exchange," two hundred tons,
built in Louisville, Ky., in 1818, and owned by David L. Ward,
of Jefferson County, Ky., in the Louisville trade.
Twenty-ninth boat, the " Louisiana," forty-five tons, built
at New Orleans in 1818, and owned by Mr. Duplisa, of New
Orleans, in the Natchez trade.
Thirtieth boat, the "James Ross,'' three hundred and thirty
tons, built at Pittsburgh in 1818, and owned by Messrs. Whit-
ing <fe Stackpole, of Pittsburgh, in the Louisville trade.
Thirty-first boat, the " Frankfort," three hundred and twenty
tons, built at Pittsburgh in 1818, and owned by Messrs. Voor-
hees &, Mitchell, of Frankfort, Ky., in the Louisville trade.
Thirty-second boat, the "Tamerlane," three hundred and
"On Saturday last the steamboat 'Franklin,' of about one
hundred and forty tons burden, arrived here in thirty-two days
from New Orleans with passengers and an assorted cargo. The
' Franklin" is admirably calculated for a regular packet-boat to
ply between St. Louis and New Orleans. Her stowage is capa-
twenty tons, built at Pittsburgh in 1818, and owned by Messrs.
Bogart it Co., of New York, in the Louisville trade.
Thirty-third boat, the " Perseverance," forty tons, built at
Cincinnati in 1818, and owned at that place.
Thirty-fourth boat, the "St. Louis," two hundred and
twenty tons, built at Shippingport, Ky., in 1818, and owned by
Messrs. Hewes, Douglass, Johnson, and others, in the St. Louis
trade.
Thirty-fifth boat, the " General Pike," built at Cincinnati in
1818, intended to ply between Louisville, Cincinnati, and Mays-
ville as a passenger packet, and owned by a company at Cin-
cinnati. She was the first steamboat built on the Western waters
for the exclusive convenience of passengers. Her accommo-
dations were ample, her apartments spacious and convenient.
She measured one hundred feet keel, twenty-five feet beam,
and drew only three feet three inches water. The length of
her cabin was forty feet, and the breadth twenty-five feet. At
one end were six state-rooms, and at the other end eight. Be-
tween the two sets of state-rooms was a saloon forty by eighteen
feet, sufficiently large for the accommodation of one hundred
passengers. The " Pike" was built as an opposition boat to
the " Vesta," built in 1817. The rivalry of these boats gave
rise to a slang phrase which held its place with the boys at that
period, and outlived the career of both boats. There are old
citizens of Cincinnati now living who, if they will carry their
memories back to the '20's, will remember the boys in the
streets and through the commons yelling, " Go ahead, ' Vesta,'
the ' Pike' is coming !"
Thirty-sixth boat, the "Alabama," twenty-five tons, built on
Lake Ponchartrain, La., in 1818, in the Red River trade.
Thirty-seventh boat, the "Calhoun," eighty tons, built in 1818
at Frankfort, Ky., and afterwards employed in the Yellowstone
expedition. •
Thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth boats, the " Expedition," one
hundred and twenty tons, and " Independence," fifty tons, built
near Pittsburgh, Pa., both of which were destined for the Yel-
lowstone expedition, the " Independence" being the first boat
that undertook to stem the powerful current of the Missouri.
They both arrived at Franklin (Boon's Lick), Howard Co.,
two hundred miles up the Missouri River from its mouth, in
the month of June, 1819.
Fortieth boat, the "Maid of Orleans," one hundred tons,
built at Philadelphia in 1818, and owned by a company in New
Orleans, and afterwards (in 1819) engaged in the St. Louis
trade. She was constructed both for river and sea navigation,
— the latter by sails, the former by steam-power. She arrived
at New Orleans, schooner-rigged, ascended the Mississippi by
steam, and was the first vessel which ever reached St. Louis
from an Atlantic port.
Forty-first bflat, the " Ramapo," sixty tons, built in New
York in 1818, and in 1819 employed in the Natchez trade.
Forty-second boat, the "Mobile." one hundred and fifty tons,
built at Providence, R. I., in 1818, owned at Mobile, and in
1819 employed in the Louisville traile.
Forty-third boat, the " Mississippi," four hundred tons, built
in New Orleans in 1818, arrived at Havana in February, 1819.
She was intended to ply between Havana and Matanzas.
Forty-fourth boat, the steamboat "Western Engineer," built
on the Monongahela in 1818-19, descended the Ohio River from
Pittsburgh about the 1st of May, 1819, and afterwards ascended
NAVIGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
1099
cious, and her cabin commodious and elegant." — Gazette, June
12, 1818.
" The steamboat ' Franklin' left this place yesterday with
freight and passengers for New Orleans. The master expects
to arrive there in eight days. Our common barges take from
twenty-five to thirty days to perform the voyage." — Gazette,
June 19, 1818.
" List of Steamboats Trading to Ne<n Orleans. — ' Franklin,'
one hundred and thirty-one tons; 'Eagle;' 'Pike' (sunk);
' James Monroe' (sunk, now repairing)." — Gazette, Sept. 5, 1818.
"The new steamboat 'Johnson,' built by Col. Johnson, of
Kentucky, passed Shawneetown the first of this month bound
to New Orleans. She is intended as a regular trader from Ken-
tucky on the Mississippi and the Missouri as far up as the Yel-
lowstone River."— Gazette, Nov. 6, 1818.
the Missouri River in connection with the government ex- i
ploring expedition. The object of the expedition was princi- i
pally to make a correct military survey of the river and to fix |
upon a site for a military establishment at or near the junction
of the Yellowstone with the Missouri, to ascertain the point
where the Rocky Mountains are intersected by the forty-ninth
degree of latitude, which formed the western boundary between
the possessions of Great Britain and the United States, and to
inquire into the " trading capacity and genius of the various
tribes through which they may pass." The officers employed
on this duty were Mnj. S. H. Long, of the United States Engi-
neers, Maj. Thomas Biddle, United States Corps of Artillery, and
Messrs. Graham and Swift. The boat was completely equipped
for defense and was manned by a few troops. The "Western En- i
gineer" drew only two feet six inches of water. She was well ;
built, was bottomed with iron or copper, and had a serpent's
head on her bow through which the steam passed, presenting a
novel appearance.
The launch of the " Western Engineer" at Pittsburgh, March i
26th, was noticed in the Gazette of May 26, 1819, as follows:
"As the launching of the United States steamboat at Pitts- !
burgh has been announced, and as it may not be generally ,
known what are the objects in view, I send you some extracts of
a letter from a young officer going upon the expedition. She
is called the ' Western Engineer/ and will start from Pittsburgh i
about the first of May. It is intended that she shall navigate
the Western waters as far as the Yellowstone Iliver, which will
require upwards of two years. It is not expected that they
will do more than explore the waters of the Missouri the first
season, as the movements will be gradual, in order to obtain a
thorough knowledge of that section of the country, with a his-
tory of the inhabitants, soil, minerals, and curiosities. The
expedition is under the direction of Maj. Stephen II. Long, of
New Hampshire, of the topographical engineers, attended by
Mr. James Graham, of Virginia, Mr. William H. Swift, from the
United States Military Academy, Maj. Thomas Biddle, of Phila-
delphia, of the artillery, and the following gentlemen: Dr.
Jessup, of Philadelphia, mineralogist; Dr. Say, of Philadelphia,
botanist and geologist; Dr. Baldwin, of Wilmington, Del., zool-
ogist and physician ; Dr. Peale, of Philadelphia, landscape
painter and ornithologist ; Mr. Seymour, of Philadelphia, land-
scape painter and ornithologist; Maj. O'Fallon, Indian agent.
"She is well armed, and carries an elegant flag, painted by
Mr. Peale, representing a white man and an Indian shaking
hands, the calumet of peace, and a sword. The boat is seventy-
five feet long, thirteen feet beam, draws nineteen inches water
with her engine, which, together with all the machinery, is
placed below deck entirely out of sight. The steam passes off
through the mouth of the figure-head (a large serpent). The
wheels are placed in the stern, to avoid the snags and sawyers
which are so common in these waters. She has a mast to ship
or not as may be necessary. The expedition will depart with
the best wishes of the scientific part of our country."
Forty-fifth boat, the " Rifleman," two hundred and fifty tons,
built in Louisville in 1819, and owned by Messrs. Butler & Ea-
rners, in the Louisville trade.
Forty-sixth boat, the " Car of Commerce," one hundred and
fifty tons, built at Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1819, owned by William F.
Patterson & Co., of Louisville, and engaged in the trade of that
place.
Forty-seventh boat, the " Paragon," three hundred and
seventy-six tons, built in 1819 at Cincinnati by William Par-
sons, and owned by William Noble and Robert Neilson, in the
Louisville trade.
Forty-eighth boat, the " Maysville," one hundred and fifty
tons, built in 1819, and owned by Messrs. Murphy, Moreton,
and J. Birkley, of Washington, Ky., and Messrs. Armstrong
and Campbell, of Maysville.
Forty-ninth boat, the " Columbus," four hundred and sixty
tons, built at New Orleans in 1819, and owned by a company
there. She was afterwards engaged in the Louisville trade.
Fiftieth boat, the "General Clark," one hundred and fifty
tons, built at Louisville in 1819, and owned by a company there.
Fifty-first boat, the "Vulcan," three hundred tons, built at
Cincinnati, 1819, for the New Orleans trade, and owned by James
& Douglass and Hugh & James, all of Cincinnati.
Fifty-second boat, the " Missouri," one hundred and seventy-
five tons, built at Newport, Ky., 1819, owned by John and
Walker Yeastman, and destined for the St. Louis trade.
Fifty-third boat, the " New Comet," one hundred tons, altered
from a barge called the "Eliza" in 1819, owned by Isaac Hough
and James W. Byrne, of Cincinnati, and intended for the New
Orleans trade.
Fifty-fourth boat, the "Newport," fifty tons, built at New-
port, Ky., in 1819, owned by a company at New Orleans, and
in 1819 engaged in the Red River trade.
Fifty-fifth boat, the " Tennessee," four hundred tons, built
at Cincinnati in 1S19, owned by Messrs. Breedlove & Bardford,
of New Orleans, and a company of Nashville, afterwards em-
ployed in the Louisville trade. The " Tennessee" was sunk in
the Mississippi by striking a snag on a very dark night in 1823.
The loss of life was large, some sixty-odd persons being drowned,
among them several persons of distinction. This disaster caused
great excitement throughout the country, and deterred numbers
from traveling on steamboats.
Fifty-sixth boat, the "General Robinson," two hundred and
fifty t»ns, built at Newport, Ky., in 1819, owned by a company
at Nashville, and run in that trade.
Fifty-seventh boat, the " United States," seven hundred tons,
built at Jeflersonville, Ind., for the Natchez trade in 1819, and
owned by Hart and others. She was the largest steamboat
which had been built in the Western country.
Fifty-eighth bout, the ''Post-Boy," two hundred tons, built
at New Albany, Ind., in 1819, owned by H. M. Shreve and
others, and run from Louisville to New Orleans. This was one
of the packets employed by the Postmaster-General for carry-
ing the mail between those places, according to an act of Con-
gress passed March, 1819. By this act the whole expense was
not to exceed that of transporting the mail by land.
Fifty-ninth boat, the " Elizabeth, " one hundred and fifty
tons, built at Salt River, Ky., in 1819, owned by a company at
Elizabeth, Ky., and engaged in the New Orleans trade.
Sixtieth boat, the " Fayette," one hundred and fifty tons,
built in J819, owned by John Gray and others, in the Louis-
ville trade.
1100
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
The arrival about March 1, 1819, of "the large
and elegant steamboat ' Washington' " from New Or-
leans, which city she left on the 1st of February, was
announced in the Gazette of March 3d. The steam-
boat " Harriet" arrived from the same port early in
April. The "Sea-Horse," which arrived at New Or-
leans from New York, and the " Maid of Orleans,"
which reached the same port from Philadelphia early
in 1819, were probably the first steamboats that ever
performed a voyage of any length on the ocean.
The " Maid of Orleans" continued her voyage to
St. Louis, where she arrived about the 1st of May.
On the same day the steamboat " Independence,"
Capt. Nelson, arrived from Louisville. The Missouri
Gazette of the 19th of May, 1819, has the following
steamboat memoranda :
" The ' Expedition/ Capt. Craig, arrived here on Wednesday
last, destined for the Yellowstone. The 'Maid of Orleans,'
Capt. Turner, sailed for New Orleans, and the 'Independence,'
Capt. Nelson, for Franklin, on the Missouri, on Sunday last.
The ' Exchange,' Capt. Whips, arrived here on Monday, and
will return to Louisville in a few days for a new set of boilers,
she having burst her boiler in ascending the Mississippi.
"The 'St. Louis,' Capt. Hewes, the 'James Monroe/ and
' Hamlet' were advertised to sail from New Orleans to St. Louis
about the middle of last month.
" In 1817, less than two years ago, the first steamboat arrived
at St. Louis. We hailed it as the day of small things, but the
glorious consummation of all our wishes is daily arriving.
Already during the present season we have seen on our shores
five steamboats and several more daily expected. Who would
or could have dared to conjecture that in 1819 we would have
witnessed the arrival of a steamboat from Philadelphia or New
York ? yet such is the fact. The Mississippi has become familiar
to this great American invention, and another new arena is
open. A steamboat, owned by individuals, has started from
St. Louis for Franklin, two hundred miles up the Missouri, and
two others are now here destined for the Yellowstone. The
time is fast approaching when a journey to the Pacific will
become as familiar, and indeed more so, than it was fifteen or
twenty years ago to Kentucky or Ohio. ' Illustrious nation/
said a distinguished foreigner, speaking of the New York
canal, 'illustrious nation, whose conceptions are only equaled
by her achievements.' "
The " Independence," Capt. Nelson, was the first
steamboat that entered the Missouri River. Sailing
from St. Louis in May, 1819, she reached Franklin,
on the Missouri, after a voyage of thirteen days,1
Sixty-first boat, the " Elkhorn," three hundred ton?, built at
Portland, Ky., in 1819, owned by Messrs. Gray & Anderson,
in the New Orleans trade.
Sixty-second boat, the " Providence," two hundred ton?, built
near Frankfort, Ky., in 1819, and owned by L. Castleman A ('<>.
Sixty-third boat, the " General Putnam," two hundred tons
built at Newport, Ky., in 1819, owned by James M. Byrne &
Co., of Cincinnati, and engaged in the New Orleans trade.
i "FnAKKi.iN (BOON'S LICK), May 19, 1819.
"ARRIVAL OF THE STEAMBOAT. — With no ordinary sensation
of pride and pleasure we announce the arrival this morning at
of which four days were spent at different landings.
Her voyage extended up the Missouri to Old Chariton,
from whence she returned to St. Louis.2 The United
States government the year previous had determined
to explore the Missouri River up to the Yellowstone,
and for that purpose, as elsewhere stated, Major S.
H. Long had built at Pittsburgh the " Western En-
gineer."
To Col. Henry Atkinson had been intrusted the
command of this expedition, and starting from
Plattsburgh, N. Y.. in the latter part of 1818, he
arrived in Pittsburgh in the spring of 1819. The
" Western Engineer" was completed soon after, and
arrived at St. Louis June 8, 1819. On the 21st the
expedition started for the Missouri.3 " It was ac-
this place of th'e elegant steamboat 'Independence/ Capt. Nel-
son, in seven .sailing days (but thirteen from the time of her
departure) from St. Louis, with passengers and cargo of flour,
whiskey, sugar, iron castings, etc., being the first steamboat that
ever attempted ascending the Missouri. She was joyfully met
by the inhabitants of Franklin, and saluted by the firing of
cannon, which was returned by the ' Independence.'
" The grand desideratum, the important fact, is now ascer-
tained that steamboats can safely navigate the Missouri."
s " On Wednesday last arrived steamboat ' Harriet/ Capt.
Armitage, twenty-six days from New Orleans.
" On Sunday arrived the ' Johnson/ from Cape Girardeau,
with United States stores, one of the fleet destined for the Mis-
souri expedition.
" On Saturday the steamboat ' Independence/ Capt. Nelson,
arrived from Franklin and Chariton, on the Missouri. The
' Independence' has met with no accident on her route, although
much troubled with bars and the impediments in the channel
of the river. Both the inhabitants of Franklin and Chariton
gave a dinner to the captain and passengers on board. The
'Independence' was three days coming from Franklin, but only
running nineteen hours. She has been absent from St. Louis
in all twenty-one days. This trip forms a proud event in the
history of Missouri. The Missouri has hitherto resisted almost
effectually all attempts at navigation ; she has opposed every
obstacle she could to the tide of emigration which was rolling
up her banks and dispossessing her dear red children, but her
white children, although children by adoption, have become so
numerous, and are increasing so rapidly, that she is at last
obliged to yield them her favor. The first attempt to ascend
her by steam has succeeded, and we anticipate the day as speedy
when the Missouri will be as familiar to steamboats as the Mis-
sissippi or Ohio. Capt. Nelson merits and will receive deserved
credit for his enterprise and public spirit in this undertaking."
— Gazette, June 9, 1819.
* " The steamboat ' Johnson' passed here on Wednesday last
with troops, etc., for the Yellowstone." — Gazette, May 25, 1819.
" The steamboat ' Jefferson' arrived on Saturday last from
Louisville. She is another of Col. Johnson's boats destined
for the Western expedition, and has been delayed by the
breaking of her machinery." — Gazette, June 23, 1819.
"The ' Western Engineer' left St. Louis on Monday, the 21st
inst., and proceeded on her journey up the Missouri. This
undertaking is worthy of an enlightened and patriotic gov-
ernment, and its success will confer deserved renown both on
its projectors and its executors." — Gazette, June 23, 1819.
NAVIGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
1101
companied by three other United States steamers and
nine keel-boats, bearing a detachment of government
troops. The names of the steamboats and of their
commanders were ' Thomas Jefferson,' Capt. Orfort ;
* R. M. Johnson,1 Capt. Colfax ; and the ' Expedition,'
Capt. Craig.
" The little fleet entered the Missouri with martial
music, display of flags, and salute of cannon. In
honor of the statesman who acquired the territory of
Louisiana for the United States, the precedence was
accorded to the ' Thomas Jefferson,' but some disar-
rangement of its machinery prevented this boat from
taking the lead, and the ' Expedition' secured the
distinction of being the first steamer of this flotilla to
enter 'the Missouri. The 'Thomas Jefferson' was
doomed to a still worse mishap, for not long after
it ran on a snag and sank.
" The steam-escape of the ' Western Engineer' was
shaped like a great serpent coiled on the bow of the
boat in the attitude of springing, and the steam hiss-
ing from the fiery mouth of the python filled the In-
dians with terror. They thought that the wrath of
the Great Spirit had sent this monster for their chas-
tisement."1
The Gazette of the 2d of June contained the fol-
lowing " steamboat news :"
" Arrived at this place on the 1st instant the fast-sailing and
elegant steamboat St. Louis, Capt. Hewes, in twenty-eight days
from New Orleans; passengers, Col. Atkinson and Maj. Mcln-
tosh, of the United States army, and others. The captain has
politely favored us with the following from his log-book : ' On
the oth May left New Orleans. At 3 P.M. passed steamboat
Volcano, bound down. 10th, at 6 A.M., passed steamboat James \
Ross ; at 11 P.M. passed steamboat Jiifleman, at anchor, with
shaft broke. 15th, at 3 P.M., passed steamboat Madison, six |
days from the Falls of the Ohio. 20th, passed steamboat Gov-
ernor Shelby, bound for New Orleans. 22d, run on a sand-bar and >
was detained till next day. 26th, at 7 P.M., at the grand turn
below Island No. 60, passed nine keel-boats, with Sixth' Regi-
ment United States Infantry, commanded by Col. Atkinson,
destined for the Missouri; at 11 P.M. took on board Col. Atkin- |
son and Miij. Mclntosh ; at quarter past eleven run aground, i
and lost anchor and part of cable. 27th, the steamboat Har- \
riet passed while at anchor. 28th, at 3 P.M., passed steamboat
Jefferson, with United States troops, having broke her piston ;
at 4 P.M. repassed the steamboat Harriet.' "
On the 9th the same paper announced that Capt.
Hewes, of the " St. Louis," had gratified the citizens
of St. Louis with a sail to the mouth of the Missouri,
" Last week Col. Henry Atkinson, on seeing the ferry-boats
worked by wheels, immediately conceived the idea of applying
them to the barges bound up the Missouri with United States
troops, stores, etc. In about three days he had one of the
barges rigged with wheels and a trial made, in which she was
run up the Missouri about two mile? and back in thirty min-
utes."— Gazette, June 30, 1819.
1 Professor Waterhouse.
70
and that " the company on board was large and gen-
teel, and the entertainment very elegant."
The return of the " Maid of Orleans," Capt. Tur-
ner, on the 28th of July, and the departure of the
" Yankee," Capt. Hairston, early in December for
New Orleans, complete the record of steamboating
for 1819.
About this time began the long and active career
on the river of Capt. John C. Swon, one of the best-
known names in the steamboat trade of St. Louis.
Capt. Swon was born in Scott County, Ky., May 16,
1803. His father was an early pioneer from Mary-
land, and a large land-owner in Kentucky. He died
: in 1814 while locating lands in St. Francis County,
\ Mo., and young Swon passed under the guardianship
of Col. R. M. Johnson, who had then lately been
Vice-President of the United States. In 1819 the
boy sailed up the Missouri to Council Bluffs, and
was so infatuated with the river that he resolved to
follow it for a livelihood. The wild and romantic
scenery of the Missouri, the high bluffs, dense forests,
and broad prairies offered special attractions to the
eye and fired his youthful imagination. In the fol-
lowing year he returned home and obtained permis-
sion from his guardian to engage in the river trade.
Consequently, in 1821, Capt. Swon obtained a
position as clerk on the " Calhoun," under Capt. Silas
Craig, and for two years was engaged in the St. Louis
and Louisville trade, the boat occasionally making a
trip to New Orleans, when Swon usually had charge
of the vessel himself.
From 1823 to 1830, Capt. Swon was connected
with several of the most famous boats of that period,
among which may be mentioned the " Steubenville,"
" Governor Brown," and " America," under Capt.
Crawford and Capt. Alexander Scott.
In 1825, Capt. Swon, having formed an extremely
favorable idea of the place from his frequent visits,
made St. Louis his permanent home. In 1830 he
temporarily left St. Louis and went to Pittsburgh,
Pa., where, in company with Capt. James Wood, of
that city, he built the " Carrollton." He subse-
quently took charge of that vessel, and ran her in
the St. Louis and New Orleans trade. In 1833 he
built the " Missouri," and commanded her for one
season ; in the next year he built the " Majestic," in
1835 the "Selma," and in 1837 the "St. Louis,"
the largest steamer up to that time ever employed on
the Mississippi.
In 1839 he sold the "St. Louis," and engaged in
the wholesale grocery business in St. Louis with R. A.
Barnes, the firm being Barnes & Swon, but in 1840
he retired from the partnership and resumed his old
1102
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
calling. He then returned to Pittsburgh, and brought
out the " Missouri" in 1841. In August of that year
the boat was destroyed by fire while lying at the
wharf at St. Louis. Undaunted, however, Capt. Swon
went to Louisville, and purchased the " Alexander
Scott" in 1842, and managed her until 1845, when
he sold her, and purchased an interest in the " J. M.
White," which vessel he commanded until 1847,
when he sold her, and proceeded to comply with a
resolution, formed on account of family reasons, to
build just one more boat and then leave the river.
He contracted for the " Aleck Scott," and launched
her in March, 1848, for the Missouri trade. Both
the " Alexander Scott" (previously mentioned) and
the " Aleck Scott" were named in honor of one of
young Swon's earliest captains, Alexander Scott, one
of the best known river-men of that period. Capt.
Swon commanded the " Aleck Scott" until July, 1854,
when he sold her and retired from the river, thus
ending a long, active, and useful career, devoted to the
development of the river interests of Missouri.
In 1857 he purchased a beautiful place at Webster
Station, on the Missouri Pacific, and lived there sev-
eral years in rural quiet. In 1867-68 he disposed of
it and visited Europe. Upon his return he settled
in St. Louis, where he has continued to reside, enjoy-
ing in well- earned ease the fruits of a more than
usually industrious manhood.
Capt. Swon has been twice married. His first wife,
whom he married in 1830, was Anna Kennett, sister
of L. M. Kennett, ex-mayor of St. Louis. Of this
union two children were born, who are now dead.
After three years of singularly happy married life
Mrs. Swon died, and Capt. Swon married Miss Ken-
nett, a cousin of his first wife. This lady died in the
spring of 1882, leaving no living children.
Capt. Swon was chosen superintendent of the Ohio
and Mississippi Railroad in the early stages of that
enterprise, but did not accept the position. He is a
director in the Hope Mining Company, his only busi-
ness connection, although he has been solicited to
assist numerous enterprises. He has taken a lively
interest in the problems of transportation which St.
Louis has had to grapple with, and cherishes an
honest pride in his own labors in that direction,
having done probably as much as any one man to de-
velop the river and steamboat interests of the city
and State. Well preserved and wonderfully fresh for
a man over eighty years of age, he remains one of the
few survivors of the adventurous class of steamboat-
men who aided so largely in building up the river
commerce of the Mississippi valley.
The first steamboat that ascended the upper Mis-
sissippi was the " Virginia," which arrived at Fort
Snelling in May, 1823. The Missouri and upper
Mississippi had now been opened to regular naviga-
tion, and the steamboat traffic of the great river and
its tributaries developed rapidly. On the 27th of
j August, 1825, the Republican announced that there
were two steamboats, the " Brown" and " Magnet,"
now lying here for the purpose of repairing, and
added, " We believe this is the first instance of a
; steamboat's remaining here through the season of
low water." The expansion of the steamboat busi-
ness continued without interruption, and in its issue
of April 19, 1827, the Republican commented upon
i it as follows :
" During the past week our wharf has exhibited a greater
1 show of business than we recollect to have ever before seen,
j and the number of steam and other boats arriving and depart-
i ing has been unprecedented. The immense trade which has
opened between this place and Fevre River at the present
employs, besides a number of keels, six steamboats, to wit:
the 'Indiana,' 'Shamrock,' 'Hamilton,' 'Muskingum,'
' Mexico' and ' Mechanic.' The ' Indiana' and ' Shamrock'
on their return trips have been deeply freighted with lead,
and several keel-boats likewise have arrived with the same
article. Judging from the thousands of people who have
gone this spring to make their fortunes at the lead-mines, we
should suppose that the quantity of lead produced this year
will be tenfold greater than heretofore."
Again, on the 12th of July, the same paper re-
marked that it must be gratifying to every citizen of
St. Louis to witness the steady advancement of the
town, " the number of steamboats that have arrived
and departed during the spring" being cited as " the
; best evidence of the increase of business." During
I 1832 there were eighty arrivals of steamboats at
St. Louis, whose aggregate tonnage amounted to
9520 tons. In 1834 the number of steamboats on
the Mississippi and its tributaries was 230, their ton-
nage aggregating 39,000 tons. There were also
1,426,000 feet of plank, joists and scantling, 1,628,-
000 shingles, 15,000 rails, 1700 cedar logs, 8946
cords of wood, and 95,250 bushels of coal landed
from the boats, together with 12,195 barrels and
sixty half-barrels of flour, 463 barrels and twenty
half-barrels of pork, and 233 barrels and fifty half-
barrels of beef.
In 1836 the " Champion," Capt. Mix, performed
the trip from Vicksburg to Pittsburgh, and thence to
St. Louis, in seven days' running time ; and between
St. Louis and Louisville in fifty hours, " passing the
' Paul Jones' and several other boats with ease."
She was beaten, however, in June of that year by
the " Paul Jones." In announcing this fact the Re-
publican stated that the captain of the " Champion"
(which was an Eastern-built boat) " acknowledges
NAVIGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
1103
his inability to go ahead of our Western boats," and
that he would shortly start with his boat for the At-
lantic cities via New Orleans.
During the same month seventy-six different
steamboats arrived at St. Louis, the aggregate ton-
nage of which was 10,774, the number of entries
being 146, and the wharfage $930. The same ac-
tivity continued in 1837, and the Republican notes
the presence of thirty-three steamboats receiving and
discharging cargo on one day in April, 1837.
The steamboat " North St. Louis" was launched on
the 29th of March, 1837, from the yard of Messrs.
Thomas & Green. This boat was said to have been
a " splendid specimen of the enterprise, the genius,
and the art of our Western citizens," and was regarded
as " the finest boat which has ever floated upon the
Mississippi." *
On the 10th of October, 1838, the subject of es-
tablishing a steamship line from St. Louis to Eastern
cities was considered at a meeting of merchants at
the Merchants' Exchange. John Smith was ap-
pointed chairman, and A. G. Farwell secretary.
The object of the meeting having been stated by
the chair, it was on motion ordered that a committee
of five persons be appointed to prepare resolutions for
the action of the meeting. The chair appointed
Messrs. D. L. Holbrook, N. E. Janney, A. B. Cham-
bers, A. G. Farwell, and R. M. Strother as this com-
mittee.
After a short absence the committee returned and
reported the following :
" Resoh-ed, That the establishment of a line of steamships
from some Eastern port or ports to this city is a subject of deep
interest to the citizens of St. Louis, and that in the opinion of
this meeting it is expedient.
" Ecuolced, That a committee of persons be appointed to
correspond with such individuals in the Eastern cities, and with
such other persons as they may deem proper upon the subject,
and that they be requested to put themselves in possession of
as many facts connected with the proposed enterprise as pos-
sible, and that they report at as early an adjourned meeting as
practicable.
" Kenolred, That a committee of persons be appointed to
collect facts and statistics relating to the import and export
trade of St. Louis, and the necessity of opening a direct trade
with the Eastern ports, its profits and utility, and report at an
adjourned meeting."
The question being upon the adoption of the first
resolution, Messrs. N. Ranney, A. B. Chambers, R.
M. Strother, N. E. Janney, John F. Hunt, and the
chairman severally addressed the meeting, after which
the resolutions were unanimously adopted.
On motion it was ordered that the blank in the
1 The death of Joseph Bates, captain of the steamboat
ville," occurred on the :">th of April, 1837.
; Boon-
second resolution be filled with " five," and that in
third resolution be filled with "fifteen," whereupon
the chair appointed Messrs. A. G. Farwell, A. B.
Chambers, Hezekiah King, J. B. Camden, and E.
Bredell the committee under the second resolution,
and Messrs. Adam B. Chambers, N. E. Janney, D. L.
Holbrook, Reuben M. Strother, William Glasgow, H.
Von Phul, E. H. Beebe, John F. Hunt, N. Ranney,
Edward Walsh, G. K. McGunnegle, J. 0. Agnew,
B. Clapp, E. Tracy, and 0. Rhodes the committee
under the third resolution.
On motion of Capt. N. Ranney, John Smith was
added to the first committee as chairman.
The steamboat and lumber register for 1838 shows
the number of steamers which entered the port of St.
Louis during the year to have been 154, and the ag-
gregate tonnage 22,752 ; the number of entries, 1014 ;
and the wharfage collected, $7279.84.
The steamboat " Ottawa" was the first boat built
on the Illinois. She was constructed in part at Ot-
tawa, added to at Peru, and finished at St. Louis.
She was of the very lightest draught, seventeen inches
light, and had a powerful engine, the design being to
take two keels in tow in low water, the steamer her-
self being light ; so that whenever there were seven-
teen inches of water on the bars, she would-be able
to reach St. Louis with one hundred tons of freight
weekly. Her length was one hundred feet, breadth
twenty, and the cabin was laid off entirely in state-
rooms. The owners resided in Ottawa.
In 1840 the number of steamboats on the Mississippi
and its tributaries was two hundred and eighty-five,
with an aggregate tonnage of forty-nine thousand eight
hundred tons.
The steamboat " Missouri," then the longest boat
on Western waters, visited St. Louis about the 1st of
April, 1841. Her length was two hundred and thirty-
three feet, the width of her hull was thirty feet, and
her entire breadth, guards included, fifty-nine feet.
The depth of her hold was eight and a half feet, and
this was the quantity of water she drew when fully
loaded. Her light draught was five feet four inches.
The diameter of her wheels was thirty-two feet, and
the length of buckets twelve feet. Her cylinders
were twenty-six inches in diameter, with a twelve-foot
stroke. She had two engines and seven forty-two-inch
boilers. She was steered by chains, and was well fur-
nished with hose and other apparatus for the extin-
guishment of fires.
The " Missouri" carried six hundred tons, and was
built at Pittsburgh for and under the direction of
Capt. J. C. Swon, of St. Louis, at a cost of forty-five
thousand dollars.
1104
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
She was intended as a regular trader between St.
Louis and New Orleans, but, as heretofore stated, was
burned at St. Louis in August, 1841.
In 1842 two boat-yards for the construction of
steamboats and other river-craft were in existence
in St. Louis, and during this year the number of
steamboats on the Mississippi and its tributaries was
four hundred and fifty, with an aggregate tonnage of
about ninety thousand tons.1
In 1843 the number was six hundred and seventy-
two, with an aggregate tonnage of one hundred and
thirty-four thousand four hundred, and in addition
to the steamers there were about four thousand flats
and keels. For the year 1844 the enrolled and licensed
tonnage of Western rivers amounted to one hundred
and forty-four thousand one hundred and fifty tons.
Messrs. Harvey, Premeau & Co., under the style of
the St. Louis Fur Company, chartered the steamer j
" Clermont, No. 2," D. G. Taylor commander, in
Jnne, 1846, and the boat sailed for the head-waters |
of the Missouri on the 7th to trade with Sioux and
Blackfeet Indians. The improvements in the con- [
struction of steamboats had been such that the time
consumed in the voyage from New Orleans to St.
Louis, which in early days had occupied weeks, had
in 1844 been reduced to a few days. On the 9th of
May, 1844, the Republican made the following an-
nouncement :
" What has heretofore been merely the speculation of enthu-
siasts has been realized. New Orleans has been brought within
less than four days' travel of St. Louis, — in immediate neighbor-
hood propinquity. The steamboat ' J. M. White' has been the
first to accomplish this extraordinary trip.
" The ' J. M. White' left this port on Monday, April 29th, at
three o'clock P.M., with six hundred tons of freight, and arrived
at Xew Orleans on Friday evening, the 3d inst., being three
days and sixteen hours on her downward trip. She departed
for St. Louis on Saturday, May 4, 1844, at forty minutes after
five o'clock P.M., and arrived on the 8th, having made the trip up
in three days and twenty-three hours, and having been but nine
days on the voyage out and home, including all detention.
" The following are the runs up from wharf to wharf, the
best time ever made by any steamboat on the Western waters .
"From New Orleans to Natchez, 300 miles, 20 h. 40 m.
" " " Vicksburg, 410 miles, 29 h. 55 m.
" " " Montgomery's, 625 miles, 1 day 13 h.
8 m.
" " " Memphis, 775 miles, 2 days 12 h. 8m.
" " " Cairo, 1000 miles, 3 days 6 h. 44 m.
" " " St. Louis, 1200 miles, 3 days 23 h. 9m."
One of the leading steamboat men of St. Louis
about this time was Capt. W. W. Greene. William
Wallace Greene was born in Marietta, Ohio, in 1798.
His father, Charles Greene, was of the Rhode Island
1 Elliot R. Hopkins, collector of the port, died on the 18th of
September, 1842.
family of Greenes which furnished the country one of
its most successful Revolutionary generals. He was
a merchant in Marietta from 1796 to 1812, and also
engaged in the building of ships on a large scale for
those days, constructing three ships, two or three
brigs, and several schooners, which he owned in con-
nection with R. J. Meigs, Col. Lord, and Benjamin
Ives Gilman, prominent men of that period. Charles
Greene's wife was Elizabeth Wallace, of Philadelphia.
From these parents William Wallace Greene inher-
ited sterling qualities of heart and mind and elevated
religious principles. Reverses in the large shipping
interests of his father threw him early in life upon his
own resources, and with no capital save energy, a good
character, sound common sense, and a fair education,
he left home for busier and more promising fields.
He first went to Dayton, Ohio, where for seven years
he was employed in the general merchandise estab-
lishment of his cousins, Steele & Pierce. He then
removed to Louisville, Ky., and New Albany, Ind.,
continuing in the mercantile business until 1820,
when he engaged as clerk on the steamboat " Ohio,"
running in the New Orleans trade, and for two years
was employed on the river. In 1822 he again em-
barked in mercantile pursuits at Hamilton, Ohio.
In the following year he removed to Cincinnati and
commenced business as a commission and forwarding
merchant. Soon after, in connection with his brother
Robert, he built the low-pressure steamer " De Witt
Clinton," the fastest boat of her day on the Western
waters. When finished he took command of her, but
soon resigned her to his uncle, Maj. Robert Wallace,
of Louisville, Ky. The Greene brothers then built
the low-pressure steamers " Native" and " Fairy," and
followed in quick succession with others, until they
owned a large flotilla of very fine and fast boats, some
engaged in the Cincinnati and Louisville trade, others
in the Cincinnati trade, and still others in the Ar-
kansas, Missouri, and Illinois Rivers. Capt. W. W.
Greene commanded several of these vessels, and was
as well and favorably known as any officer who navi-
gated the great rivers of the West. In 1832-33 he
commanded the high-pressure steamer " Superior,"
employed in the Cincinnati and New Orleans trade.
In 1834, Capt. Greene, in connection with his bro-
ther-in-law, Capt. Joseph Conn, built the " Cygnet,"
with vibrating cylinders ; and while running this
boat they removed to St. Louis and made that city
their residence and base of operations. Greene was
captain, and Conn was clerk ; and so officered, the
" Cygnet" for several years did a prosperous business
on the Mississippi, Arkansas, and Illinois Rivers.
In 1837, Capts. Greene and Conn sold the " Cygnet,"
«
n
NAVIGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
1105
and, in connection with James R. Sprigg, engaged in
the auction and commission business under the firm-
name of Conn, Sprigg & Greene (a partnership easily
recalled by many of the older citizens and one of the
leading houses of that period). The firm was also at
times interested as part owner in the steamers " Cas-
pian," " Vandalia," " Oregon," and " Osage," all em-
ployed in the St. Louis and New Orleans trade.
Capt. Greene enjoyed in a marked degree the con-
fidence of the community. In 1842 (Bernard Pratte
being mayor) he was appointed harbor-master; in 1845,
local agent of the Post-Office Department ; and in 1849
surveyor and collector of the port of St. Louis, which
office he resigned in 1853 to accept the presidency of
the Globe Mutual Insurance Company, to which he
was annually elected for many years. All who knew
him will remember with what unfailing urbanity and
fidelity he discharged these important public trusts.
In 1827, Capt. Greene was married to Sarah A.
Conn, daughter of an old and well-known citizen of
Cincinnati. He died April 16, 1873, leaving two
daughters.
Capt. Greene was an honored, consistent, and use-
ful member of the Presbyterian Church. For many
years he was a ruling elder, and brought to the duties
of that office the zeal and fidelity which he always
exhibited in his secular employments. In all the
relations of life, in fact, Capt. Greene was a man of
the strictest rectitude, untiring energy, and ready gen-
erosity. His death was that of the resigned and hope-
ful Christian, weary, however, under the accumulated
burdens of years.
The following resume of steamboating at St. Louis
is from the Republican of Jan. 5, 1847 :
" During the year 1845 there were 213 steamboats engaged
in the trade of St. Louis, with an aggregate tonnage of 42,922
tons, and 2050 steamboat arrivals, with an aggregate tonnage
of 358,045 tons, to which may be added 346 keel- and flat-boats.
During the year 1846 there were 251 steamboats, having an
aggregate tonnage of 53,867 tons, engaged in the St. Louis com-
merce. These boats made 2411 trips to our port, making an
aggregate tonnage of 407,824 tons. In the same year there
were 881 keel- and flat-boat arrivals.
" To exhibit the time of their arrival, and their tonnage, and
to show at what period the heaviest portion of our commerce is
carried on, we subjoin a statement of the arrivals for each
month :
Arrived. Steamers. Tonnage. ^K^efs"*1
January 53 8,917 6
February 152 26,111 35
March 158 31,580 22
April 195 49,334 44
May 372 78,124 68
June 295 60,043 38
July 193 46,554 68
August 211 37,553 75
September 171 28,331 72
October 237 37,538 162
November 185 31,346 171
December 190 32,393 120
"The trade in St. Louis in 1846 employed, as we have stated,
251 boats, of an aggregate tonnage of 53,867 tons. If we esti-
mate the cost of these boats at $50 per ton, which is below the
true average, we have an investment in the shipping of this city
of $2,693,350; and if we allow an average of 25 persons, in-
cluding all those employed directly upon the boat, to each vessel,
we have a total of 6275 persons engaged in their navigation.
Add to these the owners, workmen, builders, agents, shippers,
and all those connected or interested in this commerce, from the
time the timber is taken from the forest or the ore from the
mine, arid the list will be swelled to many thousands."
The number of enrolled and licensed steamboats on
Western rivers in 1845 was 789, with an aggregate
tonnage of 159,713 tons.
The steamers running on the upper Mississippi
from 1823 to 1844 were used mainly to transport
supplies for the Indian traders and the troops stationed
at Fort Snelling. Previous to the arrival of the
" Virginia" at Fort Snelling in May, 1823, keel-boats
were used for this trade, and sixty days from St.
Louis to Fort Snelling was considered a good trip.
The report of the Secretary of the Treasury for 1846
makes the following exhibit of enrolled and licensed
tonnage of the West: New Orleans, 180,504.81 ; St.
Louis, 22,425.92 ; Pittsburgh, 17,162.94; Cincinnati,
15,312.86 ; Louisville, 8172.26 ; Nashville, 2809.23 ;
Wheeling, 2666.76; total, 249,054.77 tons. Apply-
ing to this volume of tonnage the average of 210
tons to a steamboat, there were 1190 employed on
Western rivers, which at $65 per ton cost 816,188,561.
Supposing these boats to run 220 days in a year at a
cost of $125 per day, their annual expense amounted
to $32,725,000, and they employed 41 ,650 persons.
The cost of the river transportation in 1846 was esti-
mated at$41,154,194.1
The rapid increase of the steamboating interest of
St. Louis is thus set forth in the Republican of the
27th of January, 1848 :
" In no department of business has the rapid growth of St.
Louis as a commercial port been made so undeniably manifest
as in her shipping by means of steamboats. The first steam-
boat arrival at St. Louis was in 1817. At that time the whole
commerce of New Orleans was carried on by about twenty barges
of one hundred tons each, and one hundred and sixty keel- and
flat-boats of about thirty tons each, making a total tonnage of
from six thousand to seven thousand tons. In 1834 the whole
number of steamboats on the Mississippi and its tributaries was
two hundred and thirty, with a total tonnage of thirty-nine
thousand tons. In 1840 the number was two hundred and
eighty-five, with a tonnage of forty-nine thousand eight hun-
dred. In 1842 the number was four hundred' and fifty, with a
tonnage of about ninety thousand tons. In 1843 the number
rose to six hundred and seventy-two, with a tonnage of one
hundred and thirty-four thousand four hundred. In 1846, by
reference to the report of the Secretary of the Treasury of the
1 The Commerce and Navigation of the Valley of the Missis-
sippi, p. 7.
1106
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
licensed and enrolled steamboat tonnage, the number is stated
at eleven hundred and ninety, with a tonnage of two hundred
and forty-nine thousand and fifty-four tons.
"In 1839 there were one thousand four hundred and seventy-
six steamboat arrivals at this port, with a total tonnage of
two hundred and thirteen thousand one hundred and ninety-
three tons. In 1840 there were seventeen hundred and twenty-
one arrivals ; tonnage, two hundred and forty-four thousand
one hundred and eighty-six. In 18-44 there were two thou-
sand one hundred and five arrivals; tonnage, four hundred
and sixty-seven thousand eight hundred and twenty-four. In
eight years, from 1839 to the end of 1847, the number of steam-
boat arrivals and the aggregate tonnage have more than doubled.
The arrivals in 1847 exceed those of 1839 by four hundred and
eighty-nine, and the tonnage by three hundred and seventy-one
thousand four hundred and forty -six tons."1
In 1851 three steamboats went up the Minnesota
River, and in 1852 one boat ran regularly up that
river during the season. In 1853 the business re-
quired an average of one boat per day. In 1854 the
trade had largely increased, and in 1855 the arrivals
of steamers from the Minnesota numbered 119.
In 1852 the novel application of the steamboat to
the purposes of a circus was made by Capt. Jack,
well known to thousands of the " old-timers" in the
Mississippi valley from his long connection with the
show business. In that year he was engaged in build-
ing at Cincinnati the great " Floating Palace" for
Spalding & Rogers' circus, among the oldest and most
successful managers in that line in the United States.
Capt. Jack purchased an interest in the floating palace,
and began his career as a showman at Pittsburgh.
The boat carried an amphitheatre, in which the eques-
trian performances took place, which was capable of
seating one thousand persons. From Pittsburgh they
descended the Ohio and Mississippi to New Or-
leans, giving exhibitions at all places along the banks.
From New Orleans they steamed across the gulf to
Mobile, and from Mobile the palace ascended the
Alabama River to the head of navigation at Wetunka,
and, returning, went up the Black Warrior to Colum-
bia. Returning to Mobile and New Orleans, they
started on the spring campaign up the Mississippi,
and, arriving at St. Louis, exhibited at the foot of
Poplar Street to an audience of twenty-five hundred
people for three days. The crowd was so immense
that they charged one dollar " permission," instead of
admission tickets, to those who were unable to get in,
for the privilege of looking in at the windows. G.
R. Spalding was the manager of the concern, and Mr.
Van Norton the general agent. The palace continued
to exhibit successfully along the Mississippi, Missouri,
and Ohio Rivers until 1860, when the boat was
beached in New Orleans. Capt. Jack then engaged
on the " Banjo" with a French Zouave troupe, which
exhibited on all the principal tributaries of the lower
Mississippi, up the Red River, the Cache, La Fourche,
and Atchafalaya, and on the Mississippi at Fort
Adams. On the 19th of July, 1862, they entered
the boundaries of the Southern Confederacy, and
at New Iberia and Franklin, La., gave shows for
the benefit of the soldiers of the Confederate States.
In 1862, Spalding & Rogers organized their outfit
for South America. Mr. Spalding offered Capt. Jack
an interest in the venture, advising him at the same
time that it was hazardous. " You," said Mr. Spald-
ing, " are now well fixed, and may lose all, but if we
lose all we can stand it." Capt. Jack went into busi-
ness for himself, and lost largely in Confederate cur-
rency, but came out finally very successful. He was
from Ohio, and arrived in St. Louis in 1849 with but
one dollar in his pocket. Spalding & Rogers returned
from their South American venture in 1866, having
made money. They returned with all their company
except one lady, who died on the trip. Capt. Jack
owed his success in life to his former employe, Gr. R.
Spalding, who died in New Orleans in February,
1880. Mrs. Spalding died six months afterwards,
leaving Charles Spalding, of St. Louis, who was their
only living son, as their heir.
During the season of 1856 trade upon the Missis-
sippi was very prosperous, and the arrivals at St. Paul
exhibited an increase over any previous year, notwith-
standing the season of navigation was much shorter
than that of the year before.2
In the year 1870s the most remarkable event which
1 Capt. Alfred Rodgers, formerly a commander of one of the
finest steamboats on the river, and for the last year or eigh-
teen months of his life engaged in the commission and produce
business in St. Louis, died on the 13th of June, 1849.
1 In July, 1857, the steamer " Louisiana," commanded by
Capt. J. Harry Johnson, with S. D. Bradley, clerk, and Capt.-
D. R. Asbury, pilot; Joseph Brennan, engineer; and Hugh
Maney, mate, fired her gun from a point between the shot-
tower and water-works at eight minutes after four o'clock A.M.,
and arrived at Keokuk, a distance of two hundred and forty
miles, making the run all the way against a swift current, by
eight o'clock and sixteen minutes P.M., in sixteen hours and
eight minutes. On her memorable run the " Louisiana" landed
at Hannibal, and lost some twenty-four minutes. She beat the
fastest time ever before made, that of the " Hannibal City,"
forty-one minute?.
"The " Jennie Bonnie," a little yacht commanded by Capt.
Carpenter, arrived at St. Louis June 14, 1870, from New
Orleans, in tow of the " Mary Alice." Capt. Carpenter had
started over a year previously from the coast of Maine, and had
made a voyage of over twenty-six thousand miles, including
the survey of harbors and inlets, terminated by his arrival at
St. Louis. The crew consisted only of the captain and a com-
panion. The vessel took a most circuitous route, up and down
all the bays and inlet? of the Atlantic coast, until her arrival
NAVIGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
1107
had as yet occurred illustrating the degree of excellence
attained in the art of boat-building, was the celebrated
trial of speed between the steamers" Robert E. Lee" and
" Natchez," in a race from New Orleans to St. Louis.
Perhaps no event in the whole history of steamboat-
ing on the Mississippi attracted so much attention.
For many days the press in the West was filled with
references to it, and many newspapers in the far East
esteemed it of sufficient importance to notice the
progress of the two leviathans, not only by publishing
long telegrams, but also editorially. The boats ar-
rived at St. Louis on the 4th of July, having made
an unparalleled run of more than twelve hundred
miles. It is believed that not less than two hundred
thousand persons witnessed the arrival of the " R. E.
Lee," which was the first to reach the goal.1
at New Orleans. After remaining at St. Louis a couple of days
the "Jennie Bonnie" went to St. Paul, and thence across the
grand portage to Lake Superior, through Lakes Huron, Erie,
and Ontario into the St. Lawrence, and around to the coast of
Maine to the point where she started from.
1 " Quite an excitement," says a St. Louis journal, " was created
in steamboat circles by the trials of speed between the steamers
' R. E. Lee' and ' Natchez.' For years the time of the ' J. M. White'
from New Orleans to St. Louis had stood unequaled, and among
river-men there was a desire to know if any improvement in
the building of fast, and at the same time good, business boats
had been made. While we cannot see that anything was gained
by the trial, we place the time of each boat on record for the
benefit of those interested.
1844.—' J. M. White's' run :
From New Orleans to Miles. Dnys. Hours. Min.
Natchez 300 .. 20 40
Vicksburg 410 1 5 55
Montgomery Point... 625 1 23 8
Memphis 775 2 12 8
Cairo 1000 3 6 44
St. Louis 1200 3 23 9
1870.—' Natchez' time, July, 1870 :
From New Orleans to Days. Hours. Min.
Natchez 17 52
Vicksburg 26
Head of Thresher Field 24 4
Napoleon 1 18 15
White River 1 19 30
Helena 2 2 35
Memphis 2 9 40
Head of Island No. 10 3
Hickman 3 1 43
Cairo 3 4 24
St. Louis 3 21 58
1870.—' Lee's' time, July, 1870 :
From New Orleans to Days. Hours. Min.
Carrollton
Harry's Hill....
Red Church
Bonnet Carre ...
College Point...,
Donaldsonville.
Plaquemine
Baton Rouge...
Bayou Sara
Red River
Stamps'
Briers
Ashley
Natchez
1
1
2
3
4
7
8
10
12
13
15
16
17
27J
39
38
50
59
5
25
26
56
56
51i
29
11
Steamboat Casualties. — Neither the exact num-
ber of steamboats lost nor a reasonably accurate ap-
proximation of the number of deaths resulting from
steamboat accidents on Western waters will ever be
ascertained, for until within a few years past but little
effort was made to preserve the records and statistics
of such disasters. The most reliable record of ex-
Days.
Hours.
Min.
Cole's Creek
19
21
Waterproof ,
19
53
Rooney
20
45
21
2
Grand Gulf.
22
6
Hard Times
22
18
Vicksburg
1
38
1
2
37
1
3
49
Lake Providence
1
5
47
Greenville
1
10
55
Napoleon
1
16
22
White River
1
16
56
Australia
1
19
Helena
1
23
25
2
6
9
Island No. 37
2
9
Island No. 26
2
15
30
Island No. 14 ,
2
17
23
2
19
50
Island No. 10
2
20
37
Island No. 8
... 2
21
25
. Lucas' Bend
3
, 3
1
St. Louis
3
18
14
" Not satisfied with the result of the trips to St. Louis, a race
against time was arranged for in October, from New Orleans to
Natchez, in which the ' Natchez' came out victorious.
"Time of the 'Lee' and 'Natchez' from New Orleans to
Natchez, October, 1870 :
' NATCHEZ.'
From New Orleans to H. M. S.
Carrollton 25 30
Hill's 55 45
RedChurch 1 29 45
Bonnet CarrS 2 27 30
College Point 3 29 30
Donaldsonville 4 34 15
Plaquemine „ 6 32 45
Baton Rouge 7 49 30
Bayou Sara 10 1 45
Red River 12 21 30
Stamps' , 13 23 30
Bryan's 15 26 ....
Henderson's 16 8 32
Natchez 16 51 30
'R. E. LEE.'
H. M. S.
.. 25 30
.. 54 15
1 28 15
2 22 15
3 26 15
4 28 15
7 41 15
9 53 15
12 23 ...
13 23 30
13 32 ...
16 15 40
16 59 5
"Capt. Kannon feeling confident his boat could do still better,
made one more run against time, and regained the reputation
of the ' Lee.' The time was as follows :
From New Orleans to H. M. S.
Carrollton .......................... 26 25
Harry Hill's.. ..................... 54 43
Red Church ..................... 1 29 5
Bonnet Carre ................... 2 25 5
College Point .................... 3 28 20
Convent ........................... 3 37
Donaldsonville .................. 4 30 55
Bayou Goula ..................... 5 40 28
Plaquemine ..................... 6 26 50
Baton Rouge ....... ............ 7 40 42
Bayou Sara ...................... 9 48 20
Stamps' ........................... 13 11 55
Henderson's ..................... 15 55 25
Natchez .............................. 16 36 47"
1108
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
plosions up to 1871 was made up by Capt. S. L.
Fisher and Capt. James McCord, both well-known
citizens of St. Louis and practical steamboat men.1
This record begins in the year 1816, and is as follows :
STEAMBOAT EXPLOSIONS FOB FIFTY-FIVE YEARS.
The curious revelation is made by these figures
that there have been more explosions of steam-boilers
on Western steamboats, in proportion to the number
of boats engaged in business on the rivers, since
Congress enacted laws for the regulation and guidance
of engineers on steam-vessels ; and the list of casual-
ties also shows that explosions were attended by more
fatal results after that legislation than previously
when engineers had to trust entirely to their skill
and judgment in the management of the engine and
regulating the pressure in the boilers. By contrasting
the number of casualties for a period of eighteen years
preceding the passage of the law of 1852 by Con-
gress with the number of casualties for a period of
eighteen years subsequent to the adoption of the
law, the difference can be more readily perceived.
During the first-named period twenty-seven boats
exploded their boilers, and one thousand and two
persons were killed. During a period of eighteen
years subsequent to the passage of the law fifty-four
boats met with disaster by explosion, and three thou-
sand one hundred persons were killed.
From Jan. 1 to Nov. 19, 1841, the following boats
engaged in the St. Louis trade were lost :
The Vermont sank between St. Louis and
the mouth of the Ohio, valued at $5 000
Year. Name of Boat.
Number of
Lives Lost.
Year.
Name of Boat.
Number of
Lives Lost.
is 111 Wellington
9
30
20
60
29
17
9
21
50
85
100
55
7
26
25
9
23
25
6
13
30
74
53
28
14
6
150
13
100
9
19
18
8
40
60
27
20
3
15
19
40
30
5
3
14
1857
1857
1857
1857
i 1857
1858
1859
1859
1859
1860
1860
1860
1860
1861
1861
1862
1862
1862
1862
1862
1882
1863
1864
1864
1865
1865
1865
1865
1866
1866
1866
1866
1867
1868
1870
1870
1870
1870
1870
1871
1871
1871
1871
1871
12
3
20
12
8
1
70
45 .
2
8
2
23
2
4
80
150
4
1
3
1
3
4
5
1647
5
11
18
12
7
11
8
5
22
31
11
5
36
13
7
9
60
1
7
1
1817 Constitution
Kentucky
is-'") Teche
1830 i Helen McGregor..
1836 Ben Franklin
1836 Rob Roy
Cataract
Buckeye Belle
Titania
1837 Chariton
Princess
1837 Dubuque8
1837 Black Hawk
Hiawatha
is:;-. Moselle
John Calhoun
Sain Gaty
1838 Oronoco . ...
1838 Gen Brown
Ben Lewis
18.38 Augusta
H. T. Gilmore
Madonna
1839 George Collier3....
1839 Wellington
Ben Sherrod
1838 Walker
Pennsylvania
Monongahela
Com. Perry
1840 Persia
1844 Lucy Waller
1845 Elizabeth
Advance
Isro ...
1845 Marquette
Ollie Sullivan
1846 H. W. Johnston..
1847 Edward Bates
1848 Concordia . ..
Ben Levi
1849 Virginia
Nimrod
1849 Cutter
R. J. Lockwood...
W. R. Carter
1849 Louisiana
Rienzi sank between St. Louis and
the mouth of the Ohio 8,000
1850 St Joseph
Gen. Lytle
1850 Anglo-Norman....
1850 Kate Fleming
1850 Knoxville
Missouri
Peoria sank between St. Louis and
the mouth of the Ohio . . 5000
Phantom
Cumberland
Chester sank between St. Louis and
the mouth of the Ohio 20 000
1S51 Oregon
Harry Dean
1852 Pocahontas
Eclipse
Homer sank between St. Louis and
the mouth of the Ohio 6,000
1852 Thomas Stone
1852 Glencoe
Magnolia
City of Memphis..
David White
Maid of Orleans sank between St.
Louis and the mouth of the Ohio 25,000
Oregon sank between St. Louis and
the mouth of the Ohio 20 000
1852 Saluda
1852 Franklin
1853 Bee
Maggie .Hays
Iberville
1854 Kate Kinney
1854 Timor
Keokuk sank between St. Louis and
the mouth of the Ohio 6 000
Judge Wheeler
W. R.Arthur
Rob Roy
1854 Reindeer
Wm. Paris sank between St. Louis
and the mouth of the Ohio 12,000
Raven
A. M. Phillips sank between St. Louis
and the mouth of the Ohio . 6 000
New State
1 •*.">(! Metropolis
Tohula sank between St. Louis and
the mouth of the Ohio 15,000
' The Fifth Annual Report of the St. Louis Chamber of Com-
merce, for 1860, has no reference to or mention of steamboat
casualties.
1 The " Dubuque,'' Capt. Smoker, was destroyed on the
Mississippi River while on her voyage from St. Louis to
Galena, Aug. 15, 1837, near Muscatine Bar, eight miles below
Bloomington. The accident was caused by the explosion of
the boiler on the larboard side, probably on account of some
defect in material or workmanship. The steamboat " Adven-
ture," arriving in a few hours after the explosion, took the
" Dubuque" in tow to Bloomington. The killed were John
Littleton, Isaac Deal, Felix Pope, Charles Kelly, Noah Owen,
Jesse Johnson, James C. Carr, George McMurtry, Francis
Pleasants, Henry A. Carr, John C. Hamilton, Joseph Brady,
John Boland, Joseph L. Sanes, L. B. Sanes, Martin Shough-
nohoy, George Clix, David Francour, and Mrs. M. Shaugh-
nessy and child.
* When the " George Collier," while on her way, May 6,
U. S. Mail sank between St. Louis and
the mouth of the Ohio 15,000
Brazil sank on the upper Mississippi 8,000
Caroline sank below mouth of Ohio 35 000
Chief Magistrate sank below mouth of
Ohio 15000
Baltic sank below mouth of Ohio 12,000
Malta sank on the Missouri 15,000
Missouri burnt at the wharf. 50,000
$290,000
1839, from New Orleans to St. Louis, was about eighty miles
below Natchez, her piston-rod gave way. The cylinder-head
was broken, and the boiler-stand carried away. The steam
escaping scalded forty-five persons, of whom twenty-six died
that day, as follows : T. J. Spalding, Ch. Brooks, William Blake,
C. Herring, Mrs. E. Welch and two children, S. O'Brien and
wife, S. J. Brogua, John Idida, D. J. Rose, D. Groe, F. Gross,
J. B. Bossuet, P. Smith, Joseph Lawrence, Charlotte Fletcher
and brother, Bilch, and six others unknown.
NAVIGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
1109
In De Bows Review a list of disasters to steam-
boats is given which, though made from "very defec-
tive returns," has not overdrawn the picture of death,
ruin, and suffering which explosions, collisions, and
carelessness have inflicted on the people of this coun-
try who traveled on Western waters. This list in
the Review for 1849 extended back many years. It is
4. Carelessness or ignorance of those intrusted with the man-
agement of the boiler.
In this class :
Racing 1
Incompetent engineers 2
Old boilers 6
Stopping off water 1
Carelessness 22 — 32
Dates and Numbers of Explosions.
as follows :
Whole number of boats on which explosions have oc-
1816 3
1834 1
1817 4
1835 10
1819 1
1836 13
1820 . 1
1837 13
1821 1
1838 11
Officers " " 31 57
1822 1
1839 3
Crew " " 25 103
1825 2
1840 8
Whole number killed 164 1,805
1826 3
1841 . 7
" " wounded 111 1,015
1827 2
1842 7
Total amount of damages 75 $997,650
1828 1
1843 9
Average number of passengers killed in the enumer-
1829 4
1844 4
1830 12
1845 11
Average number of officers killed in the enumerated
1831 2
1846 7
1832 1
1847 12
Average number of crew killed in the enumerated
1833 5
1848 12
Date given in 177 cases ; not s
Pecuniary loss, 233 cases, at $1
Loss of life, 233 cases, at 11 ea<
Wounded, 233 cases, at 9 each.
ated in 56; total 233
Average number killed in the enumerated cases 11
Average number wounded in the enumerated cases.... 9
3,202 each $3,090,366
)h 2,563
The cause is stated in 98 cases; not stated in 125;
2097
Total killed and wounded
4660
1. Excessive pressure, gradually increased, was the
The fate of boats emplo
is traced in the Western
lows :
344 worn out or abandonee
238 snagged or otherwise s
68 burnt
yed in the Mississippi trade
Boatman for 1848, as fol-
2. The presence of unduly heated metals was the
3 Defective construction was the cause of. 33
4. Carelessness or ignorance was the cause of. 32
5. Accidental (rolling of boat) was the cause of. 1
unk 34£ "
Nature of the Accidents.
10 "
17 lost by collision
2} "
The seventeen boats which
" Washington," •' Union," "At
" Cotton Plant," " Tallyho," "
"Alabama," "Hornet," " Ka
"Huntress," " Gen. Robinson,'
Average age of boats worn
nearly.
Average age of boats sunk, bu
nearly.
Boats of which we have no
the accounts obtained.
Bull
Built in Pittsburgh distric
" Cincinnati "
" Louisville "
" Nashville "
" other places
^4
lad their boilers burst were the
as," " Caledonia," " Porpoise,"
Tricolor," " Car of Commerce,"
nawha," " Helen McGregor,"
"Arkansas," and "Teche."
out or abandoned, five yeara
rnt, or otherwise lost, four years
dates of loss are calculated by
di>ig.
t 304.
Burstin"1 steam-chests , 1
Bolt and boiler forced out 1
Blew out boiler-head 4
Not stated 38
Total 233
Classification of Causes.
1. Under pressure within the boiler, the pressure being grad-
ually increased. In this class are the cases marked "excessive
pressure."
2. Presence of unduly heated metal within the boiler. In
this class are included
221
103
19
37
Total
.. fi.<U
Deposits 2 — 16
3. Defective construction of the boiler and its appendages.
Improper or defective material:
In this class are included cast-iron
Number of Scats built in each of the following years:
1811 1 1S25 39
1812 0
1826 60
1813 1
1827 24
1814 2
1828 35
1816 5
1829 55
1817 8
1830 43
Bad workmanship :
Want of proper gauge-cocks 3
1818 31
1831 68
1819 34
1832 . .. 80
1820 9
1833 48
Detective flue 1
1821 7
1834 59
Extending wire walls 1
1822 10
1835 52
Pipe badlv constructed 1
182S 14
Tntnl fi84.
Want of step-joints on pipe 1 — 7
1824 13
Defective boiler (nature of defect not
stated) 11
The following is a compilation of the number of
boats lost up to 1850 :
Total in this class.... 33
71
1110
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
From 1810 to 1820
" 1820 to 1830
" 1830 to 1840
" 1840 to 1850
Boats whose date of loss is unknown
Total.
The tonnage of 480 of the above boats, as
ascertained by record
Tonnage, supposed
Total.
3
37
184
270
80
576
68,048
17,210
85,258
Original cost of boats lost by sinking, as as-
certained $6,348,940
Supposed original cost of 102 not accounted
for 765,000
Total original cost 7,113,940
Total depreciation while in service 3,665,890
Final loss 3,681,297
The list of boats destroyed by fire comprises 166. The orig-
inal cost of these 166 steamers was $1,010,854.
The following are some of the more noteworthy
disasters to St. Louis vessels :
In March, 1823, the "Tennessee," Capt, Camp-
bell, was lost and thirty persons drowned. In Decem-
ber of the same year the " Cincinnati," on her way
from St. Louis to New Orleans, ran on a snag below
Ste. Genevieve and sank. No lives were lost.
In the latter part of April, 1832, the " Talisman,"
lying in port at St. Louis, was burned to the water's
edge. Ou the 24th of October, 1834, the " Missouri
Belle" collided with the " Boone's Lick" and sank
almost immediately, thirty persons being drowned.
The "Shepherdess," from Cincinnati for St. Louis,
struck a snag on the 4th of January, 1844, in Ca-
hokia Bend, within three miles of Market Street
wharf, St. Louis, and sank. The disaster occurred
about eleven o'clock at night, and as most of the pas-
sengers had retired to their cabins and the boat sank
rapidly, the loss of life was very great.
On the 10th of March, 1848, the steamers "Ava-
lanche,'' "Hibernian," "John J. Hardin,"and " La-
clede," with two barges, were burned at the Levee near
the foot of Washington Street, St. Louis ; and on the
9th of May the steamers " Mail," " Missouri Mail,"
" Lightfoot," and " Mary" were burned at their
wharf in St. Louis.
The following boats were burned at St. Louis
during the year 1849, excepting at the time of the
great fire in May :
Algoran, July 29th $18,000
Dubuque, July 29th 8,000
Highlander, May 1st 14,000
Mary. July 29ih 3(1,000
Phoenix, July 29th 16,1100
Sun Francisco, July 29th 28,000
Accidents to Steamboats which were afterwards raised and re-
pa ired.
" Buena Vista," took fire at Kaskaskia landing ; cargo greatly
damaged by water ; boat saved from burning by the exertions of
her officers and crew.
"Governor Briggs," struck a wreck and sunk in backing out
from the wharf at St. Louis July 12th; afterwards raised and
repaired.
" Magnet," collapsed connection pipe and flue at St. Louis
August 8th ; afterwards repaired.
" San Francisco," exploded a boiler at St. Louis May 30th,
killing and scalding several persons; afterwards burned at the
same place on July 29th.
Twenty-three vessels were burned at the wharf in
St. Louis at the time of the great fire on May 17,
1849, as follows:
"American Eagle," Cossen, master, Keokuk and Upper Mis-
sissippi packet, valued at $14,000, total loss; insured for $3500
in Pittsburgh; no cargo.
"Alice," Kennett, master, Missouri River packet, valued at
$18,000, total loss; insured for $12,000,— $9000 in city offices,
balance Eirst; cargo valued at $1000.
" Alexander Hamilton," Hooper, master, Missouri River
packet, valued at $15,000, total loss; insured for $10,500 in
Eastern offices ; no cargo.
" Acadia," John Russell, master, Illinois River packet, val-
ued at $4000, total loss; fully insured in Eastern offices; cargo
fifty barrels molasses and sundry small lots of merchandise, val-
ued at $1000.
"Boreas, No. 3," Bernard, master, Missouri River packet,
valued at $14,500, total loss; insured for $11, 500 in city offices;
no cargo.
" Belle Isle," Smith, master, New Orleans trade, valued at
$10,000, total loss; insured for $8000 in the Columbus agency
at New Orleans and another office; no cargo.
"Eliza Stewart," 11. McKee, master, Missouri River trade,
valued at $9000, total loss; insured for nearly the full value, —
$4500 in the Nashville agency, bain nee in the city ; no cargo.
" Eudora," Ealer, master, New Orleans and St. Louis trade,
valued at $16,000, total loss; insured for $10,500, all in city
offices; no cargo.
" Edward Bates," Randolph, master, Keokuk packet, valued
at §22,500, total loss; insured for $15,000, all in city offices; no
cargo.
" Frolic" (tow-boat), Ringling, master, valued at $1500, total
loss; no insurance ; no cargo.
" General Brook" (tow-boat), Ringling, master, valued at
$1500, total lo.js; no insurance ; no cargo.
" Kit Carson," Goddin, master, Missouri river packet, valued
at $16,000, total loss; insured for $8000, if not more, in city
offices; cargo valued at $3000.
'• Mauieluke," Sinithers, master, New Orleans and St. Louis
trade, valued at $30,000, total loss; insured for $20,000,— $8000
in Louisville, $5000 in Columbus agency, $7000 in St. Louis ;
no cargo.
"Mandan," Beers, master, Missouri river trader, valued at
$14,000, total loss; insured for $10,500, all in city offices; no
cargo.
" Montauk," Legrand Morehouse, master, Upper Mississippi
trader, valued at $16,000, total loss; insured for $10,000,— $5000
here, balance in agencies; cargo valued at $8000.
" Martha," D. Finch, master, Missouri river trader, valued
at $10,000, total loss; fully insured; cargo valued at $30,000,
also insured.
" Prairie State," Baldwin, master, Illinois river packet, val-
ued at $26,000, total loss ; insured in Eastern offices for $18,000 ;
cargo valued at $3000.
'•Red Wing," Barger, master, Upper Mississippi trade, val-
ued at $6000, total loss; no insurance; cargo valued at $3000.
NAVIGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
1111
"St. Peters," Ward, master, Upper Mississippi trade, valued
at $12,000, total loss; insured for $9000 in the Nashville and
Louisville agencies; no cargo.
" Sarah," Young, master, New Orleans and St. Louis trade,
valued sit $35,000, total loss; insured for $20,000 at Cincinnati;
cargo valued at $30,000.
" Taglioni," Marshall, master, Pittsburgh and St. Louis trade,
valued at $20,000, total loss; insured for nearly the full value
in Pittsburgh; cargo fifty tons of iron, five hundred kegs of
nails, and sundry lots of merchandise, valued at from $12,000
to $15,000.
" Timour," Miller, master, Missouri river trade, valued at
$25,000, total loss ; insured for $18,000,— $4000 in the city offices,
the balance East; cargo valued at $6000.
" White Cloud," Adams, master, New Orleans and St. Louis
trade, valued at $3000, total loss; fully insured; no cargo.
The steamboat " Andrew Jackson" was destroyed
by fire while lying at Illinoistown on Aug. 7, 1850.
She was an old boat and insured for six thousand dol-
lars. Five other boats narrowly escaped being con-
sumed. The steamboat " Governor Briggs" was dam-
aged by collision with the " Allegheny Mail," near St.
Louis, on January 13th. The " Mustang" was burned
to the water's edge at St. Louis on May 8th. She was
rebuilt, but afterwards lost by snagging in the Mis-
souri, near Brunswick, early in October. The " Ohio"
blew out a mud-valve at St. Louis on September 26th,
scalding two persons.
The bursting of the larboard boiler of the ferry-
boat "St. Louis," on the 23d of February, 1851,
caused one of those terrible disasters which have so
often shocked the public in this country. " Timbers,
large masses of machinery, brick-work, and ashes were
hurled aloft in every direction with many human
beings." There were from twenty-five to thirty per-
sons on the boat at the time of the explosion. Of
that number there were but three or four survivors.
There were thirteen bodies identified. The cor-
oner's list of dead mentions " John Walter James,
an unknown boy, Sebastian Smith, a boy called Bill,
living in Illinoistown near Pap's house, Dr. Truett,
Merriwether Smith, Robert Hardin, Alexander
McKean, William W. Benson, Isaac Cooper, Alfred
Wells, Ernest August Stuidt."
The steamer " Sultana" was destroyed by fire, with
a loss of seventy-five thousand dollars on boat and
cargo, on the 12th of June, 1851, while lying at the
foot of Mullanphy Street, St. Louis.
By the explosion of the boilers of the steamer
" Glencoe," upon her arrival at St. Louis from New
Orleans, on April 4, 1852, another great destruction
of life and property was brought about. During the
same fire the steamer " Cataract" was greatly injured,
together with wood- and wharf-boats. On the 18th
of January, 1853, the steamers "New England,"
" Brunette," and " New Lucy" were burned at the
wharf in St. Louis. The steamer "• Bluff City" was
burned, and the <; Dr. Franklin, No. 2," and " High-
land Mary" were greatly damaged by the fire from
the first, on the 27th of July, 1853, while lying at
the St. Louis Levee. The " Montauk," "Robert
Campbell," and " Lunette" were burned on the
13th of October, 1853. On Feb. 16, 1854, the
Alton packet, " Kate Kearney, No. 1," exploded
her starboard boiler just as she was starting from St.
Louis. Twenty-five persons were severely scalded.
The Rev. S. G. Gassaway, rector of St. George's
Church, St. Louis, was killed, and Mnj. Buell was
severely injured. The steamers " Twin City," "Prai-
rie City," and " Parthenia" were burned at the wharf
in St. Louis on the 7th of December, 1855. A loss
of nearly one hundred thousand dollars was caused
by the burning of the steamers " St. Clair," " Paul
Anderson," " James Stockwell," " Southerner," and
" Saranac," and the damaging of the " Monongahela,"
"Pennsylvania," and " Mattie Wayne."
The steamer " Australia" was burned on the 1st of
April, 1859, and the steamers " New Monongahela"
and "Edinburgh" at Bloody Island on the 15th of
May of the same year. A loss of two hundred thou-
sand dollars and the destruction of five steamers were
caused by the burning of the " H. D. Bacon, the " L.
L. McGill," the " Estella," the "A. McDowell," and
the " W. H. Russell," on the 27th of October, 1862.1
The steamers " Imperial," valued at sixty thousand
dollars, " Hiawatha," valued at sixty thousand dollars,
" Jesse K. Bull," valued at twenty thousand dollars,
and the " Post-Boy," valued at thirty-five thousand
dollars, were burned on the 13th of September, 1863.
The " Chancellor," " Forest Queen," and the " Cata-
houla" were burned on the 4th of October, 1863.
The steamer " Maria," having on board a portion of the
Third Iowa and Fourth Missouri Cavalry, was blown
up at Caroudelet in December, 1864.2 The " Jennie
1 The number of steamboats destroyed and damaged in 1860
was 299
The number of canai-boats destroyed and damaged in I860
was 48
The number of coal and Uat-boats destroyed and damaged
in I860 was 208
The number of steamboats totally destroyed was 120
Due to the following causes :
Sunk 11
Uunied 31
Explosion 19
Collision 24
Loss of life, 254.
* From the RepnlUcan of Dec. 12, 1864 :
" At seven o'clock Sunday morning the steamboat ' Maria,'
loaded with government troops, horses, mules, wagons, etc.,
was blown up while lying at the landing at Carondclot, and
afterwards burned to the water's edge. About six o'clock Sat-
urday evening the ' Maria," ' Lillie Martin,' and ' Ella Faber,'
Snagged and damaged 44
Damaged by storm 39
Breaking machinery 21
Collision with banks 8
1112
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Lewis," and the ferry-boat " Illinois, No. 2," were
sunk in the ice at St. Louis, Nov. 19, 1864.
The Carondelet and Marine Railway Docks, together
with the steamer " Jeanie Deans," were totally destroyed
by fire on the 12th of May, 1866. The steamers
" Ida Handy" (valued at seventy-five thousand dol-
lars), " Bostona," and " James Raymond" were burned
on the 2d of June, 1866. The steamer " Magnolia,"
valued at one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, was
burned on the 13th of June. By the fire of the 7th
of April, 1866, the steamers " Fanny Ogden" with
cargo, the " Frank Bates" and cargo, the " Nevada"
and cargo, the " Alex. Majors" with cargo, and the
" Eflfie Deans" with cargo, all together .involving a
loss of over five hundred thousand dollars, were de-
stroyed. On the 26th of February, 1866, a disas-
trous fire occurred, destroying the steamers " Le-
viathan," " Luna," " Peytona," and " Dictator," with
a loss estimated at three-quarters of a million of dol-
lars.
On December 19th the steamer " Gray Eagle" was
sunk at St. Louis. The ice-gorge of 1865-66 occa-
sioned a loss of nearly a million of dollars to the
owners of steamboats. The following was the esti-
t
having on board a considerable number of cavalry, principally
belonging to the Third Iowa and Fourth Missouri Cavalry,
left the Levee at St. Louis and dropped down to Carondelet,
about seven miles below, where they were lying when the
disaster took place, the ' Maria' between the other two. She
had on board Col. Benteen, commanding brigade, with his staff
and escort, Col. B. S. Jones, Third Iowa Cavalry, a portion of
his command and detached troops, amounting in all to about
one hundred men, besides the crew of the boat, en route for
Cairo. The explosion, by whatever means caused, threw the
forward end of the boilers apart, landing them on the deck,
without disturbing the after ends, and dashed the front of the
furnaces and a quantity of coal forward, setting fire to bales of
hay, twelve of which only were on deck, the remainder with the
oats being in the hold. At the moment the explosion took place
the floor of the cabin was burst up, and falling back precipitated
a number of soldiers down upon the boilers and burning wreck.
" When the ' Maria' left St. Louis she was in advance of the
' Ella Faber,' who had on board men recently belonging to the
Fourth Missouri Cavalry. Eight of the men of this regiment
left behind got on board the 'Maria.' Two only of those are
known to have got off unhurt. What has become of the others
is not known. Immediately after the accident occurred the
' Lillie Martin,' which had steamed up, fell down and took off
the men on board and on the after-part of the boat, and also
three ladies. In half an hour after the explosion the boat was
a mass of flame, allowing time to save nothing but the load of
human life aboard. The ' Maria' is a new boat, built at Cin-
cinnati, the trip to St. Louis being her third since built. Her
cost was thirty-five thousand dollars. She is insured at Cin-
cinnati, but for what amount we did not learn. The officers of
the ' Maria' are Capt. Alexander Montgomery ; Wesley B.
Dravo and William Dravo, clerks; Washington Couch and
Frank Ganger, engineers; Thomas Botts and Andrew Acker,
mates; Sol. Catterlin and David I'.hisli field, pilots."
mate of the total loss of steamboat-owners and under-
writers from the formation of the ice-gorge at St.
Louis in 1865 to its breaking on the 16th of De-
! cember of that year, together with the names of the
vessels sunk :
Value.
New Admiral $60,000
Old Sioux City 10,000
Empire City 20,000
Calypso (about) 30,000
Highlander 20,000
Geneva 27,000
Metropolitan (about) 18,000
Four wharf-boats (about) 15,000
Seven barges (about) 25,000
On the second breaking up, Friday,
the 12th January, 1866 :
Belle of Memphis 85,000
John Trendly (ferry-boat) 50,000
Prairie Rose 15,000
Julia lfi,000
Warsaw 35,000
Underwriter, No. 8 20,000
Omaha 12,000
Saturday, the 13th of January, the
Nebraska 20,000
City of Pekin 37,000
Hattie May 30,000
Diadem 22,000
Viola Belle 30,000
Reserve 30,000
Rosalie 45,000
Five rock-boats (about) 18,000
Memphis wharf-boat 5,000
Alton wharf-boat 2,500
Total $697,500
In the above table no amount whatever is set down
for damage done the boats that escaped being sunk.
The computations made on this subject by steamboat-
men and steamboat-builders aggregated one hundred
and forty thousand dollars, while some went as high as
one hundred and sixty thousand and one hundred and
seventy thousand dollars.
The following is a list of steamboat disasters at
or near St. Louis from 1867 to 1881, inclusive:
1867. Jan. 20, "Mexico," burned at St. Louis; total loss.
Jan. 26, " R. C. Wood," sunk opposite Carondelet.
Jan. 26, " E. H. Fairchild," sunk opposite Carondelet.
Feb. 6, "Tom Stevens," sunk near St. Louis.
Feb. 13, "AVhite Cloud," gunk at St. Louis; total loss.
June 13, "Governor Sharkey," sunk at St. Louis; total
loss.
Sept. 10, "G.W.Graham," burned at St. Louis; total los».
Sept. 10, "Yellowstone," burned at St. Louis; total loss.
Sept. 27, " Illinois," exploded at St. Louis; repaired.
1868. Feb. 4, "Anna White," sunk by ice in St. Louis
harbor; total loss. Value 812,000; partly insured.
Feb. 4, "Clara Dolsen," New Orleans packet, burned in
St. Louis: total loss. Insured for $25,000.
Feb. 22, "Kate Putnam," sunk near St. Louis; raised and
repaired. Insured for $20,000.
Feb. 29, " Paragon," sunk in Mississippi River near Cape
Girardeau; total loss. Insured for $35,000.
March 2, "M. S. Mephain," burned at St. Louis Levee.
Value $35,000 ; insured for §40,000. Total loss.
March 2, "Fannie Scott," burned at St. Louis Levee.
Damage $5000.
NAVIGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
1113
March 2, "Kate Kinney," partially burned at St. Louis
Levee. Damage $5000 ; insured.
April 18, " George D. Palmer" (stern-wheeler), partially
burned at St. Louis Levee. Damage $5000 ; insured at Cin-
cinnati.
Dec. 18, "George McPorter," sunk in St. Louis harbor;
total loss.
1869. March 29, "Carrie V. Kountz," "Gerard B. Allen,"
"Ben Johnson," "Henry Adkins," "Jennie Lewis," and
"Fannie Scott" burned at St. Louis; loss nearly $500,000.
Oct. 28, steamer "Stonewall" burned, and a large number of
lives lost.
1870. Jan. 19, steamer " Lady Gay," one day out from St.
Louis, struck a snag near Grand Tower and was sunk. She was
built in 1865, and was valued at $50,000. She was one of the
boats of the St. Louis nnd New Orleans Packet Company, and
belonged to Capt. I. H. Jones, Theodore Laveille, and others.
She was insured for $24,000 on boat and $30,800 on cargo and
stock.
Jan. 28, collision between the tow-boat "Fisher" and ferry-
boat " East St. Louis," opposite Olive Street; damage slight.
1871. Jan. 13, tow-boat "Tiber" thrown out of the river at
the foot of Biddle Street, St. Louis, by floating ice, and totally
destroyed.
The canal propeller " Sligo" beached and destroyed by the
floating ice at the foot of Cherry Street, St. Louis.
Jan. 28, the steamer " W. R.- Arthur," bound from New Or-
leans to St. Louis, exploded her boilers on the Mississippi River
when about twenty miles above Memphis. The boat was to-
tally destroyed. By this accident about sixty lives were lost.
Feb. 28, the St. Louis and Keokuk packet "Rob Roy" met
with a serious accident when leaving St. Louis. The starboard
head of the steam-drum blew out with great force. Two state-
rooms and the mess-room were demolished. West Robinson, a
deck-hand, was killed.
March 8, great storm at St. Louis. The St. Louis and New
Orleans packet "Mollie Able," a line side-wheel steamer, lying
at the East St. Louis wharf, was caught by the tornado and
almost totally destroyed. Several other boats were injured.
1876. Feb. 12, the steamer " Rescue" caught fire at the wharf
in St. Louis and burned to the water's edge ; afterwards rebuilt..
Feb. 16, steamer "John M. Chambers" partly burned at
wharf; rebuilt.
April 8, steamer " Rob Roy" struck St. Louis bridge ; slightly
damaged. On the 25th, the propeller " Whale" struck the bridge,
and was damaged to the extent of about $2000.
Dec. 13, the ice-gorge at St. Louis gave way, carrying with it,
destroying and partially destroying, the following boats and
barges :
Steamers. Value.
Centennial $65,000
Jennie Baldwin 2,000
Bayard 3,500
Rock Island 4,000
Davenport 4,000
Alexander Mitchell 30,000
War Eagle 75,000
Andy Johnson 30,000
There was no insurance on any of the above steamers.
Steamer "Fannie Keener" was also sunk; was valued at
$5000, fully insured.
Steamer " South Shore," valued at $2500.
Steamer "Southern Belle," valued at $1500, and four barges,
valued at $4500.
1877. Sept. 19, while the steamer "Grand Republic'' was
lying in port at St. Louis she caught fire and burned to the
water's edge. She cost $300,000, and was insured for $50,200.
Six weeks previous to this disaster her owners spent $25,000 in
Loss.
$5000
2000
3500
4000
4000
5000
5000
3000
repairing her. The iron-hulled steamer " Carondelet," which
was lying alongside of the "Grand Republic," met the same
fate. She was valued at $20,000 and insured for $17,500.
The sparks from a passing steamer were the supposed cause of
the fire.
1878. March 8, steamer "Colossal" burned to the water's
edge while lying at the bank at St. Louis; loss $12,000.
March 9, the tug-boat "Baton Rouge" damaged by fire at St.
Louis.
June 8, steamer " Exchange" burned to the water's edge at
St. Louis ; loss $9000.
1879. June 11, the tug " Charles F. Nagle" struck a snag op-
posite South St. Louis and sank. She was raised.
1880. March 27, steamer " Daisy" sunk at South St. Louis;
valued at $3000.
Sept. 26, steamer "Fannie Tatum" sunk below St. Louis;
valued at $15,000 : cargo, $35,000. She was raised.
1881. March 13, steamer "James Howard" destroyed by fire
at St. Louis wharf, together with a cargo of sugar, etc., valued
at $65,000 ; boat valued at $75,000.
April 9, steamer " Victory" collided with St. Louis bridge
and sunk ; afterwards raised.
April 11, the tug "Daisy" exploded her boilers and sunk.
Two lives lost.
Steamboat-Building. — The building and repairing
of steamboats at St. Louis is an industry which
originated at a comparatively early period. In De-
cember, 1830, mention was made of the fact that the
Legislature had passed an act to incorporate the St.
Louis Marine Railway Company, which was organized
in March, 1831, with Peter Lindell, president; John
Mullanphy, D. D. Page, Thomas Biddle, and J.
Clemens, Jr., directors ; John O'Fallon, treasurer ; and
James Clemens, Jr., secretary. In 1833 there was
in existence at the upper end of the city a marine
railway under the superintendence of Thomas J.
Payne, which it had been announced in July would
be ready for work in the same year.1
In 1841 public sentiment began to be directed
towards the importance of securing the construction
at St. Louis of the steamboats that carried on her
commerce, and the newspapers of that year repeatedly
called attention to efforts being made in that direction.2
1 '• Marine Railway at St. Louis. — The proprietors have the
pleasure of informing the public that their ways have been
fairly tested, and are now ready to receive for repair steamboats
and other craft at the very low price of one hundred dollars for
all boats not exceeding one hundred tons, to lie on the ways two
days for repair without any additional charge, except the cost
of repair. Boats exceeding one hundred tons will be charged
one dollar per ton, with the privilege of lying on the ways for
repair from two to four days, according to tonnage. Boats that
shall remain on the ways longer than is herein privileged to
pay for every day exceeding the privileged number twenty per
cent, on the sum charged for drawing out.
"THOMAS J. PAYNE,
"Superintendent Marine Raihcay Company."
—Republican, July 22, 1833.
2 " A great deal has been said by the newspapers of this city
in favor of building boats at this place. The spirit has been
1114
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
In 1842 two boat-yards for the construction of vessels
were in existence, and in January, 1843, the marine
railway of Messrs. Murray & Sons, below Thomas'
mill, erected for the purpose of drawing out and re-
pairing boats, was ready for work. The structure
consisted of eight ways reaching into the bed of the
river below low-water mark. There was a cradle upon
each two ways which let down into the river, and
upon which the boat was placed, and from these, two
chains led to a beam which was propelled by a wheel
and screws, and each screw was turned by a horse,
thus combining the power of the lever and the screw.
The Reporter of Jan. 29, 1846, contained the fol-
lowing statement of steamboats built at St. Louis, of
boats built elsewhere for St. Louis, and of boats pur-
chased and brought into the St. Louis trade in 1845,
furnished by L. A. Hedges, surveyor of that port :
BOATS BUILT AT ST. Louis.
Names. Tonnage. Cost.
Governor Briggs 91 $9.000
Laclede 239 20,000
Missouri 887 45,000
Iowa 249 22,000
Dial 140 7,000
Helen 61 8,000
Prairie Bird 213 17,000
Little Dove 77 5,500
Ocean Wave 205 17.000
Convoy 750 39,000
2912 $189,500
moved, the ground has been broken, and we trust that here-
after we ^hall have no cause to complain, and that our boat-
owners will consult not only their own individual interests, but
the interests of the community also, and give to their neighbors
and customers employment in return for their custom. It
is not more gratifying to us than it will doubtless be to many
others of our citizens to learn that Cnpt. Case has opened
a boat-yard in the upper part of the city, near the site of the
old brewery. The situation is pronounced by experienced boat-
builders to be one of the best in the West. The water in
front of it is deep, and no difficulty will be experienced at any
season of the year in launching boats. Upon examination it is
ascertained that the timber is superior to any used in the West
in building boats.
"A contract has been made by Messrs. Hoffman, Alleyne &
Klein for the hull of a new boat, and for the machinery of the
' Little Red,' of three hundred and fifty tons, for the New
Orleans trade. The keel has been laid, and the frame is nearly
ready to be put up. The foundry-work will be by Messrs.
Kingsland & Lightener, and the cabin and upper works by Mr.
Lumm. The whole is under the supervision of Capt. J. C.
Shepard.
" A contract has been made for the rebuilding of a boat to be
called the ' Phoenix,' and for the machinery of the ' Missouri.'
The contract for the hull has been made with the Dry-Dock
Company, the cabin and superstructure by Messrs. Whitehill
& AVeston, the foundry-work by Messrs. Kingsland & Lightner
and her clothing and other articles of outfit by Mr. John J.
Anderson, the whole under the superintendence of Capt. John
F. Hunt."— Republican, Nov. 11, 1841.
BUILT ELSEWHERE FOR ST. Louis OWNERS.
Names. Tonnage. Cost.
Boreas, No. 2, Pittsburgh 222 $20,500
Nebraska, Pittsburgh 149 15,500
War Eagle, Cincinnati 156 14,000
Time, Louisville 109 6,500
Windsor, Louisville 196 16,000
Wiota, Eliznhethtown 219 17,000
Odd Fellow, Southland 98 7,500
Pride of the West, Cincinnati.. 371 20,000
1520 $117,000
PURCHASED FOR THE ST. Louis TRADE.
Names. Tonnage. Cost.
Falcon, of Beaver 144 86,000
Fortune, of Louisville 101 6,000
Balloon, of New Albany 154 6,000
Radnor, of Jefferson ville 163 6,000
Ceeiliii, of Pittsburgh 112 3,000
North Bend, of Pittsburgh 120 4,000
Archer, of Pittsburgh 148 9,000
Amulet, of Wheeling t... 56 2,500
Tioga, of Wheeling 171 4,000
Tributary, of Pittsburgh 149 8,000
Lehigh, of Pittsburgh 188 4,500
Cumberland Valley, of Smith-
land 168 2,000
1674 $61,000
Total addition to St. Louis
tonnage 6106
Total cost...,
$367,500
This statement is interesting, as showing the in-
crease of boat-building in St. Louis, as well as ena-
bling us to compare the cost between boats built in St.
Louis and those built elsewhere at this time.1
The Marine Railway and Floating Dock Company
in 1850 had at Carondelet a dock three hundred and
fifty feet in length and ninety-four feet in breadth,
with seven feet depth of hold. The hold was divided
into four water-tight compartments from bow to stern,
which were sub-divided by bulkhead thwartships, cut-
ting the whole into twenty-six air- and water-tight
chambers. The Mound City Marine Ways Company
was established in 1858 by Capt. William L. Hamble-
ton, and its affairs were subsequently conducted under
thenameof Hambleton Brothers.^ The business proved
very successful, a hundred new boats having been
built by the firm and more than a thousand repaired.
The building of iron hulls for steamboats has of
late years become an important industry at St. Louis.
Though several iron-plated war-vessels were con-
*It was noted in the Republican of Nov. 1, 1848, that "con-
tracts have been entered into with Messrs. Brotherton & Gordon
for the lumber to be used in the building of a ship in this city.
It is to be commenced immediately by Capt. Evans and Mr.
French, who design to make it a permanent business. The ves-
sel is to be of three hundred tons burden, and will be com-
pletely fitted and rigged here. It is to be completed by the 1st
of April, will then be loaded and proceed seaward. It is be-
lieved that sea-vessels can be built here on better terms than at
New York or on the Ohio. The timber used in their construc-
tion is of a better quality than that obtained on the Ohio, and
greatly clreaper than that which is used in New York."
NAVIGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
1115
structed at St. Louis during the civil war, it was
not until about the year 1874 that the building of
iron hulls took definite and positive form as a leading
industry. To Theodore Allen, more than to any other
individual, is due the credit of establishing this great
business. In 1874, Mr. Allen issued a prospectus
pointing out the advantages of iron hulls over wooden,
and pioposed the erection of the " St. Louis Iron
Ship Works," which were afterwards inaugurated
under the name of the " Western Iron Boat Building i
Company," composed of Messrs. Chouteau, Harrison,
and Vallee, well-known iron manufacturers. Of this
company Mr. Allen became superintendent. The
yards of the company at Carondelet extend for two
thousand one hundred feet along the river-front, and
back to the railroad, employing about two hundred
men. A pamphlet published by Charles P. Chou-
teau in 1878 gives a map and very complete statistics
of the products of the West, covering the statistics of
tonnage and business on Western waters, the tow-
ing and barge business, the defects of wooden and the
advantages of iron hulls.
St. Louis and St. Paul Packet Company. — This
corporation had its origin in the Keokuk Northern
Line Packet Company, which was formed by the con-
solidation of the St. Louis and Keokuk Packet Com-
pany and the Northern Line Packet Company. The
St. Louis and Keokuk Line was formed Jan. 1, 1842,
the principal members of the company being Capt.
John S. McCune and J. E. Yeatman. In October,
1842, the keel of the first boat, the " Di Vernon,"
was laid at St. Louis, and the vessel was completed at
a cost of sixteen thousand dollars and started on her
first trip to Keokuk before the close of navigation.
On the opening of the spring trade in 1843 she com-
menced running regularly, and with two other (tran-
sient) steamers formed a daily line, which continued
throughout the season. During the following winter
the company built the " Laclede," one of the best
steamboats of her day, and at the same time purchased
the " Boreas." With these vessels the daily line was
resumed in the spring of 1844, the company in the
mean time having secured the contract for carrying the
mails. During this season an opposition line with three
steamers — the " Swallow," " Anthony Wayne," and
" Edwin Bates" — was organized, and in the following
spring both lines commenced running and continued
until about midsummer, when the new line suc-
cumbed, and the " Bates," a fast and handsome boat,
was purchased by the old company. In the spring
of 1846 the "Lucy Bertram," and in the fall
of 1847 the " Kate Kearney," both new and hand-
some vessels, were added to the line. Another
" Di Vernon" was built at St. Louis in 1850 at a
cost of forty-nine thousand dollars, a sum which was
thought at the time to be very large for the construc-
tion of a steamboat. In the spring of the same year
another opposition line, with the steamers " Monon-
gahela," " New England," and " Mary Stephens," was
established. The two lines were kept up during
nearly the entire spring and summer. One boat of
each line left port daily, side by side, at the top of
its speed, burning the most expensive fuel, paying
the highest wages, and carrying freight and passen-
gers at a price so low that the entire receipts of both
would not defray one boat's wood bill. The contest
was long and severe, and lasted until late in the sum-
mer. When the two lines had sunk about fifty thou-
sand dollars, the opposition boats were withdrawn and
sold at auction, and the " New England" was pur-
chased by the old company.
The " Jeanie Deans" was built in the summer of
1852,1 and the " New Lucy" in the fall of the same
year. The " New Lucy" was burned at her wharf at
St. Louis about six weeks after being finished. Dur-
ing the summer of 1853 the " Westerner" was built,
and subsequently another " Kate Kearney." There
were also added to the line from time to time the
" Sam Gaty," " Keokuk," and " Quincy," built at
St. Louis, and the u Ben Campbell,'' <; Prairie State,"
" J. McKee," " Glaucus," " Regulator," " Jenny
Lind," « Conewago," " York State," " Winchester,"
" Thomas Swann," and others obtained by purchase.
1 The commander of the "Jeanie Deans" was Capt. J. W.
Malin. Capt. Malin was born in October, 1818, at Vevay,
Switzerland Co., Ind. In 1832 he commenced his career as a
river pilot in the flat-boat business, between Madison and Cin-
cinnati, and a few years later began running a packet between
Cincinnati and St. Louis, commanding at different times in that
trade the "John Drennan," the " Mary Stevens," the "Royal
Arch," the " Hamburgh," and the "Statesman." He nest en-
gaged in the Minnesota trade, and was afterwards connected
for ten years with the Keokuk Packet Line, commanding at
first the "Jeanie Deans," with which he remained until the
building of the " Warsaw," which he commanded until that
vessel became unfit for further use. In 1868 he engaged with
Capt. Scudder in the commission business in St. Louis, the firm
being Malin & Scudder, but subsequently returned to his old
occupation and commanded vessels in the Star and Anchor
Lines. Capt. Malin had purchased in 1868 an* interest, with
Capt. Brolaski, in the Laclede Hotel, and in 1870, having bought
his partner's share, he associated his son, Walter A. Malin, with
him and assumed the management of the hotel. In 1871 the
erection of an extensive addition to the hotel was commenced
by Dr. Bircher, and completed in August, 1873, at which time
Malin & Son took possession and united the two under the name
of the Laclede-Bircher Hotel. The latter portion of the title,
however, was seldom used, and the hotel was popularly known
simply as the Laclede. Capt. Malin died at the Hot Springs,
Ark., in September, 1874.
1116
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
In 1857 the company established the Quincy line,
making one freight and passenger line between St.
Louis and Quincy, and one mail and passenger line
between St. Louis and Keokuk. They were arranged
as follows :
Quincy Packets. — "Keokuk," Bradley, master;
"Sam Gaty," Richardson, master; "Quincy," Ford,
master.
Keokuk Mail Packets. — " Jeanie Deans," Malin,
master ; " Di Vernon," Sheble, master ; " Thos.
Swann," Johnson, master.
About 1871 the line was consolidated with the North-
ern Line Packet Company. In the winter of 1857—
58 a number of the captains of steamboats plying be-
tween St. Louis and St. Paul determined to form a
new line and make regular trips, leaving on stated
days in the week. On the opening of navigation in
the following spring this line consisted of the steam-
ers " Canada," Capt. James Ward; " W. L. Ewing,"
Capt. W. Green ; " Denmark," Capt. R. C. Gray ;
"Metropolitan," Capt. Thomas B. Rhodes; "Minne-
sota Belle," Capt. Thomas B. Hill ; and " Pembina,"
Capt. Thomas H. Griffith. Messrs. Warden & Shaler
.were appointed agents, and the line was known as the
Northern Line. In 1859 the " Chippewa," Capt.
W. H. Crapeta ; " Dew Drop," Capt. N. W. Parker ;
" Lucie May," Capt. J. B. Rhodes ; " Aunt Letty,"
Capt. C. G. Morrison ; " Northerner," Capt. P. A.
Alford, and the " Laclede" were added.
In the winter of 1859-60 the owners of the differ-
ent vessels decided to form a joint-stock company, and
organized under the name of the Northern Line
Packet Company. The incorporators and directors
were D. Hawkins, Thomas Gordon, and J. W. Parker,
of Galena, 111. ; John B. Rhodes, of Savannah, 111. ;
R. C. Gray, of Pittsburgh, Pa. ; and James Ward
and Thomas H. Griffith, of St. Louis. Mo. Capt.
James Ward was elected president, and Thomas H.
Griffith secretary and treasurer. The vessels owned
by the company were the " Sucker State," " Hawk-
Eye State," " Canada," " Pembina," " Metropolitan,"
" Northerner," " W. L. Ewing," " Denmark," " Henry
Clay," " Minnesota Belle," and " Fred. Lorenz."
In 1864, Capt. William F. Davidson, who had been
managing a line of steamboats on the upper Missis-
sippi, established a service between Dubuque and St.
Paul, and subsequently, having purchased the prop-
erty of the Galena Packet Company, established the
Northwestern Union Packet Company. In 1868 the
Northern Line Packet Company admitted the boats of
the Northwestern Company into their line, and in the
following year the vessels were running under the
direction of the Northern Company. In 1871 the
steamers of the two companies plying between St.
Louis and northern points were : Northern Line, " Lake
Superior," " Red Wing," ;' Dubuque," " Minnesota,"
" Davenport," " Muscatine," " Pembina," " Savannah,"
"Sucker State," and " Minnesota;" Northwestern Linei
"North western, v "S.S.Merrill," "Belleof LaCrosse,"
"Alexander Mitchell," " Victory," " City of Quincy,"
" Molly McPike," and " Phil Sheridan." Up to 1871
the Northern Line had lost but three boats, — the " Den-
mark," sunk at Atlas Island by striking a log ; the
" Northerner," burned at the St. Louis Levee ; and the
" Burlington," sunk at Wabasha. The officers in
1870 were Thomas B. Rhodes, president ; Thomas H.
Griffith, secretary ; Thomas J. Buford, superintend-
ent; and I. M. Mason, general freight agent. The
total number of tons of freight deposited by the
steamers of the company during the year at St. Louis
was seven hundred and sixty-four thousand three
hundred and seven.
The Keokuk Packet and the Northern Line Packet
Companies were competitors for the same trade, and
the rivalry between them became so close and ener-
getic that each suffered heavily, and it was finally de-
cided to form a new company which should embrace
them both. Accordingly a new corporation was or-
ganized, with the name of the Keokuk Northern Line
Packet Company, the capital stock of which was
seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and the
property of the competing lines was purchased. The
first president was Capt. John S. McCune, who man-
aged its affairs with marked ability until his death.
He was succeeded by Darius Hawkins, who was the
nominal head of the company during a period of
legal difficulties until 1875, when Capt. William F.
Davidson was elected president. In 1879-80 the
company owned the following steamboats :
Tons.
Northwestern 802.06
Rob Roy 967.00
Red Wing 670.43
War Eagle 953.74
Charlie Uheever 313.67
Barges, forty - eight
in number 13,242.49
Total tonnage... 21,391.16
The officers in 1879 were William F. Davidson,
president ; Francis Johnston, secretary ; John Baker,
agent ; James A. Lyon, general passenger agent.
The St. Louis and St. Paul Packet Company, the
successor of the Keokuk Northern, was organized in
June, 1881, with a capital stock of one hundred thou-
sand dollars, the incorporators being W. F. Davidson,
R. M. Hutchinson, and F. L. Johnston. The com-
pany transacts a general passenger and freight business
between St. Paul and St. Louis, and owns the following
Tons.
Alexander Mitchell 512.09
Belle of La Crosse...... 476.69
Clinton 909.22
Daniel Hine 100.61
Damsil 210.71
Golden Eiigle 941.50
G. H. Wilson 159.06
Minneapolis 649.62
Minnesota..., .. 482.27
NAVIGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
1117
boats : " Gem City," " War Eagle," " Alexander
Mitchell," " Minneapolis," " Northwestern," " Belle of
La Crosse," and " Centennial." The officers in 1882
were W. F. Davidson, president ; R. M. Hutchinson,
superintendent ; and P. S. Johnston, secretary. The
general offices are located at Dubuque, Iowa.
William F. Davidson, successively president of the
Keokuk Northern and St. Louis and St. Paul compa-
nies, is one of the leading steamboat proprietors of the
West. He was born in Lawrence County, Ohio, on the
4th of February, 1825. His father being a boatman,
Capt. Davidson was educated from his earliest boy-
hood in the navigation of Western waters. When
only twenty years of age he was captain of the
steamer " Gondola" on the Ohio River, and in
1856 established a line of three steamers on the
upper Mississippi. He also engaged in the same
business in 1857-58 on the Minnesota River, and
subsequently established a line between La Crosse and
St. Paul, and in 1864 a line from Dubuque to St.
Paul. He then purchased the Galena Packet Com-
pany's property and franchises and organized the
Northwestern Union Packet Company, which was af-
terwards consolidated with the Northern Line, which
in turn was absorbed by the Keokuk Northern. After
the death of Capt. J. S. McCune, president of the
latter corporation, Capt. Davidson was elected his suc-
cessor, and is now president of the St. Louis and St.
Paul Packet Company. Capt. Davidson has thus had
a varied but uniformly successful career as a steamboat
manager, and his company, under his energetic but
wise and prudent administration, is now in a flourish-
ing condition. Capt. Davidson was married in 1859
to Miss Sarah A. Johnson, daughter of Judge John-
son, of Lawrence County, Ohio.
The St. Louis and St. Paul Passenger Freight
Line was incorporated in December, 1880, under the
laws of Wisconsin, with the following board of direc-
tors : P. L. Davidson, S. F. Clinton, and Lafayette
Holmes. The company transacts a general passenger
and freight transportation business on the Mississippi
River, between St. Louis and St. Paul, and owns the
following steamboats: " Grand Pacific," '-Arkansas,"
" Flying Eagle," " Alexander Kendall," " White
Eagle," and " Alfred Todd." The officers for 1882
were P. L. Davidson, president ; S. F. Clinton, vice-
president ; and Lafayette Holmes, secretary. The gen-
eral offices are located in La Crosse, Wis.
The Diamond Jo Line was established in 1867
by Joseph Reynolds. It started in a small way, with
only one boat, which was employed by Mr. Reynolds
in the produce trade on the upper Mississippi, with
headquarters at Dubuque, Iowa. The business in-
creased with every succeeding year until, in 1882,
there were five elegant steamers running on the line
between St. Louis and St. Paul. The boats are the
" Mary Morton," " Libbie Conger," " Diamond Jo,"
" Josephine," and " Josie," all of which are equipped
with the latest and most improved machinery and life-
saving apparatus. The officers in 1882 were Joseph
Reynolds, general manager, and E. M. Dickey, gen-
eral freight agent. The general office is at Dubuque,
Iowa.
The St. Louis and Vicksburg Packet Company
was organized and chartered in 1859, as the Memphis
and St. Louis Packet Company, by John A. Scudder,
Daniel Able, Wm. J. Lewis, Wm. C. Postal, and R.
L. McGce. The Memphis Line commenced with the
steamers " Ben Lewis," " J. H. Dickey," and " Platte
Valley," which were followed in turn by the " John
D. Perry," " Rowena," " C. E. Hillman," " Colorado,"
"St. Joseph," "Mary E. Forsyth," "Southerner,"
" Courier," " Robb," " Adam Jacobs," " City of
Alton," "Luminary," " Julia," " G. W. Graham,"
"Belle of Memphis, No. 1," "Belle of St. Louis,"
" City of Cairo," " City of Vicksburg," " Grand
Tower," " Belle of Memphis, No. 2," and the " City
of Chester."
During the first eleven years but one serious acci-
dent occurred, the explosion of the " Ben Lewis," at
Cairo. The " Belle of Memphis, No. 1," was lost in
the ice at St. Louis, and the " G. W. Graham" was
burned at the Levee, but in neither instance were any
lives lost. The first president of the company was
Capt. Daniel Able, whose life had been identified with
river interests from boyhood, and who managed the
line with maiked ability. He was succeeded by W.
G. Lewis, who in turn was followed by John J. Roe,
under whose administration the business of the com-
pany was greatly increased and extended. A regular
line of packets between St. Louis and Vicksburg was
established, and the construction of a number of new
steamboats was contracted for. On the death of Mr.
Roe, Capt. Henry W. Smith, who had long been
identified with the company as general superintendent,
was elected president.1
1 Henry W. Smith was born in Connecticut, and about 1845
removed to Missouri, settling at Glasgow, where he engaged in
mercantile pursuits. While thus occupied he was chosen a
member of the State Legislature, and served with ability and
zeal. In 1850 he abandoned his business at Glasgow to engage
in steamboat enterprises, and commenced his career on the river
as clerk on the " General Lane." He afterwards commanded and
owned steamers of the same line. In 1855 he was made in-
spector of hulls for the board of underwriters, but upon the
formation of the Memphis Packet Line he was called into ac-
tive service again, and, as general superintendent, and subse-
1118
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Capt. Smith died in March, 1870, and was suc-
ceeded in the presidency of the company by John A.
Scudder.
In 1879 the steamboats belonging to the company
were the
Tons.
Belle of Memphis 919.67
Colorado 632.87
Tons.
John B. Maude 922.04
Ste. Genevieve 790.20
City of Vicksburg 1058.28 City of Greenville 1438.06
City of Helena 1058.28
Emma C. Elliott 660.16 Total 8537.84
Grand Tower 1058.28'
The officers in 1879 were John A. Scudder, presi-
dent ; Theodore Zeigler, secretary ; John P. Reiser,
superintendent ; and William B. Russell, agent. In
that year a reorganization of the company was effected,
and its name was changed to the St. Louis and Vicks-
burg Packet Company, and the line is now known as
the St. Louis and Vicksburg Anchor Line.
The company owns the following steamers, which
ply between St. Louis and Memphis and Vicksburg :
" Ctyy of Providence," " Gold Dust," " City of Green-
ville," " Belle of Memphis," " City of Cairo," " City
of Vicksburg," " Arkansas City," " James B. Maude,"
" City of Helena," " Ste. Genevieve," " E. C. Elliott,"
and " Colorado." The general office is located on the
company's wharf-boat at the foot of Locust Street, and
the officers in 1882 were John A. Scudder, president
and general manager ; Directors, John A. Scudder, G.
B. Allen, J. P. Reiser, and T. C. Zeigler. The capital
stock is five hundred thousand dollars.
The New Orleans Anchor Line was organized in
June, 1878, and incorporated during the same month
with a capital stock of three hundred thousand dol-
lars, the ^corporators being John A. Scudder, James
P. Reiser, G. B. Allen, William J. Lewis, and T. C.
Zeigler. John A. Scudder was elected president, and
has retained that position ever since. The company
transacts a general passenger and freight transporta-
tion business on the Mississippi River between St.
Louis and New Orleans, the steamers employed being
the " City of New Orleans," " City of Alton," " City
of Baton Rouge," "John A. Scudder," " W. P.
Holliday," and " Commonwealth." This company
does its own insurance, and during its existence has
lost five boats by fire.
John A, Scudder, president of the St. Louis and
Vicksburg Anchor Line and New Orleans Anchor
Line, has long been identified with steamboat inter-
ests on the Mississippi. He was born at Maysville,
quently president, of that company he became widely known
upon the Western waters. At the time of his death Capt. Smith
was also president of the Wrecking Company, and of a build-
ing association, besides being engaged in a large lumber busi-
ness in East St. Louis and other mercantile enterprises.
Mason Co., Ry., on the 12th of June, 1830. His
father, Dr. Charles Scudder, was a native of New
Jersey, and his mother, Mary H. Scudder, was a
native of Virginia. Capt. Scudder removed to St.
Louis at an early age, and soon became actively iden-
tified with steamboat interests on the Mississippi
River. Before he was thirty years old he had already
become quite prominent in the business, and assisted,
as one of the incorporates, in the organization of the
Memphis and St. Louis Packet Company, of which,
as already stated, he became the president in 1870.
Capt. Scudder at once addressed himself to the task
of consolidating and harmonizing the steamboat in-
terests on the lower Mississippi, and succeeded in
greatly expanding the operations of the wealthy and
powerful corporation of which he had become the
head. Associated with him were Gerard B. Allen,
John J. Roe, Edgar and Henry Ames, and other
wealthy citizens of St. Louis, who ably seconded his
shrewd and energetic administration of the com-
pany's affairs. To Capt. Scudder's tact and good
management it was mainly due that the corporation
passed unscathed through the turmoils and dangers of
the civil war, for although he had not then been
chosen its chief executive officer, his wise and prudent
counsels were always heeded, and served to guide the
company safely over many a shoal and rock.
In 1869 the Memphis Packet Company purchased
the line running to Vicksburg, and extended its ser-
vice to that point, running three boats a week to
both Vicksburg and Memphis. In 1874, at his sug-
gestion, the company adopted the trade-mark or emblem
of an anchor, and from this the appellation " Anchor
Line" was adopted. Capt. Scudder was the first to
introduce on the Western rivers the restaurant plan,
now so much favored, and every improvement calculated
to promote the convenience and comfort of patrons he
has always been the first to adopt. In 1877 he was
elected president of the St. Louis Merchants' Exchange,
and in 1878 he orgnaized the New Orleans Anchor
Line, with semi-weekly trips. In 1879 the charter of
the Memphis and St. Louis Packet Company ex-
pired, and, as heretofore stated, the company was re-
organized under the title of the St. Louis and Vicks-
burg Anchor Line. As the chief executive of both
these companies, Capt. Scudder continues to lead a
life of unceasing activity. His thorough familiarity
with the whole subject of river navigation renders
him an accepted authority among steamboat men, and
there is probably no other individual engaged in the
business of Western transportation who has been
more uniformly successful, or who has contributed
more largely to the development of the trade of the
NAVIGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
1119
Mississippi and its tributaries. Although he has
succeeded in amassing a large fortune, Capt. Scudder
is as regular and punctual in the discharge of his
official duties now as he was at the outset of his career.
Nothing that concerns the interests of his companies
escapes his vigilant eyes, and no detail is too insig-
nificant to demand his attention. His policy is char-
acterized by a happy combination of liberality, bold-
ness, and prudence, and the corporations under his
charge are models of enterprising and, at the same
time, conservative and judicious management. He
possesses in a rare degree not only the capacity to
plan, but the ability to execute, and, as we have indi-
cated, is always in the van, not merely in adopting,
but in devising improvements in methods of trans-
portation. Personally he is as modest and unassum-
ing as he is public-spirited and generous in his deal-
ings with his fellow-men. For many years he has
been thoroughly identified with the interests of the
city which early in life he made his home, and to-day
he is one of the most highly honored and influential
citizens of St. Louis. He was married in June, 1852,
to Miss Mary A. White, and a few years since Mrs.
Scudder was made the recipient from unknown donors
of a handsome portrait of her husband executed by
Major Conant. The portrait was presented " as a tes-
timonial in recognition of his services and enterprise
in building up the commerce of the city and the
Mississippi valley" by leading citizens of St. Louis,
whose names were withheld, who " admired him as a
man of spirit, thrift, sagacity, and large views," and
who " appreciated the work he had accomplished in
perfecting and extending river transportation facilities."
The St. Louis and Mississippi Valley Trans-
portation Company was originally the Mississippi
Valley Transportation Company. The latter corpo-
ration was organized in the early part of 1866, and the
first president was Capt. Barton Able. The first tow
of barges left St. Louis for New Orleans on the 1st
of April, 1866. In the following year, Capt. George
H. Rea was elected president. Capt. Rea was born
in Massachusetts April 26, 1816. He served an
apprenticeship at the trade of tanning, and subse-
quently removed to Waynesboro', Tenn., where he
built up a remunerative trade in hides and leather.
Shortly before the breaking out of the civil war he
removed to St. Louis, where he established a hide
and leather store. He soon became prominent among
the business men of St. Louis, and assisted in the
establishment of the Second National Bank. In
1866 he was elected a member of the State Legisla-
ture from the Thirty-fourth Senatorial District of I
Missouri, and as chairman of the Ways and Means
Committee and in other capacities proved an active
and useful member. Capt. Rea became largely inter-
ested in Western transportation enterprises. He was
at one time a director of the Missouri Pacific Rail-
road Company, and built the branch of that road
from Pleasant Hill to Lawrence, Kan. He was a
stockholder in various railway and water transporta-
tion companies, and in 1867, as stated, was elected
president of the Mississippi Valley Transportation
Company, whose affairs he managed with great en-
ergy and success. During Capt. Rea's administration
the other officers of the company were Henry C.
Haarstick, vice-president and superintendent; A. R.
Moore, secretary ; William F. Haines, general freight
agent; John A. Stevenson, agent at New Orleans;
R. L. Williams, agent at New York.
The following steamboats were owned by the com-
pany in 1879:
Tow-boat
Future City"
Grand Lake, No. 2"
John Gilmore"
John Dippold"
My Choice"
PortEads"....
Tons.
589.30
377.49
503.09
554.97
462.23
334.38
Barges, forty-three 47,524.23
Total tonnage 50,345.69
In 1880 the St. Louis and New Orleans Trans-
portation Company was chartered, but on the 10th of
September, 1881, it was consolidated with the Missis-
sippi Valley corporation under the name of the St.
Louis and Mississippi Valley Transportation Com-
pany, which was incorporated with a capital stock
of two million dollars, the incorporators being
George H. Rea, Henry C. Haarstick, George D.
Capen, Austin R. Moore, R. S. Hays, H. M. Hoxie,
Henry Lowrey, A. A. Talmage, and John C. Gault.
The company owns twelve steam tow-boats and one
hundred barges, which are bonded for all export and
import business. Its trade is largely in wheat, corn,
and oats, and in the transportation of these cereals it
probably transacts a larger business than any similar
corporation in the world. The officers in 1882 were
Henry C. Haarstick, president; H. Lowrey, vice-
president; H. P. Wyman, secretary; and A. R.
Moore, treasurer ; Directors, George H. Rea, Henry
C. Haarstick, George D. Capen, Austin R. Moore, R.
S. Hays. H. M. Hoxie, Henry Lowrey, A. A. Tal-
mage, and John C. Gault. The office is located on
the company's wharf boat at the foot of Elm Street.
The St. Louis and New Orleans Packet Com-
pany was organized in May, 1869, and was the suc-
cessor of the Atlantic and Mississippi Steamship
Company. The first president was Capt. John N.
Bofinger. the first secretary Walker R. Carter, and
1120
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
the first general superintendent John W. Carroll.
In 1870 the executive officers remained the same,
and the directors were John N. Bofinger, D. R.
Powell, Walker R. Carter, John W. Carroll, and
Theodore Laveille. At that time the steamers be-
longing to the company, which were then among the
largest and finest in Western waters, were the " Olive
Branch," "Pauline Carroll," "Richmond," "Dexter,"
" Mollie Able," " Thompson Dean," " Common-
wealth," " W. R. Arthur," " Bismarck," " Great
Republic," and " Continental." In 1871 the follow-
ing steamers were added : " City of Alton," " Belle
Lee," "Natchez," "Belfast," "Carrie V. Kountz,"
" Rubicon," " Capital City," " Henry Ames," " C. B.
Church," " Glencoe," " Andy Johnson," " John
Kyle," "Mollie Ebert," "Lady Lee," " Oceanus,"
"Shannon," "Virginia," "Susie Silver," "Tom
Jasper," " James Howard," " City of Quincy," " S.
S. Merrill." The total amount of freight carried in
1871 was one hundred and seventy- three thousand
nine hundred tons.
Capt. John N. Bofinger, first president of the St.
Louis and New Orleans Packet Company, was born
in Lancaster County, Pa., Oct. 30, 1825, and in 1835
removed with his parents to Cincinnati, where his
father established the first German paper west of
Pittsburgh, the Cincinnati Volksblatt, which became
a flourishing journal and existed many years. The
boy was educated at the public schools of Cincinnati,
and in 1846 obtained a position as clerk on the mail
line steamers plying between Cincinnati and Louis-
ville. In April, 1848, he arrived in St. Louis as
clerk of the steamer " Atlantic," on which he remained
as clerk and captain for six years. In 1854, in con-
nection with John J. Roe and Rhodes, Pegram &
Co., he purchased the steamer " L. M. Kennett," and
in 1857 built the steamer " William M. Morrison,"
which, when the war broke out, was the last boat to
leave St. Louis for New Orleans. The " Morrison"
was detained by the Confederate authorities at Mem-
phis, May 28, 1861, and was burned at New Orleans
by the Confederates on the arrival of Farragut's fleet.
For thirteen years preceding the war, Capt. Bo-
finger commanded steamers running between St. Louis
and New Orleans, and enjoyed the reputation of being
an unusually successful captain. During that period he
made one hundred and ninety-two trips between the
two cities, and never met with an accident that oc-
casioned the loss of a life.
The war provided a new theatre for the display of
Capt. Bofinger's abilities as an organizer and com-
mander. He became interested in nearly all the con- i
tracts let by the United States government for the '
transportation of troops and supplies on the Missis-
sippi and its tributaries during 1861, '62, '63, '64,
'65, '66, and '67, and during that time owned thirty
steamers. He was no doubt the largest vessel-owner
in the world. An instance of the magnitude of his
operations and the extent of the trust reposed in his
capacity to conduct them successfully is afforded by
the fact that he was chosen by Gen. L. B. Parsons,
A.Q.M.G., m 1862 to proceed to Memphis and Helena
for the purpose of embarking the troops and animals
of Gen. Sherman's army destined for Vicksburg.
The number of steamers engaged in this service was
ninety-five, — three boats were laden with munitions of
war, four with commissary and quartermaster's stores,
and the remainder with the army of nearly thirty-five
thousand men and their animals, etc. This vast fleet
was escorted by eleven gunboats under the command
of Admiral Porter.
After the war Capt. Bofinger with others formed
the Atlantic and Mississippi Steamship Company, with
a capital of over two million dollars, and owning
twenty-five of the largest steamboats then on the
river, and was elected superintendent of the company.
In 1867 he severed his connection with this com-
pany and established the Vicksburg Mail Line, and
after two years of successful operations, sold his in-
terest to the Memphis and St. Louis Packet Company,
now the Vicksburg Anchor Line.
In 1869 the Atlantic and Mississippi Steamship
Company sold its steamers, and Capt. Bofinger and
others formed the St. Louis and New Orleans Packet
Company, of which he was elected president, serving
in that capacity until 1873, when he retired from the
company.
In 1869-70, Capt. Bofinger held a contract with
the government to transport troops and supplies be-
tween St. Louis and Fort Benton, over three thou-
sand miles ; between St. Louis and New Orleans,
twelve hundred miles ; and between St. Louis and
Fort Gibson, on the Arkansas River, fifteen hundred
miles ; an aggregate of five thousand seven hundred
miles. This was the longest river transportation con-
tract ever held by any one person.
During the past few years Capt. Bofinger has en-
gaged somewhat extensively in steamboat-building,
one vessel of iron, the " Gouldsboro'," being a trans-
fer steamer at New Orleans ; and he is now construct-
ing a large steamer for the Memphis and Kansas
City Railroad. In connection with his brother he has
established the Telephone Company in Louisiana and
Mississippi, which they own and operate.
Capt. Bofinger's wife was Miss Mary E. Shewell,
of St. Louis.
•
LIBRARY
OF THE
UNIVEKSITV OF HUNOiS.
NAVIGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
1121
Capt. Bofinger is regarded as authority on all
matters connected with river transportation, especially
on the Mississippi and its tributaries, and congressional
committees and other bodies desiring information have
availed themselves freely of his knowledge, attained
through nearly forty years of varied and arduous ex-
perience. He may be classed with the foremost of
the second generation of Mississippi steamboat cap-
tains, and is a worthy successor of such men as the
gallant Shreve and others who were pioneers in this
calling. While Capt. Bofinger has contributed his
full share towards making river transportation an im-
portant factor in the commerce of the country, his
work is not yet ended, and those who know his in-
domitable energy do not hesitate to predict that he
will again be heard from in connection with works of
great magnitude and of equally conspicuous public j
utility.
The Merchants' Southern Line Packet Com- :
pany was established in 1870, and its steamers plied ,
between St. Louis and New Orleans, connecting at
Columbus with the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, at
Memphis with the Mississippi and Tennessee Rail-
road and Memphis and Charleston Railroad, at New j
Orleans with the Morgan Line steamships for Mobile.
Galveston, and Indianola, also at the same port with
steamships for Havana, at the mouth of Red River
with Red and Ouachita River packets, and at Hick-
man, Ky., with the Northwestern Railroad for Nash-
ville and points in Middle and East Tennessee and
Northern Georgia.
The officers of the company in 1870 were J. F.
Baker, president ; B. R. Pegram, vice-president ;
Thomas Morrison, secretary ; Charles Scudder, super-
intendent; David H. Silver, general agent, and the
principal steamers were the " James Howard," B. R.
Pegram, captain ; " Henry C. Yeager," I. C. Van
Hook, captain ; " Susie Silver." Samuel S. Entriken,
captain ; " T. L. McGill," Thomas W. Shields, cap-
tain ; " Carrie V. Kountz;'1 " Henry Ames," J. West
Jacobs, captain ; " John Kyle," John B. Weaver,
captain ; " Mollie Moore," George D. Moore, captain.
The Kansas City Packet Company (Star Line)
is the successor of the Missouri Packet Company,
which originated with the Star Line Packet and Mi-
ami Packet Companies. The Star Line was absorbed
by the Miami, which then became known as the Miami
"Star Line" Packet Company. In 1869 this corpo-
ration had five steamers plying between St. Louis and
Kansas City. The officers at that time were Capt. E.
W. Gould, president ; Capt. W. W. Ater, secretary ;
and Capt. M. Hillard, general freight agent, and the
steamers were the " Mountaineer," M. H. Crapster,
captain ; " W. J. Lewis," R. J. Whitledge, captain ;
" W. B. Dance," N. F. Constance, captain ; " Clara,"
John Abrams, captain ; " Post-Boy, " S. Ball, captain.
The " E. La Barge," " M. McDonald," « Nile," and
" Viola Belle" were also run under direction of the
company. Early in 1871 the stockholders of the
Star and Miami Lines formed a new line, and or-
ganized under the name of the Missouri River
Packet Company, with W. J. Lewis as president ;
Joseph Kinney, vice-president ; E. W. Gould, super-
intendent ; William W. Ater, secretary ; and M.
Hillard, general freight agent. During 1871 the
company built three new boats, the " Capitol City,"
" Fannie Lewis," and " Joseph Kinney." Besides
the regular trips to Kansas City, the steamers of the
company during 1871 made twenty-one trips to Mem-
phis and Helena.
The Kansas City Packet Company was organized
July 15, 1878, with a capital stock of fifty thousand
dollars, the incorporators being W. J. Lewis, C. S.
Rogers, E. W. Gould, N. Springer, and R. J. Whit-
ledge. The company transacts a general passenger
and freight business on the Missouri and Mississippi
Rivers between St. Louis and Fort Benton, and owns
the steamers " Joe Kinney," " Fannie Lewis,"
" Mattie Bell," and " D. R. Powell," together with
four barges. The officers of the company in 1882
were E. W. Gould, president ; C. S. Rogers, vice-
president ; and R. J. Whitledge, secretary ; Directors,
C. S. Rogers, W. J. Lewis, E. W. Gould, N. Sprin-
ger, and R. J. Whitledge. The office is located on
the wharf-boat at the foot of Olive Street.
E. W. Gould, president of the Kansas City Packet
Company, was born in Massachusetts on the 15th of
December, 1811. He served an apprenticeship at the
trade of carriage- making, and in 1835 went West and
worked for two years at his trade in St. Louis. He
then purchased an interest in the steamer" Friendship,"
which was engaged in the Illinois River trade, and
subsequently became clerk of a steamer on the upper
Mississippi. In 1837 he was made captain of the
steamer " Knickerbocker," which was lost at the mouth
of the Ohio two years later. Subsequently Capt. Gould
became engaged in the Missouri River trade, and was
successively president of the Miami Star Line and
superintendent of the Missouri River Packet Com-
pany. Upon the organization of the Kansas City
Packet Company he became its president. Capt.
Gould is an experienced and able steamboat manager,
and the affairs of the corporation over which he pre-
sides are conducted with conspicuous skill and success.
In 1846 he was married to Miss Chipley, daughter of
Dr. William B. Chipley, at Warsaw, 111.
1122
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
The "K" Line of Packets, designed to ply be-
tween St. Louis and Miami and intermediate points
on the Missouri River, began business early in 1870
with the "St. Luke," Judd Cartwright, captain.
The line was managed by Capt. Joseph Kinney, as-
sisted by J. S. Nanson as superintendent, and H. F.
Driller, general agent. Subsequently the " Alice"
was added, and a flourishing business was transacted
by the two steamers.
The St. Louis and Omaha Packet Company was
organized in 1867, the first president being Joseph S.
Nanson, and the first secretary Joseph McEntire, both
of whom were experienced steamboat-men. During
the second year of the company's existence Capt. John
B. Weaver1 was elected president, and served in that
capacity for two years.
The steamers of the line were the " T. L. McGill,"
T. W. Shields, captain ; " Silver Bow," T. W. Rea,
captain ; " Mary McDonald," J. Greenough, captain ;
« Cornelia," L. T. Belt, captain ; " Columbian," Wil-
liam Barnes, captain ; " Glasgow," W. P. Lamothe,
captain ; " Kate Kinney," J. P. McKinney, captain ;
" H. S. Turner," J. A. Yore, captain.
The Coulson Line of Steamers, plying between
St. Louis and Fort Benton, was organized in 1878.
The officers in 1882 were S. P. Coulson, president;
W. S. Evans, vice-president ; and D. W. Marratta,
secretary and general superintendent. The company
owns and controls the following steamers : " Rosebud,"
" Big Horn," " Josephine," and " Dacotah." Jen-
kins & Sass are the agents at St. Louis.
The Naples Packet Company was organized in
1848, and was chartered Aug. 12, 1872, with the
following i n corporators : C. S. Rogers, E. W. Gould,
J. W. Mortimer, and Samuel Rider. The capital
stock is sixty-four thousand dollars, and the company
transacts a passenger and freight transportation busi-
ness between St. Louis and Peoria, 111. It owns the
handsome steamer " Calhoun," which makes all way
landings on the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers between
the terminal points. C. S. Rogers was elected presi-
dent first in 1872, and has retained the position ever
since. John W. Mortimer is the secretary, and the
directors are C. S. Rogers, E. W. Gould, John W.
1 Capt. Weaver died in St. Louis on the 6th of August, 1871,
in the fifty-seventh year of his age. dipt. Weaver arrived in
St. Louis when a young man, and until his death was identified
with the city's steamboat interests. As clerk and then com-
mander, ho was connected with steamers plving on the Missouri
River for more than twenty-five years. As previously stated,
he was elected president of the St. Louis and Omaha Packet
Company, and in connection with Capt. Davidson and others
became one of the owners of the steamer "John Kyle," and in
the fall of 1870 commander of that vessel.
Mortimer, and Samuel Rider. The office is located
on the wharf-boat, foot of Olive Street.
The St. Louis and Peoria Packet Company was
organized on the 3d of February, 1868, its officers at
that time being J. S. McCune, president; A. C.
Dunlevy, secretary ; and F. A. Sheble, general super-
intendent. In 1870 the vessels belonging to the
company were the " Beardstown," Samuel E. Gray,
captain ; " City of Pekin," Thomas Hunter, captain;
" Illinois," S. E. Gray, captain ; " Schuyler," H. G.
Rice, captain ; " Columbia," Joseph Throckmorton,2
captain.
In 1871 the vessels employed by the company
were the " Illinois," " City of Pekin," " Huntsville"
and barges, " P. W. Strader" and barges, and " Beards-
town."
The St. Louis, Cincinnati, Huntington and
Pittsburgh Packet Company, whose headquarters
1 Capt. Joseph Throckmorton was born on the 16th of June,
1800, in Monmouth County, N. J. As a lad he entered a mer-
cantile house in New York, but, in company with others, sub-
sequently purchased the steamer ''Red Rover," and made
several trips with her from Pittsburgh to Zanesville, Ohio. The
"Red Rover" was finally sunk in a collision, but was raised and
taken to St. Louis and employed in the Galena trade. While
engaged in the upper Mississippi trade, Capt. Throckmorton
won the friendship of the Indian chief Keokuk, who offered
him nearly all the Flint Hills, afterwards the site of the city
of Burlington, if he would settle there. About 1830 Capt.
Throckmorton, in company with Capt. George W. Atcheson,
built the steamer " Winnebago" at Paducah, and employed
her in the Galena trade until 1832, when he built at Pittsburgh
the steamer " Warrior," and a tow-barge for the accommodation
of passengers. While Capt. Throckmorton was in command of
the " Warrior" the Black Hawk war broke out, and the vessel
was chartered for the transportation of the United States
troops under Gen. Atkinson. At the battle of Bad Axe, which
was the decisive engagement of the war, the captain aud crew
of the " Warrior" were hotly engaged. The " Warrior" con-
tinued in the upper Mississippi trade until 1835, when Capt.
Throckmorton built the steamer " St. Peter," and in 1836 the
"Ariel." During the following year he built the "Burling-
ton," and in 1842 the "General Brooke." In 1845 he sold the
" Brooke" to the American Fur Company, and assumed com-
mand of that company's steamer "Nimrod," but having pur-
chased the " Cecilia," relinquished his position. In 1848 he
built the " Cora,'' which he commanded for a year or two, after
which he acted for four years as the agent of the Tennessee
Insurance Company at St. Louis. He then returned to his
former occupation of steamboat captain, and having built the
" Genon," commanded that vessel from 1854 to 1856. In 1857
he built the " Florence," and in 1864 the " Montana." In the
spring of 1868, Capt. Throekmorton purchased the "Columbia,"
and employed her in the trade between St. Louis and Fort
Benton. He subsequently made several trips with his boat in
the service of the Illinois Packet Company, and finally sold
her to the Arkansas River Packet Company. During the last
two years of his life Capt. Throckmorton was employed by the
United States government, under the command of Col. Macomb,
United States engineer, in the improvement of the upper
Mississippi. He died in December, 1872.
RIVER COMMERCE OF SAINT LOUIS.
1123
are at Pittsburgh, Pa., established an agency in St.
Louis in 1881. It owns and controls the following
boats, which run between Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and
St. Louis: the "Buckeye State," "Pittsburgh,"
" Carrie," and " John L. Rhodes." The company
transacts a general transportation business, carrying
both passengers and freight. The officers are J. M.
Williamson, superintendent, Cincinnati ; and Capt.
W. S. Evans, superintendent, Pittsburgh. Jenkins
& Sass are the agents at St. Louis.
The Gartside Coal and Towing Company was
organized in 1856, and chartered in May, 1873, with
a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars. The incor-
porators were James, Charles E., and Joseph Gartside.
The company owns two steam-tugs and ten barges, and
transacts a general coal and transportation business.
The officers in 1882 were Charles E. Gartside, presi-
dent, and James Gartside, secretary and treasurer.
The office is located on the New Orleans Anchor Line
wharf-boat, foot of Pine Street.
The Carter Line (Red River Packet Company)
was established in 1869 by Capt. VV. R. Carter and
Capt. Joseph Conn, who employed the " R. J. Lock-
wood," " Silver Bow," " H. M. Shreve," "Oceanus,"
" M. E. Forsyth," "Lady Lee," "Belle Rowland,"
and " Mary E. Poe." The annual receipts of the
company amounted to about six hundred and fifty
thousand dollars. The ports visited by the line were
landings on the Missouri River, St. Louis, Jefferson,
Shreveport, and New Orleans.
The Merchants' St. Louis and Arkansas River
Packet Company began business in the spring of
1870. The territory embraced within the range of
the company's operations extended from the mouth of
the Arkansas River to Fort Smith, and comprised all
that section south of the river and between it and the
Ouachita, and north of it to the extreme western and
northwestern sections of the State, also from the
mouth of White River to the upper part of it and
the country bordering on Black and Currant Rivers,
reaching almost to the northern line of the State.
The company was incorporated in 1870 with a cap-
ital stock of one hundred thousand dollars, and the
following officers were elected :
President, James A. Jackson ; Vice-President, D.
P. Rowland ; Treasurer, George D. Appleton ; Secre-
tary and Superintendent, James D. Sylvester; Direc-
tors, James A. Jackson, D. P. Rowland, Matthew
Moody, W. S. Stover, C. L. Thompson, Louis Fusz,
George D. Appleton, C. N. McDowell, and George
Wolff.
A low-water boat was at once contracted for for the
upper Arkansas River, three steamers purchased, and
the line put in working order. The steamers employed
by the company in 1871 were the " Sallie," " Colum-
bia," " Muncie," " Sioux City," and " Little Rock."
At Little Rock the vessels from St. Louis connected
with the light-draught steamer " Little Rock," which
ran to Fort Smith, thus forming a continuous line of
communication with the extreme western border of
the State.
Ouachita River Packets. — Prior to 1870 St.
Louis had not enjoyed an extensive trade with the
region of country bordering on the Ouachita River.
Hitherto her merchants and shippers had permitted
New Orleans and other Southern cities to monopolize
the business of the Ouachita ports, but in that year
it was determined to send several steamers, loaded at
St. Louis, to that river. The experiment was made,
and the results were such as to establish the entire
practicability of building up a regular and lucrative
trade. The steamers of the line were the " C. H.
Durfee," Frank Dozier, captain ; " Mary McDonald,"
John Greenough, captain ; " Ida Stockdale," J. W.
Jacobs, captain ; " Hesper," J. Ferguson, captain ;
" C. V. Kountz," J. C. Vanhook, captain ; " Tempest,"
D. H. Silver, captain. The " Tempest" was destroyed
on her first trip up the river. H. F. Driller was the
general freight agent of the line. Mr. Driller after-
wards secured two boats for the White River trade,
the " Osage," Capt. William A. Cade, and the " Na-
trona," Capt. George Graham.
VALUE OP STEAMBOATS REGISTERED OR CONTROLLED AT ST.
Louis, Mo., IN 1871.
Memphis and St. Louis Packet Company
Carter Line Packet Company
Northwestern Transportation Company
Wiggins Ferry Company
Northern Line Packet Company
Harbor tow-boats and tugs
St. Louis Sand Company
Gral'ton Stone and Tow Company
Conrad Line (Tennessee Kiver)
North western Union Packet Company
Merchants' Southern Line
Keokuk Packet Compuny
Peoria Packet Compuny
Na [iles Packet Company
Missouri River Packet Company
St. Louis and New Orleans Packet Company (about).
Mississippi Valley Transportation Company
St. Louis and Arkansas River Packet Company
Outside boats (about)
$700,000
250,000
1-40,000
140.500
352,000
86,000
10,000
16,300
33,000
709,000
730.000
450,000
90,000
04,1100
425,000
475,000
205,000
110,000
500,000
Total value $5,428,800
CHAPTER XXVIII.
RIVER COMMERCE OF ST. LOUIS.
BY the terms of the treaty for the cession of
Louisiana to the United States, the full and .complete
navigation of the Mississippi River was secured to
1124
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
the United States. The trade and commerce of the
river at this time (1803-4) were unimportant. New
Orleans and St. Louis were the only towns of any
size upon the Mississippi, the latter having but four-
teen hundred inhabitants in 1811, and the value of
its merchandise and imports amounting to about
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars annually.
As small a sum as this appears to be, it was princi-
pally owing to the fact that St. Louis was the fitting-
out point for the military and trading establishments
on the Mississippi and Missouri that even this
amount was reached. Peltries, lead, and whiskey
made a large portion of the currency, and the
branches of business were not at all fixed or
definite.1
The establishment of the Bank of St. Louis in
1816, and of the Missouri Bank in 1817, indicates a
great increase of the business of St. Louis, and may
be regarded as fixing an initial point in its trade and
commerce with other sections. In 1821 there were
only four hundred and twenty-nine tax-payers in St.
Louis, and the total taxes levied for the year amounted
to $3823.80.
The prices current of a retail market give but a
partial idea of the business of the community, and
those of St. Louis for Nov. 23, 1816, afford only a
general notion of the market of the town at that
period.
ST. LOUIS RETAIL PRICES CURRENT.
Beef, on foot, per cwt... $4.00
Bread, ship, none
Butter, per pound 25
Beeswax, " "
Candles, " "
Cheese, " "
Cheese, common, per
pound
Boards, none in inar-
.25
.25
.25
Flour, horse-mill, su-
perfine, per cwt $6.00
Grain, wheat, per
bushel 1.00
Grain, rye, per bushel .62i
Grain, barley, per
bushel
Grain, corn, per bush...
Grain, oats,
ket Gunpowder, per Ib
Cider, none in market | Haras,
.75
.37
.37
1.00
.12
.50
.40
1.25
.50
Hides, per piece 2.75
Hogs' lard, per Ib 12
Bears' lard, per gallon.. 1.50
Honey, " " .... 1.00
Coffee, per pound
Cotton, " "
Cotton yarn, No. 10
Feiithers, per pound....
Flour, per barrel, su-
perfine in demand.... 16.00
The annual imports of St. Louis were computed for
1820 "at upwards of $2,000,000," 2 and the Indian
1 John Arthur advertises among "cheap goods" bleached
country cottons, cotton cloth, cotton and wool cards, German
steel, smoothing-irons, ladies' silk bonnets, artificial flowers,
linen duck, muslins, white thread, wool and cotton, a handsome
new gig and harness, cable and cordelle ropes, and that he will
take pay in furs, hides, whiskey, country-made sugar, and bees-
wax, with "a negro girl eighteen years of age also for sale."
And even the editor and proprietor of the only journal west of j
the Mississippi advertises in his sheet that he will keep a house
of entertainment for strangers, where they will find every ac-
commodation except whiskey. He would also take care of eight
or ten horses. — Edwards' (treat West, p. 295.
•Dr. Lewis C. Beck's Gazetteer of Missouri, 1823.
trade of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers was val-
ued at $600,000. The establishment of a Branch
Bank of the United States in 1829 would indicate a
great increase in the trade and commerce of St. Louis
for the decade from 1820 to 1830. In the absence
of statistical records, the only sources of information
on this point are the public journals of that period,
which are filled with the evidence of the great rapid-
ity with which St. Louis was growing in business
and manufactures.
A comparison of the prices current for 1816 with
those for 1835 affords some idea of the progress indi-
cated, as well as of the articles which made up the
trade of St. Louis by the river at that time :
ST. LOUIS PRICES CURRENT FOR 1835.
Ale and porter, bbl $8.00
Bacon, ham, Ib $0.03 @ .09
" hog,round 05£ @ .06
Beans, bush , .75
Beef, bbl 8.00 @ 10.00
Beeswax, Ib 16J @ .17
Butter, Ib 10 @ .12
Castings, ton 70.00
Castor oil, gall 1.35 @ 1.37
Candles, sperm, Ib 40 @ .42
" mould, Ib 13 @ .14
" dipped, Ib 11 @ .12
Clover-seed, bush 7.00 @ 8.00
Coal, bush 10 @ .12
Coffee (in demand), Ib .15J
Cordage, white, Ib 06 @ .08
" manilla, Ib 20 @ .22
Copperas, Ib 02 @ .03
Cotton, Ib 11 @ .12
" yarns, Ib 25 @ .27
Furs, beaver, Ib 3.50
" muskrat-skin 20 @ .25
" deer-skins, shaved, Ib 20 @ .22
in hair, Ib 10 @ .12
" raccoon-skins 30 @ .33
Feathers, Ib 37 @ .40
Flour, superfine Illinois, bbl 4.50 @ 4.75
" superfine Ohio, bbl 4.25 @ 4.50
Mackerel, bbl 6.00 @ 8.00
Glass, 10 x 12, box 5.00 @ 5.25
" 8 x 10, box 4.00 @ 4.25
Grain, wheat, bush 60 @ .62
Corn, bush 45 @ .50
Molasses, gall 35 @ .37
Nails, cut, Ib 06J @ .07
Oil, sperm, gall 65 @ .70
' linseed, gall 1.00 @ 1.12
" tanners', bbl 18.00 @ 20.00
Pork, mess, bbl 11.00 @ 12.00
" prime, bbl 10.50 @ 11.00
Potatoes, bush 25 @ .37
Rice, Ib 05 @ .06
Sugar, Ib 09 @ .10
loaf, Ib 15 @ .17
" Havana, Ib
" white, Ib 12 @ .13
Salt, Liverpool, bushel of 50 Ibs 85 @ .90
" ground, bushel of 50 Ibs 70 @ .75
" Turk's Island, bushel of 50 Ibs.. .62 @ .65
" Kanawhn, bushel of 50 Ibs 45 @ .50
Shot, bag 1.50 @ 1.62
Cognac brandy, gall 1.25 @ 1.75
American brandy, gal] 75 @ 1.00
Peach brandy, gall 1.25
Holland gin. gall 1.25 @ 1.50
Common gin, gall.. .50 @ .60
New Orleans rum, gall 50 @ .55
Jamaica rum, gall 1.10 @ 1.15
Whiskey, corn, gall 28 @ .30
" rye, gall 40 @ .45
RIVER COMMERCE OF SAINT LOUIS.
1125
Tallow, lb $0.08 @ $0.09
Tar, bbl 4.50 @ 5.00
Tea, Gunpowder, lb 1.25 @ 1.33
'• Imperial, lb 1.20 (g) 1.30
" Young Hyson l.CO @ 1.06
Gunpowder, Dupont's, keg 7.00
" Kentucky & Delaware,
keg 6.50
Hides, dried, lb 11 @ .12
Iron, Missouri and Juniata, ton
2000 Ibs 120.00
Lard, lb .06
Lead, bar, lb .06
" pig, lb .0-1$
" white, in oil ^in demand), keg. 2.75
Linentow,yd , 13 @ .14
" flax, yd 20 @ .22
Vinegar, bbl 4.00 @ 5.00
Wine, Madeira, gall 3.00 @ 4.00
" Teneriife, gall 1.00 @ 1.25
" S. Madeira, gall 1.50 @ 1.75
" Port, gall 2.00 @ 2.50
" Malaga, gall 70 @ .75
" champagne, doz 14.00 @ 18.00
" claret, doz 4.00 @ 4.50
Provision market:
Beef, lb .05
Veal, lb .08
Mutton, lb .06
Butter, lb .12$
Eggs, doz .ll|
Chickens, full grown .25
" young .12$
The steamboat register for 1835 shows the
number of different steamboats to have
been 121
Aggregate tonnage 15,470
Number of entries '803
Wharfage collected $4,573.60
Wood and lumber liable to wharfage:
Plank, joists, and scantlings 1,414,330 feet.
Shingles 148,000
Cedar posts (S's) 7,706
Cords of firewood 8,066
A comparison of these figures with the same items
for 1831 shows an increase of more than one hundred
per cent.
The panic of 183*7 was attended with the ruin of
thousands of people all over the country, and with
the prostration of the business, trade, and commerce of
St. Louis. The arrivals and departures of steamboats
for 1839, however, were: arrivals, two thousand and
ninety-five ; departures, sixteen hundred and forty-
five.1
1 The Jtepnllican of June 4, 1836, describes the commercial
condition of St. Louis at that time as follows:
"At no prior time has this city exhibited so many signs of
improvement as are now daily seen. Capital is finding its way
to us, and large investments are made in real estate, not, we
feel assured, with a view to speculation, which benefits no one
but those who are parties in it, but with the design of improv-
ing it. The sale of lots in Christy's addition to the town
amounted on the first two days to one hundred and one thou-
sand dollars. It was continued yesterda)', and will probably
reach one hundred and forty thousand dollars. Other sales of
property bordering on the town have recently been made
amounting to many thousands of dollars. Block No. 13, with
three or four houses upon it, fronting upon Main and Water
Streets, sold ten or twelve days ago for two hundred and forty
thousand dollars, and other property in the business part of the
city went for equally fair prices. We say fair prices, for they
72
It is impossible to give any concise statement of
the amount of the river trade of St. Louis, but some
of the leading and principal items for the year 1840
will afford an approximate idea of the volume of busi-
ness then transacted. From 1831, when the first in-
surance office was established, to 1840 the marine
risks amounted to $58,021,986. This sum does not
include the whole amount of property at risk, because
some of the boats and cargoes were insured at the
East and South, and some were not insured at all.
The estimate of property uninsured was put at thirty-
three and one-third per cent., which would raise the
value to $77,362,648. The receipts of lead at St.
Louis for 1839 were 375,000 pigs; for 1840, 390,-
000 pigs; and for 1841,395,000 pigs. A pig of
lead averaged sixty-nine pounds, and was estimated
at three and one-half cents per pound, making the
value of this trade for 1841, $13,825, and for the
three years nearly $50,000. " At least 8500 hogs-
heads of tobacco" passed St. Louis, with a value of
$912,500. There were shipped from St. Louis 80,-
000 bushels of wheat and 110,000 barrels of flour,
valued at $610,000.
When to these figures are added those for the trade
in beef, pork, bacon, lard, butter, corn, live-stock,
buffalo robes, furs, skins, and peltries, hemp, bag-
ging, bale-rope, and the many other articles that
comprise the industry of a growing community but
of which there exist no statistics, it will be seen that
are by no means so extravagant as have been obtained in other
AVestern towns, and are such as will justify the purchasers in
making permanent improvements upon the property. In many
cases it is their intention to do so.
"We have made some inquiry, and have found that upwards
of two hundred houses are now building in the city. They are
started in every direction, and it is probable that another hun-
dred will be put up during the season if contracts can be made
for them. One or two churches are to be erected, a splendid
theatre is under way, and a female seminary is to be commenced.
Many of the buildings will be handsomely finished for stores
and extensive warehouses, and it is to be hoped that before
another year passes away we shall be able to furnish houses for
the numerous business men who arc desirous of making estab-
lishments here. Our country friends who are engaged in mer-
cantile pursuits have in many instances determined to make
their purchases hereafter at St. Louis, as the competition and
increase of business has satisfied them that they can do so to
better advantage than in the Atlantic cities. Useful and
extensive manufactories are starting up at every point, and in
a short time we shall be independent of other places for our
steam-engines and other materials of daily use. The corporate
societies are not behind our citizens in making improvements.
The whole line of the wharf is rapidly being macadamized, and
before the winter sets in it will present a better appearance than
any port in the Western country. Many contracts are made
for paving the streets, and two or three years of industry will
bring about the completion of this work throughout the city."
1126
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
St. Louis had in 1840 made considerable progress
on the road to that commercial prosperity which she
now enjoys. The imports were valued at from ten to
fifteen millions of dollars.
A slight idea may be gathered of the trade of
St. Louis in 1843 from the following table, which
exhibits the imports and exports of the city from the
13th of January up to the 12th of August, 1843 :
Imports. Exports.
Beeswax, bbls 470 777
" Ibs 36,007 26,655
Buffalo robes, bales 8,983 4,186
Corn, sacks 28,091 27,688
Flour, bbls 59,965 88,393
Hemp, bales 26,947 17,629
Lead, pigs 398,225 397,213
Lard, bbls 10,751 19,243
" kegs 15,581 18,337
Oil lard, bbls 559 3,060
Pork, bbls 16,633 30,097
Tobacco, hhds 14,599 13,498
"Wheat, bbls 58,777 22,241
" sacks 78,299 27,945
The receipts of tobacco for the year 1842 were
1754 hogsheads, of which 1645 hogsheads were sold,
leaving on hand on the 1st of January, 1843, 109
hogsheads.
In the Prices Current for 1844 the population is
estimated at 40,000, and the registered tonnage at
20,420 tons, against 14,729 tons in the year 1842,
thus showing an increase in less than three years of
nearly 40 per cent. This tonnage was the property
of citizens of St. Louis, and it may be safely said that
at least as much more was employed in its trade and
commerce the property of other cities. The arrivals
during the year amounted to 2613, against 2105 the
previous year, showing an increase of 508 arrivals.
The annual trade of St. Louis was then estimated at
§50,000,000. Nearly 47,000 bags of coffee, 11,000
hogsheads of sugar, 758,000 pigs of lead, 31,000
bales of hemp, 13,000 hogsheads of tobacco, 132,000
barrels of flour, and nearly a million bushels of wheat
were imported into St. Louis in 1843, being an average
increase of nearly 20 per cent, on that of the previous
year.
The harbor-master's report for 1845 shows that
during the year there were 2050 steamboat arrivals
in the harbor of St. Louis, with an aggregate tonnage
of 358,045 tons, and 346 arrivals of keel- and flat-
boats, and that the trade of the city was carried on
by 213 steamboats, with an aggregate tonnage of
42,922 tons.
From the same report there has been compiled the
following table of the places from whence these ves-
sels came, showing the arrivals from each quarter for
each month, as follows :
New Ohio Illinois M.Y:^fnrni Missouri Other
Orleuns. Kiver. lliver. Mlsl J? * ''pl Itiver. Points.
In January 17 5 15
February 13 13 20
March 27 42 57
April 24 39 36
May 35 49 52
June 27 33 29
July 16 46 26
August 20 44 26
September.... 25 38 7
October 22 45 13
November 21 47 17
December 3 5
250 406 298
Biver.
1558
12 2 7
67 11 S
75 23 10
102 49 13
66 42 21
58 29 18
63 25 22
60 22 19
48 20 16
74 20 24
311
647 249
167
From the foregoing it appears that during 1845
there were 250 steamboat arrivals from New Orleans ;
406 from different ports on the Ohio River, including
arrivals from the Cumberland and Tennessee ; 278
from ports on the Illinois River ; 647 from ports on
the Mississippi above the mouth of the Missouri, not
including the daily trip of the Alton packet; 249
from ports on the Missouri River; and 168 from
other points, chiefly from Cairo and intermediate
ports between that point and St. Louis.
During the year 1848-49, St. Louis began to
receive heavy shipments of the products of the
Southern States, and orders for articles hitherto
sent to other cities were sent to the merchants,
manufacturers, and mechanics of St. Louis. Direct
communication with the lakes and the Canadas
also presented great advantages to the shipping
and commercial interests of the city. The total
receipts of tobacco by the river for the period of
five years, from 1844 to 1849, was 49,918 hogs-
heads, an exhibit which shows " a steady decrease
in the production of that staple in the State of
Missouri since 1844." The decrease in the pro-
duction of tobacco was compensated by an increase
in that of hemp, the entire crop of which in 1846
was 80,000 bales, of which 47,152 bales were re-
ceived by the river. The receipts of lead by the
river were, for 1847, 749,128 pigs, and for 1848,
705,718 pigs. The receipts of flour by the river for
1847 were 328,568 barrels and 686 half-barrels, and
for 1848 they were 387,314 barrels and 541 half-
barrels. In addition the city mills produced 400,000
barrels. The total production was over 700,000 bar-
rels, which, at $4.25 per barrel, made an aggregate
value of $2,975,000. The wheat crop of 1847-48
was an unusually fine one throughout the river States,
and the receipts by way of the river for 1847 were
2,432,377 bushels, and for 1848, 2,194,798 bushels.
The receipts of corn by the river were, for 1847,
1,016,318 bushels, and for 1848, 699,693 bushels.
The Illinois and Michigan Canal opened in 1847-48,
drawing off 316,625 bushels. The receipts of oats
RIVER COMMERCE OF SAINT LOUIS.
1127
for 1847 were 202,365 bushels, and for 1848, 243,700
bushels. '' Of the entire shipments from this city,"
it was stated about this time, " it is computed that fully
three-fourths reach the city of New Orleans." The
beef receipts for 1848 were 9381 tierces, 7876 bar-
rels, and 47 half-barrels ; and of pork, 97,662 barrels
and 1923 half-barrels, together with 25,820 casks,
3603 hogsheads, 2847 barrels, 3775 boxes of bacon.
Of lard there were received 6579 tierces, 67,329
barrels, and 14,180 kegs, showing an immense im-
provement in the provision trade. The lumber trade
for 1847 amounted to 16,917,850 feet, and for 1848
to 22,137,915 feet; shingles for 1847, 13,098,800,
and for 1848, 15,851,500. There were also 42,282
cords of wood received by the river in 1847, and
38,857 cords in 1848. Of coal the receipts by river
in 1847 were 1,454,048 bushels, and in 1848, 1,623,-
687 bushels.
As elsewhere stated more in detail, two calamities
visited St. Louis in the year 1849, the cholera and
the great conflagration of steamboats and other prop-
erty on the 17th of May, which exerted a disastrous
influence on every branch of her trade, commerce,
and business. A mortality of seven thousand eight
hundred and twenty-one persons and the destruction
of three million three hundred and thirty-five thou-
sand four hundred and fifty dollars of property could
not but have administered a check to enterprise and
retarded progress. It is surprising, however, to note
the alacrity, energy, and perseverance which were ex-
hibited by the people of St. Louis in repairing the
losses and obliterating the evidences of these visita-
tions. Before the expiration of six months com-
merce, if not fully recovered, at least exhibited no
signs of impairment, but was in full motion, and all the
routine of mercantile affairs was in active operation.
The estimated value of thirty-one of the leading
articles of produce received at the port of St. Louis
during the year 1849, with total valuation, is as
follows :
AllTICLKS.
Aggregate Amount.
Average Rate.
Estimated Value.
Tobacco, leaf
9,879 hhds
$50.00 per hhd . ..
$493 950 00
" manufactured
5,904 boxes
15.00 " box
88 560 00
9,258 tons
110 00 " ton
1 018 380 00
Lead T
16,428 tons
85.40 " ton
1 402 951 20
Flour
306,412 bbls
4.20 " bbl
1 286 930 40
Wheat
1,792,535 bush
.80 ' bush
1 434 028 00
Corn
305 333 bush
31 ' bush
94 653 23
Otits
252 291 bush .
28 ' bu«b
70 641 58
J&rley
92,463 bush
.70 ' bush
64 724 10
Ifove
5,844 bush
.40 ' bush
2 337 60
Behns
9,078 bush
.40 ' bush
2,731 20
Beef
10,687 tierce."
9.00 ' tierce
96 183 00
><
12 336 Ibis .
8 00 " bbl
98 688 00
Pork
113,862 bbls
8.00 " bbl
920 896 00
" bulk
9 651,656 Ibs
.02i " lb
241 291 40
Lard
15,801 tierces
17.50 " tierce
276 517 50
f"
58,270 bbls
1300 " bbl
757 510 00
M
18,845 kegs
3 50 keg
64 957 50
Bacon
16,880 casks
30.00 cask
580 400 00
3,245 bbls. and boxes...
12.50 box and bbl
40 562 50
Pickled hams and shoulders
10,564 casks
14 56 cask
153 178 00
Whiskey
29,085 bbls
7.50 bbl
217 997 50
Tallow
721,460 Ibs
.06J lb
48 698 55
Butter
1,255,280 Ibs
.OS£ lb
106 698 80
19,065 coils
7.25 coil
142 21 1 25
1,079 pieces
15 106 00
103 500 bush. .
.30 bush
31 050 00
Onions
21,350 bush
.50 bush
10 675 00
Grease
351,851 Ibs
.03J lb
12 314 78
Hide?, dry and green
Hay
68,902
920 tons
1.80 oa h
16.00 p r ton
124,033.60
14 720 00
Flaxseed
26,500 bush
.85 bush
22,525 00
Feather?
62,340 Ibs
.28 lb
17 455 20
Brooms
1 1,023 dozens '.
1.60 doz....
17 636 SO
Dried fruit
63,102 bush
.90 bush. .
56 791 80
Green apples
Wool
20,583 bbls
1,274 bales
1.50 bbl
22.50 bale ..
30,874.50
28 665 90
$10 087 327 99
During 1849 the arrivals of steamboats at St.
Louis were: From New Orleans, 313; Ohio River,
401; Illinois River, 686; upper Mississippi, 806;
Missouri River, 355 ; Cairo, 122 ; other points, 217.
The total number of arrivals of steamboats and
barges in 1848 was 3468 ; in 1849, 2975 ; of keel-
1128
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
and flat-boats in 1848, 332, and in 1849, 166. The
total tonnage of steamboats and barges in 1848 was
688,213, and in 1849, 633,892.
The prevalence of yellow fever at New Orleans in
1853 proved a serious check to the river trade of St.
Louis, and the difficulty of shipping crews, except at
enhanced wages, threw a large amount of tonnage out
of the trade and advanced freights to a high figure.
All descriptions of agricultural products ruled un-
usually high in prices, and the farmers reaped a rich
reward for their enterprise and industry, the profits
realized enabling them to enlarge the area of cultiva-
tion, to improve their residences, and to invest to a
large extent in the railroad enterprises that were then
being projected in every direction through the West.
In this year (1853) the statistics and transactions of
a railroad were reported for the first time in connec-
tion with the river trade. The Missouri Pacific
Railroad was that year completed a distance of forty
miles, through a section of country which, though
contiguous to St. Louis, had not been brought under
cultivation. Without a farm along its line, and with
its western terminus in a dense forest, this great
railroad began to connect the Mississippi with the
"back country," and overpaid the expenses of
transportation more than ten thousand dollars, fore-
shadowing the immense profits from the investment.
The " receipts per Pacific Railroad" were : Tobacco,
48 hogsheads and 3 boxes ; lead, 1556 pigs; iron,
88,350 pounds pig, 530 blooms; wheat, 3418
bushels; hides, 5200 pounds; whiskey, 214 barrels;
wood, 370 cords; wine, 9 casks, 7 barrels, and 8
boxes, native; hubstuff, 25 cords; and hoop-poles,
570,000.
A comparison of the tonnage of Western cities at
the end of the year 1853 will show the rapid strides
that St. Louis had made in the river trade.
The official returns of tonnage, June 30, 1853,
were:
Cincinnati...
Louisville —
Nashville....
St. Louis ....
Tons.
10,191
14,166
3,414
45,441
Decrease from 1851
Increase " "
Decrease " "
Increase " "
Tons.
3,996
1,229
163
11,136
These returns also show that St. Louis had then
more steam tonnage than Wheeling, Cincinnati, Louis-
ville, New Albany, Nashville, and Memphis combined.
The arrivals of vessels at St. Louis for 1853 num-
bered 3307, or 529 more than at New Orleans.1
The official returns of tonnage for the year ending
June 30, 1854, give the following table of steam ton-
nage, showing the amount enrolled at several ports,
viz. :
1 "Thoughts about St. Louis," by John Hogan, pp. 6 and 7.
Tons.
New York 101,487.41
New Orleans 57,174.54
St. Louis 48,557.51
Philadelphia 24,523.93
Cincinnati 23,842.73
Louisville 20,122.89
Mobile 18,110.40
Baltimore 14,451.14
Nashville 5,726.73
Wheeling 4,127.89
New Albany 2,952.31
Memphis 1,894.80
St. Louis was then the third city in the Union in
the amount of enrolled steam tonnage, nearly doub-
ling Philadelphia, with more than Philadelphia and
Baltimore combined, with more than Cincinnati, Louis-
ville, and Wheeling together, and paying duties on
foreign imports amounting to more than seven hundred
thousand dollars.2
The navigation of the rivers in the West was im-
peded to a greater extent and for a longer period in
1860 that ever before within the recollection of the
oldest boatmen. This condition of the rivers led to
action on the part of St. Louis merchants, which for
a while induced the hope that new and entirely differ-
ent methods were about to be adopted. The necessity
of changing the mode of handling grain consigned to
the merchants of St. Louis had long been felt, and
the commission houses and millers of the city had be-
come convinced that sacks should be dispensed with,
and that grain should be transported in bulk. The
Chamber of Commerce aided in the movement by pre-
senting a memorial to the City Council requesting it
to grant an elevator privilege to Messrs. Henry and
Edgar Ames and Albert Pearce, who had offered to
construct upon their own responsibility two elevators
upon the Levee, — one near the foot of Carr Street,
in the northern part of the city, and the other near
the foot of Myrtle Street, in the southern part. The
elevators were to have been of the most approved con-
struction and material, with a capacity of half a million
bushels each, and to have been exclusively used for
the storage of grain in bulk. The City Council, after
an able report from a special committee of that body
had been submitted, promptly passed the ordinance,
but it was vetoed by the mayor, and the inauguration
of the elevator system of handling grain in St. Louis
was postponed until 1863.
The subject of bridging the Mississippi at Rock
Island, which had been under discussion for several
years, was brought before the Hon. I. M. Love,
judge of the District Court of the United States,
who decided at the April term of the court in 1860
" that that portion of the railroad bridge across the
Mississippi River at or near Davenport, within the
2 Ibid.
RIVER COMMERCE OF SAINT LOUIS.
1129
State of Iowa, being part of the bridge commonly called
the Rock Island bridge, and which is part of the Missis-
sippi and Missouri Railroad, is a common and public
nuisance, and a material impediment and obstruction
to the navigation of said river by steamboats and other
craft," and ordered it to be removed. This action of
the court was approved by the St. Louis Chamber of
Commerce, and the connecting of the railroad systems
east with those west of the Mississippi was postponed ,
until a period of more enlightened ideas with regard
to transportation had arrived.
In consequence of low water during I860, freights
on the upper Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois ruled
very high, and there was an increase in marine dis-
asters, reaching as high as two hundred and ninety-
nine boats, with a loss of life amounting to two hun-
dred and fifty-four.
The arrivals and departures of vessels at St. Louis
during 1859 and 1860 were:
1859.
1860.
Upper Mississippi
.... 1,501
1,524
Lower Mississippi
.... 616
767
Missouri
... 396
269
Illinois
... 679
544
Ohio
.... 367
277
Tennessee
58
3t
Cumberland
31
35
Arkansas
7
Barges, canal- and flat-boats..
.... 1,397
1,724
Total
... 5,045
5,178
Departures
5,104
5,218
Tonnage
768,905
844,039
During the period of the civil war (1861-65) there
was almcst complete stagnation in the river trade and
a general paralysis of the industries and commerce of
St. Louis. The condition of affairs, industrial as well
as political, during the great crisis of the nation's his-
tory, is fully set forth in the chapter on the civil war.
The following, however, is a copy of circular instruc-
tions issued by C. G. Memminger, Secretary of the
Treasury of the Southern Confederacy, in March,
1861, relating to the commerce of the Mississippi.
These instructions related to importations from places
north of the then so-called Confederate States. Vessels
descending the river were required to come to at Nor-
folk, or Nelson's Landing, on the Mississippi, and the
master was to report the arrival to the collector, exhibit-
ing duplicate manifests of the whole cargo and declaring
the name of the vessel, name of master, where from,
the port of destination, and a full and particular de-
scription of the cargo. A custom-house officer was
required to board vessels and demand the manifests
mentioned. These manifests were to be certified by
the collector or boarding- officer, and one of them re-
turned to the master. The manifest returned by the
custom-house officer was to be sent to the collector of
the port of final destination. If there were on board
and intended for delivery at points other than ports
of entry or delivery goods not subject to duty they
could be landed, provided the master gave to the first
revenue officer a schedule in duplicate of the articles,
describing them, quantity and value, name of con-
signee, and place where to be landed. On one of
these schedules, directed to be returned to the master,
the officer was to indorse a landing permit. The in-
structions were in part as follows:
" Masters of flat-boats, with coal bulk intended for points as
above, must give under oath to the collector at Norfolk a
schedule in duplicate, setting forth name of boat, owner, master,
where from, quality, quantity, and value, and the fact of its
being intended to be landed at places other than ports of entry
or delivery. On these schedules the collector will estimate the
duties payable ; and on payment of the duties at Norfolk, will
indorse on the original schedule (to be returned to the master)
a certificate of pnymcnt and permit to land the goods.
"Should any portion of the cargo of vessels arriving as afore-
said, composed of dutiable or free articles, be destined to ports
of entry or delivery other than the port of final destination, per-
mission may be obtained to land the same under the following
regulations :
"The master shall present to the revenue officer at Norfolk
a schedule in tr plicate of the goods, describing them by marks
and numbers, numbers of packages and contents, correspond-
ing with the description in the general manifest of the vessel,
also stating the consignee and name of the port of destination
of the merchandise.
"Should the merchandise be intended to be landed at more
than one intermediate port, then separate schedules of the
goods destined for each port to be made out in triplicate, with
all the particulars before required, shall be presented j and the
revenue officers to certify on each of the schedules the fact of
presentation, and also on the original to indorse his permission
for the vessel to land at the port or ports designated the goods
described in said schedule. The original shall be then returned
to the master or commander.
" On the arrival of the vessel at an intermediate port, the
master or commander is to present to revenue officer the origi-
nal schedule, and will receive a general permit to land tho
goods upon their being duly entered and special landing per-
mits issued, as now provided by law for the landing of imported
merchandise. Should the vessel arrive out of business hours,
or should circumstances compel it, the master is permitted to
deposit the goods either in a bonded warehouse or the custody
of a revenue officer, and shall receive a receipt containing all
the particulars of the schedule, and the original schedule shall
be delivered to the person with whom tho merchandise is de-
posited, and by him delivered over to the collector or chief
revenue officer as soon as tho opening of the custom-house will
admit.
" On the arrival of the vessel at the port of final destination, tho
master or commander shall make due entry at the custom-house
by delivering his original manifest, together with all schedules
indorsed with the permits to land at intermediate ports, and
the receipts of officers to whom any goods may have been de-
livered, or any other documents showing the disposition of any
portion of the cargo ; and the residue of the cargo shall be
landed on permits similar to those provided by law for the land-
ing of imported merchandise; and the total cargo, as shown
by the original manifest, shall be delivered at this port, with the
1130
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
exception of such as is shown by the documents presented at
the tiino of entry to have been landed elsewhere, under the
penalties now provided by law for discrepancies existing in the
cargoes of vessels arriving from foreign ports.
" In order to relieve vessels in this branch of importing trade
from embarrassments, all goods imported therein remaining un-
claimed, or for which no entry shall be made or permit granted
within twenty-four hours after arrival, may be taken possession
of by the collector and deposited in a bonded warehouse, on a
general permit to be issued by him for that purpose.
" To afford further facilities in the event of vessels in this
trade arriving nt the port of final destination before the open-
ing or after the closing of the custom-house for the day, and
a necessity exists for discharging the cargo, it shall be law-
ful to deposit the same or any part thereof, at the risk and ex-
pense of said vessel, on the levee, in the charge of the inspec-
tion service of the customs, or in any bonded warehouse at the
port, such portion of said cargo as may be practicable, the
master or commander of the vessel obtaining for the goods so
deposited a receipt from the inspection officer on the Levee, or
the custom officer in charge of the warehouse, which receipt
shall be delivered to the collector of customs as soon thereafter
as the business hours of the custom-house at said port will
permit.
" Any goods, wares, or merchandise imported as aforesaid may
be entered at the port of destination on the presentation to the
collector of the bill or bills of lading, together with the other
documents now required by law on the entry of imported mer-
chandise, before and in anticipation of the arrival of the im-
porting vessel, and the necessary permits for the landing shall
issue on the completion of these entries.
" And on the presentation of these permits to the surveyor, it
shall be his duty, and is hereby required of him (if the vessel by
which the goods are imported shall have arrived at the port), to
detail an inspector of the customs to superintend the landing of
the merchandise described therein, and such landing is author-
ized before entry has been made by the importing vessel at the
custom-house when the interest of commerce or circumstances
attending such arrival shall render it necessary. It must, how-
ever, be distinctly understood that it is unlawful to discharge
any portion of the cargoes of these vessels except under the
supervision and inspection of the customs officer.
•' Clearances. — Before the departure of any vessel navigating
the Mississippi or other rivers, destined to a foreign port or
place beyond the northern limits of the Confederate States of
America, the master or person having charge thereof shall de-
liver to the collector or chief officer of the customs at the port
from which such vessel is about to depart a manifest of the
cargo on board the same, in the form and verified in the man-
ner now provided by law for vessels to a foreign port, and obtain
from said collector a clearance as follows :
Confederate States of America.
District of
Port of IS
These are to certify to all whom it doth concern, that
master or commander of the
of bound for
hath entered and cleared his said vessel according to law.
Given under my hand and seal nt
the custom-house of this day of 18
Collector.
" It shall be permitted to vessels engaged in the navigation
and commerce provided for by these regulations, after clearance,
to take on board at the port of original departure, or any other
place within the limits of the Confederacy, any goods, wares, or
merchandise, and to proceed therewith to a destination beyond
the Confederate limits, on delivering to the collector or chief
revenue officer at the port of Norfolk, on the Mississippi, or
at the port nearest the frontier of the Confederacy on any other
river, a schedule describing all the goods on board, the quantity,
value, and destination, not declared in the manifest delivered
at the time of clearance at the custom-house of the original
port of departure. The schedule thus received is to be for-
warded to the port from which the vessel may have originally
cleared.
" Lastly, it is made the duty of the collector at the port of
Norfolk, or at the other frontier ports at which masters of out-
ward-bound vessels are required to deliver schedules, to board
all vessels bound for places beyond the Confederate limits in the
same manner and at the hours as hereinbefore provided for in-
ward-bound vessels."
As long as there were no railroads to compete with
the trade and commerce of the river, the subject of
improving the navigation of Western waters was dis-
cussed. Commercial opinion seemed to have settled
down to the conviction that impediments to naviga-
tion, such as snags, sand-bars, sunken boats, and the
rapids of the upper river, were inevitable and had to
be submitted to. But when railroads began to divert
the trade, and threatened loss and injury to the vast
amount of capital already invested in steamboats and
barges, as well as to the multitude of laborers who
found employment in river navigation, the political
power of the Mississippi valley was invoked to protect
the great river from the loss that was threatened, as
well as to employ its natural advantages to better effect
in aid of the consumer and producer. The initiatory
steps looking to the improvement of the navigation
of Western rivers by the general government were
taken at a convention held in St. Louis in February,
1867, which resulted in annual appropriations for the
removal of snags, sand-bars, and the improvements at
the rapids at Rock Island.
The practical operation of the St. Louis grain
elevator, the charter for which was granted in 1863,
demonstrated the fact that grain could be handled in
bulk advantageously, and that with proper facilities
for shipping to New Orleans and transferring at that
point in bulk, grain could be delivered at the Eastern
cities and foreign ports cheaper via the Mississippi
River than by any other route. The cost of trans-
porting a bushel of wheat from St. Paul to New York
via St. Louis and New Orleans, with the proper facil-
ities for transferring at those cities, was ascertained to
be at least twenty cents per bushel less than by any
northern route, and it was also discovered that the
cost of transportation could be further reduced ten
cents with a proper canal around the rapids at Rock
Island. The Mississippi Valley Transportation Com-
pany was this year (1863) handling grain in bulk,
and a transfer elevator was built by St. Louis parties
RIVER COMMERCE OF SAINT LOUIS.
1131
for use in New Orleans at the opening of navigation.
Further elevator facilities, chiefly at East St. Louis,
were undertaken in 1866, and the energy and enter-
prise of St. Louis were fully awakened to the prac-
ticability of making the Mississippi the great high-
way for the products of the Northwest to foreign
markets. At the same time the trade with Montana
and the gold regions of the upper Missouri was in-
creasing, and had extended beyond the most sanguine
estimates. Fifty-one boats left St. Louis during the
year for the upper Missouri, carrying twenty-two
million seven hundred and seventy thousand pounds
of freight and many passengers.
The opening of the year 1866 found the Missis-
sippi at St. Louis firmly closed by ice, which broke
up on the night of January 12th, destroying an im-
mense quantity of shipping.
The following statement shows the quantity of
grain received and disbursed by the St. Louis Ele-
vator Company from Oct. 24, 1865, to Jan. 1,
1867 i1
Eeceipts from Oc- Disbursed from Oc- Balance in
tober, 1865, to tober, 1865, to Elevator Jan-
January, 1867. January, 1807. unry, 18C7.
Bushels. Bushels. Bushels.
Wheat 1,342,750.43 1,148,344.22 194,406.21
Corn 228,495.05 221,105.22 7,389.39
Oats 127,944.07 126,306.02 1,638.05
Barley 252,901.40 243,199.43 9,701.45
Rye 19,152.46 19,152.46
Malt 1,364.04 1,364.04
Total 1,972,609 1,758,109 214,500
Receipts for 1866.
Bushels.
Wheat 1,087,090.50
Corn 210,230.55
Oats 54,867.12
Barley 11,072.42
Rye 12,079.14
Malt 1,364.04
Total 1,376,705
The tonnage of St. Louis, comprising steamers
plying between that and other ports, July 1, 1866,
was as follows :
Rivers. 1"tee"gm" Barges. Total. Tonnage. Value.
Lower Mississippi 55 30 85 74,800 $3,970,000
Arkansas 16 ... 16 5,925 378,000
Cumberland and Ten-
nessee 18 ... 18 5,925 282,000
Upper Mississippi 44 67 111 30,685 1,625.000
Illinois 16 25 41 10,355 488,000
Ohio 45 ... 45 19,800 1,088,000
Missouri 71 ... 71 38,525 2,545,000
Total 265 122 387 186,015 $10,376,000
The effect of railroads upon the trade of the
Mississippi and other rivers becomes very apparent
1 " Up to 187 1 the elevator had no source of supply save the
river, connections with the various railroads not having been
made in 1866." — St. Louis, the Commercial Metropolis of the Mis-
sissippi Valley, by L. U. lieavis, p. 189.
by an examination of the commercial statistics
for 1866. For example, of the total receipts of
flour, amounting to 2,107,026 barrels, only 424,627
were received by river; of 4,550,305 bushels of
wheat, 3,245,995 bushels; of 7,233,671 bushels of
corn, 4,815,860 bushels; of 3,667,253 bushels of
oats, 2,648,612 bushels; of 375,417 bushels of rye,
356,078 bushels ; and of 548,796 bushels of barley,
425,969 bushels. In the export of grain the same
influence is visible. Of 2,107,026 barrels of flour,
the rivers carried 1,149,868 bushels; of 4,550,304
bushels of wheat, 408,742 bushels; of 7,233,671
bushels of corn, 6,713,027 bushels; of 3,667,253
bushels of oats, 2,581,492 bushels; of 375,417
bushels of rye, 184,963 bushels; of 548,796
bushels of barley, 53,655 bushels. The total re-
ceipts of grain amounted to 22,079,072 bushels, and
the total exports to 18,835,969 bushels.
The year 1866 was an unprofitable one in many
respects. The cost of the necessities of life was
greatly increased, political dissensions were bitter and
• violent, and the financial policy of Congress and in-
different crops produced doubt and uncertainty as to
the future, and greatly depressed trade and business.
The receipts of flour and grain at St. Louis fell off
in 1867 4,210,317 bushels from 1866, and the ex-
ports diminished proportionately. With the excep-
tion of the hog product, there was a corresponding
decrease in every article of commerce. Previous to
the civil war the great market of St. Louis had been
in the Southern States, where the energies of the
planting interest were wholly devoted to the growing
of cotton and sugar, necessitating the importation of
breadstuffs. The abolition of slavery produced an
entire change in the labor system, and the destitution
that followed the war interfered even as late as 1867
with the production of the great staples of the
South, and for this reason, and because it compelled
the raising of food-supplies at home, made the
Southern people small buyers in the market of St.
Louis. The prospect of so great a change in the
agricultural productions of the Southern States
obliged St. Louis to seek other markets for the
produce which came to her from the North and
West, and to open up other avenues of trade. AVith
this in view the attention of her merchants were
directed to South America and Europe. The city
of New Orleans, with interests identical with those
of St. Louis, set on foot a movement to establish a
regular line of steamers with Liverpool, and to
construct a large elevator to receive and disburse
grain in the most economical manner. The contest
between the river and the railroad for the great prize
1132
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
of transporting the produce of the "West was fairly
under way at this time. The cheapness of transpor-
tation was to determine the supremacy, and in order
that the grain of the West might reach an exporting
point at less cost via the Mississippi River than via
the lakes required improved and increased facilities.
The Des Moines and Rock Island rapids were in a
fair way of removal, the work having been under-
taken and regularly appropriated for by the general
government. That obstruction removed, the elevators
of St. Louis were ready to receive or transfer the
grain, and the barge company provided barges for
transportation to New Orleans, where the Higby
elevator transferred the grain to ocean vessels.
Under the impetus thus given several cargoes of
grain were shipped to New York and Europe, estab-
lishing fully the practicability of the route. St. Louis
added other facilities for handling grain by extending
the North Missouri and Iron Mountain Railroads to
the elevators.
The arrivals and departures of vessels at St. Louis
during 1867 and 1868 were:
'a.
~
£ »
•- £.
._;
S3
•
6 id
Kivers.
*i
si
i
£- %
st
i
1
i
°S
i
5
2
i
_ "3
s i
c]
•
1
<
B
a
H
_o
O
§>
J
§
1
11
f> 3
tn
5Jj
« "~
11
H
•
e
H
Arrival, 1867...
691
886
311
350
17
5
38
45
130
5
2478
047
3425
1,080,320
1868...
596
969
356
291
1
1
12
46
154
2
2
338
1133
3471
1,655,795
Departure, 1867
741
915
318
396
11
5
49
41
105
4
2-r>X5
" 1868
579
1013
361
332
3
15
44
228
2
2577
ARRIVALS AND DEPARTURES FOR FOUR YEARS.
ARRIVAU
.
DKPARTCBES.
YEAR.
Boats.
Barges.
Tonnage.
No. of boats.
1868
2338
1133
1 055 795
2579
1867
2478
947
1 086 390
2585
1866
2972
1124
1 ''27 078
3(166
1865
2768
1114
1£'?9 8'6
2953
During the year 1870 the general government
established gauges at different points on the Western
rivers, where the daily rise and fall of the water are
taken and furnished by telegraph each day to the
different cities, also the height of water as compared
with a well-known high- or low-water mark, which
gives a more perfect indication of the depth of the
channel.
The system of railroads which in 1870 had spread
out from St. Louis in every direction had the effect
of contracting the limits of freightage by water.
When not only freight but passengers were carried
by water, the steamboats of the Mississippi found
a remunerative trade. But the time had arrived
when the steamboat had become too slow a means of
transportation for an enterprising and progressive
people. The passenger travel having deserted the
steamboats, they were compelled to look to their
freight-list almost entirely for their profits. The
question of how to preserve to the river marine the
traffic with the South that was, and would be for
several years, dependent upon the river was discussed
with a view to the use of iron in the construction of
hulls both for steamers and barges.
During the year 1870 the agitation of the question
of materially reducing the taxes and dues paid by steam-
boatmen for the purpose of maintaining wharves and
improving the levees and harbors of river towns and
cities was kept up almost uninterruptedly through
the entire season.
The following is a condensed statement of all the
wharfage collected at St. Louis from April, 1846, to
December, 1870, a period of twenty-four years :
From April, 1846, to April, 1847.
1847,
1848,
JS49,
1850,
1851,
1852,
1853,
1S54,
1855,
1856,
1857,
1858,
1859,
1860,
1S61,
1862,
1863,
1864,
1865,
1866,
1867, to January, 1868
January, 1868, to April, 1869
April, 1869, to April 12, 1870
" 12, 1870, to December, 1870, inclusive.
1848.
1849
1850
1851
1852
1853
1854
1855
1856
1857
1858
1859
1860
1861
1862
186;}
1864
1865
1866
1867....
$23,371.02
31,231.05
35,886.16
33,701.72
46,912.26
47,064.35
55,506.69
58,402.37
60,069.99
62,613.46
74,n>1.68
72.3-15.72
64,808.18
69.615.72
67,544. ilti
28,635.85
43,997.36
54,152.90
7-\290.97
84,384.60
77,135.20
66,293.45
95,584.48
87,706.112
66,626.60
Total $1,480,043.36
The following are the expenditures from April,
1848, to December, 1870, inclusive:
RIVER COMMERCE OF SAINT LOUIS.
1133
From A]
u
It
I
I
t
1
U
ft
tt
11
t
I
t
' Oc
i
« AJ
T
>ril, 1848, to A]
1849,
1850,
1851,
1852,
1853,
1854,
1855,
1856,
1857,
1858,
1859,
I860,
1861,
1862,
1863,
1864,
1865,
1866,
1867, to Oc
tober, 1 868, to
" 1869, to
>ril 12, 1870, to
>ril, 1849 $16,252.24
ARRIVALS AND DEPARTURES FOR EIGHTEEN YEARS.
1851 68,967.38
1852 31,959.08
ARRIVALS.
DEPARTURES.
1853 64,160.74
YEARS.
I
i
U)
1
Tons of
Freight
Received.
Rogisterod
Tonnage.
YEARS.
I
)ii
1854 102,559.25
1855 92,965.51
1856 74,0.38.69
1857 56,107.61
1858 63 ^66 98
1859 88,662.63
1889
2537
2420
2871
23GO
2322
2150
2122
2201
2332
2316
2346
2574
2796
2789
2338
1310
1525
1821
1471
1291
660
683
743
951
1020
1165
1195
1240
1133
802,080
852,410
893,860
688,970
714,700
644,4 So
688,755
663,525
732,765
810,055
863,919
883,401
1889
2487
2340
2866
2392
2348
2156
2118
2223
2364
2303
2322
2604
2782
2786
2579
2588
3096
2953
769,905
884,025
1,038,350
676,445
614,675
597,G76
600,225
6311,095
707,3.'5
783,256
£05,282
770,498
I860 58,902.88
1881
1881
1880
1871)
1861 44,202 93
1880
1862 12 835 37
1879
1 <JA3 1 10 3J.7 0<3
1878..
1877..
1876..
1875..
1874..
1878
1864 7,498.28
1877
1876
1875
1874
1865 25,421.23
1866 59 904 06
18671 183,232.60
1873 .
1872..
1871..
1870..
1869..
1868.
1,166,889
1,225,443
1,055,795
1,086,340
1,227,078
1,229,826
1873
1872
1871
1870...
1869..
1868..
1867..
1866..
1865..
tober, 18681 193,205.82
October, 1869' 123,974.02
April 11, 1870 59,584.34
December, 1870, inclusive. 90,859.20
1867..
18GG..
18G5..
2478
2972
2767
947
1142
1141
...fcl.fi29 40-0-91
As the railroads grew in importance and developed
their power to successfully compete with the steam-
boats in the transportation of merchandise and heavy
freights, the steamboat interest, finding the trade
gradually leaving it, began the employment of
barges. In 1848 the total number employed at St.
Louis was sixty-eight, with a tonnage of four thou-
sand six hundred and forty-one tons. There were
also in that year engaged in the trade a large number
of keel-, flat-, and canal-boats, the arrivals of which
for the year 1848 aggregated three hundred and
forty-nine in number, and thirteen thousand nine
hundred and sixty in tons. In 1849 the barges
numbered seventy, with a combined tonnage of four
thousand four hundred and ninety-seven tons. This
branch of transportation continued to develop, as will
appear from the following table :2
1 Paid for removing wrecks, included in the above amounts,
viz. :
In 1862-63 $300.00
1866-67 64,952.77
1867-68 50,575.00
1868-69 30,775.00
Total $146,602.77
2 In the report of the Union Merchants' Exchange for 1866
it is stated that " the barge system is fast finding favor with
our merchants, and will, at no distant day, be the prevailing
mode of transporting heavy freights, while the fine packets
which now grace our western waters will bo run on time for pas-
sengers and light freight. The Mississippi Valley Transporta-
tion Company has, during the past summer, demonstrated the
fact that this is the cheapest mode of moving produce and heavy
freight?, having since May 1st carried from this port over one
hundred and ten thousand tons. And when the plan of
moving grain in bulk is established the tow-boats and barges
will add to the commerce of our city by giving cheap freights
and saving an immense amount of expense in the shape of hand-
ling, tarpaulins, and dunnage."
The value of barges belonging; to St. Louis in 1872
was :
Northern Line Packet Company... 31 barges. $89,100
St. Louis Land Company 7 " 8,000
Grafton Stone and Tow Company.. 18 " 9,600
Conrad Line 6 " 9,000
Bridge Company 19 " 100,000
Northwestern Union Packet Com-
pany 42 " 60,700
Mississippi Valley Transportation
Company 35 " 432,000
Peoria Packet Company 6 " 9,000
Miscellaneous 10,000
Total value $727,400
Value of Barges on the Ohio.
Cincinnati $408,500
Pomeroy 122,500
Wheeling 27,000
Louisville 200,000
Evansville '. 162,000
Gallipolis 74,000
Kanawha 120,000
Pittsburgh (exclusive of coal-boats) 800,000
I'aducah .' 12,000
Miscellaneous 1,000,000
$3,769,400
" Gray's Iron Line," organized in 1863, had, in
1872, barges aggregating 29,900 tonnage plying be-
tween Cincinnati and St. Louis.
The number of steamboats and barges owned by
the packet companies in 1870 was 117 steamers and
176 barges, with a tonnage capacity of 176,615,
and valued then at $5,219,700.
The year 1871 was not a successful year in river
navigation, business showing a considerable falling off,
both in the number of trips and to the extent of ten
thousand tons in tonnage, the season being unusually
short and the stage of the water unsatisfactory.
The average depth of water in the Western rivers was
less " in 1871 than during any season in the past
twenty-five years." 3 Notwithstanding these draw-
backs, substantial progress was made towards replacing
8 Republican, Jan. 1, 1872.
1134
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
the river commerce on a firmer basis. Gradually but
surely the methods of operating on the Mississippi
and its tributaries were changing. The demand for
cheap freight was causing shippers to turn their atten-
tion to water routes, and to meet the general demand
in this direction, steamboatmen were making every
effort to discover the method by which river naviga-
tion might be cheapened and improved. A spirit of
enterprise, of genuine and healthy progress, was alive
among the river men. The steamers of the Western
rivers up to 1871 had generally been built to accommo-
date both freight and passengers. On all of them were
erected costly and weighty cabins, and of course the
carrying capacity of the boat was reduced by as much
as the weight of the cabin. In addition to this draw-
back, the owner was compelled to maintain a large and
expensive cabin crew, and when passenger travel was
dull freights had to be taxed to make up the deficit
in a losing passenger trip. Experiments had been
made with boats built with large carrying capacity,
but furnished with no cabins for the accommodation
of passengers. This class of boats proved successful.
In 1871, on the Ohio, lower Mississippi, Illinois, and
upper Mississippi large quantities of freight were trans-
ported in barges, and the number of tow-boats and
barges was being increased every year.
During the same year a successful trip was made from
St. Louis to Galveston, Texas, by a light stern-wheel
steamboat, the " Beardstown," demonstrating the
practicability of establishing direct communication
between St. Louis, through the bayous and coast
channel, and the coast cities of Texas. The enlarge-
ment of the Illinois and Michigan Canal opened to St.
Louis, through the Illinois River and that canal, di-
rect water communication with Chicago, Milwaukee,
Duluth, Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland, and Buffalo. An
iron propeller called the " Two Brothers," built and
equipped at Buffalo, N. Y., completed a voyage from
that port via the Miami Canal, Muskingum, Ohio,
and Mississippi Rivers to the mouth of the Red River,
and thence through that stream into the Atchafalaya,
the Sabine, and thence to Galveston. The Michigan
and Illinois Canal having been opened, three lake
schooners at the beginning of winter sailed from Chi-
cago, passed through the canal, and entered Peoria
Lake. It was the intention of the owners of these
vessels to pass down the Illinois and Mississippi
Rivers to the gulf, where they could operate during the
winter. Their design was frustrated by the closing
of the river and lake by ice. These incidents seemed
to promise that at no very distant period loaded
barges would be towed from ports on the lakes to
New Orleans direct.
The legislation by Congress in February, 1871, re-
pealed the then existing steamboat laws, and enacted
a law of more stringent and restrictive character.
Under its provisions a board of officers was created
with almost autocratic control over the whole steam-
boat interests. No sooner did the obnoxious pro-
visions of this law receive the attention of the
steamboatmen than a storm of opposition to its
enforcement swept over the entire country. Associ-
ations of steamboatmen and vessel-owners' associations
were formed at all the river-, lake-, and sea-ports in the
United States. For the first time in the history of
the country the owners of steamboats and ships were
united. A call for a convention of vessel-owners to
meet in Louisville, Ky., on the 15th of November,
was responded to from about twenty States, who sent
delegates. The convention, composed of men repre-
senting about one billion six hundred million dollars
invested in steam-vessels, met at the appointed time,
and after a harmonious but earnest discussion of the
grievances under which they labored, extending through
a three days' session, the convention adjourned after ap-
pointing certain general committees. The executive
committee labored earnestly to prepare a bill to be
introduced into Congress which would be just to their
interests and still fair toward the general government.
The passage of the law in question awakened an in-
terest in the subject of steam navigation, and provoked
a unanimity of feeling among those most deeply in-
terested. A national convention of vessel-owners was
called to meet in Washington City on the 22d of De-
cember, 1872, to consider what further could be done
to reawaken an interest in water transportation lines.1
The steamboat tonnage of Western rivers in 1871
was :
Pittsburgh 162.523.9t
Brownsville 18,250.00
Wheeling 6,254.00
Parkersburg 4,180.00
Kanawha 11 iver trade 2,185.00
Gallipolis 1,652.00
Cincinnati 41,318.08
Poraeroy 2,310.08
Madison 1,740.26
Zanesville 620.00
Louisville 18,820.97
Paducah 3,021.00
Evansville 10,652.05
Nashville 4,500.00
Cairo 4,207.00
Memphis 20,402.12
New Orleans 285.S25.18
Galena (Dis.) 10,307.18
St. Louis (carrying capacity) 96,926.26
St. Louis (barges' carrying capacity).. 45,741.00
Cincinnati (barges) 26,638.17
Barges at other ports 35,782.19
Total tonnage (capacity) 803,844.45
1 The law of the 28th of February, 1871, has not been materially
changed, and will be found in the Revised Statutes of the United
States, Title LII, Regulation of Steam Vessels.
RIVER COMMERCE OF SAINT LOUIS.
1135
The aggregate value of steamboat property on
Western rivers in 1871 was as follows:
Pittsburgh. Pa $3,fi90,000
Wheeling, W. Va. (estimated) 385,000
Gallipolis. Ohio 40,000
Cincinnati, Ohio 3,065,500
Louisville, Ky 1,097,500
Evansville, Ind 463,100
Nashville, Tenn 148,000
Memphis, Tenn 685,000
Galena (Dis.) 820,000
New Orleans (river steamers) 6,842,600
Total $17,214,700
To which add steamboats at St. Louis 5,428,800
Grand total $22,643,500
Value of barges on Western rivers ... 3,769,400
Total value of boats and barges $20,412,900
The above statement does not include the coal-boats
of Pittsburgh, nor the stone-boats employed at various
quarries on the Ohio, Green, Cumberland, and Ten-
nessee Rivers, the boats of the upper Tennessee River,
the canal-boats employed in the navigation of the
Miami, Wabash, and Illinois Canals, nor does it in-
clude the barges employed at New Orleans and other
ports on the Southern waters, which would add con-
siderably to the aggregate value.
In July, 1872, an invitation signed by many of
the best citizens of St. Louis was sent to the com-
missioner of emigration for Missouri in London, in-
viting representative Englishmen to visit the great
fair at St. Louis in the following October ; and the
London Times of August 30th, in a leading editorial,
urged upon its readers the importance of a more direct
trade with the Mississippi valley, and particularly with
St. Louis. The invitation was favorably received in
England, and although only a few Englishmen were
able, in consequence of the lateness of the season
when it reached them, to attend the fair, it resulted
in the formation of the " Mississippi Valley Society
of London and St. Louis," having for its " general
objects," first, the removal of " all obstructions to the
direct interchange of products between Europe and
the great Western and Southern States of North
America ;" and, secondly, '' to facilitate the introduc-
tion of foreign capital into those States, for the pur-
pose of developing their resources and increasing their
commerce."
The failure to estimate at its proper value the
operations of the Western river system in deter-
mining the course of commerce and establishing an
equilibrium in the carrying trade was made apparent
by the rates charged in 1873 on the northern and
southern routes to Liverpool. Freight charges by
these routes were as follows : From St. Paul to
New Orleans, eighteen cents per bushel on corn ;
thence to Liverpool, twenty cents ; elevator charges
at New Orleans, two cents, making a total of all
charges between St. Paul and Liverpool of forty cents
per bushel. The ruling freight rates on corn during
that season by the New York route had been, from
St. Paul to Chicago, eighteen cents; Chicago toJBuf-
falo, by lake, eight cents; Buffalo to New York, by
canaj, fourteen cents; charges at Chicago, two cents;
at Buffalo, two cents ; at New York, four cents ;
freight to Liverpool, sixteen cents, making the total
charges on a bushel of corn between St. Paul and
Liverpool via New York amount to sixty-four cents,
or a difference of twenty-four cents on the bushel in
favor of the Mississippi and gulf route.
This comparison of .freight charges was not without
an important influence upon the problem of cheap
transportation, which was then coming into promi-
nence. The question was carried into the halls of
Congress, and its agitation led to the appointment by
the United States Senate of the " Select Committee
on Transportation Routes to the Seaboard," which
was " authorized ... to investigate and report upon
the subject of transportation between the interior
and the seaboard." The message of the President
of the United States had invited the attention of
Congress to the fact that the time had arrived for
that body " to consider various enterprises for the
more certain and cheaper transportation of the con-
stantly-increasing Western and Southern products to
the Atlantic seaboard," and it added that " the sub-
ject is one that will force itself upon the legislative
branch of the government sooner or later." In this
connection the President suggested " that immediate
steps be taken to gain all available information, to
insure equitable and just legislation," and recom-
mended the appointment of a commission to consider
the whole question and to report to Congress at some
future day. Senator Windom, of Minnesota, was
made chairman of the Senate committee which, as
previously indicated, was appointed in accordance
with these recommendations. In addition to this
governmental recognition of the necessity and im-
portance of full consideration of the subject of trans-
portation, the Farmers' Convention of Illinois incor-
porated into their platform an emphatic demand for
immediate action looking toward the improvement of
the navigation on Western rivers. The Transporta-
tion Committee at the outset of the investigation
were confronted with " the absence of systematized
statistics with regard to the course and magnitude of
the internal commerce of the country," and with
" the apparent indifference and neglect with which it
1136
HISTORY OP SAINT LOUIS.
had been treated" in our governmental policy.1 The
huge sum of ten billion dollars was fixed by the com-
mittee as the " value of commodities moved by the
railroads in 1872 ;" and it was added that " their
gross receipts reached the enormous sum of four hun-
dred and seventy-three million two hundred and
forty^one thousand and fifty-five dollars ;" and that
" the commerce of the cities on the Ohio River alone
has been carefully estimated at over one billion six
hundred million dollars per annum."
P-ublic attention was now directed most forcibly
to the water lines of transportation, and everywhere
throughout the West the people were awakening to
the importance of availing themselves to the fullest
extent of the unrivaled facilities for transportation
which would be afforded by their magnificent rivers
when properly improved, and when the difficulties
and embarrassments which then beset their navigation
had been entirely removed.
The commerce of the Missouri River had "dwin-
dled to insignificance" in 1874. 2 A difference of
opinion existed as to whether this was due to the fact
that two well-equipped railways were running up the
valley, parallel to and not far distant from the river,
or to the character of the stream, the number of
snags and wrecks in its bed, the rapidity of its cur-
rent, and the consequent necessity for costly vessels
to navigate it. An effort to establish the barge
system upon the Missouri River had been made in
1873, but without sufficient trial to demonstrate
whether it was or was not practicable.
The Illinois River had in 1872 become " the
freight regulator between the Mississippi and Lake
Michigan," and the enlargement of the Illinois and
Michigan Canal had already been productive of most
beneficial results. The commerce of St. Louis with
the Arkansas, White, and Ouachita Rivers declined
very perceptibly during the year, while the trade with
the Red River still maintained a position of impor-
tance. The " packet system" on the Mississippi con-
tinued to embrace almost the entire traffic of the
river. The Memphis and St. Louis Packet Company
transported 341,400 tons of merchandise during the
year 1873 ; the Keokuk and Northern Line 227,600
tons ; the Missouri River Star Line Packet Company
98,950 tons ; the Merchants' Southern Packet Com-
pany 140,500 tons ; the St. Louis and New Orleans
Packet Company 141,600 tons, and the Mississippi
Valley Transportation Company 161,200 tons.
1 Report of the Select Committee on Transportation Routes
to the Seaboard, p. 8.
* Missouri Republican, Jan. 1, 1874.
The amount of freight, in tons, received at St.
Louis by rail and river from 1872 to 1876 was as
follows :
1872 By rail, 2,838,364; by river, 863,919
1873 " 3,245,178 " 801,055
1874 " 3,165,093 " 732,765
1875 " 3,232,770 " 663,525
1876 " 3,431,200 " 688,755
The decline in river business appears from these
figures to have become permanent. The shipments
of freight, in tons, for the same years show a similar
falling off in river business :
1872 By rail, 1,204,664; by river, 805,282
1873
1874
1875
1876
1,155,416
1,230,676
1,301,450
1,659,950
783,256
707,325
639,095
600,225
The excitement and business depression resulting
from the Presidential election in 1876, together with
the agitation of the war question in Europe, unset-
tled values, and interfered seriously with the course of
trade throughout the country, but possibly less seri-
ously in St. Louis than at other commercial centres.
It is especially noticeable that the receipts of many
articles of trade increased in a very marked degree on
those of the previous years, as shown by the follow-
ing table :
1876. 1875. 1874.
Tons of freight received 4,119,975 3,896,295 3,897,858
" " shipped 2,260,175 1,940,545 1,938,001
Total tons handled 6,380,150 5,836,840 5,835,959
The river at St. Louis was open to trade during the
entire winter of 1875-76, and continued open in the
fall of 1876 until December 3d, but the winter of
1876-77 was one of the coldest on record, the river
being closed at Cairo and Memphis, and as far south
as Helena.
In October of 1877 a River Improvement Con-
vention met at St. Paul, which appointed a committee
to lay the wants of the Mississippi valley before Con-
gress, and to urge an increased appropriation for the
improvement of the river by the general govern-
ment.
For several years prior to 1877 experimental ship-
ments of grain in bulk to foreign ports via New Or-
leans had been made. The " humidity" of* the gulf,3
3 Among the arguments against the value of the Mississippi
as a route for the transportation of cereals to foreign markets
was the assertion that climatic influences at New Orleans and
on the gulf would injure the products of the Northwestern
States. The testimony of a large number of gentlemen well
informed on the subject before the Senate Committee on Trans-
portation Routes to the Seaboard most effectually disposed of that
alleged difficulty. For instance, Capt. A. R. Miller, agent of the
State Line Steamship Company, stated that during his experi-
ence in business "we have shipped here on our ships about
RIVER COMMERCE OF SAINT LOUIS.
1137
the condition of the grain upon arrival at destination,
•which was said to be impaired, and the " dangers by
the way" were all alleged as causes why foreign trade
down the Mississippi would be commercially impracti-
cable. A record of the shipments, however, with
official reports of the condition of grain on arrival on
the other side, showed that the cargoes, without ex-
ception, were received in good condition, even when
shipped in sailing-vessels, and the result of the ex-
periment was to demonstrate the practicability of the
route, and to gradually build up an increasing trade.
The value of waterways for commerce continued
in 1877 to attract general attention, and the success
which at this time began to attend the efforts of Capt.
Eads at the "jetties" served to concentrate Western
and Southern political influence in favor of such
further improvements of the great rivers of the West
as would render them fully equal to the demands of
the already immense and still growing trade of the
great valley.
A careful examination of actual freight rates during
the year 1877 on shipments of grain from St. Paul
via St. Louis and New Orleans to Liverpool, and
via Chicago and New York, showed that the
through rate to Liverpool was eleven cents per
bushel lower via the St. Louis route the whole year
round. This advantage in freight immediately
changed the complexion of affairs, and the great
trunk lines, which had discriminated against St.
Louis, began making extraordinarily favorable con-
cessions to its merchants. The public rail rates on
grain were immediately reduced from twelve and one-
half cents a hundred as low as ten cents, so that
grain was carried at about six cents per bushel. In
another case a shipment of nineteen hundred barrels
of flour was contracted for at one dollar per barrel
from St. Louis to Liverpool via Philadelphia, which was
just five cents less than the steamship rate from New
York to Liverpool. Until the jetties were completed,
St. Louis was at the mercy of the railroads, and they
made what rates they pleased. Chicago and Milwau-
kee, on the contrary, had the lake route at their com-
mand, and the railroads could not dictate to them
during the summer months. Six months in the year,
however, the lake route is closed with ice, and then
two hundred and twenty thousand bushels of corn, and have
never, in any instance, heard complaint of any damage whatever;
but, on the contrary, it has landed in as fine condition as when
it was shipped." These statements were confirmed by a com-
mittee of the Union Merchants' Exchange of St. Louis, which
also presented to the Senate committee a list of eighteen cargoes
of corn shipped from New Orleans to Europe from Feb. 11 to
Aug. 26, 1873, all of which arrived in good condition.
the railroads reign supreme even in the lake cities.
Not so with St. Louis : the river from Cairo to the
sea is always open, and from St. Louis to Cairo it is
rarely closed more than a month or a month and a
half, while frequently it is not closed at all. There
is, therefore, a certainty of competition and low freights
for ten or eleven months in the year, whereas it ex-
ists during only six out of the twelve for Chicago
and Milwaukee.
The export trade via New Orleans, which revived
in 1877 under such favorable auspices, continued with
augmented volume in 1878. During each month of
the year there was a steady flow of shipments, and
the total movement reached 5,451,603 tons. In
1879 the shipment of grain in bulk from St. Louis
amounted to 6,164,838 tons, and but for the low
stage of water during the summer and early fall the
shipments would have been largely increased, as on the
opening of the river in January, 1880, engagements
were made for all the tonnage that could be had, and
over 1,500,000 bushels of corn were forwarded dur-
ing the month, one tow alone taking 270,000 bushels
of corn and another 225,376 bushels of corn and
other freight.
On the 20th of October, 1880, there assembled in
St. Louis a convention of delegates from twenty-one
States and Territories, the object being to promote
" cheap transportation and free commerce." A con-
vention composed of delegates from Missouri, Kan-
sas, and Nebraska was also held at Kansas City, in
September, 1880, which created the Missouri River
Improvement Association. Under the auspices of
this association another convention was held in the
city of St. Joseph, Mo., on the 29th of November,
1881, which appointed an executive committee to
memorialize Congress upon the improvement of the
navigation of the Missouri River.
FOREIGN SHIPMENTS FROM ST. LOUIS ON THROUGH BILLS
OF LADING, VIA NEW ORLEANS, DURING 1881.
To
C
•
0
H
Tobacco.
\Vbcat.
c
1
Oil dike.
Bran »nd
S. Stuffs.
||
«l
England
Scotland
Belgium
BMn.i
21,446
1,321
5,613
1,500
JJhds.
1448
'"is
Hath.
114,05'i
40,000
BlM*.
410,786
Sacks.
4058
Sacla.
4350
Sacki.
300
25
Holland
Total
29,880
14CC
154,053
410,786
4058
4350
325
1 Shipments of flour via Atlantic seaboard and by New Or-
leans were in sacks of various weights, and are reduced to bar-
rels for convenience in reference.
11S8
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
TRANSACTIONS AT THE CUSTOM-HOUSE, ST. LOUIS.
Exhibit of Comparative Receipts from all Sources at the Port of St. Louis During the Last Ttce>ity-two Years.
YEAR.
Import Duty.
Hospital Tax.
Steamboat
Fees.
Storage.
Official Fees.
Fines and
Forfeits.
Total Collec-
tions.
1861
$14,425.15
$2,304.60
$771.00
$523.48
$585.50
$18,609.78
1862
20,404.70
4,550.60
3,342.25
950.33
1661.80
31,019.64
1863
36,622.09
3,644.60
4,194.00
436.50
1785.15
49,910.33
1864
76,448.43
6,185.55
5,636.00
408.45
1890.30
94,759.92
1865
586,407.07
10,271.10
18,848.05
729.74
5410.40
654,583.21
1866
785,651.30
8,465.50
11.145.70
424.98
4541.30
834,935.78
1867
1,236,798.06
8,556.18
15,571.00
2403.24
3558.15
1,297,255.88
1868
1,403,997.64
6,244.64
14,044.83
1383.18
3880.15
1,457,985.66
1869
1,711,256.19
6,619.98
14,366.92
2487.42
1890.00
1,764,1 12.31
1870
1,996,083.49
7,003.64
14,040.49
1390.31
2482.65
2,037,484.15
1871
1,874,907.29
10,590.50
16,306.60
1226,36
2278.80
1,905,309.55
1872
1,697.563.27
11,325.78
16.114.57
2459.09
2587.50
1,730,050.21
1873
1,376,466.32
11,206.75
14,512.98
1829.45
• 2630 80
1,406,646.30
1874
1,674,116.53
11,868.34
13,895.26
1742.00
1949.65
1,703,591.78
1875
1,159,849.17
9,578.53
13,022.72
1653.00
2099.45
1,186,202.87
1876
1,748,374.30
12,005.81
13,700.94
1168.00
2550.00
1,777,369.05
1877
1,275,175.72
11,363.92
13.593.45
1201.25
3397.25
1,304,731.59
1878
1,590,458.08
12,108.88
13,613.65
946.49
2245.00
1,619,375.10
1879
831,513.96
11,476.89
13,700.40
1473.23
2241.55
328.47
860,734.50
18SO
1,320,855.61
12,681.83
14,189.00
1571.73
2581.20
279.88
1,351,559.25
1881.
1,352,093.48
11,936.43
14.139.30
1848.66
2575.45
80.00
1,382,673.32
1882
1,295,475.07
11,834.22
8,048.25
512.00
3110.00
58.95
1,319,038,50
CONDENSED CLASSIFICATION OF COMMODITIES imported direct
into St. Louis during 1881, showing foreign value and duties
paid.
DIRECT SHIPMENTS FROM ST. LOUIS TO FOREIGN COUN-
TRIES, IN TONS.
ARTICLES.
Foreign Value.
Amount
Duties Paid.
$22,840.00
2,556.00
20,908.00
1,877.00
17,846.00
10,725.00
141,444.00
43,192.00
74,098.00
21,144.00
1,720.00
103,452.00
39.466.00
62.323.00
1,646.00
49,362.00
3,247.00
4,784.00
58,308.00
13,495.00
8,740.00
20,124.00
22,275.00
10,276.00
1,507.00
29,344.00
1,122.00
53,581.00
10,058.00
57,233.00
19,080.00
50,367.00
49,354.00
84,077.00
89,262.00
86,738.00
15,818.00
101,570.00
556,858.00
$5,905.68
970.56
5,208.70
374.60
7,138.40
1,534.90
39,842.05
19,635.20
7,410.40
7,699.24
924.56
Books and printed mutter
Brushes
China and earthenware
Cutlery
Druggists' sundries
Files
23,734.75
6,369.28
350.00
42,042.25
811.75
1,469.10
20,407.80
4,723.25
3,059.00
12,074.40
15,305.99
3,082.80
493.72
1,764.42
478.80
18,753.35
1,919.20
11,414.82
11,659.79
15,975.82
45,442.25
20,727.97
85,684.08
36,979.95
13,901.62
68,789.43
194,070.29
Iron (railroad bars)
Leaf her
" t( metals
« « fcilk
" " wool
Philosophical instruments
Steel
Tin
Woolen dry-goods
Totals
$1,961,917.00
$758,080.17
1881.
1880.
1870.
1878.
1875.
By rail eastward
0 1.727
146087
135,881
72,091
K.,825
By river to New Orleans
389,587
453,681
176,531
154,060
0,857
Total
481 314
599768
312 412
226,151
23,682
The shipments by river for 1881 include, in addition to the
articles in table of shipments by river on through bills of lading,
12,801,124 bushels of grain shipped via New Orleans not on
through bills of lading.
SHIPMENTS OF BULK GRAIN BY KIVER FROM ST. LOUIS
TO NEW ORLEANS FOR TWELVE YEARS FOR EXPORT.
Year.
Wlieat.
Corn.
Rye. Oats.
Totals.
I}u*h.
EMS//.
Until. Pinsli.
Unfit.
1881
4,197.981
8,640,720
22,423 132,823
\ •' lt():j ')47
1880
5,913,272
9.804,392
45,000
I.\7ii2,r,i;4
1879
2 390,897
3,585,589
157,424 30,928
0 1 114 Mi.S
1878
1 ,876 639
60'J,041 108,807
5 4-il tit^J
1877
351.453
3.578,057
171,843
4,101,353
1876
37.142
I,737,2:t7
I,774,o7!)
1875
1 35 9(il
17-? (117
30S.578
1874
365 252
1,047 794
10,000
1 ,4i'3,04(i
1873
1 ,373,!)f.9
1.37:i,'J69
1872
1,711,039
1,711,03'.)
1871
309,077
3,000
312,077
1870
66000
6L!,000
BARGE COMPANIES AND CAPACITY IN 1SS1.
'£
0
2
ii *• =
H £
I
Name.
»i
I
J
6aa
a
1
£.4
Ifll
fe
H
o»
St. Louis and Mississippi Valley
7?,,J,.
BM.;,.
Transportation Conipnn>
American Transportation C
Mound City Trunsportati
13
2
98
10
4,9OO,(K)0
400,1 KJO
3,000,000
400.000
xjmpany
}ii Cuni-
1
9
540,000
500,000
RAILROADS.
1139
STATEMENT OF BULK GRAIN EXPORTED FROM NEW
ORLEANS, 1881.
To
Corn.
Wheat.
Rye.
Bush .
2 042 01 3
Bush.
417,893
Bush.
776 916
1 256 364
£58 210
France
Holland
1,970,47-2
216 447
2,008,644:
215,517
22,423
19f> !llt>
125,099
835 99 1
29 932
261 110
578,494
Total bushels
7 555 829
4,533,789
22,423
Total bushels 1880
9 596 956
5,901,137
23,000
ARRIVALS AND DEPARTURES OF STEAMBOATS AND
BARGES, 1882.
ARRIVALS.
1882.
Upper Mississippi.
Lower Mississippi.
Illinois.
Missouri.
_o
3
Cumberland and Ten-
nessee.
Total Steamers.
1
•a *
= «
« o
$
V
i
Tons of Freight Re-
ceived.
-Si
8«
i- ^
,3 C8
£*
=5 >>
o|l
o "^ °
£
January
February
March
11
28
74
113
134
108
n-j
139
128
136
110
20
1111
51
79
107
84
90
75
80
74
82
70
74
34
912
2
11
35
29
34
22
21
19
17
17
18
3
228
3
6
7
9
10
28
25
10
9
4
3
114
7
8
17
20
18
14
10
10
9
6
10
5
140
i
4
3
2
3
2
2
32
75
Ii7
240
250
289
233
207
270
248
247
218
07
37
77
174
190
191
98
70
94
105
130
97
41
25,750
43,575
127,800
117,895
115,730
68,020
80,335
57,095
42,805
48,840
53,925
19,710
1,790
10,375
30,070
33,645
33,250
10,880
43,020
38,865
38,080
23,045
1,270
Api il
MHV
July ...
August
September. .
October
November. .
December.. .
Total
2537
1310
802,080
271,490
Upper Mississ
ppj 2
36,670 ton
4,820 "
by rafts.
To
tal
9-
1,490 "
DEPARTURES.
1882.
£
1
'1
X
S.
—
S3
i
1
i
h
I
°3
c
>H
5
S
1
O
•n
c
a
•
|!
— ^
II
a
3
a
"B
5
2
1
1
i
3
§
1
5
3
i
«*
J&
h
±. a.
o '3
35
a
o
H
12
25
71
113
127
106
no
137
136
122
96
22
52
71
92
78
78
74
89
79
85
72
79
44
,;
s
27
18
22
20
14
19
14
2
......
8
12
13
7
31
25
8
o
10
9
21
18
20
19
16
13
10
7
13
4
i
2
3
2
4
3
1
1
3
2
79 35,055
120 63,120
232; 88,:" 90
252 93,985
268 80,450
228 55,740
271 06,900
275 80,145
254 66,080
226 55,160
209 52,045
73 26,035
April
July
9
Total
1077
893
214
112
100
22
2487
709,905
CHAPTER XXIX.
RAILROADS.
THE most cursory glance at the map of the United
States will satisfy any one that St. Louis is the point
at which the greater part of the vast internal com-
merce of the country passes, whether going from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, or from the frozen regions to
the torrid zone. From the founding of the city, the
great river system of the Mississippi valley, as we have
seen, has been tributary to her wealth and pros-
perity ; and when the era of railroads came with its
rapidity of movement, to satisfy that restless spirit
which characterizes the American, she was among the
first of the cities to recognize the impending change
in commercial transportation, and to take the neces-
sary steps to guard her interests and promote her
prosperity.
The first movement in this direction was the action
of a large number of the enterprising citizens of St.
Louis, calling upon the several counties of the State
to send delegates to an " Internal Improvement Con-
vention" which was to assemble in that city on the
20th of April, 1835. At the time appointed the con-
vention met at the court-house and organized by the
selection of Dr. Samuel Merry as chairman, and G.
K. McGunnegle as secretary. The roll of the con-
vention being called, the following delegates were found
to be present :
St. Louis County. — Edward Tracy, Maj. J. B. Brant, Col. John
O'Fallon, Dr. Samuel Merry, Archibald Gamble, M. L. Clark,
Col. Joseph C. Laveille, Thornton Grimsley, II. S. Geyer, Col.
Henry Walton, Lewellyn Brown, Henry Von Phul, George K.
McGunnegle, Col. B. W. Ayres, Pierre Chouteau, Jr., and
Hamilton R. Gamble.
Lincoln County. — Col. David Bailey, Hans Smith, Emanuel
Block, Benjamin W. Dudley, and Dr. Bailey.
Washington County. — Dr. J. H. Relfe, Philip Cole, John S.
Brickey, Jesse II. Mcllvaine, Myers II. Jones, James Evans,
and W. C. Reed.
Cooper County. — Benjamin E. Ferry, N. W. Mack, and Wil-
liam H. Trigg.
Warren County. — Carty Wells, Nathaniel Pendleton, and Ir-
vine S. Pitman.
St. Charles County. — Edward Bates, Moses Bigelow, William
M. Campbell, and W. L. Overall.
Galloway County. — William II. McCullough, William H. Rus-
sell, D. R. Mullen, Dr. N. Kouns, C. Oxley, Jacob G. Lebo, R.
B. Overton, and Moxley.
Montr/ornery County. — Dr. M. M. Maughas, S. C. Ruby, and
Nathaniel Dryden.
Boone County. — Dr. James W. Moss, John B. Gordon, J. W.
Keiser, D. M. Hickman, J. S. Rollins, William Hunter, R. W.
Morriss, and Granville Branham.
Howard County. — Dr. John Bull, Maj. Alphonso Wetmore,
Weston F. Birch, Joseph Davis, Gen. J. B. Clark, T. Y. Stearns,
and John Wilson.
Jefferson County. — James S. McCutchen.
1140
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
After some debate the convention recommended
the construction of two railroads, one from St. Louis
to Fayette, and the other from St. Louis to the iron-
and lead-mines in the southern part of the State.
After the adjournment of the convention the mem-
bers attended a banquet given in their honor by the
merchants of St. Louis at the National Hotel, then
situated at the corner of Third and Market Streets.
The mayor, John F. Darby, presided, assisted by
Charles Keemle, secretary, and the following vice-
presidents : Gen. John Ruland, Hon. H. O'Neil,
Thomas Cohen, Maj. William Milburn, Beverly
Allen, Col. J. W. Johnson, and William G. Pettus.
To defray the expenses attending the survey of the
routes of the two railroads recommended by the In-
ternal Improvement Convention, the judges of the
St. Louis County court, in May, 1836, appropriated
two thousand dollars.
On the 18th of June, 1836, another internal im-
provement meeting was held in St. Louis, to devise
means for the furtherance of the Boston Railroad
design, which contemplated a direct communication
between Boston and St. Louis, and connections with
the improvements leading to the other cities of the
Atlantic seaboard. On motion of T. Grimsley, John
F. Darby was called to the chair, and on motion of
A. B. Chambers, William Milburn was appointed
secretary.
The chairman stated what he understood to be
the object of the meeting, and urged its importance
to the city of St. Louis, the whole State of Missouri,
and the entire valley of the Mississippi.
A. B. Chambers gave his views more at length,
and concluded by stating that Mr. Walker, of Boston,
who was one of the projectors of the scheme and its
warm advocate, was present, and that many were de-
sirous of hearing him on the subject, but, to bring the
matter directly before the meeting, he would first ask
the reading of a preamble and resolutions which had
been prepared for the occasion. They were accord-
ingly read as follows :
" WHEREAS, The citizens of St. Louis have seen with pleasure
the proposition in Boston and other portions of the East for
the connection of Boston with the Western country by means
of an uninterrupted line of railroads;
"AND WHEREAS, The measure is one of advantage to the
East and the West, and to no portion of the West more than to
St. Louis, which will, if it is ever completed, be the termination
of the line;
"AND WHEREAS, the accomplishment of the undertaking ap-
pears to be probable and within the means of the States
interested, and requiring but a small addition of road to what
is already built or in the progress of erection ; therefore,
''Resulted, That we cordially approve of the proposition to
connect Boston with the Western country by means of a rail-
road as a work of easy accomplishment, and which deserves the
support of all the States through which it may pass.
" 2. Kesolced, That the citizens of St. Louis will lend their
assistance and hearty co-operation, so far as their ability ex-
tends, in furtherance of the proposition.
"3. Resolved, That a committee of be appointed, who
shall constitute a committee of correspondence, and shall gen-
erally have authority to do whatever may be in their power to
aid in carrying out the contemplated work."
The preamble and resolutions having been read,
there was a unanimous call for Mr. Walker, who de-
livered a very interesting discourse, in which he dem-
onstrated the practicability of the plan and its great
importance to both the East and the West.
The resolutions were then read separately and
unanimously adopted, the blank in the third resolu-
tion ordered to be filled with the number " five," and
the chair authorized to appoint the committee.
The chair accordingly appointed William Carr
Lane, mayor of the city, Thornton Grimsley, Andrew
J. Davis. William Milburn, and Gustavus A. Bird,
and by resolution of the meeting the chairman, John
F. Darby, was added to the committee.
The same meeting further resolved that a commit-
tee should be appointed " to draft a memorial to the
Legislature asking the aid of the State government
to the amount of five hundred thousand dollars for
the construction of a railroad to the mining region ;
also to draft a memorial to the mayor and aldermen
of this city asking their aid in the same amount for
the same object ; also to draft a memorial to Con-
gress asking a donation of every section and frac-
tional section thereof of public lands over which the
road should pass ; also to draft a memorial to the
Legislature asking for a geological survey of the
State."
Under this resolution the following committee was
appointed: B. W. Ayres, A. Wetmore, G. Morton,
Dr. King, J. C. Abbot, A. J. Davis, Charles Collins,
John Kingsland, John Simonds, William Smith, and
James liussell.
At the same meeting it was resolved that a com-
mittee be appointed " to collect facts relating to the
general subject of internal improvement, and to the
particular object embraced in the first-mentioned reso-
lutions." To this committee were appointed J. C.
Dinnies, Dr. Englemann, Dr. Merry, Maj. Anderson,
Edward Tracy, Rene Paul, and D. D. Page.
In January following two charters were granted by
the State, one incorporating the St. Louis and Belle-
vue Mineral Railroad Company, and the other the
Louisiana and Columbia Railroad Company. The
charters were similar in their enactments, and were
very liberal in their terms. The legislators of that
RAILROADS.
1141
day were in doubt whether railroads should be worked
by horse- or steam-power, and whether the vehicles
and motive-power should be owned by the company or
by other parties. They also had very vague concep-
tions of the profits likely to accrue to the stockholders.
The ruling idea, however, seems to have been the con-
struction of improved highways, free to all, and sub-
ject only to such restrictions as the public good and
the interest of those who had invested capital in them
demanded.1
Both of these projected railroad lines were surveyed,
but neither was built. The charter of the Louisiana
and Columbia road was incorporated ten years after-
wards in that granted to the Hannibal and St. Jo
Company, and that of the Bellevue road in the Iron
Mountain Railroad charter fourteen years afterwards.2
1 The two charters contain the following provisions :
"SEC. 13. It shall be lawful for said corporation to place on
or prescribe the kind of carriages that may be used on said
road, and by whom used, and whether propelled by steam or
other power, for the transportation of passengers, -goods, wares,
and merchandise of all kinds, and also all kinds of produce.
For this purpose the company may construct such turnouts
and other things or devices as may be considered necessary or
to the interest of the company. All cars, carriages, or other
vehicles on said road shall be subject to the direction of the
company, and no person shall put any carriage or other vehicle
on said road without the permission of said company.
" SEC. 14. The company may charge and receive such tolls
and freights for the transportation of persons, commodities, or
carriages as shall be to the interest of the same. Such tolls
shall be established by the directors, and may from time to time
be altered. They may charge tolls and freights on any part of
the road that may be in a state for traveling on, whether the
rails be laid or not.
" SEC. 15. Semi-annual dividends of so much profits as the
directors may deem expedient shall be made to the stockholders,
but no dividends shall be made to a greater amount than the
net profits after deducting all expenses, and no dividend shall
be more than twenty per cent, per annum on the capital stock
paid in."
2 "At the railroad convention," said the Republican of July
28, 1836, " the following-named gentlemen constituted the com-
mittee to raise by subscription the necessary means to pay the
expenses of a complete reconnoissance and survey of the routes
of the two proposed roads, to secure the services of skillful
and competent engineers, etc., and cause the work to be done
with as little delay as possible: Messrs. George Collier, J. B.
Brant, John Smith, John W. Reel, J. II. Gay, of St. Louis ; D.
M. Hickman, of Boone; Uriah Sebree, of Howard; Jacob C.
Lebo, of Galloway, Andrew Monroe, of Montgomery; David
Bailey, of Lincoln; Myers F. Jones and John C. Bricky, of
Washington; Samuel Massey, of Crawford; Thomas M. Dough-
erty and Jacob R. Stine, of St. Louis County."
On the 17th of December the same paper added, —
" All of us remember that we made such ado at the time the
railroad convention was held in this town, but that spirit died
with the disappearance of the members of that body. Several
committees were appointed to perform certain specified duties;
all of them were competent, and had abundant time and a deep
interest at stake, and yet not one of them has attended as he
73
Thus ended the first effort at railroad construction
in Missouri.3
Notwithstanding their temporary want of success,
however, the citizens of St. Louis continued to mani-
fest a lively interest in railroad development, and
looked forward with confidence to the day when their
cherished desires should be consummated.4
In June, 1839, another town-meeting was held at
the court-house for the purpose of devising means
to connect St. Louis with Boston by railroad. Noth-
ing resulted from a discussion of the subject, as
the people still relied too confidently upon the splen-
did geographical position of St. Louis to, sooner
or later, attract the needed capital and enterprise
for the construction of railroads. At this period
(1839) a railroad had been completed to Buffalo, and
the route from the West to the East by way of the
lakes had besnin to attract attention.6
ought to have done, punctually and assiduously, to the duties of
his appointment. These gentlemen are the largest property-
holders in the city, are all of them wealthy, and it was right to
expect that they would feel some little interest in the important
matters intrusted to them."
3 In August, 18.30, a miniature railroad was exhibited at the
old Baptist Church situated at Third and Market Streets. It
consisted of a small circular track, fastened to a stage, on which
moved a miniature locomotive attached to a car just large
enough to hold one person. The speed attained was at the rate
of seven miles an hour. A small admission fee was charged,
and persons were required to pay " an extra picayune" for the
privilege of riding round the track. In its notice of the ex-
hibition at the time (Aug. 24, 1830) a local journal said, " The
public will be much gratified by a visit to the miniature rail-
road exhibited at the old Baptist Church. This combination of
art and science, although in miniature, is complete in all its parts,
and exhibits in one view all the apparatus necessary for railway
traveling. With a few ounces of coal, and a small measure of
water, it winds its way round on a circular track of one hun-
dred feet at the rate of seven miles per hour, carrying a person
of the largest size in the car."
4 In 1S32 the bill incorporating the Cincinnati and St. Louis
Railway Company passed the Legislature of Ohio.
The Republican of Aug. 13, 1836, published tho report of the
engineers appointed to survey the route of a railroad from
Marion City to the interior of the country. " It will be seen,"
added that paper, " that the rails on a part of this road have
already been laid, and many miles more are under contract."
8 " A gentleman and his family left here a few days since in a
boat for Peoria. There he took another boat to Peru, and from
Peru was carried overland by stages to Chicago, making the
whole trip in three days. At Chicago he took a boat the same
evening for Buff.ilo. Judging from the speed of the lake boats,
he would reach Buffalo in about four or five days from the time
he left thit> place, and if he traveled from Buffalo to New York
at the rate stated by a traveler in a late number of the Journal
of Commerce, he would reach the latter place in less than three
days more, making the whole distance from St. Louis to New
York in about eight or nine days. The ordinary trip from
New York to St. Louis, by the Ohio River, requires between
ten and twelve days." — Republican, July 11, 1839.
1142
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
A board of improvements was created by the State
in 1840, but nothing was done further than to make
a survey for a railroad from St. Louis to the Iron
Mountain by the way of Big River, and some surveys
of the Osage River with a view of improving its nav-
igation.
Missouri Pacific Railway. — As already indi-
cated, the commercial sagacity of the people of St.
Louis recognized the fact that the capital of the east-
ern section of the country would ultimately come to
their city in order to construct the railroads which her
expanding trade demanded ; that the self-interest of
the East would seek the mart where were collected
the vast productions of the West ; and that being the
most distant city from the East, she was the nearest
to the West, the greatest producing as well as the
greatest consuming section of the country.
These considerations induced her merchants to
pivot, as it were, their great Pacific Railroad on the
Mississippi River, with that already great feeder and
carrier as the base and eastern terminus, and to " go
west" for greater conquests and grander results.1
The successful termination of the Mexican war
had added large areas to the territory of the Union
and expanded its boundaries to the Pacific, and it was
soon seen that the discovery of gold in California (in
1848) would in a few years open up that country to
a trade more valuable even than the gold of her mines,
and people the Pacific slope with an energetic and
enterprising race.2
1 " Passing by Smith's foundry yesterday, corner of Pine
Street and Post-Office Alley, we there observed certain compo-
nents of a species of machinery which will be a new sight to
many hereabouts, as it was to us. This was the wheels and
axles for a train of railroad freight cars, intended for the con-
veyance of coal from the mine to some point on the Cumber-
land River which we could not ascertain. The proprietor has
taken a contract for furnishing the running apparatus for
thirty-six cars, together with the castings of a crane of stupen-
dous power for swinging the entire car, with its load, from the
track to the boat." — Kepitblican, Aug. 7, 1847.
*" Seven young gentlemen, citizens of this city," said a
St. Louis newspnper of Jan. 21, 18-19, "left last evening on
the steamer ' Rowena' for the gold regions, via New Orleans,
Chagres, and Panama, their final destination being San Fran-
cisco. The party consists of Messrs. D. S. Ford, C. II. Fran-
cher, William Barlow, T. B. Walker, A. H. Gould, Hoi-
brook, and John S. Robb.
"In addition to this company, another consisting of Capt.
William Craine, J. M. Julics, James Anthony, Murray,
and Piper leaves this morning on the steamer ' St.
Joseph,' destined for the same point. These parties, the first
regularly organized in this city, go, as we learn, fully prepared
to encounter all the hardships and dangers of so long a journey,
and, what is better, carry with them means sufficient to enter into
any suitable or profitable business alter their arrival, should
they not find that of gold-digging as lucrative as they expect." I
From time to time, previous to the year 1849,
various propositions were suggested by Whitney,
Maury, Degrand. and others for the construction of
a railroad from St. Louis to some point on the Pacific
coast, and in December, 1848, the Western Journal
commenced the publication of a series of articles on
Eastern commerce, by J. Loughborough, which were
designed to direct attention to the importance of
a railroad from the Mississippi valley to the Pacific ;
the route favored being that by the mouth of the
Kansas and the South Pass. In January of 1849
the editor of the Western Journal advocated the same
project.
About this time, in February of 1849, Col. Benton
brought before the United States Senate his project
for a Pacific railroad, advocating it in a powerful
speech, that seemed to have the effect of giving life
to the movement, which the public mind had already
been prepared for.3
On the 20th of February following a large meeting
of the citizens of St. Louis was held, upon a call of
the mayor, to take action upon the subject. Judge
Krum, then mayor of the city, presided, and a com-
mittee, of which Thomas Allen was chairman, re-
ported a series of resolutions, strongly in favor of
the construction of a " national central highway"
to the Pacific. These resolutions were unanimously
adopted by the meeting. The Legislature was then
in session, and a successful attempt was made to pro-
cure a charter for the Pacific Railroad, commencing
at St. Louis, and running to the western line of Van
Buren (afterwards Cass) County. It was approved on
In its issue of March 8th the same paper added : " Our city
is rapidly filling up with persons from all quarters of the
Union, wending their way to the gold regions. A gentleman
who has means of arriving at something like reliable informa-
tion informs us that there are now in the city several hundred
persons from a distance, preparing to start as soon as the
weather and season will permit for California. The fine
steamer 'Germantown' arrived last evening from the Ohio
with a freight and a crowd of passengers, of whom we noticed
twenty-two persons and several wngons destined for California.
Fourteen of the persons styled themselves as tho Buffalo
Mining Company, and hail from Buffalo, N. Y. They are com-
pletely fitted out with nil the utensils, implements, etc., for a
long journey and a life in the mountains. The others aro from
different parts of the Keystone State."
3 Senator Benton, on the 7th of February, 1849, introduced
a bill into the United States Senate to provide for tho location
and construction of a central national road from the Pacific
Ocean to the Mississippi River, to be an iron railway where
practicable, and a wagon-road where a railway was not prac-
ticable, nnd proposed to set apart seventy-five per cent, of the
proceeds of the sales of the public lands in Oregon and Cali-
fornia, and fifty per cent, of the proceeds of all other sales of
the public lands, to defray the costs of its location and con-
struction, but nothing practicable ever came of that bill.
RAILROADS.
1143
the 12th of March, 1849. The line of the proposed
road is thus defined in the seventh section of the
charter :
" Said company shall have power to survey, make,
locate, and construct a railroad from the city of St.
Louis to the city of Jefferson, and thence to some
point on the western line of Van Buren (now Cass)
County, in this State, with a view that the same may
be continued hereafter westwardly to the Pacific
Ocean." The act vested its powers in twenty-one
corporators, of whom nine formed a quorum and
might proceed to act.
The corporators were John O'Fallon, Lewis V.
Bogy, James H. Lucas, Edward Walsh, George Col-
lier, Thomas B. Hudson, Daniel D. Page, Henry M.
Shreve, James E. Yeatman, John B. Sarpy, Wayman
Crow, Joshua B. Brant, Thomas Allen, Robert Camp-
bell, Pierre Chouteau, Jr., Henry Shaw, Bernard
Pratte, Ernst Angelrodt, Adolphus Meier, Louis A.
Benoist, and Adam L. Mills.
The capital stock of the company as fixed by the
charter was ten million dollars.
On the 24th of May, 1849, the City Council of St.
Louis passed the following preamble and resolutions :
"WHEREAS, Recent events have directed public attention to
the necessity and importance of early railroad and telegraph
connection with California and Oregon, and the general desire
seems to be to make St. Louis the starting point for those great
national works ; and
" WHEREAS, This community is especially interested in the
accomplishment of so vast and beneficent an enterprise, and is
properly expected to lead in the essential preliminary action
for concentrating and enlightening public opinion in reference
thereto; and
" WHEREAS, It is peculiarly desirable that measures should
be promptly adopted in furtherance of the most feasible plan
for making such a connection between St. Louis and the Bay of
San Francisco or the Pacific coast; therefore,
"Be it resolved by the Board of Aldermen, the Board of
Delegates concurring, That the mayor be requested to call a
mass-meeting of the citizens of St. Louis and surrounding
country, to be holden on the first Monday in June next, at four
o'clock P.M., in order to appoint the necessary committees, and
to make suitable arrangements for a convention of delegates
from all the towns, cities, counties, and States which will join
in such a movement, said convention to be holden in the city of
St. Louis on the third Monday of October next.
"And be it further resolved, That the hospitalities of this
city be tendered to all of the delegates to said convention, and
that it be recommended to the mass-meeting on the first Mon-
day of June next to take all suitable action to procure attend-
ance at the October convention from as many States as possible,
together with such information to be laid before said conven-
tion as may show the value and importance of the route indi-
cated, and the respective merits of the various plans which
have been submitted to public consideration in reference to this
subject."
In accordance with the request contained in the
resolutions, the mayor caused to be published in the
several newspapers of the city the following notice,
dated May 28, 1849, viz.:
"WHEREAS, The Honorable City Council have passed reso-
lutions authorizing and requesting the mayor to call a meeting
of the citizens of the city of St. Louis and the surrounding
country, to be held on the first Monday in June next, in order
to appoint the necessary committees and to make suitable ar-
rangements for a convention of delegates from all the towns,
cities, counties, and States which will join in such a movement,
for the purpose of taking into consideration the best and speed-
iest plan of railroad and telegraphic connection with California
and Oregon and the Pacific coast, said convention to be held in
the city of St. Louis on the third Mondny of October next : Now,
therefore, in compliance with said resolutions, I do hereby re-
spectfully request the inhabitants of the city of St. Louis and
the surrounding country to meet at the rotunda of the court-
house on Monday, the 1st day of June next, at four o'clock, to
take into consideration the above-mentioned subject, and such
other matters in relation thereto as may come before the meet-
ing- JAMES G. BARRY, Mayor."
A meeting of persons interested was held at the
court-house, in accordance with the above notice, at
which the Hon. J. G. Barry, mayor, was called to the
chair, and Col. John O'Fallon, David Chambers, and
A. R. McNair appointed vice-presidents, Capt. Rich-
ard Phillips and A. B. Chambers secretaries.
The chairman explained the object of the meet-
ing, and alluded to the vast importance of the sub-
ject, its extent and influence upon the political and
commercial prosperity of the country, and the neces-
sity and duty of the citizens of St. Louis to take
an active part in furtherance of the enterprise.
On motion of Mr. Blennerhassett, it was ordered
that a committee of ten be appointed by the chair
to report a preamble and resolutions for the action
of the meeting.
The chair selected the following to compose the
committee: R. S. Blennerhassett, Thomas Cohen,
Robert Campbell, Pierce C. Grace, George L. Lack-
land, Sr., Matthias Steitz, William Ennis, Mann But-
ler, L. V. Bogy, and William Milburn, who, by their
chairman, reported the following preamble and reso-
lutions:
" WHEREAS, The idea of establishing a thorough fare of travel
and of commerce between Europe and Asia, across the continent
of America, has ever been cherished by the statesman and
philanthropist since the days of Columbus; and whereas, the
discovery and application of steam as a motive-power, the rapid
extension of the means of electric communication, the recent
events in our history which have extended our domain to the
Pacific Ocean, the extraordinary discoveries of gold in Califor-
nia, and the peaceable and prosperous condition of our beloved
country, all conspire to place the consummation of this Jong-
cherished project in the power of the American people; and
whereas, the great number of projects for a railway across the
continent which have been presented to Congress and canvassed
before the country, as also the debate with regard to the prac-
versity of opinion in respect to the location and manner of pro-
ticability of a telegraphic line, are calculated to produce a di-
1144
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
viding the necessary means of construction in the case of both
projects, and consequently to embarrass the action of the na-
tional legislature upon such subjects; and considering it of
vital importance in the adoption of measures purely national
in all their bearings, and calculated to affect the condition of
the whole race of man, whether civilized or savage, that the
heart of the nation should be united in the great work, and be-
lieving that this favorable condition of the public mind can best
be promoted through the agency of a convention that shall be
purely national in all respects, be it, therefore,
" Resolved, That this meeting cordially approve of the recom-
mendation made by the city authorities of holding a great na-
tional convention in St. Louis, on the third Monday of October
next, for the purpose of taking into consideration the expedi-
ency and practicability of establishing a line of electric tele-
graph, and of constructing a railway from St. Louis to the Bay
of San Francisco.
" Itesolved, That the project of a great line of railway across
the American continent is in all its aspects a national project,
that as such it is due to every State and section of the Union
that their opinions and views shall be heard, and their in-
terest fairly considered, and that we deprecate any attempt to
excite sectional jealousy, party rivalry, or personal feelings in
reference to this important subject.
" Resolved, That the chairman of this meeting appoint a com-
mittee of twenty-five, whose duty it shall be to prepare an ad-
dress to the people of the United States, urging them to take
into their serious consideration these interesting subjects; to
open and conduct a correspondence with every portion of the
Union, in such manner as to further the objects of this meet-
ing; to collect, prepare, and publish all the facts calculated to
recommend these subjects to public consideration, and to sug-
gest when and how they ought to be accomplished ; and,
finally, to prepare and classify, and have printed for the use
of the members of the October convention, every fact within
their power calculated to shed light upon these subjects, to-
gether with a map and profile sections, made up from the best
authorities.
" Resolved, That we feel deeply gratified in witnessing that
many portions of the Union are awakening to the importance
of this great subject, and feel satisfied that our fellow-citizens
generally will cordially co-operate in bringing into successful
operation the great national measures which are contemplated
by the convention of October next.
" Resolved, That the mayor and Council of the city of St.
Louis and the county court be hereby requested to appropriate
out of their treasury such sum or sums as in their judgment,
upon consultation with said committee, shall be requisite to
carrv into effect the foregoing resolutions.
" Resolved, That the whole people of the United States be
and they are hereby invited to send delegates to the contem-
plated convention, and that the hospitalities of this city are
hereby cordially proffered to all such as may honor us by their
attendance."
The preamble and resolutions were unanimously
adopted.
On the llth of June the chairman announced the
following as the committee of twenty-five under the
resolution :
Messrs. L. M. Kennett, Thomas Allen, Thomas B.
Hudson, M. Tarver, Henry Kayser, A. B. Chambers,
R. Phillips, John O'Fallon, Edward Walsh, John F.
Darby, J. M. Field, L. V. Bogy, G. K. Budd. N. R.
Cormany, John Loughborough, Charles G. Ramsey,
Joseph C. Meyer, John Withnell, George L. Lack-
land, J. B. Brant, Thomas D. Yeats, Samuel Gaty,
0. D. Filley, A. Olshausen, and V. Staley.
At a meeting of the committee held on June 14th
the following sub-committees were appointed :
Committee on address to the people of the United
States, Thomas Allen, Thomas B. Hudson, M. Tarver,
Henry Kayser, V. Staley ; committee on invitation
and correspondence, A. B. Chambers, R. Phillips, John
O'Fallon, Edward Walsh. John F. Darby ; committee
on publication, M. Tarver, J. M. Field, L. V. Bogy,
George K. Budd, N. R. Cormany ; committee on statis-
tics of convention, John Loughborough, Charles G.
Ramsey, J. C. Meyer, John Withnell, George L. Lack-
land ; committee on finance, J. B. Brant, Thomas D.
Yates, Samuel Gaty, 0. D. Filley, A. Olshausen.
The prevalence of the cholera as an epidemic for
a time interrupted the action of the committee, but
at an adjourned meeting of the citizens, held in Sep-
tember, 1849, it was reported by the chairman of the
committee that two thousand copies of the address
from the pen of Thomas Allen had been printed and
freely circulated, and all proper steps taken for calling
together a convention to be held on the 15th of Octo-
ber, 1849.
The address was an able presentation of the argu-
ments in favor of the enterprise, and one of the strik-
ing theories advanced was that which advocated the
national character of the work.
" But, on the other hand," wrote Mr. Allen, " if we fail to
make this road, and California and Oregon remain without any
practicable or convenient connection with the old States of the
Union, who can doubt that a new republic will grow up on the
shores of the Pacific which would perhaps become independent
of the Union, and obtain a supremacy of their own upon an ocean
favorable to steam navigation, and the very home of the trade
with Asia ? The whale fishery, the present American trade with
China, the Pacific Islands, and the northwest coast, would be
shared, if not monopolized, by the new republic. The central
authority would find their power over a people so remote to be
feeble and insufficient. With great mineral wealth in their pos-
session, with a trade before them which has been the cynosure
of commercial nations during the whole Christian era, and
the experience and energy of the race whence they derive their
origin, who can doubt their future power and progress in com-
plete independence of all other nations?
"The true policy of our government and country, therefore,,
in reference to this subject is apparent. The great importance
and absolute necessity of this communication across the conti-
nent, by railway and telegraph, must be appreciated. We
confidently trust that it will be carried out, by national means
and authority, as one of the most powerful auxiliaries to the
integrity and perpetuity of the Union, and to the mission of our
country in promoting and extending the influence of the noble
cause of civil and religious liberty, civilization and humanity.
" What we want is a central highway that shall be most
useful and most acceptable to all parts of our country. Nor
RAILROADS.
1145
•can we anticipate any dispute as to power, inasmuch as the
route will lie entirely through the territory of the United
States, concerning which Congress have power to make all
needful rules and regulations; and if it he expedient or neces-
sary to enter the limits of a State, the right of way is already
granted. To the eastern frontier of that territory, we have as-
surance that the electric telegraph will be constructed during
the present year, and to the same frontier, railroad lines are
already projected, or in operation, within the limits of the
States."
The address concluded as follows :
"We therefore respectfully invite delegates from every State
and Territory of the nation. Laying aside for the moment party
and private engagements, we bespeak from all parties a day in
union for the general good. We ask every district to send its
representatives, that we may have them from the mountains and
from the plains, from the cities and from the country, from the
hills of New England and from the savannas of Georgia ; that they
will come to us from the north and the south, from the east, and
even from the west, pouring in upon us by all the numerous
avenues of conveyance which converge at this point, so that
the hospitality of St. Louis shall rejoice in the fullest exercise
and enjoyment of its means, and that a quickening voice may
go forth from the assembled mass that shall give to the great
measure of American progress assurance of its triumph."
At the adjourned meeting of the citizens, held on
the first Monday in September, 1849, Mayor Barry
called the meeting to order, and requested the same
officers selected at the mass-meeting to serve with
him, viz. : vice-presidents, Col. John O'Fallon, David
Chambers, and A. 11. McNair ; Richard Phillips and
A. B. Chambers, secretaries.
The mayor then explained the objects for which
the adjourned meeting was held.
On the suggestion of Judge Krum, A. A. King,
Governor of the State, being present, was invited and
took a seat with the chairman and vice-presidents.
The proceedings of the mass-meeting held on the
4th of June were then read.
L. M. Kennett, from the committee of twenty-five,
reported an abstract of the meetings and proceedings
of the committee, and the following resolutions, which
were accepted :
"Resolved, That a committee of arrangements consisting of
twenty be selected by the chairman of this meeting, to provide
a suitable place for holding the convention of the loth of Octo-
ber, and to take all necessary measures for its comfort and
accommodation whilst in session.
" Resolved, That the chairman appoint a committee of recep-
tion, also to consist of twenty, to procure the names of delegates
as they arrive, and see that they are suitably provided for.
" Resolved, That a finance committee, consisting of three
members from each ward of the city, be appointed to collect sub-
scriptions to defray the expenses of the convention, as the ap-
propriations made by the City Council and county court arc
insufficient for that purpose.
"Resolved, That fifty delegates to attend the convention,
twenty from the county and thirty from the city (five from each
ward), be now selected, the names to be proposed by the chair-
man and passed upon by the meeting."
The resolutions were adopted unanimously.
On motion of Judge Bowl in it was resolved that
the committee of twenty-five appointed by the
i mass-meeting on the 4th of June be added to the
i delegation from the city and county, and requested to
take seats as delegates from the city and county.
The chairman then announced the following names
of the committees and delegates, which were adopted :
Committee of Arrangements. — Thornton Grimsley,
Charles Keemle, J. B. Sarpy, A. S. Smyth, James
Magehan, J. H. Alexander, Wait Barton, John M.
Wimer, John Leach, C. Pullis, C. L. Hunt, P. A.
Berthold, Louis Beach, George K. McGunnegle,
Samuel Hawken, Patrick Gorman, John McNeil, Ed-
ward Brooks, Hiram Shaw, Oliver D. Filley.
Committee of Reception. — James E. Yeatman, J.
B. Crockett, D. D. Page, C. M. Valleau, George Ma-
guire, Matthias Steitz, R. M. Reuick, T. T. Gantt,
Luther C. Clark, Thomas O'Flaherty, William G.
Clark, James M. Hughes, William Bennett, R. C.
McAllister, J. A. Brownlee, L. A. Labeaume, Mann
Butler, Sr., Bryan Mullanphy, J. A. Durkan.
Committee of Finance. — First Ward, John Dunn,
John C. Dagenhart, Ezra 0. English ; Second Ward,
Michael S. GerrS, J. P. Thomas, Patrick Walsh;
Third Ward, William H. Pococke, Michael Kelley,
H. D. Bacon ; Fourth Ward, H. L. Patterson, J. B.
Carson, Theron Barnum ; Fifth Ward, J. T. Swear-
ingen, George Plant, Isaac T. Green ; Sixth Ward,
Isaac L. Sturgeon, Nathaniel Childs, Jr., Reuben B.
Austin.
Delegates. — First Ward, R. S. Blennerhassett,
David B. Hill, Edward Haren, William R. Price,
D. D. Mitchell; Second Ward, George R. Taylor,
Archibald Gamble, Wilson Primm, John G. Shelton,
Mann Butler, Jr. ; Third Ward, Edward Bates, Henry
S. Geyer, A. L. Mills, Bernard Pratte, Samuel Treat ;
Fourth Ward, James H. Lucas, William Robb, John
M. Krum, G. B. Allen, John Howe; Fifth Ward,
Alexander Hamilton, Trusten Polk, John B. Gibson,
Robert Cathcart, Archibald Carr ; Sixth Ward, Henry
Holmes, T. M. Post, J. T. Swearingen, Isaac H.
Sturgeon, Calvin Case ; County, John K. Walker,
James H. Castello, Geerge M. Moore, Frederick
Hyatt, William F. Berry, Henry Walton, James Sut-
ton, James McDonald, Hamilton R. Gamble, Alton
Long, Judge Higgins, Henry McCullough, John B.
Bogert, Peregrine Tippett, Zeno Mackey, John Sap-
ington, Peter D. Barada, William Milburn, H. M.
Shreve, G. W. Goode.
At the call of the meeting, Governor King briefly
responded, expressing his entire approbation of the ob-
jects and purposes of the meeting. He regarded them
1146
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
as feasible, practicable, and within the powers and
energies of the nation. The object was one not partial
to the State or nation, but interested the civilized world.
All the energies and assistance which he could bring
to the furtherance of the proposed work he cheerfully
promised to give.
At subsequent periods several meetings of the citi-
zens were held, and suitable arrangements made for
holding the convention, and for the accommodation
of the delegates attending from a distance.
The convention, which consisted of delegates from
the several States, assembled in St. Louis on Monday,
the 15th of October, 1849.
At twelve o'clock the delegates assembled in the
rotunda of the court-house, and on motion of Col.
Thornton Grimsley, of St. Louis, Hon. A. T. Ellis,
of Indiana, was called to the chair as president of
the convention pro tempore.
Mr. Ellis thanked the convention for the honor
conferred upon him. Before proceeding to business,
he requested that the Rev. Bishop Hawks offer a
prayer.
Bishop Hawks thereupon rose, and made a brief
and eloquent address, in which he adverted to the
rapid growth, prosperity, and influence of the nation
among the people of the earth, and the grand project
contemplated by the assembling of the convention,
and prayed that in their consultations harmony of
action and unity of purpose might prevail, and that
their proceedings might redound in much good to the
country, and to the glory of the Most High.
Upon a call of the several States it appeared that
delegates were present from the States of Missouri,1
Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky,
Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Louisiana, and
Tennessee.
On Tuesday the committee appointed to select offi-
cers for the permanent organization of the convention,
and to recommend rules for the government of its de-
liberations, reported that they had agreed to recom-
mend for president, Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, of
1 St. Louis Delegation. — Same as above stated, with the addi-
tion of the following:
Dr. Prout, Hugh Garland, William M. McPherson, Miron
Leslie, John Barnes, L. A. Labeauine, R. S. Elliott, Dr. Penn,
F. M. Haight, M. Blair, L. M. Kennett, Thomas Allen, Thomas
B. Hudson, M. Tarver, Henry Kayser, A. B. Chambers, R.
Phillips, John O'Fallon, Edward Walsh, John F. Darby,
J. M. Field, G. K. Budd, N. R. Germany, John Loughborough,
Charles G. Ramsey, John B. Meyer, John Withnell, George L.
Lackland, T. T. Gantt, Thonvis D. Yeats, Samuel Gaty, 0. D.
Filley, A. Olshausen, V. Staley, James G. Barry.
Ste. Genevieve. — Lewis V. Bogy, August St. Gemuie, Felix St.
Gemnie, F. Vall<?, Gustave St. James.
Illinois ; for vice-presidents, W. L. Totten, of Penn-
sylvania; Samuel Forrer, of Ohio; Samuel Emison,
of Indiana ; Henry J. Eastin, of Kentucky ; Hon.
Joseph Williams, of Iowa ; Charles Bracken, of Wis-
consin ; Henry S. Geyer, of Missouri ; John Biddle,
of Michigan; Amherst K. Williams, of New York;
Hon. W. B. Scates, of Illinois ; for secretaries, A. B.
Chambers, of Missouri ; W. H. Wallace, of Iowa ;
A. S. Mitchell, of Kentucky ; W. G. Minor, of Mis-
souri ; T. A. Stuart, of Illinois.
The report of the committee was approved, and
the president, Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, was conducted
to the chair.
A committee of three from each State represented
was appointed by the chair to report resolutions for
the consideration of the convention, as follows :
Iowa. — V. P. Van Antwerp, G. H. Walworthr
William Thompson.
Tennessee. — Le Roy Pope, Jr., E. J. Carroll,
George W. Smith.
Kentucky. — H. J. Eastin, A. S. Mitchell, James
Harper.
Pennsylvania. — George Darsie, Charles Naylor, J.
H. Reed.
Wisconsin. — Charles Bracken, J. R. Murray, Ed-
ward Vaughers.
Illinois. — Richard Bond, William B. Warrenr
Thomas Hayne.
Indiana.— Albert S. White, R. W. Thompson, A.
T. Ellis.
Michigan. — John Biddle.
Louisiana. — Charles C. Lathrop.
New York. — Amherst R. Williams.
Missouri. — A. A. King, J. Loughborough, T. B.
English.
Ohio.—D. W. Deshler, J. H. Sullivan, Henry
Stoddard.
On Wednesday the chair announced the following
gentlemen as having been appointed, in accordance
with the action of the convention, to constitute the
committee to memorialize Congress : W. F. Bowden,
of Wisconsin ; A. K. Williams, of New York ; Charles
Naylor, of Pennsylvania ; J. F. Maury, of Virginia ;
John G. Low, of Ohio ; G. W. Lincoln, of Tennessee ;
0. H. Smith, of Indiana ; W. S. Wait, of Illinois ;
John Biddle, of Michigan ; James Clark, of Iowa ;
Thomas Allen, of Missouri; Basil Duke, of Ken-
tucky ; C. C. Lathrop, of Louisiana ; Robert Cham-
bers, of New Jersey.
Henry Stoddard, of Ohio, from the committee ap-
pointed to draft resolutions for the consideration of
the convention, submitted the following, which were
read :
RAILROADS.
1147
" 1 . Resolved, That this convention is, in its spirit and object,
strictly national, having no party, no sectional, no local inter-
ests to serve or promote, but having at heart the interests of the
whole country.
" 2. Resolved, That it is the duty of the Congress of the
United States to make immediate provision for the construction
of a great trunk railroad to the Pacific Ocean, in California,
•with a branch road to Oregon, from such point in the Missis-
sippi valley or on the frontier of the States as may be found
from examination and surveys to be most eligible and conve-
nient, with reference to the existing and prospective state of the
country and the population and convenience of the whole
Union, and that it should be diligently prosecuted by the Fed-
eral government.
"3. Resolved, That the various lines of railway now either com-
plete or under process of construction from Savannah, Charles-
ton, Richmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston,
tending to and connecting with the Mississippi valley, are only
parts of the great whole which the general government is asked
to consummate by the Mississippi and Pacific Railway, and that
these Eastern connections now being prepared for it, by uniting
all interests, guarantee the perfect nationality of this work.
•'4. Resolved, That, as an important means necessary and
preliminary to the construction of such railroad, it is the first
duty of the American Congress, immediately upon its assem-
bling together, to make provision for the establishment of mili-
tary posts from the western confines of our Western States to
the Pacific Ocean, and these posts should be established numer-
ously in all proper places, not far distant from each other, and
that civilized and productive settlements should be encouraged
around them by liberal sales or grants of the public lands, by
extending ample protection to the settlers and to the transport
of their stores and merchandise, etc., so that by these means
full opportunities may be afforded to our topographical engi-
neers for the immediate reconnoissance and survey of our vast
possessions reaching to the Pacific, and one or more practical
roads, with facilities of travel, be immediately formed for our
citizens across our own Territories from the Atlantic to the Pa-
cific shores.
" 5. Resolved, That the Congress of the United States be me-
morialized to construct, or authorize the construction of, a
national line of telegraph along the route which may be deter-
mined upon by national authority for the great railway to the
Pacific.
"6. Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed by the
president of this convention to prepare and publish an address
to the people of the United States urging their co-operation in
procuring such action on the part of Congress as may be neces-
sary to carry out the views of this convention."
Hon. R. W. Thompson, of Indiana, then addressed
the convention at length, and concluded by submit-
ting the following resolutions in lieu of those reported
by the committee :
"Resolved, That in the opinion of this convention it is the
duty of the general government to provide at an early period
for the construction of a central national railroad from the
valley of the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean.
" Resolved, That in the opinion of this convention a grand
trunk railroad, with branches to St. Louis, Memphis, and Chi-
cago, would be such a central and national one.
" Resolved, That a committee be appointed to communicate
to the convention to be held at Memphis the foregoing reso-
lutions, and to request the concurrence of said convention
therein."
The resolutions offered by Mr Thompson were
carried by almost an unanimous vote.
Hon. Charles Naylor, of Pennsylvania, then ad-
dressed the convention.
A communication was received from the delegates
from Memphis, Tenn., tendering to the convention an
invitation to be present at and participate in the de-
liberations of the National Pacific Railroad Conven-
tion, which was to meet in Memphis, October 23d.
The invitation was signed by George W. Smith,
Edward J. Carroll, L. Pope, Jr., W. T. Avery, E.
Hickman, A. S. Caldwell, Samuel Vance, Miles Owen.
It was moved by Hon. J. H. Burch that the com-
mittee to communicate the resolutions of the St.
Louis convention to the convention to meet on the
23d instant at Memphis be composed of fifty persons,
and that Hon. R. W. Thompson, of Indiana, be chair-
man of that committee, which motion was adopted.
The following is a copy of the memorial prepared
by the committee appointed for that purpose and
forwarded to Congress :
" To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled :
" The memorial of the subscribers, members of a committee
appointed at a meeting of numerous delegates assembled from
fifteen States of the Union, held at St. Louis, in the State of
Missouri, on the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth
days of October last, respectfully represents
" That your memorialists were instructed by said assembly
' to draft a memorial to Congress, presenting the objects and
desires of the convention.'
"Your memorialists, therefore, respectfully beg leave to in-
vite the attention of your honorable bodies to the published
call of said convention, to its proceedings, and to the address
to the people of the United States issued under its authority,
as furnishing the best evidence in the possession of your me-
morialists of the 'objects and desires of the convention,' all of
which are hereto annexed, marked respectively A, B, and C.
" Your honorable bodies will readily perceive, by reference to
these papers, that the objects and desires of the convention
embrace the construction of a national railroad, electric
telegraph, and a line of military posts across the central parts of
the continent, from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean.
"That these objects are held to be of national importance
and of high necessity, and that they ought to be accomplished
by the means and authority of the government of the United
States at an early day.
"Your memorialists, in behalf of said convention, therefore,
respectfully pray that immediate measures may be taken by
your honorable bodies for the location and construction of this
national railroad and telegraph; and in thus praying, your
memorialists believe they are but asking your honorable bodies
to promote and perpetuate social, commercial, and political inter-
course with our regions in the interior and upon the Pacific
Ocean, to render them readily and easily accessible to the whole
people of the Union, and to the government itself, and to con-
firm and strengthen the Union of these States.
"And your memorialists beg leave to call the earnest atten-
tion of your honorable bodies to the actual present and proba-
ble future condition of affairs in the West. By the treaty of
peace with Mexico the territorial property and domain of the
1148
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
nation have been immensely extended, as well in the interior of j
the continent us upon the shores of the Pacific. The flag of the ,
United States now waves among remote tribes and people who j
have hitherto been accustomed to feeble masters and to compar-
ative freedom from the restraints of civilized government.
These people and tribes are to feel the power of a new govern-
ment; peace is to be maintained among them ; the emigrants
from the older States are to be protected; a largely-extended
sea-coast is to be fortified against the dangers of foreign enemies,
and we would respectful!}' submit whether a cheaper or more
efficient provision for national defense and internal peace and
union, in respect to the Territories and embryo States of the
West, can be executed or devised than this railroad and tele-
graph, extending from the Mississippi River to the Pacific
Ocean. And in this connection, and as a preliminary step in
the process of constructing this great work, and as an impor-
tant means of repressing Indian depredation?, murders, and
wars, your memorialists pray that your honorable bodies may,
without unnecessary delay, establish the line of military posts
recommended by the convention, and more particularly alluded
to in this address.
" Nor is the general subject, in the opinion of your memorial-
ists, unworthy of your serious consideration, viewed as a means
of increasing the national wealth. Compare the Pacific Rail-
road as a medium of trade with the Mississippi and the Ohio
Rivers, and the branches which will ultimately project from it,
with the tributaries of those noble streams, and no true estimate
can be made of its value. Experience has demonstrated that
in all parts of the United States the enhanced value of land,
through districts comparatively sterile or unproductive, far ex-
ceeds the cost of the railroads which have rendered them ac-
cessible to market. With the un equaled advantages to be
afforded by the Pacific Railroad, would not the territory to be
traversed by it immediately become nearly as valuable as the
most eligible agricultural districts of the United States, whilst
as it now lies it must remain comparatively useless? Tn this,
therefore, would be a creation of value far exceeding the cost of
the work at the highest estimation. And as a commercial link,
bringing Europe and Asia into contact through the heart of our
North American continent, and becoming the greatest common
carrier of the world, — our own country, the half-way house upon
the highway of nations, — your memorialists respectfully ask your
honorable bodies to consider the immense consequences which
will result from it beneficially to our country.
" And your memorialists, in conclusion, pray that the national
bearing and importance of the subject may secure for it the
favorable consideration of enlightened statesmanship and pa-
triotism, and that it may be viewed and always held above the
prejudices of party and aloof from the machinations of sec-
tional interest.
" And your memorialists will ever pray, etc.
"THOMAS ALLEN, of Missouri.
" W. S. WAIT, of Illinois.
"W. F. BOWDEN, of Wisconsin.
" A. K. AVILLIAMS, of New York.
"CHARLES NAYLOR, of Pennsylvania.
" M. F. MAURY, of Virginia.
" JOHN G. Low, of Ohio.
" G. W. LINCOLN, of Tennessee.
"0. H. SMITH, of Indiana.
"JOHN BIDDLE, of Michigan.
'•JAMES CLARK, of Iowa.
"BASIL DUKE, of Kentucky.
"C. C. LATHROP, of Louisiana.
"ROBERT CHAMBERS, of New Jersey.
" J. C. ELDER, of Maryland."
Letters approving and encouraging the scheme of
a national railroad to the Pacific were received and
read from Levi Woodbury, Roger Huntington, Z.
Pratt, Richard M. Johnson, James G. King, John
H. McHenry, Lewis Cass, J. C. Calhoun, Henry
Clay, Martin Van Buren, William H. Seward, Levi
Hubbell, A. D. Crossmore, P. P. F. Degrand, Thomas
H. Benton, Jr., Samuel Beardsley, Giles Spring,
Robert M. McLane, D. S. Dickinson, J. W. Cris-
field, G. W. Peter, W. L. Goggin, J. G. Chapman,
John Glenn, 0. G. Gates, H. B. Huntershott, James
Gadsden, James Grant, Samuel R. Curtis, William
Duer, J. Davis, George S. Fisher, Maunsel White,
William T. Lawrence, D. Field, John M. Botts, John
H. Clarke, Edwin Crosswell, Albert S. White, J. L.
Martin, W. Preston, John F. Gray, A. W. Buel, John
N. Niles, John G. Palfrey, Preston B. Reed, Wash-
ington Hunt, W. L. Foote, J. Van Buren, W. B.
Mac-lay, Henry O'Reilly, Benjamin F. Porter, C. F.
Keener, Chauncey P. Holcomb, William Woodbridge,
and F. Tiernan.
The construction of the proposed railroad to the
Pacific became a question in politics, and was favored
in the " platforms" of both parties and the " pledges"
of public men, but was postponed to a " more conve-
nient season." The subject, however, continued to
hold the earnest attention and interest of the people
of St. Louis, and was urged with great force and
vigor by Thomas Allen, J. Loughborough, and others.
On Jan. 29, 1850, Thomas Allen, one of the cor-
porators mentioned in the charter of the Pacific
Railroad, published a note in the Missouri Republican
calling for a meeting of the corporators with a view
to organization. At this meeting, which was held
in the office of the St. Louis Insurance Company, in
the city of St. Louis, on Thursday evening, the 31st
of January, 1850, there were present John O'Fallon,
James H. Lucas, Edward Walsh, George Collier,
Daniel D. Page, James E. Yeatman, Joshua B. Brant,
Thomas Allen, Adolphus Meier, Adam L. Mills, and
Wayman Crow.
On motion of Thomas Allen, the meeting was or-
ganized by calling Col. John O'Fallon to. the chair,
and appointing Wayman Crow secretary.
Mr. Allen then delivered an address, which was
published and extensively circulated. It was an
able presentation of the Pacific Railroad enterprise,
and inspired confidence in the project of building a
railroad in Missouri for its local worth, as well as for
a link in the great Pacific Railroad. After this
address, on motion of Mr. Lucas, it was
" Resolved, That the corporators do now proceed to organize
by the election of a president, secretary, and treasurer."
RAILROADS.
1149
The vote, having been taken, resulted in the elec-
tion of Col. John O'Fallon, president ; Thomas Allen,
secretary ; and Daniel D. Page, treasurer.
On motion of Mr. Allen, it was
" Resolved, That a committee of three corporators be ap-
pointed to open books for subscription to the capital stock of
the company ; that said books be opened on Monday, the 4th
of February, at ten o'clock, and close at three o'clock P.M., and
kept open for six days in the rooms of the Merchants' Ex-
change."
The chairman appointed the following gentlemen
that committee, viz. : James H. Lucas, James E.
Yeatman, and J. B. Brant.
On motion of Mr. Lucas, it was
" Resolved, That the several papers in the city be requested to
publish the proceedings of this meeting and the address of Mr.
Allen on this subject."
On motion of Mr. Allen, it was
" Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to prepare
a memorial to Congress, praying a donation of alternate sections
of land along the route for the construction of the proposed
road."
The chairman appointed the following gentlemen
that committee: Thomas Allen, James H. Lucas,
Wayman Crow.
Before the adjournment of the meeting the eleven
gentlemen present pledged themselves to subscribe
$154,000 in the aggregate to the stock upon the
opening of the books, which pledge they redeemed.
Mr. Lucas first started the subscription by offering to
be one of three to make up $100,000. In this he
was joined by John O'Fallon and D. D. Page. It
was understood that there were others ready to sub-
scribe, and that $1,000,000 could be raised by the
1st of March.
The subscribers, nearly all of whom expressed
their willingness and purpose, if necessary to the
progress of the work, to double or more than double
their subscriptions, were :
James H. Lucas 333 shares, $33,300
John O'Fallon 334
Daniel D. Page 333
Thomas Allen 100
J. & E. Walsh 100
James E. Yeatman 50
Joshua B. Brant 100
George Collier 100
Wayman Crow 25
A. L. Mills 50
Adolphus Meier 15
Total.... ...1540
33.400
33,300
10,000
10,000
5,000
10,000
10,000
2,500
5,000
1,500
$154,000
" We are justified in asserting," added the Repub-
lican in its notice of its meeting, " that the eleven
gentlemen present, if they had had time for consul-
tation and examination of the charter, would have
promptly made up the two hundred thousand dollars,
and they will yet do it. The three first on the list
agreed to take one hundred thousand dollars, each
expressing his willingness to double it if necessary,
and for the privilege of subscribing the odd thousand
they tossed up, Col. O'Fallon winning it. This sub-
scription has been made in good faith by men under
their own signature, every one of whom is able not
only to fulfill his present pledge, but to go further if
it should be necessary. Their judgment, feelings, and
interest prompt them to push the measure forward,
and we risk nothing in saying that this road will be
early commenced and speedily completed."
At a subsequent meeting a book was ordered to be
opened in each ward of the city, and the book at the
Merchants' Exchange was ordered to be kept open
until the Saturday preceding the last Monday in
March. A committee, consisting of Thomas Allen,
Edward Walsh, and Adolphus Meier, was appointed
to make preliminary arrangements for a general topo-
graphical and geological survey of the country upon
the proposed route of the road. An election of nine
directors, as provided by the charter, was ordered to
be held on the last Monday in March.
The committee, in accordance with the original
action of the incorporators, issued the following notice :
"Books for the subscription of stock to the Pacific Railroad
will be opened between the hours of 10 A.M. and 3 P.M. on Mon-
day, the 4th of February, at the Merchants' Exchange, and will
be kept open for six days.
"JAMES H. LUCAS,
"JAMES E. YEATMAN,
" J. B. BRANT,
"Committee."
In its issue of February 5th the Republican, de-
scribing the opening of the books, said, —
" Nearly the whole amount required to put the Pa-
cific Railroad into operation was subscribed yesterday.
The books will continue open during the week.
" The Merchants' Exchange, from eleven to twelve
o'clock yesterday, was crowded with business men
and visitors, called thither to see what progress was
making in the subscription.
" The subscription to the stock in the Pacific Rail-
road reached one hundred and ninety thousand dol-
lars yesterday. Nineteen thousand dollars is wanted
to perfect the organization of the company. As soon
as this is secured the directors will feel themselves
authorized to employ engineers and to go on with the
work. It will authorize them also to ask subscrip-
tions, on the part of the city and county of St. Louis,
of all incorporated companies, and of the counties
through which it may be settled that the road shall
pass."
On February 7th the following subscriptions were
added to those which had already been made :
1150
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Shares. Amount.
Auguste Guelberth & Co 20 $2,000
Charles L. Hunt 30 3,000
Thomas Grey 5 500
John M. Johnson 5 500
L. Deaver 20 2,000
Thomas B. Chambers 5 500
B. M. Chambers 5 500
William Turner 2 200
H.L.Patterson 20 2,000
Ann C. T. Farrar, by J. T. Swear-
ingen 20 2,000
James Harrison 50 5,000
William Beaumont 15 1,500
William Renshaw, Jr 10 1,000
P. A. Berthold 10 1,000
A. Shurlds Dent 5 500
Fred Dent, Jr 5 500
S. E. Selleck 5 500
Total 232 $23,200
" When the books were closed yesterday," said a
newspaper of Feb. 9, 1850, " the following gentlemen
had subscribed the shares and sum placed opposite to
their names :
Shares. Amounts.
James H.Lucas 333 $33,300
John O'Fallon 334
Daniel Page. 333
Thomas Allen 100
J. and E. Walsh 100
James E. Yeatman 50
George Collier 100
Joshua B. Brant 100
Crow, McCreery & Co 25
A. L. Mills 50
Adolphus Meier 15
Joseph Cbarless 50
Taylor A Mason 25
K. Mackenzie 25
Switzer, Plaite & Co 25
John B. Sarpy 25
Louis A. Labeaume
Chambers & Knapp
Charles L. Hunt
John Simonds
A. P. Ladew & Co
Sandford J. Smith
W. Risley & Son 10
R. Simpson 10
R. W. Ulrici 10
John B.Carson 5
P. M.Dillon 30
P. R. Donnelly 10
John R. Baldwin 10
George I. Barnett 10
Charles Sellman 10
Evans, Nuckles & Co 10
Oliver Quinette 5
John Hogan 5
J. D. Osborne 5
Alexander, Copp A Co 10
Alexander Hallam 5
B. H. Batte 5
John W. Barker 5
Wilson A Bros.... 10
50
20
20
50
15
10
33,400
33,300
10,000
10,000
5,000
10,000
10,000
2,500
5,000
1,500
5,000
2,500
2,500
2,500
2,500
5,000
2,000
2,000
5,000
1,500
1,000
1,000
1,000
1,000
500
3,000
1,000
1,000
1,000
1,000
1,000
500
500
500
1,000
500
500
500
1,000
Total 2020 $202,000"
" Every day's subscription to the stock of the Pacific Rail-
road Company," said a St. Louis newspaper of February 10th,
" only serves to show the strong hold which this project is ac-
quiring upon the people of St. Louis. Yesterday the stock
taken exceeded forty-five thousand dollars, and at the close of
the books the whole amount subscribed was three hundred and
five thousand five hundred dollars. When it was considered
that the project has only been before the people for about a
week, that it is only ten days since the charter was first pub-
lished and a portion of the commissioners met in a quiet way
and resolved that the great work should be commenced, and by
way of attestation of their own convictions of what ought to be
done subscribed one hundred and fifty-four thousand dollars,
it may be claimed, we think, that the people of St. Louis have
done nobly.
" After the close of the books yesterday the directors held a
meeting to determine upon further proceedings. We under-
stand that they resolved to reopen the books for the subscription
of stock at the Merchants' Exchange to-morrow (Monday), and
they resolved also to open additional books of subscription in the
First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Wards, the Merchants'
Exchange being in the Third Ward, under the supervision of
the committee who have had charge of the books ; and that they
were authorized to employ assistants in the several wards. This
arrangement will accommodate a great number of persons, and
will add, we have no doubt, to the interest felt in the success of
the work."
Two days later (February 12th) it was announced
that the following gentlemen had been appointed ward
committees to collect subscriptions to the Pacific Rail-
road, and to make personal collections for subscrip-
tions in their respective wards during the remainder
of the week :
First Ward, Edward Haren, R. S. Blennerhassett,
D. B. Hill, Adolph Abeles, M. Steitz.
Second Ward, George R. Taylor, George Knapp,
G. Schoentaler, M. S. Cerre, John Kern.
Third Ward, Louis A. Labeaume, Asa Wilgus,
Ferdinand Overstolz, A. L. Mills, Sullivan Blood.
Fourth Ward, 0. D. Filley, G. I. Barnett, Rufus
Keyser, A. P. Ladew, Patrick Gorman.
Fifth Ward, A. H. Glasby, John Leach, William
Branegan, Charles Dean, John B. Carson.
Sixth Ward, J. H. Sturgeon, Charles Hammond,
Smith Robinson, D. W. Dixon, Theodore Labeaume.
At the closing of the books on the 12th of February,
1850, the whole number of shares taken amounted to
three hundred and nineteen thousand eight hundred
dollars. This, however, did not include any portion
of what had been subscribed on the books in possession
of the committees of the several wards. On the 1st of
May, 1850, it was announced that the city corpora-
tion was about to subscribe the five hundred thousand
dollars authorized by a vote of the people. " The
subscriptions of individuals," it was added, " do not
yet amount to that sum."
The amount required by the charter (two hundred
thousand dollars) having been secured, the corpora-
tion proceeded to organize by the election of a board
of directors. The committee appointed to superintend
the election consisted of Luther M. Kennett, 0. D.
Filley, A. Wilgus, Louis A. Labeaume, and George
Knapp. At the election which was held on the 25th
of March, 1850, at the Merchants' Exchange the fol-
lowing were chosen directors : Thomas Allen, John
O'Fallon, James H. Lucas, Louis A. Labeaume,
RAILROADS.
1151
Edward Walsh, James E. Yeatman, George Collier,
Daniel D. Page, and L. M. Kennett.
On the following day the directors met and elected
Thomas Allen president, and Louis A. Labeaume
secretary pro tern. There were then twenty-nine
million two hundred and sixteen thousand acres of.
land in Missouri open to private entry which, as
stated in the memorial of the directors to Congress,
remained unsold.1
Mr. Allen, the president of the company, who, as
we have seen, had been one of the most prominent
and efficient promoters of the enterprise from the
start, addressed himself to the work before him with
characteristic energy and vigor, and under his able
direction the affairs of the company soon took shape.
On the 22d of April it was announced that James P.
Kirkwood, of New York, had been appointed chief
engineer of the road.*
Mr. Kirkwood was then superintendent of the New
York and Erie Railroad. Under his direction three
parties of engineers were started on the surveys.
Three different routes were surveyed, and a very full
and able report made by the engineers, and published
with the first annual report of the board of directors.
The preliminary surveys were commenced on the 24th
of May, and closed on the 29th of November, 1850.
Five different lines were surveyed, embracing in the
whole over eight hundred miles of survey.
During the progress of the surveys the president,
Mr. Allen, personally visited and addressed the people
and the county courts of nearly every county from St.
Louis to the western boundary, and also laid his plans
before the Governor of the State, which the Gov-
ernor, after due consideration, substantially adopted.
The city and county of St. Louis and the county of
Jackson subscribed to the stock. Petitions to Con-
gress in behalf of a grant of land, as applied for by
the company, were circulated and numerously signed
in all the counties along the proposed line, and in due
time transmitted to Congress.
At the session of Congress held in 1850-51 a bill
passed the Senate of the United States granting for
1 At this time not a single railway touched the Mississippi
on either side at St. Louis. The Erie Railroad was not com-
pleted, and only seven thousand miles of railroad had been con-
structed in the United States.
2 " Pacific Railroad. — The commencement of this great and,
to our city, important work we presume will take place imme-
diately. Mr. Kirkwood, late engineer of the New York and
Erie Uailroad, now engineer of the Pacific Railroad, arrived in
our city yesterday morning accompanied by two assistants. In
a very short time the corps of engineers will be organized and
the reconnoissance and the location commenced." — Republican,
May 21, 1850.
the railroad alternate sections of land for a space of
six miles in width on each side, but was not reached
in the House of Representatives. In the same winter
of 1850-51, the president of the railroad company
having been elected to the State Senate, a plan for
a complete system of railroads for the State was laid
before the Legislature by him, including a form of
State aid by a loan of the public credit. This plan,
which was soon adopted, contemplated the issue of
State bonds to the railroad company to an amount
equal to the amount first to be advanced by the stock-
holders, the company agreeing to pay the interest and
principal of the bond, and the State reserving a first
lien on the road as security.
The first act was approved Feb. 22, 1851, and pro-
vided for the issue to the extent of two millions of
State bonds to the Pacific Railroad Company, in sums
of fifty thousand dollars, upon satisfactory evidence
being furnished to the Governor at each application
that a like sum of fifty thousand dollars had been ex-
pended by the company, derived from sources other
than State bonds, and provided that the bonds should
not be sold below par. These bonds having twenty years
to run, and bearing six per cent, interest, were sold at
a premium for more than a year and a half, and some
were sold as high as 110. Some important amend-
ments to the charter were granted at the same session
by an act approved March 1, 1851. Congress, on the
10th of June, 1852, passed an act granting to the
State of Missouri the alternate sections of land in a
strip of six sections in width on each side of the line,
for the construction of a railroad from St. Louis to
the western boundary of the State. Soon after the
passage of this act the company petitioned the Gover-
nor to call an extra session of the Legislature, and the
then Governor, Hon. Austin A. King, complied with
the request.
So largely had individuals entered the public lands
the previous year or two in consequence of the rail-
road surveys, that it was soon discovered that the
grant would be of little value for constructing a rail-
road in a direct line westward from St. Louis to the
western boundary. Therefore, in view of the immense
district of country lying at the southwest, known to
be desirable in soil, climate, and minerals, yet inacces-
sible, and also in view of the probability that a good
route for the national road to California might be
found along the thirty-fifth parallel, it was deemed
advisable to make a fork in the line of road, and run
the main trunk nearly west in the direction of Kan-
sas via the State capital, and the fork or branch in
the southwestern direction. To the road from St.
Louis to the point of divergence from the main line,
1152
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
and thence to the southwest boundary of the State, the
State granted the lands by the act of Dec. 20, 1852,
without bonus and with an exemption from taxation
until the road could pay a dividend, and with also a
further loan of $1,000,000 to the main line, and
$1,000,000 to the Southwest Branch. The right of
pre-emption to actual settlers already on the lands at
$2.50 per acre was, however, reserved.
Mr. Allen, president of the company, was appointed
the agent of the State to select the lands, and for that
purpose went to Washington City. The lands se-
lected amounted to about 1,200,000 acres.
The Pacific Railroad Company, having surveyed a
route for a branch railroad to the Iron Mountain, to
cross the Maramec near the mouth of Calvey Creek, in
Franklin County, and run on an interior ridge west
of Big River, via Potosi, and having reported that the
Iron Mountain could thus be reached by building about
sixty miles additional of railroad, at a cost of two or two
and a half million dollars, the Legislature granted a
loan to the company for that branch of seven hundred
and fifty thousand dollars. The demand having arisen
for a " direct line" to the Iron Mountain from St.
Louis, this loan was subsequently yielded and trans-
ferred to the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad.
On the 12th of March, 1851, the board of direc-
tors resolved to commence the construction of the Pa-
cific road, and were called upon for the first time to
consider the question of route. The road had origi-
nally been defined as to Jefferson and Cass County,
but, now free to seek the best route through the
State, it became evident that more extended surveys
must be made before they could act intelligently. A
division of forty miles only was located, as being com-
mon to all the routes that they could take.
At the time it was in contemplation to make other
surveys, not only connecting in detail those already
made, but to try other routes, passing farther inland
or towards the southwest. But it had been found
that speculators followed the track of the engineers
and entered all the best land, and it was thought ad-
visable not to make any more surveys until a land
grant had passed Congress, and the land was put out
of market.
In the mean time vigorous efforts were made to in-
crease the subscriptions to the stock of the company
to one million five hundred thousand dollars, in order !
that the latter might avail itself of the State's sub-
scription.
"There was a good deal of encouragement," said the Repub-
lican of May 12, 1851, "in the meeting in relation to the Pacific
Railroad which took place on Saturday evening. Mr. Allen
stated a variety of facts in relation to the road. Speaking of
the financial condition of the company, he said that the indi-
vidual subscriptions amounted to about four hundred and fifty
thousand dollars, the city had subscribed five hundred thousand
dollars, the county of St. Louis one hundred thousand dollars,
the coilnty of Jackson one hundred thousand dollars, and other
subscriptions would make the sum up to nearly twelve hundred
thousand dollars. The directors desired to swell this sum to
•fifteen hundred thousand dollars, and hence the present effort.
Whenever the last-named sum is subscribed, the company can
then avail itself of the credit of the State to the amount of two
millions of dollars, and then there would be a capital of three and
a half millions of dollars to go to work with. The engineer es-
timates the entire cost of the road, assuming that it is three
hundred miles in length, at six millions of dollars. This in-
cludes everything, payments for depots, cars, locomotives, etc.
We have a right to expect that Congress will do justice to this
State at the next session by making adequate grants of lands
for the use of this road and that of the Hannibal and St. Joseph
Company, and this will go very far towards the completion of
the work."
At this meeting a resolution was adopted providing for com-
mittees "to canvass the several wards for subscriptions of stock
to the railroad. Subsequently the following committees were
appointed :
"First Ward, Adolph Abeles, Henry A. Lynch, Frederick
W. Beckwith, Brannock Jones, Lewis Clark, L. C. Degenhardt,
William Friend, H. Niemeyer, Thomas T. Gantt, John C.
Rust.
"Second Ward, George R. Taylor, Solomon Smith, Matthew
Steitz, William Palm, Francis P. Blair, J. B. Sickles, Hiram
Shaw, John Kern, Alexander Keyser, Robert Simpson.
"Third Ward, R. S. Elliott, Asa Wilgus, A. Miltelberger,
George R. Reed, John C. Meier, John C. Ivory, William H.
Carroll, Adolphus Meier, Nathan Ranney, John Shade.
" Fourth Ward, William T. Christy, John Finney, S. H. Rob-
bins, 0. D. Filley, F. B. Chiles, A. J. P. Garesche, T. W. Hoit,
John S. Watson, P. R. McCreery, J. D. Houseman.
" Fifth Ward, A. P. Ladew, John Leach, Willis R. Prichard,
F. Laubmann, G. B. Allen, L. Holthaus, Leroy Kingsland, H.
H. Cohen, Louis Bach, James Fortune."
At a meeting of the directors held on the 18th of
June, 1851, at which A. S. Mitchell acted as secre-
tary, the board proceeded to locate the First Division
of the road. The various surveyed routes and their
estimated costs having been presented and explained
by James P. Kirkwood, chief engineer, Mr. Lucas
offered the following resolution :
" Resolved, That the route through Chouteau Pond
valley and the valley of the Des Peres to the Mara-
mec valley, and up the Maramec valley for a distance
of about thirty-nine miles from St. Louis, commencing
in St. Louis at Fourteenth Street, be adopted as the
First Division of the Pacific Railroad."
The yeas and nays were demanded on this resolu-
tion, and the result was as follows :
Yeas, Messrs. Allen, Bridge, Haren, Harrison,
Kennett, Labeaume, Lucas, Walsh, and Yeatman, — 9.
Nays, none ; the entire board present and voting.
In deciding upon this location the board took into
consideration not only the estimated cost of the dif-
RAILROADS.
1153
ferent lines, but the need of a branch to the Iron
Mountain and the southwest part of the State.
On motion of Mr. Kennett, the following resolution
in relation to calls on stock in the Pacific Railroad
was adopted :
" Resolved, That not exceeding thirty per cent, upon
the capital stock of the company shall be called in
any one year during the construction of the road."1
An election for directors of the road was held on
1 " The report of J. P. Kirkwood, chief engineer of the road,
to the board of directors, in June, 1851, contained the follow-
ing information as to the lines he had surveyed, their lengths
and estimated cost :
Miles.
Missouri River route (by Crevecoeur
Lake to Jefferson) 121.87 $2,989,157
Maramec route, inland to Jefferson
City 149.03 3,752,854
Maramec combination route by Mara-
mec and Gray's Gap 130.58 3,145,303
" The board of directors were divided in opinion as to which
route, under all the circumstances, should be adopted. At the
eastern end of the line, and more practically in St. Louis, there
was very decided opposition to the selection of the route shown
above as the Missouri River route, for this principal reason,
that, as was urged, the river itself afforded sufficient facilities
to the whole country through which it ran, and that the road
should be so located as to open and develop a country not pene-
trated by any natural highway. Under these circumstances of
opposition to the route shown by the engineer's report to be
the shortest, as well as the least expensive, it was determined
to locate the road as far as Franklin, thirty-seven miles. This
point was selected for the reason that it was the extreme western
point from which, after further deliberation and examination,
it would be possible, without seriously increased cost, to con-
tinue the location either on the inland or the Missouri River
route. To accomplish this object they were compelled to aban-
don the route described above by Crevecoeur Lake, which
strikes the Missouri River eighteen miles and three-quarters
from St. Louis, though that was the shortest and the most
economical.
" Prior to the decision of this question, and while it was
pending, considerable feeling arose in St. Louis, which was
manifested in denunciations of the board of directors, coupled
with charges that they were purposely delaying the location of
the line, especially that portion of it nearest to St. Louis, for
unworthy reasons, arising out of a desire to enrich themselves
by speculations in hinds, having, as was alleged, in their capa-
city of directors information respecting the route to be selected
which the community generally could not procure. When,
therefore, the report of the engineer was made, the road was
immediately located (on the succeeding day, as appears by the
records of the company), and an order made for the publication
of the route selected.
" It should, perhaps, also be added that though, as has been
explained above, the board of directors were influenced by
popular prejudice in favor of the inland route (in which they
probably to some extent participaled) to locate the road upon
that route so far as Franklin, there is no evidence whatever
that in the actual location of the road upon the particular route
adopted to that point any considerations had weight except the
engineer's report and the questions of economical construction
and use." — lieport of Joint Railroad Committee of Missouri
Legislature, published Nov. 28, 1855.
the 19th of June, 1851, which, we are told, "ex-
cited very considerable interest, and called forth a
large vote." It resulted as follows :
For James H. Lucas, 3015 votes; Hudson E.
Bridge, 2943; James E. Yeatman, 2915; Edward
Walsh, 2914; Louis A. Labeaume, 2892; James
Harrison, 2883 ; Luther M. Kennett, 2777 ; John C.
Rust, 2728; Thomas Allen, 2294; Daniel D. Page,
2036; Joseph Charless, 1598; Joshua B. Brant,
1584; George Collier, 1470. This list completed
the board. The next highest was Isaac L. Garrison,
who received 1452 votes.
The first division of the road (thirty-nine miles)
having been put under contract, the first spadeful of
earth was removed, in the absence of the Governor,
by the then mayor of the city, Hon. Luther M. Ken-
nett, on the 4th of July, in the presence of a large
and enthusiastic audience. This memorable event
took place at a point on the south bank of Chouteau
Pond, on Mr. Minckes' ground, west of Fifteenth
Street.
The event was the occasion of a great popular
demonstration, in which the entire city participated.
The day was introduced with a national salute by the
Missouri Artillery, under the command of Capt.
Henry Almstedt. At an early hour the city in every
portion was filled with the members of the civil and
military societies who designed to join in the proces-
sion. Chief Marshal Grimsley had announced that the
march to the ground would commence punctually at
eight o'clock A.M., and accordingly as early as half-
past seven the various associations, orders, companies,
clubs, etc., began to pour into Fourth Street from all
quarters. The city had seldom witnessed such an
enlivening spectacle as that displayed previous to the
forming of the procession. Flays were flying from
the tops of engine buildings and public-houses, and
streamed from the windows of newspaper offices, or
floated over the street at many points ; numerous de-
tachments of military corps were dashing to their
various places of rendezvous ; squads of civil societies
| were coming to view from every corner, and the whole
was enlivened by the inspiring sounds of music.
Soon after seven o'clock an immense multitude
thronged Fourth Street from Washington Avenue,
where the head of the line rested, a distance of
several blocks. The line formed on Fourth Street,
and shortly before eight o'clock the chief marshal as-
sembled his aids and assistants and instructed them
in regard to the duties assigned them. The band of
the St. Louis Grays was then ordered to its post, and
the following officers also took the places previously
agreed upon :
1154
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Thornton Grimsley, chief marshal; John S. Watson, II. W.
Williams, aids ; assistant marshal?, Joseph P. Wilkinson, Wil-
liam J. Romyn, William Waddinghain, Jr., Benjamin Bogy,
Alfred Dryden, William Light, Charles Mehl, William II. Coz-
ens, McDowell, Thomas* Horrell, John Kern, D. Preston,
William T. Knapp, John C. Vogel, George L. Nuckolls, George
Shuly, William S. Chapman, Frederick King.
The chief marshal then arranged the procession in
the following order :
Chief Marshal and his Aids.
St. Louis Grays' Brass Band.
Governor, his Aids, Heads of the Departments.
President, Directors, and Company of the Pacific Railroad.
Corps of Engineers.
Orator of the Day and Invited Guests.
Judiciary of the Eighth Circuit and Officers of the several Courts.
Mayor and Board of Aldermen, Delegates, and Executive Offi-
cers of the City. Editorial Corps.
St. Louis Grays, Capt. George Knapp.
Missouri Dragoons, Capt. Btinkman.
Missouri Artillery, Capt. Almstedt.
St. Louis Yagers, Capt. Schaeffer.
Union Swiss Guards, Capt. Frye.
St. Louis Fire Department.
Ancient Order of Free and Accepted Masons.
Hibernian Benevolent Society.
Catholic Total Abstinence and Benevolent Society.
St. Vincent Orphan Society.
German Roman Catholic Society.
St. Louis Musical Club.
Social Glee Club.
St. Louis Gymnastic Society.
German Benevolent Society.
United Association of Free Men.
Sons of Temperance.
German Catholic Total Abstinence Society.
United Ancient Order of Druids.
United Patriotic Refugee Association.
Citizens in Carriages.
Citizens on Horseback.
Arrived at the grand stand, which had been erected
at Chouteau's Pond for the speakers and invited
guests, the band performed the " Grand Pacific Rail-
road March," which had been composed for the occa-
sion by Mr. Balmer, after which Col. Thornton
Grimsley, the grand marshal, announced the order of
proceedings, and then introduced the president of the
railroad company, Thomas Allen. Mr. Allen deliv-
ered an interesting address, in which he reviewed the
history of the road up to that time, and in the course
of it he said, —
"The charter of the Pacific Railroad was granted in 1849,
and slept for a year, disregarded and almost unknown. It is
about eighteen months since public attention was first called to
it, and only about fifteen months since the company now act-
ing was organized under it. During that period we have had
a good deal of preliminary work to do, comparatively new
country to explore, and the people to awaken to the considera-
tion of a new subject. We have made over eight hundred
miles of preliminary survey ; we have located about seventy
miles ; we have obtained the promised support of every county
upon the line ; we have secured the co-operation of the State,
and a loan of the public credit; we have brought the subject
to the notice of the government of the United States, and we
have procured subscriptions which, though not yet so large as
we desire, give us great encouragement.
" We have found our distance across the Stute to be about
three hundred miles, and our grades easy, the maximum not
exceeding forty-five feet to the mile, and that occurring only
on a short distance. The cost is estimated below the average
cost of railroads, at about twenty thousand dollars per mile, or
about six millions for the whole completed.
The particular business of our proposed road has
been estimnted by the engineer, and the estimate is
made in detail, and will be found upon examina-
tion to be a very moderate one. The general re-
sult, however, is that the passenger business will
amount to $457,900
Freight 470,200
. Total, second year $928,100
"This would be a gross profit of about fifteen per cent, on six
millions. The cost of running may be forty to fifty per cent.
of the gross earnings. But it should be borne in mind that
this business will constantly increase.
"The business on the Missouri River in 1850 seems to afford
some corroboration of this estimate, if we may compare the
river with the railroad. The results obtained from manifests ia
probably below the truth, but gives, —
For freight $450,478
For passengers 368,000
$818,478"
Upon the conclusion of Mr. Allen's address, a pro-
logue in verse, composed by A. S. Mitchell, secretary
of the company, was recited by J. M. Field. Hon.
Edward Bates, orator of the day, then delivered an
elaborate address, in which he drew a graphic picture
of the fertility and resources of the great Mississippi
valley.
" Here we are," said Mr. Bates, " in the centre of the great
valley, the natural centre of the largest body of rich, habitable
land on the face of the earth, — a land large enough to maintain
in comfort two hundred millions of people, every one of whom
could bring the produce of his labor to this centre by natural
navigation, — just below the confluence of three mighty rivers,
Missouri, Mississippi, and Illinois, and just above the influx of
the beautiful Ohio, whose fertile banks are already teeming with,
industry, enterprise, and wealth. Look at the map of the val-
ley, its broad surface is divided into quarters by the figure of
a cross, — a little irregular, to be sure, but still a cross. The
Mississippi is the shaft, and the Ohio and Missouri are the
limbs. And the shaft and both the limbs are bristling with
tributaries, each one of which is large enough to be considered
in Europe a mighty river, fit to be improved and cherished as
the artery of a nation's commerce.
" Look ag:iin at the map, and note the distance and the com-
manding points. The driftwood that floats past our city
plunges in the turbid waters of the Mississippi for twelve
hundred miles before it is washed by the bright waves of the
ocean. The water-line of commerce from Pittsburgh to St.
Louis is twelve hundred miles. Your steamers go up the Mis-
souri, without a snag pulled out or a sand-bar removed beyond
our western border, two thousand five hundred miles. Ascend-
ing the Mississippi, they push their bows into the very foam of
St. Anthony's Falls ; and above those falls, I know not how many
hundred miles of placid water invite the adventurous boatmen
RAILROADS.
1155
to the fur north. Go up the Illinois : you can find no stopping-
place there, for the Father of Waters is wedded to the lakes.
In Illinois and New York the duty imposed by the great gifts j
bestowed upon us is partly done, and now, by the aid of their j
canals, you can leave the ocean in a boat, and entering the Mis-
sissippi or the Hudson, circumnavigate the nation.
" We occupy the most important point on this great circuit.
If there were not a cabin or a white man from the Ohio to the
Missouri; if our forests were still in pristine solitude, and our
prairies untracked, save by the hoof of the buffalo and the moc-
casin of the Indian savage, I should still believe — considering
the extent and richness of the valley, the number, length, and
direction of its rivers, and its capacity to produce, in boundless
plenty, all that can minister to the comfort, wealth, and power
of man — I should still confidently believe that the greatest city
upon the continent must be established within that span's length
upon the map.
* % •% •:•:- * * ;•:• *
" Consider the country through which the road is to pass. It
abounds in all the menns necessary for the support and comfort
of a dense population. Its rich soil produces in abundance all
the plants that belong to the climate, and its most barren hills
serve but to contain its unmeasured stores of mineral treasures.
" But whither does it tend ? When you have constructed the
road to the frontier of Missouri, what power can stop it there?
Beyond lie the extended plains of the Missouri and the Arkan-
sas, New Mexico, Utah, California, Oregon, the Pacific, and the
old Eastern World. My mind recoils from the magnitude of
the contemplation, and I leave the incalculable results to mingle
with the future glories of our country's name."
In the absence of the Governor of the State, Hon.
Austin A. King, who was detained at home by ill-
ness, Hon. Luther M. Kennett was called upon by
the president of the company, Mr. Allen, to perform
the ceremony of raising the first sod in the com-
mencement of the work of grading the road. On
receiving the spade which Mr. Allen presented for
that purpose, Mr. Kennett made a brief address,
closing with the statement that he would proceed to
use the spade " to make the first cut in the line of
the Pacific Railway."
At the conclusion of Mr. Kennett's speech, the
procession again formed, and while the band played
the " Governor's March," the assemblage proceeded
to the line of the road, near the shore of Chouteau's
Pond. The mayor here shoveled a few spadefuls of
earth into the pond, and was followed by the presi-
dent, Mr. Allen, and several other members of the
Pacific Railroad Company. Enthusiastic cheers
greeted this proceeding, with which the ceremonies
closed.
The first section of the First Division (from St. Louis
to Franklin), the construction of which was thus in-
augurated, extended from Seventh to Fourteenth
Street, St. Louis, and included the filling in of Chou-
teau's Pond. The work of grading was fully com-
menced on the 2d of August, 1851. The contracts
on the first divisions were let when labor was cheap,
and with little or no experience by contractors in
doing work in Missouri, and labor increased in price
from seventy-five cents to one dollar and twenty-five
cents per day. A great deal of sickness prevailed
upon the line most of the time. The cholera made
its appearance nearly every year on almost every sec-
tion. Provisions of all kinds rose to very high prices.
Material was found more difficult of excavation than
any one could have supposed. All these difficulties
combined increased the cost much over original esti-
mates. A large portion of the work when the cars
commenced running to Franklin was in an unfinished
condition, and required a great deal of labor with
gravel trains, in widening embankments and taking
down slopes in cuts. Most of the ballasting was done
by the company', material being procured from the
bluffs upon the Maramec River.
The second division extended from Franklin to
Jefferson City.1
As the work progressed it was soon discovered that
more money would be needed, and on the 6th of Sep-
tember, 1851, an election was held to test the sense
of the people of St. Louis County on the expediency of
subscribing an additional one hundred thousand dollars
to the stock of the company, which resulted in favor
of the proposition. Strenuous efforts were also made
to swell the resources of the company by procuring
grants of land from the general government. In
June, 1852, as heretofore stated, Congress passed an
act approved June 10th, which granted the right of
way to the State of Missouri and a portion of the
public lands to aid in the construction of railroads.
The provision of the act relating to the sale of these
lands was as follows :
"That a quantity of land not exceeding one hundred and
twenty sections on each road, and included within a continuous
length of twenty miles of said road, may be sold ; and when the
Governor of said State shall certify to the Secretary of the Inte-
rior that said twenty miles of said road is completed, then an-
1 Sections 16 and 17 were the heaviest on the First Division,
covering very deep rock excavations and two tunnels, one about
six hundred and the other about four hundred and fifty feet long.
During the progress of this work the cholera appeared and drove,
at several periods, the entire force from the sections. Great num-
bers died, and for a while it was impossible to induce men to go
upon the work. Finally the contractors succeeded in procuring
a large force, but there was a good deal of trouble between Sec-
tions 17 and 18, which finally resulted, in January, 1853, in a
general riot in which two laborers of Section 17, John Flood and
James Carroll, were killed and a number of others badly injured.
In order to suppress these disturbances and restore order, the
St. Louis Grays, Capt. Knapp, and the Missouri Artillery, Capt.
Almstedt, were dispatched to the scene and accomplished that
object. After this outbreak a police force was stationed upon
Section 18, which had become known as the " Bloody Eigh-
teenth," to preserve order.
1156
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
other like quantity of land hereby granted may be sold, and
so from time to time until said road is completed; and if said
road be not completed within ten years, no further sales shall
be made, and the lands unsold shall revert to the United States."
The State of Missouri also extended liberal assist-
ance to the road. The first legislation on the subject,
as we have seen, was the act of March 12, 1849,
which required the company to complete the road
within ten years from the date of its commencement,
and reserved to the State the right to purchase the
road at the expiration of fifty years, two years' notice
of the intention so to do having been given, its value
to be ascertained by appraisers mutually chosen. The
General Assembly afterwards passed an act, approved
Feb. 22, 1851, granting to the Pacific Railroad Com-
pany a loan of the credit of the State to the amount
of two millions of dollars, in special bonds of the
State, bearing interest at the rate of six per centum
per annum from the date of the respective issues
thereof, payable twenty years thereafter, to be deliv-
ered to the company in sums of fifty thousand dollars,
after satisfactory evidence that an equal sum, derived j
from the other moneys of the company, had been ex-
pended on the work prior to the original and each
successive issue. The act provided further that as a
condition precedent to the delivery of the first install-
ment of bonds, a bona fide subscription to the capital
stock of the company of one million and a half of dol-
lars should be made; required the company to provide
for the payment of the accruing interest and the prin-
cipal of the bonds, and provided that the acceptance
of the successive issues of bonds, filed in the office of
the Secretary of State, should operate as a mortgage
of the entire property of the company to the State, to
secure the payment of principal and interest, to be
foreclosed for the benefit of the State upon failure to
make such payment, with the further condition that
none of the bonds should be disposed of at less than
their par value.
During the same session an act was passed entitled
" An Act to amend the act entitled 'An Act to incor-
porate the Pacific Railroad/ " approved March 1,
1851, and accepted by the stockholders of the com-
pany, as required by the act, on the 2d of December,
1851, enlarging and defining the powers granted by
the original act of incorporation, removing the con-
ditions therein contained that the city of Jefferson
should be made a point on the line of the road, and
that it should intersect the western line of Van Buren
County, and authorizing the company to select any
route from St. Louis to the western line of the State
deemed mo^t advantageous. The act authorized the
company to borrow money for the purpose of com-
pleting and operating the road (to any amount not
exceeding the unsubscribed capital), and to issue
bonds therefor, secured by mortgage on their prop-
erty, subject, however, to the prior lien of the State.
On the 13th of December, 1852, the president
and directors of the Pacific Railroad Company ad-
dressed a memorial to the General Assembly, setting
forth their willingness — in view of the fact that that
part of the grant of land made to the State by the
act of Congress, approved June 10, 1852, and
applicable to a railroad from St. Louis to the western
boundary of the State, would, if the lands were selected
with reference to the then proposed line of the road from
St. Louis to the western boundary of the State, yield
so small a quantity of land in view of the conditions
coupled with the grant, as to be of comparatively little
value to the railroad — to undertake the construction
of a branch road, diverging from the trunk line of
the Pacific Railroad, and terminating on the western
boundary of the State, south of the Osage River, and
seeking, if the views of the memorialists should be
adopted, a further loan of the credit of the State in aid
of the construction of the proposed branch road, and
also, in view of the proposed diversion of the land grant
from the main trunk of the Pacific Railroad, praying
for an additional loan of the State credit to secure its
completion. The memorialists further proposed to con-
struct a branch of the Pacific Railroad southwardly
to the Iron Mountain and Pilot Knob, if the aid of
the State by a loan of her credit should be given.
At the first session of the seventeenth General As-
sembly an act was passed entitled " An Act to accept
a grant of land made to the State of Missouri by the
Congress of the United States, approved June 10,
A.D. 1852, to aid in the construction of certain rail-
roads in this State, and to apply a portion thereof to
the Pacific Railroad," approved Dec. 25, 1852, and
accepted by the Pacific Railroad Company, as re-
quired in the act, on the 21st of January, 1853.
This act vested the lands granted by act of Congress
in the Pacific Railroad Company, to be by it se-
lected, and located along the line of a road to be con-
structed by that company identical with the main line
of the Pacific Railroad to the point of divergence, and
diverging from the main trunk line of the road at a
point east of the Osage River, and striking the west-
ern boundary of the State south of the Osage River, at
any point selected by the company. This act granted a
loan of the credit of the State in aid of the construction
of the Southwest Branch Road to the amount of one
million of dollars, on the condition that no part of the
credit thus granted should be used until a bona fide
subscription of five hundred thousand dollars to the
RAILROADS.
1157
capital stock of the company, applicable to the con-
struction of the Southwest Branch, should be made,
and on terms and under limitations similar to those
which had attended the former grants of the credit of
the State. The act further provided that the main
trunk of the Pacific Road should be located from St.
Louis to Jefferson City ; thence by the best inland
route through Johnson County, terminating at any
point designated by the company in Jackson County,
conditioned that the counties west of Jefferson City
should subscribe four hundred thousand dollars to the
capital stock of the company, in addition to the amount
already subscribed ; in default of which the company
should be at liberty to select for the road any location
deemed expedient. An additional grant of the credit
of the State to the amount of one million dollars, ap-
plicable to the construction of the main trunk of the
Pacific Railroad, was made by this act, on the same
terms and conditions as prescribed in the act of Feb.
22, 1851, with the requirement that the road
should be completed to its terminus in Jackson
County and in operation within five years from the
date of the passage of the act. Power was granted to
the company for the purpose of raising money from
time to time, for the completion and construction of
the Branch Road, to sell the land in the manner pro-
vided in the act of Congress of June 10, 1852, and
to issue bonds bearing a rate of interest not greater
than seven per cent, per annum, secured by mortgage
of the lands, subject to the terms of the act of Con-
gress, for the redemption of which bonds the faith of
the State should in nowise be pledged.
In the winter of 1853 an act was passed entitled
" An Act to authorize the formation of railroad asso-
ciations, and to regulate the same, approved Feb. 24,
1853, which provided that the gauge of track or
width between the rails of all railroads in this State
should be five feet six inches," the gauge adopted and
brought into use prior to that time by the Pacific
Railroad Company.
An act was also passed at the same session amend-
atory of the original act of incorporation, approved
Feb. 24, 1853, authorizing the Pacific Railroad Com-
pany to extend, construct, and operate the road to any
point west of the boundary of the State, and to enter
into contracts for that purpose.
At the first session of the Eighteenth General As-
sembly an act was passed entitled " An Act for the
benefit of the Pacific and other railroad companies,"
approved Feb. 10, 1855. This act provided for the
loan to the Pacific Railroad Company of the sum of two
hundred thousand dollars. The act so amended former
laws as to require the Governor to deliver to the several
74
railroad companies in the State who were entitled to a
further issue of State bonds the whole amount within
the limits of the grants to them respectively to which
they were entitled by virtue of showing an equiva-
lent amount of actual expenditure upon their roads,
respectively, of funds derived from other sources,
without regard to the limit of such disbursement,
before fixed at fifty thousand dollars ; and, further,
by authorizing the several companies to sell the
bonds issued to them at their market value, even
though they should fall below par, and by authorizing
the hypothecation of the bonds, if desired, to carry
on the operations of the roads.
At the same session an act was passed entitled
" An Act to aid the construction of the Pacific Rail-
road," approved March 3, 1855, granting a further
loan of the State credit to the amount of three hun-
dred thousand dollars, on the same terms and condi-
tions which governed the loans formerly made, and
providing for the appointment of a Board of Public
Works to examine into the affairs of the company
and its management. This act provided that unless
accepted by the Pacific Railroad Company within six
months after its passage it should be inoperative, and
not having been accepted by the company it expired
by its own limitation. A supplemental act passed at
the same session was approved March 3, 1855, pro-
viding for the protection of innocent settlers on lands
included in the land-grant to the Pacific Railroad
Company.
On the 1st of June, 1853, a mortgage was executed
by the company for ten million dollars, which included
the lands granted by the General Assembly to the Pa-
cific Railroad and the entire property of the company
on the main and branch line, subject to the prior lien
of the State. No bonds were sold under this mort-
gage, and it was subsequently canceled.
The estimates of cost furnished to the Legislature
Dec. 1, 1852, were:
St. Louis to Kansas $7,858,043
Southwest Branch 8,157,000
Total, exclusive of interest $16,015,043
Estimates submitted Jan. 1, 1855 :
Full expenditures required, with interest,
etc., from St. Louis to Kansas, with roll-
ing stock $10,300,000
Southwest Branch to State line 9,900,000
Total estimate, Jan. 1,1855 $20,000,000
The total of stock subscriptions and State bonds
devoted to the purposes of the company up to No-
vember, 1855, amounted to $6,734,400. Of this
sum the individual subscriptions amounted to $864,400,
of which $140,000 was applicable west of Jefferson
1158
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
City. The subscriptions made by the city and county
of St. Louis, payable in bonds, were :
City of St. Louis $500, 000
County of St. Louis 5UO,UOO
County of St. Louis subscribed in cash,
at one, two, three, and four years,
$1,200.000, but anticipated by the
county's bonds to the amount of 875,000
The first railroad iron for the Pacific Road was re-
ceived in St. Louis in April, 1852. There were in
all 42t>7 bars, the aggregate cost of which was
$16,595.30. The government duty amounted to
64978.50. The iron was imported from England.
On Nov. 12, 1852, the first locomotive, the " Pacific,"
manufactured at Taunton, Mass., was placed upon the
track at the machine-shop erected by the company,
and run out to the Manchester road.
"Yesterday evening," said the Republican of Dec. 2, 1852,
" we visited the depot station of the Pacific Railroad Company
to see the first car started, and listen to the first whistle of the
iron horse on this side of the Mississippi. We were disap-
pointed in seeing the car start, but we had, in company with a
number of persons, the pleasure of seeing the first car, the
' Pacific, No. 3,' placed on the track, and this morning at seven
o'clock we expect to hear the first whistle. Owing to unavoid-
able circumstance.*, the car and tender could not be placed upon
the track as early as was expected. It is there now, and the
fact mny be announced that the first car for the Pacific was
placed on the track yesterday evening."
On the following day, as anticipated, the first
trial was made. The locomotive, with the tender, had
been backed down nearly to Fourteenth Street, and
three heavily-laden cars of iron and ties were attached.
Thomas Allen, president of the company, T. S. O'Sul-
livan, engineer, Mr. Copp, the secretary, and a num-
ber of other gentlemen were present. William II.
Kingsley, the resident engineer, having charge of the
construction of the First Division, had the track in
complete working order. Everything being ready, and
the word given, "All aboard," Charles Williams, the
chief machinist of the company, took charge of the
engine, and at seven o'clock the whistle sounded, and
O *
the (rain was in motion. To Mr. Williams belongs
the credit of having run the first engine west of the
Mississippi going towards the Pacific. The train was
run successfully to the terminus of the track, a dis-
tance of several miles.
A few days later the road was completed to Sulphur
Springs, or Cheltenham, five miles from St. Louis,
and an experimental trip was made to that point on
the 9th of December, 1852.1
i "The president, Thomas Allen, in commemoration of the
event, had invited the directors of the company, the members
of the Legislature from St. Louis and other counties, then on
their way to Jefferson City, and a few early friends of the en-
terprise to a collation at the Sulphur Springs, or Cheltenham.
At one o'clock the train was off. There were two beautiful and
During this year (1852) Mr. Kirkwood, chief en-
gineer, resigned, and was succeeded by Thomas S.
O'Sullivan.
On the 6th of May, 1853, the directors decided
that the road should be opened for travel to Kirkwood,
fourteen miles from the city, and that for the accom-
modation of way business the train should stop at Rock
Spring, two and a half miles from the city ; " Chelten-
ham, about five miles; the River des Peres, a little
beyond Sutton's ; and Webster's College, which is two
and a half miles this side of Kirkwood."
By resolution of the boar.d " the fare for passengers
from this time forth is not to exceed three cents per
mile, with proper and liberal deduction for in and out
passengers."
The First Division, thirty-nine miles, from St. Louis
to Franklin, was opened on the 19th of July, 1853,
and the event was signalized by an excursion to the
then terminus of the road. At eleven o'clock on that
day. twelve large passenger-cars, drawn by the loco-
motive " St. Louis," and carrying between six and
seven hundred invited guests, including the St. Louis
Grays, with Jackson's Band of the Sixth United
States Infantry, started for Franklin Station, in Frank-
lin County, which was then situated in a forest of large
timber, with no other improvements than a large and
handsome depot, extending several hundred feet.
Here the train was greeted by several hundred per-
sons from the surrounding country, including many
ladies. In all there were fully fifteen hundred per-
sons present.
commodious passenger-cars attached to the powerful locomotive.
A few minutes brought the company to the mansion of Mr.
llawley, at the Sulphur Springs, and they sat down to a most
bountiful repast.
"After discussing the viands the meeting was entertained by
addresses fn>ui Mayor Kennett, the president of the railroad
company, Mr. Allen, Dr. Shelby, the then Speaker of the
llou.-e of Representatives of the Stale, the Hon. Edward Bates,
James II. Lucas, Esq., Mr. Halliburton, member of the House
of Representatives from Linn, Mr. Tarvcr, Mr. O'Sullivan, the
then enginrer of the road, who commenced the work in con-
nection with Mr. Kirkwood, the first, engineer, and who was
most flatteringly toasted by the company. The health of Mr.
Williams, who ran the first locomotive, was also received with
cheers. Mr. La,l>eauine gave 'the Governor of the State and
the aid he has given this and other internal improvement en-
terprises,'and expressed the hope that his successor would prove
ns favorable to their consummation. This sentiment was re-
ceived with much enthusiasm. Mr. Loughborough and many
other early friends of this road were toasted.
"The day was remarkably fine, and at the appointed time
(railroad tiaie) the company, with several hundred who had
come out on the second train, returned to the ciiy. Everything
worked well, and for a new road, we say advisedly that there is
not a better built road in the Union." — Hi-publican, Dec. 10,
1852.
RAILROADS.
1159
" Much of the latter part of the road," says a con-
temporary account, " had not been used before, —
in fact, some of the rails had not been laid until that
morning, — and still we arrived at Franklin before two
P.M. The actual running time, as kept by some of
the passengers, was one hour and fifty-one minutes,
a fair speed for a new, partially unballasted and untried
road."
A collation was served, after which Charles D.
Drake proposed the health of the president of the
company, Thomas Allen. In Mr. Allen's absence,
Hon. L. M. Kennett responded in an address highly
eulogistic of Mr. Allen's services in behalf of the en-
terprise. In the course of his address Mr. Kennett
congratulated his hearers on the fact that the cars were
of St. Louis manufacture, " drawn by a locomotive
made in St. Louis, and by St. Louis mechanics, Messrs.
Palm & Robertson, to whose enterprise and public spirit
the company, and the citizens of St. Louis generally,
are indebted for so important a movement towards
our city's advancement to wealth and prosperity."
The actual cost of the division was set down by
Mr. Kennett as being " a trifle over one million six
hundred thousand dollars." At this time the two
divisions of the main stem, towards Kansas, had been
located, and were under construction as far as Jeifer- :
son City, eighty-eight miles from Franklin.
Addresses were also made by Hon. John How,
mayor of St. Louis, Hon. Edward Bates, J. D. Ste-
venson, R. S. Elliott, William Palm (of the firm of
Palm & Robertson, who built the first locomotive in
St. Louis), A. S. Mitchell, P. B. Garesche, William
L. Williams, James Conran, Henry Cobb, Charles
S. Rannals, and others.
The president, Mr. Allen, who had devoted his
time and energies to the starting of the enterprise, the
first year without pay, and during the last at a salary
of fifteen hundred dollars per annum, willing still to
make sacrifices for the cause, and desirous of attract-
ing public attention at once to the necessities of the
case and to propitiate all opposition, if any, on the
score of long continuance in office, tendered his resig-
nation, which was accepted at a meeting of the board of
directors on April 30, 1854, which at the same time
passed a unanimous indorsement of his entire action in
the affairs of the company. After Mr. Allen's resig-
nation had been accepted, Hudson E. Bridge was
elected president of the company, and Henry L. Pat-
terson vice-president. At an election held about
this time the question of making a subscription on
the part of St. Louis County to the amount of one
million two hundred thousand dollars to the capital
stock of the company was decided affirmatively by a
vote of three thousand four hundred and twenty yeas
to one thousand three hundred and thirty-three nays.
The work of construction from Franklin westward
was prosecuted with unremitting energy, and on the
1st of November, 1855, the road was opened to Jeffer-
son City.1 This event was the occasion of a catas-
trophe which resulted in great loss of life, and caused
universal distress and mourning in St. Louis. It has
ever since been known as the Gasconade Bridge dis-
aster, and occupies a position of melancholy promi-
nence in the history of the city.
The train, which consisted of fourteen passenger-
cars, started from the Seventh Street Depot, St. Louis,
on the morning of Thursday, November 1st, with the
mayor and City Council of St. Louis, Company
A of the St. Louis Grays, and the National Guard,
with the band attached to the latter, and a number of
invited guests, the whole party numbering between
six and seven hundred persons. There had been
heavy rains the night before, and the weather was
still inclement, but the train proceeded in safety until
the Gasconade River was reached, when the bridge
across the stream gave way, and ten of the cars were
precipitated a distance of twenty-five or thirty feet.
The locomotive, from all appearances, had reached
the edge of the first pier when the structure gave
way, and in falling reversed its position, the front
turning to the east and the wheels upward. On
the locomotive at the time were the president, H. E.
Bridge, T. S. O'Sullivan, the chief engineer of the
road, and several employe's. Mr. Bridge escaped,
but Mr. O'Sullivan was killed. The road entered the
bridge with a curve, and this circumstance, perhaps,
prevented the disaster from being more fatal, as the
cars thereby were diverted, and thus prevented from
falling in a general melee. The baggage-car, next the
engine, went down easily, without causing any serious
casualty. The first and second passenger-cars fol-
lowed, and in these several were killed, and a great
number more or less mangled. In the third car one
or two were killed only. This car, although in a dan-
gerous position and almost entirely demolished, was
less fatal to life and limb. In the fourth and fifth
cars a great many were fatally injured and several
instantly killed. The other cars of the train followed
swiftly on their fatal errand, and the loss of life, with
contusions more or less severe, was dreadful. Some
of the cars plunged on those beneath them with their
ponderous wheels, and crushed or maimed the uufor-
i On the 10th of February, 1855, the road was opened to
Washington, fifty-five miles; and on the 6th of August, 1855,
to Hermann, eighty-one miles.
1160
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
tunate persons below. Others hung upon the cliff
in a perpendicular position, and two or three turned
bottom upward down the grade. Only one, the ex-
treme rear car, maintained its position on the rail.
" When we take into consideration the fall of thirty
feet in front to the bed of the river," says the Repub-
lican, in its account of the disaster, " and the high
embankment on either side of the track, covered with
stone, — the ponderous cars themselves capable of
grinding each other into fragments, — the wonder is
increased that so few were killed outright or fatally
wounded. There is hardly a position in which a car
could be precipitated from the track at the point
named that gives a reasonable hope of escape, and yet
although seven out of the ten of which the train was
composed plunged headlong down the abutment, and
then others rolled over the grade, containing five to
six hundred passengers, we have only the report of
twenty-five killed and mortally injured.
" As soon as the crash was over a moment of pain-
ful silence ensued, and then issued from the wreck
the groans of the wounded, the supplications of the
imprisoned, the screams of the agonized, while here
and there might be observed the upturned face of the
dead, mangled and clotted with blood, or the half-
buried forms of others whose spirits had passed away
forever. To add to the horror of the scene, a storm
of lightning, thunder, and rain arose of the severest
description."
Drs. McDowell and McPherson happened to be on
the train, and rendered efficient aid to the wounded.
Couriers were dispatched forthwith to Hermann for
another train, and in an hour or less the wounded
were in comfortable cars on their way to the city.
The following is a list of the killed and injured :
Killed.— A. L. Chappell, Rev. A. Bullard, B.
B. Dayton, Cyrus Melvin, Mann Butler, Thomas
Grey, Rev. Mr. Teasdale, S. Best (fireman), Pat-
rick Barry (wood-passer), T. J. Mott (representa-
tive of Dunklin County), Thomas S. O'Sullivan
(chief engineer), E. C. Yosti (firm of Shields &
Yosti), Capt. C. Case, E. C. Blackburn, J. A. Ross
(firm of Ross & Gillum), Athey (late assessor
of St. Louis), Henry Chouteau (of the firm of
Chouteau & Valle), Capt. O'Flaherty, Joseph Har-
ris (of St. Louis County), E. B. Jeffrees (represen-
tative of Franklin County), Adolph Abeles, George
Eberle, William L. Lynch, R. M. Dubois, 11. W.
Huhn, Joseph A. Finnegan, Mr. McCulloch (of Dunk-
lin) ; one body, left at the Gasconade ; one body, iden-
tified at Hermann, name unknown.
All of the above not otherwise specified were resi-
dents of St. Louis.
Wounded. — Hon. Washington King, mayor of St.
Louis, badly cut.
F. L. Billon, arm broken.
Carlos S. Greeley, slightly injured.
L. M. Kennett, slightly injured.
Judge Wells, United States District Court, slightly,
injured.
John M. Wimer, badly hurt.
Henry C. Hart.
George K. Budd.
Francis Lane, leg broken.
James Mullery, slightly injured.
D. H. Armstrong, right arm broken.
Capt. Connelly, right leg injured.
Wilson Primm, bruised about the head.
John Sehuetze, not seriously hurt.
Edward Colston, badly cut on head.
S. J. Levi, bruised about face.
L. A. Benoist, leg hurt.
Judge Thomas, of Bridgeton, face injured.
John J. Hoppe, face cut.
Wayman Crow, leg bruised.
Peter Oehman, badly bruised.
Mr. Dyson, firm of Taylor & Dyson, lower jaw
broken, and otherwise badly injured.
John C. Ivory, much cut and bruised.
William Lindsey, shoulder out of joint.
John K. Field, firm of Beardslee & Field. Mr.
Field went out the day after the accident, having
heard that his brother was seriously injured at the
Gasconade Bridge. He failed to get across BosufF
Creek before the bridge there was washed away.
Afterwards he crossed the river, took a hand-car,
and was at work on it when his coat was caught in
the wheel and he was thrown out. The wheel passed
over him, doing him very serious injury, principally
about the face.
W. H. Tucker, the engineer on the locomotive, had
his legs badly bruised.
William D'CEnch, right arm broken.
Julius Bush, face cut badly.
John Neindenhofer, face bruised.
James McDermott, leg broken.
A number of others were more or less seriously hurt.
The masonry of this bridge was of the most sub-
stantial kind, and had stood every test applied to it
without damage in any shape whatever. The wooden
superstructure — trestle-work — was put up by Stone,
Boomer & Co., men of great experience in bridge-
building: in the West.1
1 In view of the distressing nature of the calamity, the mayor
of St. Louis, Hon. Washington King, determined to set apart a
RAILROADS.
1161
It having become apparent that the cost of the pro-
posed railroads in Missouri had been underestimated,
the Legislature on the 10th of December, 1855, en-
acted that the State bonds might be issued to the
railroad companies in the proportion of two dollars of
loan advanced for one expended by the stockholders,
and thus granted the further sum of two millions to
the main trunk line of the Pacific Road. The act
also created and established a Board of Public Works,
consisting of three persons, not stockholders, to be
(after the first appointed by the Governor) elected by
the people for four years, the first election in 1856,
and further required each railroad company to set
aside and pay to the State treasurer every year, on
State bonds thereafter to be issued, one and one
quarter of one per cent, on each thirty-year
bond, and two and one-half per cent, on each
twenty-year bond sold or hypothecated. The treas-
urer of the State and the treasurer of each railroad
company for the time being were made commission-
ers of tho sinking fund thus created, and each com-
pany was required to pay to the State treasurer the
semi-annual interest on the bonds issued to them
thirty days before the coupons should fall due. The
State treasurer was required to select one place in the
city of New York for the payment of the interest on
all the bonds issued by the State, and to give public
notice thereof thirty days in advance.
James H. Lucas was elected president of the Pacific
Railroad Company in March, 1856, but resigned
about a month afterwards, when William M. Mc-
Pherson was elected president in his place, and Ed-
ward Miller soon after was made chief engineer. Mr.
McPherson continued to serve as president until
March, 1858, when Hon. John M. Wimer was elected
in his place.
By an act approved March 3, 1857, the State
day of fasting and prayer. He accordingly issued the following
proclamation :
"To THE CITIZENS OF ST. Louis. — In view of the awful and
inscrutable dispensation of Providence, by which so many valu-
able lives were lost on Thursday last, I have deemed it proper
to recommend, and as the mayor of the city I do hereby
recommend and set apart Monday next, the 5th inst., and ask
that it be observed universally as a day of cessation from all
labor, as a tribute of respect to those who are most deeply
stricken by this terrible blow, and a day of heartfelt thankful-
ness and gratitude to God by and on account of all who are
saved from death.
" I recommend that all business houses be closed, and that all
secular pursuits go unobserved on that day. I also request that
the churches of all denominations be opened for religious wor-
ship on that day.
"WASHINGTON- KING, Mayor.
"MAYOR'S OFFICE, ST. Louis, Nov. 3, 1855."
agreed to guarantee the bonds of the Pacific Railroad
Company, issued as authorized by the act of Dec.
10, 1855, upon a mortgage of lands on the Southwest
Branch, in sums of $100,000 each, to an amount not
exceeding $4,500,000, the first $100,000 to be issued
upon evidence of a like amount of expenditure on
that branch by the company, derived from sources
other than guaranteed bonds, but the subsequent
amounts were to be issued as fast as each given sum
was expended. The Governor was also authorized to
make such guarantees in larger amounts than $100,-
000 at a time if expedient, and place them for sale
in the hands of an agent to be appointed by him, etc.
The company was required to complete the South-
west Branch in four years, pay the interest, and hold
the State harmless from her guarantee, or forfeit the
branch road, lands, and franchises. The same act
further provided that whenever the Pacific Railroad
Company had expended five hundred thousand dollars
west of Jefferson City, the Governor of the State
should issue to them $1,000,000, part of the amount
granted by the act of Dec. 10, 1855, but not issued;
and also granted a further loan of $300,000 of the
same amount, to be based upon a showing of half that
sum expended from stock subscriptions west of Jef-
ferson City. The act also granted the same com-
pany a further loan of $1,000,000, to be issued in
sums of $100,000, the applications for them to be
based upon proof of additional expenditure of half
the amount derived from other sources than State
bonds, and not included in any previous statement,
and showing also that the proceeds of all the bonds
issued under the act of 1855 had been expended in
the construction of the road, the statement of ex-
penditure to be exclusive of interest, discount, and
commissions.
This law also provided that the work should pro-
gress continuously west, so as to leave no part unfin-
ished beyond the reach of the means of the com-
pany, and postponed the payments into the sinking
fund required by the act of 1855 until Jan. 1, 1859,
when said payments were to commence and be made
as before required, and within two years from that
time the companies were to make full payment of all
sums thus postponed. The same act of March 3,
1857, required the State geologist to make a thorough
survey along the lines of all railroads aided by the
State, and to report in detail to the president and di-
rectors " all the mineral, agricultural, and other re-
sources which may affect the value or income of the
road under their direction."
In consequence of the panic in the money market,
the State bonds of Missouri, like many others, touched
1162
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
a low point in the fall of 1857, and many of the
holders felt much alarmed. The act of Nov. 19, 1857,
suspended the further issue and guarantee of bonds
until March 1, 1859, with some exceptions, and among
them four hundred thousand dollars were permitted
to be issued to the Pacific Railroad to finish to Round
Hill, and two hundred thousand dollars to carry the
Southwest Branch to Moseley's. But it was agreed
that whenever State bonds could be sold for ninety
cents on the dollar, the Governor might issue five
hundred thousand dollars for the Southwest Branch,
and receive in exchange the same amount of guaran-
teed bonds. It was further provided that there
should be deposited with the State treasurer a like
amount of seven per cent, railroad mortgage bonds
as collateral security, and as the latter bore seven
per cent, interest and the former six, the company
was required to pay the difference (one per cent.)
into the State interest fund on the bonds so ex-
changed.
The Pacific Railroad was also required to deliver
up all guaranteed bonds, and a like amount of State
bonds, running twenty years and bearing six per cent,
interest, were ordered to be issued and delivered to
them. It was a singular fact that while State bonds
sold readily, mortgage bonds, guaranteed by the State,
could not be sold.
The Board of Public Works was required to attend
all the meetings of the boards of directors and watch
their proceedings. Full and ample provision was also
made by the Legislature to meet at all times the ac-
cruing interest on the State bonds of Missouri.
The main (or Kansas) line of the Pacific Railroad
was completed to Sedalia, and its Southwest Branch,
afterwards the St. Louis and San Francisco line, to
Rolla in 1861. The four years of the civil war re-
tarded the efforts of the company to push forward the
work of construction, and the effect upon the road
was disastrous in the extreme. For much of the time
in the use of the government, which only allowed the
actual cost of transportation, and seriously injured by
destruction of its depots and bridges by armed bands,
the work was still pushed forward under the greatest
difficulties, and in May, 1863, was extended to Dres-
den, in July, 1864, to Warrensburg, and was being
pushed to Kansas City, when the great raid of Gen.
Price, in the fall of that year, destroyed everything
destructible between Franklin and Kansas City, in-
flicting a damage which exceeded a million of dollars.
Nearly one mile of bridging was destroyed, includ-
ing the Gasconade, Moreau, and Osage, and depot
buildings, machine-shops, water-tanks, and wood-
sheds were totally destroyed at Franklin, Gray's Sum-
mit, South Point, Washington, Hermann, California,
Syracuse, Otterville, and many lesser points. Large
portions of the track were torn up, and the entire road
was a wreck.
Under military protection the work of repair and
extension was continued, and the road was opened
to Holden in May, 1865, and to Kansas City in
September of that year.
Since its completion to Kansas City other roads
have been completed to that point, but the Pacific
Road has held its own in the contest for the com-
merce of the West. Its present connections with
roads west and southwest are of the most intimate
character, and cars run to and from St. Louis, with-
out break of bulk, to every railroad point in Kansas
and Colorado.
During the year 1878-79 the construction of tho
Sedalia and Fort Scott Railroad shortened the line
between St. Louis and Fort Scott more than one
hundred miles, and arrangements were completed for
the running of freight and passenger trains, with-
out break, between St. Louis and Fort Scott. The
connecting link between Fort Scott and the main
line of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad was
completed in 1871, after which time freight and
passenger trains ran, without break, to Chetopa and
points in the Indian country.
Connections have been made between Pleasant
Hill and Lawrence, .by which the route to Denver
was straightened and shortened. Roads from Sedalia
to Lexington, from Holden to Paola and Emporia,
Kan., and from Tipton to Versailles and Warsaw, in
Missouri, have also been constructed.
Among the most active and liberal of the early
promoters of this great enterprise was Edward Walsh.
Mr. Walsh was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, Dec.
27, 1798. The family consisted of eleven children,
who were trained to habits of industry and economy, and
when old enough to work established in some employ-
ment. After being kept at school until twelve years
old, Edward entered the store of a cousin, and remained
there four years. He then went into business with
his brother, who kept a mill and brewing establish-
ment, and remained there four years. A letter from
his cousin in Louisville about this time induced him
to emigrate to America, and on the 7th of June, 1818,
he arrived in New York, reaching Louisville in due
season. In October, 1818, he removed to St. Louis,
and subsequently settled in Ste. Genevieve County,
where he built a mill and conducted a profitable
business until 1824, when he sold out and started
another mill in Madison County. This, too, he soon
disposed of, and acting on the idea which he had
RAILROADS.
1163
long entertained that St. Louis was the best field
for his energies, he finally removed to the city and
settled permanently, engaging with his brother in
the general merchandising business, under the firtn-
name and style of J. & E. Walsh.
In 1831 he also engaged in milling again, and
ultimately conducted operations on a large scale,
having three mills in constant operation. One of
the three is still standing, at the corner of Florida
Street and the Levee. It was built in 1827, and
has made more flour than any mill in St. Louis.
The milling business succeeded as merchandising
had done, and Edward Walsh next engaged in steam-
boating on a large scale. It is estimated that he had
half a million dollars invested in the business, and
at one time he was interested in twenty-one vessels
that were plying on the Western waters.
During this period his firm enjoyed almost the en-
tire monopoly of the Galena lead business. There
was then no Chicago to dispute the supremacy of St.
Louis in that region.
When railroads began to be agitated, Mr. Walsh
was among their most earnest and energetic promo-
ters, being one of the first subscribers and original
directors of the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company.
He was also a subscriber to the stock of the North
Missouri Railroad and the Ohio and Mississippi Rail-
road Companies, and was one of the originators of the
present street railway system.
Mr. Walsh assisted in numerous other public en-
terprises, and was one of the first directors of the old
Bank of the State of Missouri, and a director in the
old Missouri Insurance Company and Union Insurance
Company. He was also one of the founders of the
present Merchants' National Bank.
The successful management of such large and com-
plex interests, down almost to the very day of his
death, indicate a mind of uncommon strength, and
Mr. Walsh's sound business judgment was recognized
by all his contemporaries. The splendid success which
he accomplished is his best monument. The young
man who came to a new continent with neither friends
nor patronage made his way by sheer force of char-
acter and industry to wealth and position, and when
he died, on the 23d of March, 1866, he was mourned
as one of the leading citizens of the State of his
adoption.
Edward Walsh's brother, John Walsh, with whom
he was so long associated in business, and who died
many years before him, was likewise noted for his
business talents and lofty integrity. He was also
widely known for his benevolence and charity, which
endeared him to a very large circle of friends, and
still keeps his memory green in the minds of the
people of St. Louis. Edward Waish was also of an
eminently charitable and benevolent character, but
many of his benefactions were private and were
never known. He was particularly friendly and
generous to immigrants, especially his own country-
men, many of whom, being destitute, he helped to
become prosperous business men, and who not infre-
quently testified their gratitude to Mr. Walsh by the
presentation of some elegant and costly token.
Although frequently tendered political honors and
preferment, Mr. Walsh uniformly declined, having no
aspirations in that direction. He was, however, a
warm friend and admirer of the Hon. Thomas H.
Benton, and wherever his (Benton's) interests were
involved he labored actively and unselfishly for their
promotion.
Edward Walsh was twice married, — first in 1822
to Miss Maria Tucker, and secondly, Feb. 11, 1840, to
Miss Isabelle Do Mun, daughter of Julius De Mun.
She died May 26, 1877. Mr. Walsh left six chil-
dren, viz. :
Ellen, who became the wife of Solon Humphreys,
of New York, president of the Wabash, St. Louis and
Pacific Railway.
Julius S. Walsh, of whom a sketch appears else-
where in this work.
Marie C., who became the wife of B. M. Chambers,
"now a resident of St. Louis County.
J. A. Walsh, president of the Mississippi Glass
Company.
Edward Walsh, Jr., president of the Pilot Knob
Iron Company.
Daniel E. Walsh, ex-president of the People's,
Tower Grove and Lafayette Railway Company.
In 1866 the Southwest Branch of the Missouri
Pacific Railway was taken possession of by the State
for non-payment of interest on the State subsidy, and
sold with the lands in the same year to the Atlantic
and Pacific Railroad Company, which company in
1872 leased the line of the old company. The two
roads were operated under one management until Sept.
6, 1876, when the Pacific Road was sold, under process
of foreclosure of the third mortgages, ana conveyed by
the purchasers to the present company, incorporated
as the Missouri Pacific" Railroad Company, Oct. 21,
1876, with a share capital of $3,000,000. The
amount of old indebtedness prior to the third mort-
gage, and assumed by the new company, was $13,-
700,000.
By articles of association filed Aug. 11, 1880, the
Missouri Pacific was consolidated (still retaining the
same name) with the St. Louis and Lexington, the
1164
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Kansas City and Eastern, the Lexington and South-
ern, the St. Louis, Kansas and Arizona, the Missouri
River, and the Leavenworth, Atchison and North-
western Companies. The authorized share capital of
the consolidated company was $30,000,000 ; amount
issued to carry out consolidation, $12,419,800 ; the
funded debt of the new company, including three of
the present lines, was $19,259,000. The Missouri,
Kansas and Texas Railway was leased to the Mis-
souri Pacific Railway Company on the 1st of Decem-
ber, 1880, the rental being the net earnings of the leased
line, which for 1881 amounted to $1,911,673.93. The
Missouri Pacific Railway operates the Central Branch,
Union Pacific Railroad, accounting to the Union Pa-
cific, which owns it, for the net earnings.
During 1881 the Missouri Pacific Railway acquired
the ownership of the railroad, branches, and property
of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Rail-
road Company by the exchange of three shares of its
capital stock for four shares of that of the St. Louis,
Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad. The Inter-
national and Great Northern Railroad of Texas was
absorbed by the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad
of Missouri by the exchange of one share of the stock
of the former for two shares of the stock of the latter.
According to the report for the year ending Dec. 31,
1881, the condition of the Missouri Pacific Railroad
was as follows :
Rolling stock : Locomotive engines, 134 ; cars, pas-
senger, 78, baggage, mail, and express, 28 ; cabooses,
81 ; freight (box, 2318; stock, 551 ; platform, 132;
coal, 1138), 4139; total revenue cars, 4326 ; service
cars, 24.
Operations for the year : Trains run (passenger,
1,109,793; freight, 2,940,078), 4,049,871 miles;
total engine service, 4,220,241 miles ; passengers car-
ried, 1,017,507 ; carried one mile, 59,132,107 ; aver-
age fare, 2.48 cents ; freight moved, 2,712,634 ; moved
one mile, 368,817,609 tons; average rate, 1.30
cents.
The earnings (774 miles) were : From passengers,
$1,472,150.13 ; freight, $4,806,913.67 ; mail and ex-
press, $29 ' 281.01; miscellaneous, $2,067,612.99,
total ($11,164.03 per mile), $8,640,957.80.
Expenditures: For maintenance of way, $1,043,-
655.78; rolling stock, $1,268,204.31 ; transportation,
$1,047,254.58 ; miscellaneous and taxes, $269,040.17;
total ($4,687.54 per mile), $3,628,154.84.
Net earnings, $5,012,802.96 ; dividends (April,
July, October, and Dec. 31, 1881, 1 J per cent, each),
$1,524,167.11.
The general balance sheet presented Dec. 31, 1881,
showed, —
Construction and equipment $33,555,939.10
Real estate 73.76fi.99
Stocks and l>onds 20,3(10,866.53
Material and fuel 1,091, 763.44
Current accounts 6,463,138.66
Cash onhand 585,540.16
Total assets $62,071,014.88
Capital stock $29,955,375.00
Funded delit 20,664,000.00
Sundry accounts 6,941,926.77
Bills paynble 451,956.64
Profit and loss 4,057,756.47
Total liabilities $62,071,014.88
The increase in share capital during the year ($17,-
534,575) was due wholly to the issue made in the
purchase of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and South-
ern Railroad. The statement of the funded debt,
Dec. 31, 1881, showed that there were $48,195,000
of authorized bonds, and that the outstanding in-
debtedness amounted to $20,664,000.
The Missouri Pacific now forms part of the great
system of railroads controlled by Jay Gould and his
associates. Its directors (elected March 7, 1882)
are Jay Gould, Russell Sage, Sidney Dillon, W. F.
Buckley, Thomas T. Eckert, George J. Forrest,
George Gould, A. L. Hopkins, H. G. Marquand,
Samuel Sloan, all of New York ; F. L. Ames, South
Easton, Mass.; S. H. H. Clark, Omaha, Neb.: R. S.
Hayes, St. Louis. Jay Gould, president ; R. S.
H.iyes, first vice-president ; A. L. Hopkins, second
vice-president ; A. H. Calef, secretary, New York ;
W. M. Arnold, assistant secretary ; A. A. Talmage,
general manager; A. W. Dickinson, superintendent;
D. Brock, master of transportation ; J. C. Brown,
general solicitor ; T. J. Portis, general attorney ; D.
S. H. Smith, local treasurer; C. G. Warner, general
auditor ; F. Chandler, general passenger and ticket
agent ; C. B. Kinnan, assistant general passenger
agent; J. L. G. Charlton, assistant general ticket
agent ; S. Frink, general freight agent ; G. W. Cole,
assistant general freight agent ; J. J. Rogers, assist-
ant general freight agent ; J. Hewitt, superintendent
machinery; J. W. King, paymaster; R. B. Lyle,
purchasing agent, all of St. Louis. M. Bullard, su-
perintendent telegraph, Sedalia ; A. G. Easton, car
accountant, Sedalia ; W. P. Andrews, general bag-
gage agent, St. Louis; J. Hansen, general agent, St.
Joseph ; L. H. Nutting, general Eastern agent, New
York.
Missouri Division : Warder Gumming, superin-
tendent, Sedalia ; A. M. Hager, assistant superin-
tendent transportation, St. Louis ; C. L. Dunham,
superintendent, Atchison Section, Western Division,
Kansas City.
Kansas and Texas Division : T. M. Eddy, super-
intendent, Sedalia, Mo. ; T. G. Golden, assistant su-
RAILROADS.
1165
perintendent transportation, Denison, Texas ; C. V.
Lewis, division freight agent, Parsons, Kan.
Central Branch Division. — W. W. Fagan, superin-
tendent, Atchison, Kan. ; M. L. Sargent, assistant
general freight agent, Atchison, Kan.
The practical operation of this vast railway system,
with all its ramifying lines and branches, is confided
to the experienced and skillful hands of the general
manager, Mr. Talmage. Archibald Alexander Tal-
mage was born in Warren County, N. J., April 25,
1834. His father (an Englishman by descent) was
pastor of a Presbyterian congregation, and was as-
sisted in his responsible duties by a noble wife, in
whose veins flowed some of the purest blood of Scot-
land. Born under these favorable auspices, young
Talmage enjoyed every opportunity for acquiring a
sound rudimentary education, and improved his ad-
vantages so well that at the comparatively early age
of fifteen he had passed through the curriculum of the
High School and the academy with more than usual
credit. Desiring to be independent, he then left
home and spent three years in a country store at
Goshen, N. Y., where he became somewhat familiar
with the routine of general business and obtained his
first glimpse of active commercial life. The lessons
learned in this capacity no doubt proved invaluable in
moulding the future character of the man and in
giving him habits of method and organization, which
qualified him in an eminent degree for performing the
duties of freight clerk in the freight department of
the New York and Erie Railway, on which he en-
tered when eighteen years of age, and where he re-
mained one year, displaying during that brief period
a precocious talent and an adaptability for railroad
work which were highly satisfactory to his superiors.
He next spent some months in a wholesale hardware
establishment in New York City, but the business
hardly suited him, and in 1853 he removed to Chicago
and obtained employment with the Michigan South-
ern Railroad as freight clerk. Within sixty days,
however, he was transferred to Monroe, Mich., and
soon after to Toledo, Ohio, where he remained until
August, 1858, during the last two years in the re-
sponsible position of train-master, directing all trains
on the Toledo Division of the road, and having charge
of all employe's at that point.
In his twenty-fifth year he removed to St. Louis
and engaged as passenger conductor on the Terre
Haute and Alton Railroad, displaying the same force
of character, the same energy, and the same ready
tact which characterize his present management, and
his superior abilities in the transportation depart-
ment being generally conceded by all with whom
he was brought in contact. In April, 1864, he was
appointed assistant superintendent of the road be-
tween East St. Louis and Terre Haute, and infused
into the management new energy and method ; but
in consequence of a want of harmony between him-
self and his chief, he resigned in October, 1864, and
accepted a position as master of transportation of the
military roads controlled by the United States gov-
ernment east and south of Chattanooga. Within
thirty days he was appointed superintendent of the
same lines, and remained in absolute charge of them
until at the close of the war the government turned
them over to the civil authorities. He was then
appointed general superintendent of the East Ten-
nessee and Georgia Railroad, and remained busily en-
gaged in its reorganization and reconstruction until
the fall of 1868, when he was invited by Mr. Herki-
mer, general superintendent of the Indianapolis and
St. Louis Railway Company (which had leased the
Terre Haute and Alton Railroad) to resume the assist-
ant superintcndency, which he had resigned in Octo-
ber, 1864. Here he displayed such marked ability
that in October, 1870, he was appointed Mr. Her-
kimer's successor, the late Col. Thomas A. Scott
asserting that " A. A. Talmage was the best rail-
road manager in the West." In this position his
abilities became more widely known and recog-
nized, and hence it was not surprising that in March,
1871, he was requested to transfer his sphere of
operations to the west side of the Mississippi River
and to become general superintendent of what was
then known as the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, run-
ning from Pacific to Vinita. In December of the
same year the general superintendence of the Mis-
souri Pacific was intrusted to him, and for a period
of over eleven years, with the exception of a few
months in 1876, he has remained in active charge of
what may be truly considered the most valuable rail-
road property west of the Mississippi River. In this
position he enjoys the implicit confidence of those
who are recognized as being among the shrewdest
and most far-seeing railway managers in the United
States. His retention in so responsible a position as
that of general transportation manager of the Mis-
souri Pacific Railway and its comprehensive system,
covering about six thousand miles of railway, for
so long a period, is the best possible evidence of his
success. He certainly occupies a foremost place
among those truly great and public-spirited men who
have been instrumental in building up that unrivaled
transportation system west of the Mississippi River.
There can be no question as to the indomitable
energy, versatility, and executive ability of one who,
11GC
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
in the prime of physical and mental strength, has
raised himself to a standard of influence incompara-
bly superior to that which is occupied by any oper-
ating executive officer in the Western States.
In 1868, Mr. Talmage was married to Miss Mary
II. Clark, the accomplished daughter of the Rev.
James Clark, D.D., of Philadelphia, Pa. The Rev.
T. De Witt Talmage, D.D., the brilliant pulpit orator
of Brooklyn, N. Y., is his cousin.
The great Pacific Railroad across the continent was
completed May 10, 1869, and railroad communication
was opened between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts
two days later, May 12, 1869. At a meeting of the
Missouri Historical Society, held on the 4th of June,
1869, the following, on motion of Gen. Ranney, was
adopted for the purpose of being placed on record :
" One of the great Pacific Railroads over the continent from
east to west was finished May 10, 1869.
" One of our merchants, James H. Gibson, made over it the
first importation of tea from China to St. Louis, which was only
thirty-seven days in transit."
The Missouri Pacific or Southwestern system, as it
is called, operated under one management, or rather
one interest, consists of the Missouri Pacific, the Iron
Mountain, the Texas Division of the Missouri Pacific
(formerly the Missouri, Kansas and Texas), the Texas
and Pacific, and the International and Great Northern
Railroads, covering five thousand nine hundred and
forty- four miles of railway directly in the interests of
St. Louis. The region drained by this system covers
the whole country from the Mexican frontier to the
Mississippi, from Omaha to the gulf. New lines are
being built in many parts of the Southwest. One of
the,principal roads in this system now under construc-
tion is the Fort Worth and Denver Road, which is
now finished to a point called Henrietta, one hundred
miles northwest of Fort Worth. It stretches across
the country towards Pueblo, in Colorado, whence the
trains will run into Denver over the Rio Grande Rail-
road for the present. This line will be nearly six
hundred miles in length, and will be pushed rapidly
to completion.
The southern point of this system is Laredo, on
the Rio Grande, reached by the International and
Great Northern Railroad, where connection is made
with the Mexican Railroad (narrow-gauge), now in
course of construction towards the city of Mexico.
The latter is being built from both ends, — Laredo
and the city of Mexico. In time the International
Road will itself have a standard gauge connection
through to the city of Mexico, though the work as pro-
jected is at a standstill on account of certain compli-
cations that have arisen within the past few months
in Texas. The Mexican National Road has many
branches in the republic of Mexico, and before two
years shall have elapsed the system will embrace
something like eighteen hundred miles, giving St.
Louis direct communication with all the principal
cities of that country and the mining regions. St.
Louis will not only have opened to her merchants
and manufacturers a valuable trade, but, owing to her
splendid railway connections, will have advantages
which, if properly taken hold of, will secure the bulk
of the business to be derived from Mexico.
To the westward the Texas and Pacific meets the
Southern Pacific at Sierra Blanca, a point a short dis-
tance east of El Paso, and in connection with the
Iron Mountain these roads form a through route to
San Francisco and points on the Pacific coast. To
the southeastward from Marshall the Texas Pacific is
completed to New Orleans, the extension being
known as the New Orleans Pacific, and thus does
the Southwestern system have its own through line to
New Orleans. Before many months St. Louis will
have direct rail connection with New Orleans on the
west bank of the Mississippi River. This line will
soon be almost a bee-line between the two cities by
the completion of the line of the Iron Mountain Road,
now being pushed as rapidly as possible through East-
ern Arkansas from a point known as Knoble, on the
Iron Mountain Road, in Arkansas, to Alexandria, La.,
on the Texas Pacific, and now finished to Forest City.
This system, while tending to draw trade to St. Louis,
of course brings St. Louis into competition with the
cities of New Orleans and Galveston, and the course
of trade will depend upon the inducements offered by
the different cities for it.
This Southwestern system, as previously indicated,
is a part of the Gould system, which embraces in ad-
dition to the roads named the Wabash, St. Louis and
Pacific Railroad system, both east and west of the river.
This powerful combination is considered as advanta-
geous to St. Louis, and the policy heretofore pursued
has been in the interests of the city. It is under-
stood that the interests of the two are identical in
many respects, and that the true interests of this vast
system will be to make St. Louis its grand centre.
As far as can be known, this has been the policy of
the management up to this time, and St. Louis is
recognized as the headquarters of this vast interest,
all the general offices being located here.
The Missouri Pacific on May 1, 1882, extended its
line northward on the west bank of the Missouri River
from Atchison, Kan., to Omaha, Neb., making direct
connection through Kansas City between Omaha and
RAILROADS.
1167
St. Louis. Various other extensions of its branches
have been and are being made.
The mileage of the Missouri Pacific at this writing
(Jan. 1, 1883) is as follows:
Miles.
Main line, St. Louis via Kansas City, to Omaha 496
St. Joseph Extension 21
Carondelet Branch 11
Lebanon Branch 40
Glencoe Branch 4
Boonville Branch 44
Lexington Branch 55
Lexington and Southern Division 132
Kansas and Arizona Division 135
Kansas City and Eastern Division 32
Warsaw Section 42
Kansas and Texas Division, main line, Hannibal, Mo., to
Denisnn, Texas 575
Neosho Section 157
Mineola Section 103
Fort Worth and Waco Sections 280
Dallas Extension 38
Jefferson Branch 155
Central Branch Division, main line, Atchinson to Lenora,
Kan , 293
Washington Branch 7
Republican Branch , 31
Jewell Branch 43
South Solomon Section.... 24
Total Missouri Pacific proper, with Missouri, Kan-
sas and Texas Division 2718
The Iron Mountain Road is the next most important
factor in this system. The main line runs from St.
Louis to Texarkana, on the border, between Arkansas
and Texas, while from Bismarck a branch leads to
Belmont. on the Mississippi, opposite Columbus, Ky.,
at which point connection is made with the system of
roads east of the Mississippi River.
The Iron Mountain and Helena is forty-three miles
in length, and was but recently acquired. It will be
a most valuable feeder. It extends from Helena to
Forest City.
The Galveston, Henderson and Houston Road, fifty
miles in length, and running between the cities of
Galveston and Houston, was recently purchased by
the Gould system, and henceforth will be operated as
a part of the International and Great Northern Rail-
road.
The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, originally the
Southwest Branch of the Missouri Pacific Railroad,
was endowed December, 1852, by the State, with one
million two hundred thousand acres of land, and with
an appropriation of one million dollars of State bonds.
In the spring of 1853 the president of the Missouri
Pacific, who was then in New York, entered into a
contract with Diven, Stancliff & Co. for the construc-
tion of the whole Southwest Branch. In December,
1855, the Legislature passed an act transferring to the
main line the one million dollars before authorized for
the Southwest Branch. The company was also author-
ized to mortgage a million acres of their lands and those
of the Southwest Branch, and issue their own bonds
thereon to the extent of ten million dollars, to aid them
to construct that branch, the State agreeing to guar-
antee three million dollars of the company's bonds, the
proceeds to be expended on the first one hundred and
fourteen miles of the Southwest Branch, reaching
from Franklin to a point beyond the Gasconade River;
but the company was required to expend fifty thou-
sand dollars, to be derived from other sources, for
every one hundred thousand dollars of bonds to be
guaranteed. This act required the First Division of
the branch to be completed within three years from
its date, under penalty of forfeiture of the road to the
State, with its lands and franchises, by operation of law,
subject only to the mortgage above mentioned. The
law also extended the privileges of actual settlers on
railroad lands, by granting them rights of pre-emption
at two dollars and fifty cents per acre to the extent of
fifteen miles from the road.
From 1854 to 1861 the State contributed two mil-
lion dollars more to its construction. As the condition
of its several contributions to the funds of the South-
west Branch, amounting to five million dollars, the
State of Missouri had stipulated for the forfeiture to
it of the road, its lands, franchises, etc., in case of fail-
ure on the part of the company to pay the interest on
the bonds issued by the State.
Such failure having been made, on Feb. 19, 1866,
the Governor took possession of the road as State
property, and by act of the Legislature its name was
changed to the " Southwest Pacific Railroad," and the
property was offered for sale. It was bought by Gen.
J. C. Fremont at one million three hundred thousand
dollars, payable one-fourth cash, the balance in four
annual installments, and under the obligation to ex-
pend five hundred thousand dollars in its extension
the first year. Fremont and his associates failed to
comply with this agreement. He, however, succeeded
in completing the road to the Gasconade River, at
Arlington, or thirteen miles, but encumbered the
property with debts to a large amount. He took
possession June 14, 1866, and was dispossessed by
the Governor, under the terms of the sale, June 21,
1867.
While Fremont and his associates, one of whom
was Levi Parsons, were in possession of the property,
they procured from Congress the charter of the At-
lantic and Pacific Railroad Company. This charter
contemplated one hundred million dollars of capital,
granted forty sections, or twenty-five thousand six
hundred acres, of land per mile in the Territories, and
twenty sections, or twelve thousand eight hundred
acres, per mile in the State through which its line
1168
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
might pass ; provided for a railroad from Springfield,
Mo. (thus tapping the charter of the Missouri Com-
pany), to the Pacific Ocean, with a branch in the
Indian Territory from Van Buren, Ark., to an inter-
section with the main line on the Canadian River ;
and further provided for the consolidation of the
company to be formed under this charter with any
other (to wit, the Missouri Company) which might
have been chartered over the same route or any part
thereof. This charter was passed July 27, 1866.
Before the proprietors of this great enterprise had
time to realize from the speculation, their power in
the premises was broken to a degree by the loss of
their control over the Missouri portion of the road,
once more the property of the State. Andrew Peirce,
Jr., F. B. Hayes, and their associates, having been
losers as holders of bonds issued under the Fremont
regime, which were apparently rendered worthless by
the forfeiture of the property to the State, associa-
ted themselves together under a new act of the Mis-
souri Legislature, organizing the South Pacific Rail-
road Company, and to this new company the State
made almost a clean donation of all the road already
completed, unsold lands, etc., on certain stringent con-
ditions, to wit :
1st. The company was required to spend $500,000
the first year to complete the road to Lebanon in two
years, to Springfield in three years and six months,
and to the State line by the 10th of June, 1872.
2d. They were to deposit $1,500,000 in cash in the
State treasury, which they were to be allowed to with-
draw only in sums of 8100,000, as the same might be
expended in extending the road.
3d. They were required to give a bond in the sum
of $1,000,000 for the faithful performance of the con-
tract, and for the payment of $300,000 to the State
in three annual installments.
These conditions having been complied with, and
an excess of $200,000 over the sum required having
been deposited with the treasurer, the South Pacific
Company took possession June 30, 1868, and com-
pleted the road to the several points mentioned in
from twelve to eighteen months less time than was re-
quired by their contract with the State.
The " Atlantic and Pacific," chartered, as above
mentioned, July 27, 1866, was duly organized in Oc-
tober, 1866, and Gen. Fremont chosen president on
June 11, 1868. The property having meanwhile been
encumbered by the indorsement of some $3,000,000
bonds issued by the Southwest Pacific, the control of
the company passed into the hands of the same parties
who owned and controlled the South Pacific Railroad
Company, and on Oct. 21, 1870, the said South
Pacific Company sold and conveyed its entire property
to the Atlantic and Pacific. Thus the entire property
and franchises of all these companies became merged
in one under the liberal Federal charter granted to the
Atlantic and Pacific, who thus owned not only what
the stockholders had bought and paid for, but what
has cost the State of Missouri and county of St. Louis
over $6,000,000 in securities to its predecessors.
The St. Louis and San Francisco Railway
Company is the successor of the Southwest Branch
of the Missouri Pacific, which, as we have seen, was
sold in 1868 to purchasers who were incorporated as
the South Pacific Railroad Company. The latter
corporation completed the road to Lebanon, seventy-
one miles, in 1869 ; to Springfield, fifty-six miles,
in May ; and to Peirce City, fifty miles, in October,
1870. At this date the Atlantic and Pacific Rail-
road Company purchased the road and completed it
to Vinita, three hundred and sixty-four miles from
St. Louis, where connection was made with the Mis-
souri, Kansas and Texas Railroad. On the 1st of
July, 1872, the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Com-
pany leased the Pacific and Missouri, to which its
line once belonged, and operated that road until No-
vember, 1875, when the Atlantic and Pacific was
placed in the hands of a receiver. On the 8th of
September, 1876, the road and lands of the company
were sold under foreclosure of mortgages to the St.
Louis and San Francisco Railway Company, and the
corporation was reorganized under the latter name.
Few Western roads have made the rapid progress
that the St. Louis and San Francisco has. Up to the
time of its extension to Springfield, in the southwest-
ern corner of Missouri, its business was comparatively
small. No sooner had the country of the Ozarks
been reached than the road began to rise in impor-
tance, and to-day it is regarded as one of the most
valuable roads of the St. Louis system. Several years
ago the branches to Carthage and other parts of
Southwest Missouri were built ; then the extensions
were carried into Kansas. On June 8, 1881, the
first passenger train that ever steamed its way through
Benton and Washington Counties, Ark., went into Fay-
etteville, and opened up a most fertile portion of that
growing State to St. Louis.
During last year the line was completed to Van
Buren and Fort Smith, beyond the Boston Moun-
tains into the Arkansas valley, where the finest of
cotton is grown, as well as all kinds of grain and
fruit, and coal of the best varieties abounds in inex-
haustible quantities. The right of way has been
secured through the Choctaw nation, and the survey
made for the further extension of the road to Paris,
RAILROADS.
1169
Texas, where it will some day form connections with
the Houston and Texas Central and the Gulf, Color-
ado and Sante Fe Roads, two of the leading lines of
that State, which will reach Paris by the time the
St. Louis and San Francisco is finished to that point.
The completion of the latter will give three com-
peting lines to Texas, all under separate and distinct
managements.
During last year the road was extended to Tulsa, in
the Indian Territory, and is being rapidly pushed on
to Albuquerque to meet the Atlantic and Pacific,
which is jointly owned by the St. Louis and San
Francisco and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe
Railway Companies. West of Albuquerque the road
is in operation to Canon Diablo, three hundred and
twelve miles, and the grading is being rapidly done
from the latter point to the Colorado River. The
Southern Pacific, working eastward, has a large force
grading from Mohave, and expects to have the line
completed to the Colorado River by the time the
Atlantic and Pacific reaches that point.
The mileage of the St. Louis and San Francisco at
this time (Jan. 1, 1883) is in detail as follows :
St. Louis, Mo., to Halstead, Kan 533
Pierce City, Mo., to Tulsa, Indian Territory.. 138
Plymouth, Mo., to Fort Smith, Ark 134
Joplin, Mo., to [Girard, Kan 39
'Springfield. Mo., to Sparta, Mo 27
Oronogo, Mo., to Galena, Kan 20
Total 891
On the 14th of March, 1882, the following persons j
were elected directors of the road : Leland Stanford, j
San Francisco, Cal. ; Edward F. Winslow, Jay Gould,
A. S. Hatch, C. P. Huntington, W. L. Frost, James
D. Fish, and William F. Buckley, New York ; Albert |
W. Nickerson, Boston, Mass. ; Charles W. Rogers, !
R. S. Hayes, St. Louis. The executive officers of the |
company are Edward F. Winslow, president, New j
York ; C. W. Rogers, first vice-president and general j
manager, St. " Louis ; James D. Fish, second vice- !
president, New York ; T. W. Lillie, secretary and
treasurer, New York ; A. Douglas, auditor, St. Louis ;
John O'Day, general attorney, St. Louis; W. A.
Thomas, Springfield, Mo., and J. R. Wentworth,
Neodesha, Kan., division superintendents ; D. Wish-
art, general passenger agent, St. Louis ; T. E. Cassidy,
general freight agent, St. Louis ; W. H. Coffin, land
commissioner, St. Louis; D. H. Nichols, master of \
transportation, Springfield, Mo. ; James Dun, chief i
engineer, Springfield, Mo. The principal office of the
company is located in St. Louis.
The St. Louis, Salem and Little Rock Railway,
which reaches St. Louis by the St. Louis and San
Francisco Railway, extends from Cuba to Salem, Mo.,
a distance of forty-one and five-tenths miles, with a
number of small branches. The company was char-
tered Jan. 17, 1871, and the road was opened Oct. 15,
1873. The president of the company is A. L. Craw-
ford, of New Castle, Pa. ; Vice-President and Pur-
chasing Agent, H. A. Crawford, St. Louis ; Treasurer
and Secretary, William Brewster, Erie, Pa. ; Assistant
Secretary and Treasurer, E. L. Foote, St. Louis.
Of the enterprising band of St. Louis capitalists
who secured the completion of the Missouri Pacific
and its Southwest Branch none was more ardent,
self-sacrificing, or energetic than Daniel Randall
Garrison. Mr. Garrison was born near Garrison's
Landing, Orange Co., N. Y., Nov. 23, 1815. His
/ather, Capt. Oliver Garrison, owned and commanded
the first line of packets that ran between New York
and West Point, early in the present century before
steamboats were known. Capt. Garrison was of old
New England Puritan stock, and his wife was of a
Holland family that settled in New York at an early
day. Her connections embraced such historic names
as the Schuylers, Buskirks, and Coverts.
Young Garrison's youth passed without special
incident until his removal with his father to Buffalo
in 1829, where he obtained employment with Bealls,
Wilkinson & Co., engine-builders, with whom he re-
mained until 1833, when he went to Pittsburgh and
was engaged in one of the largest machine-shops in
that city. In 1835 he removed to St. Louis.
While he was in Buffalo, Daniel Webster visited
the place, and young Garrison was one of three young
men who presented the great " expounder of the
Constitution" with an elegant card-table, as a testi-
monial of their indorsement of his tariff views. The
table was a mosaic, composed of nearly every descrip-
tion of American wood, and was accepted by Mr.
Webster with flattering acknowledgments. The ad-
miration which Mr. Garrison thus early formed for
the great statesman has continued undituinished ever
since.
Upon arriving in St. Louis, Mr. Garrison secured
employment at the head of the drafting department
in the foundry and engine-works of Kingsland, Light-
ner & Co., and although less than twenty-one years
of age, was soon distinguished as one of the ablest
and most trustworthy mechanics in the city. This
engagement continued until 1840, when, in connection
with his brother, Oliver Garrison, he started in busi-
ness as a manufacturer of steam-engines. Manufac-
turing establishments in the West were comparatively
few at that time, and nearly all manufactured articles
were brought from the East ; but coal and iron ex-
isted in abundance in Missouri, and the Garrisons
1170
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
reasoned that St. Louis presented many unsurpassed
advantages as a manufacturing point. Their start
was moderate, but as business prospered the capacity
of their works was increased until nearly every kind
of steam machinery in use was made by them. Their
success had a stimulating effect on other enterprises
of the kind, and gave a great impetus generally to the
manufacturing interests of the city. During these
years Mr. Garrison worked incessantly; all the draft-
ing of the establishment was done by him, and every
piece of work turned out passed under his personal
inspection at every stage of its manufacture.
In 1848 the discovery of gold in California agi-
tated the whole country, and a tidal wave of immi-
gration swept westward. Believing that as the Pacific,
slope was settled a large market would be created for
steamboat and mill machinery, the Garrisons imme-
diately began to manufacture for that region, and
Daniel was sent to California early in 1849, to super-
vise the introduction of their products. He went
via the Isthmus ; and upon his arrival at Panama
found the discoveries of gold fully confirmed, and
wrote to his brother Oliver at St. Louis to send on
three engines immediately. These reached him in
California in the fall of the year (1849), were quickly
sold at a handsome profit, and were the forerunners
of other extensive and profitable shipments of the
kind.
One of the engines were sold to the Hudson's Bay
Company, and Mr. Garrison went to Oregon to de-
liver it. Here was displayed a signal illustration of
his fertility of resource in unforeseen emergencies. On
the voyage the main couplings of the engine had been
lost overboard, and it was necessary that Garrison
should supply them; but since to order them from St.
Louis would, in those days of slow-going sail-vessels
by way of Cape Horn, have involved^ a protracted
delay in the ordinary course of affairs, Garrison under-
took to make the couplings himself. The nearest
known iron ore was on the upper Willamette, a hun-
dred miles or so distant, and the only way to get it
down to him was by means of Indians and mules.
This was done, however, and when the ore arrived
Garrison had a blast furnace ready and made his iron
and poured his casting. This is believed to have been
the first iron manufactured on the Pacific coast. He
al^o built the boat for his engine, — one hundred and
eighty feet keel, twenty feet beam, and six feet hold,
— also no doubt the first steamboat ever constructed
on the waters of the Pacific.
Mr. Garrison returned to St. Louis in 1850, and
soon after the brothers retired from the foundry, each
having made an ample fortune. Daniel II. Garrison
then settled down upon his beautiful farm in West
St. Louis, embracing a large tract in what is now the
fashionable " Stoddard's Addition." This tract was
covered with woods when Mr. Garrison established
himself there, and through its shady recesses he and
his neighbors had often hunted deer and other game.
It is now traversed by handsome avenues, and is
dotted with charming residences.
After a brief period spent in the enjoyments of
country life, Mr. Garrison, at the earnest solicitation
of his friends and many prominent citizens of St.
Louis, undertook the task of completing the Ohio and
Mississippi Railroad, — an enterprise partly finished,
but just then in what seemed a most helpless and
hopeless condition. The directory of the company
embraced such strong men as George K. McGunnegle,
Judge Breeze, of Illinois, Col. Christy, Col. John
O'Fallon, W. H. Belcher, H. D. Bacon, and Mr.
Garrison himself. The others all turned instinctively
to Mr. Garrison as the one man to lift the project out
of the " slough of despond." First stipulating that
he should have absolute power in the premises, he ac-
cepted the trust, and ultimately succeeded in finishing
the work, but not without almost herculean labors in
the face of obstacles that only those intimately ac-
quainted with the circumstances can have any idea of.
To Daniel R. Garrison, therefore, unquestionably be-
longs the honor of having completed the first railroad
that connected St. Louis with the East. The com-
pletion of the road was a marked event in the history
of St. Louis, and the merchants of the city gave Mr.
Garrison a magnificent service of solid silver, as a tes-
timonial of their appreciation of his invaluable labors.
Mr. Garrison continued to manage the Ohio and
Mississippi until 1858, and then left it in fine condi-
tion. Meanwhile he had become interested in the
Missouri Pacific Railroad Company. When the war
broke out this road was finished from St. Louis to
Sedalia, where it stopped, owing to lack of money to
carry it forward. The enterprise was involved in the
greatest embarrassments, and Mr. Garrison was ap-
pealed to to extricate it. He refused the presidency
of the road, but was made vice-president and general
manager, and, armed with full powers, succeeded in
completing the road to Kansas City in the face of ob-
structions that seemed insurmountable. The war was
in active progress at the time, and in Missouri hostile
armies were continually fighting for the possession of
the splendid domain through which the Missouri Pa-
cific was to run. While the road was being built,
therefore, he was placed between two hostile armies,
and more than once he periled his life to push forward
his great undertaking. As he was an uncompromis-
RAILROADS.
1171
ing Union man, he repeatedly received warnings that
his life was in danger, but these threats did not affect I
his composure in the slightest degree ; he kept on, i
and before the war was over cars were running into j
Kansas.
In 1869 it was desired to reduce the gauge of the
road from five and a half feet to the standard gauge,
and in July of that year Mr. Garrison superintended
the execution of the work. So complete were his
arrangements that this great feat was accomplished in
sixteen hours, without the slightest interruption to
travel, over the whole distance from St. Louis to Kan- \
sas City.
Mr. Garrison remained as vice-president and general
manager of the Missouri Pacific Railroad and its con-
nections until 1870, when he retired. In 1874, how-
ever, he was elected vice-president and general man-
ager of both the Missouri Pacific and the Atlantic
and Pacific, and so remained until the sale of those
great properties.
As a railroad man, Mr. Garrison had cultivated an
enlarged view of the future of the Mississippi valley,
and naturally regarding iron as the base of its pros-
perity, he interested himself upon his first retirement
from the management of the Missouri Pacific in the
organization of the Vulcan Iron-Works in South St.
O
Louis, employing nearly one thousand men, and the
first mill of the kind established west of the Missis-
sippi. Very soon thereafter he and his friends built
the Jupiter Iron-Works, one of the largest furnaces
in the world, and still later he brought about a con-
solidation of the two interests under the title of the
Vulcan Iron and Bessemer Steel-Works, which were
owned principally by himself and his brother. For
years he was managing director of these giant estab-
lishments, and conducted them with signal success.
When he finally retired from the position a few months
ago his employes presented him with a finely-engrossed
testimonial expressive of their appreciation of his
kindness as a humane and thoughtful employer, and
of regret that the relations between master and men,
so signally pleasant in every particular, were about to
be sundered.
It would be difficult to name one who has done so
much for the real prosperity of St. Louis and the
West as has Mr. Garrison, and there are not many
who, having accomplished so much, would take so
modest a view of their labors as he does of his ; for
he is one of the plainest and most unassuming gentle-
men of which the city can boast, and yet one of the
most courteous and approachable. He is tall and of ro-
bust frame, is still capable of great physical and mental
endurance, and possesses to a pre-eminent degree a
" sound mind in a sound body/' Upon scarcely any
other man in St. Louis, and perhaps in the whole
West, have rested such great responsibilities as fre-
quently in his later career have devolved upon him.
In every demand made upon him he has shown the
finest executive ability. It has been justly remarked
that Mr. Garrison " has compassed within his own
experience an amount of beneficent enterprise and
well-directed labor that, if parceled out among a
score of common men, would make the life-work of
each very large." All this Mr. Garrison has accom-
plished by sheer native energy and ability, for he is a
self-made man in the most literal sense of the expres-
sion. He came to St. Louis a poor young man, and
is now one of its wealthiest citizens ; but his wealth
is not merely in stocks and bonds ; it consists also in
the valued esteem of his fellow business men and the
citizens of. St. Louis, who gladly honor him for his
unstinted labors in behalf of their city and State.
The biographical edition of lleavis' " St. Louis,
the Future Great City," was dedicated to Mr. Garri-
son in these appropriate words :
"To Daniel Randall Garrison, a citizen grent in the attri-
butes of manhood, one who has woven out from his individu-
ality, his superior brain and restless activity a large contribu-
tion to the city of my theme and to my country, one who in
building up his own fortunes has impressed his character upon
many material interests, nnd who gives promise of siill greater
usefulness in the future, this volume, which illustrates a fade-
less hope nnd a profound conviction in the future of St. Louis,
is respectfully inscribed by the author."
The Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, one
of the earliest railroad enterprises in Missouri, was
chartered on the IGih of February, 1847, and ground
was broken at Hannibal early in November, 1851.
When the Pacific Railroad sought aid from the State
the two enterprises worked together, each aiding the
other, and the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad
procured the State credit for $1,500,000. Again
acting together before Congress, they both procured a
grant of land. The Hannibal line was completed to
St. Joseph in 1859. The Missouri Pacific Railway
Company uses the road between St. Joseph and At-
chison, together with the terminal facilities at both
places. The total length of the line between Hannibal
and St. Joseph is 206.41 miles, and the branches are:
Qttiiicy. — Palmyra, Mo., to Quincy, 111., 13.42 miles.
Knnsns City. — Cameron to Kansas City, Mo., 53.05 miles.
At<-tiisr>n. — St. Joseph to Atchison, Mo., 19.47 miles.
Making the total length of lines owned and operated 292.35
miles.
The Laclede and Crevecoeur Lake Railway
Company was chartered Sept. 26, 1880, and opened
July 1, 1881. The company owns no rolling stock,
1172
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
it being operated by the Missouri Pacific Railroad
Company, whose road it joins at Laclede Junction,
eight miles from St. Louis. Its line extends from
Laclede Junction to Crevecoeur Lake, Mo., and is
twelve miles in length.
The St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern
Railway Company was formed May 6, 1874, by
the consolidation of four other organizations, viz. :
the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railway Company,
the Arkansas Branch of the St. Louis and Iron Moun-
tain Railway Company, the Cairo, Arkansas and Texas
Railroad Company, and the Cairo and Fulton Railroad
Company. The through line was opened in 1874.
The valuable mineral deposits of the Iron Moun-
tain and Pilot Knob early attracted the attention of
the enterprising men of St. Louis, and in 1837 men-
tion is made in the Republican of January 18th of a
" railroad to the mineral region," and of the fact that " Mr.
Stansbury has completed his reconnoissance of the country be-
tween St. Louis and the rich mineral region of Washington
County, with a view to the location of a railroad in that direc-
tion."
The same paper, under date of Feb. 6, 1837, re-
ferred to
" an act to incorporate the St. Louis and Bellevue Mineral
Railroad," with Robert Simpson, Samuel Merry, J. B. Brant,
Thornton Grimsley, G. W. Call, Joseph C. Laveille, John F.
Darby, James Robinson, William R. Ellett, John Perry, Jesse
II. Mcllvaine, James H. Relfe, Israel McGready, or a majority
of them constituting the first board of directors.
The charter of the St. Louis and Iron Mountain
Railroad Company was granted by the State Legisla-
ture and approved March 3, 1851, reviving for the
most part the charter of the " St. Louis and Bellevue
Mineral Railroad Company," approved Jan. 25, 1837,
and amended Feb. 17, 1853. The first survey for a
railroad west of the Mississippi River was made for this
road by W. H. Morrell, it having been ordered in
1839 by the State government on "the nearest and
best route from St. Louis to the Iron Mountain." In
1849 a survey was made by order of the United
States government from St. Louis to the southwest
corner of Arkansas, and in 1852 one for a branch of
the Pacific Railroad to the Iron Mountain was made
by James H. Morley.
By the act of March 3, 1851, the capital stock of
the Iron Mountain Company was fixed at six million
dollars, divided into shares of one hundred dollars
each, and the company was empowered to construct a
road from the city of St. Louis, or from some point on
the line of the Pacific Railroad, to or near the Iron
Mountain, in St. Frangois County, or the Pilot Knob,
in Madison County, and at any time within ten years
from the passage of the act to extend the road to Cape
Girardeau, on the Mississippi River, or to any point
south of Cape Girardeau within the limits of the
State, or to the southwestern part of the State. At
the second session of the Seventeenth General As-
sembly an act was passed entitled " An Act to expedite
the construction of the Iron Mountain Branch of the
Pacific Railroad, approved Dec. 25, 1852."
This act empowered the Pacific Railroad Company
to construct a branch road to the Iron Mountain and
Pilot Knob, with liberty to extend it to the Missis-
sippi River and to the boundary line of the State of
Arkansas, and granted a loan of the State credit, to be
used solely in constructing the Iron Mountain Branch,
to the extent of seven hundred and fifty thousand
dollars. The act further provided for the transfer by
the Pacific Railroad Company to the Iron Mountain
Company of the bonds thus authorized to be issued
on a failure by that company to commence the con-
struction of the branch within twelve months from
the passage of the act, on condition that five hundred
thousand dollars should be subscribed to the capital
stock of the company before any part of the bonds
were issued, and that the road should be located
through Washington County, and not more than five
miles east of the county-seat thereof.
At the same session of the General Assembly an
act was passed amendatory of the act last referred to,
approved Feb. 23, 1853, providing that the adoption
by the board of directors of the Pacific Railroad
Company within the limit of twelve months from the
25th of December, 1852, of a resolution declining to
construct the Iron Mountain Branch Road should
operate as an immediate and full transfer of the loan
of the State credit — granted for the construction of
that branch — to the Iron Mountain Railroad Com-
pany.
At the same session an act was passed entitled " An
Act to amend an act entitled ' An Act to incorporate
the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad Company,
approved March 3, 1851,' " which was approved Feb.
17, 1853, granting general powers and supplying the
deficiencies of the original charter.
The general provisions of an act passed at the
same session, entitled "An Act to authorize the forma-
tion of railroad associations, and to regulate the
same," approved Feb. 24, 1853, applied to the
Iron Mountain Railroad Company, as well as the pro-
visions of Sections 2 and 3 of an act passed at the
first session of the Eighteenth General Assembly,
entitled " An Act for the benefit of the Pacific and
other railroad companies," authorizing the issue of
bonds in installments of greater amount than fifty
thousand dollars on certain conditions, and permitting
RAILROADS.
1173
the sale and hypothecation of bonds at their market
value, though below par.
At the first session of the Eighteenth General
Assembly an act was passed entitled " An Act to aid
in the construction of the St. Louis and Iron Moun-
tain Railroad," approved March 3, 1855. This act
provided for an additional loan of the State credit to
the Iron Mountain Railroad Company to the amount
of seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, upon the
same terms and with the same restrictions as prescribed
by the several acts providing for and regulating the
grant of State credit to the several railroad companies.
The act provided also for the appointment of a Board
of Public Works, charged with the supervision, and
required to examine into the affairs of the company,
the act to be operative only if accepted by the com-
pany within six months after its passage. This act
was accepted as prescribed on the llth of May,
1855.1
The preliminary organization of the company was
effected on the 4th of November, 1852, and on the
4th of January, 1853, the first board of directors was
chosen as follows :
John O'Fallon, James Harrison, William M. Mc-
Pherson, Jules Vall4, Henry Kayser, Francis Keller-
man, Jr., William H. Belcher, Andrew Christy, Solon
Humphreys, Lewis V. Bogy, John Simonds, Frederick
Schulenburg, and John Cavender. Surveys were or-
dered by the board and commenced during the same
month (January, 1853), and were reported on the 29th
of March, 1853. In all the preliminary movements
1 " Pursuant to a call published in the English and German
papers, a meeting was held on the 16th inst. at the Phoenix
Engine-House, for the purpose of raising subscriptions to the
Iron Mountain Railroad.
" On motion, Mr. II. Kayser was chosen president, Messrs.
F. Schulenberg, J. B. Bremel, H. Cobb, and Ch. Gehrke vice-
presidents, and Charles Mehl and Ad. Abeles were appointed
secretaries.
" After some preliminary remarks by the president as to the
object of the meeting, Messrs. McPherson, Reynolds, Alex.
Kavser, and Cobb addressed the meeting in an eloquent manner,
expressing at the same time their preference for a separate,
direct route.
" The following gentlemen have been appointed on the eight
sub-committees for collecting subscriptions to the stock of the
St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad Company :
"1. C. R. Dickson, L. King, J. Brimermann; 2. A. H.
Menkins, J. Kern, J. P. Bremel; 3. J. D. Daggett, E. R.
Mason, A. Stcinkauler; 4. A. Abeles, Thos. Reynolds, I. G. C.
Heidricks ; 5. C. C. Simmons, J. C. Degenhart, L. M. Kennett:
6. G. Gehrke, Wm. Hohenschild, M.Feldman; 7. II. C. Lynch
C. Jung, B. Rice; 8. C. F. Blattau, E. 0. English, C. Mehl.
" The first named on each of the committees will be furnished
with a subscription-book.
" H. KAYSKR, CVn of Com."
—Eepullican, Dec. 18, 1852.
75
the prominent object seems to have been to reach the
mineral region and the Iron Mountain, without any
definite idea of going beyond. The work on the line
was advertised for contract on the 21st of July,
1853.
After some delay, caused, as appears from the
journal of proceedings of the board, by conflicting
opinions as to the proper route to be selected, the line
was finally located for a portion of the distance to
the Pilot Knob, in Madison County, on the 8th of
September, 1853.
On the 7th of November, 1853, an election for
directors of the company was held, at which the fol-
lowing were chosen : William H. Belcher, John
Cavender, John How, Adolph Abeles, Lewis V. Bogy,
L. M. Kennett, M. Brotherton, James Harrison,
William M. McPherson, F. Schulenburg, E. Haren,
M. Miller, and E. R. Mason. The board met
on the following day (November 8th), and elected
Luther M. Kennett president. Mr. Kennett was re-
elected in 1854, and his successors in the presidency
up to the sale of the road in 1866 were Madison
Miller, 1855-58 ; Lewis V. Bogy, 1858-59 ; S. D.
Barlow, 1859-66.
In the fall of 1853 the work of construction was
commenced, under a partial letting to Messrs. Holmes
& Co. on a small portion of the northern end of the
line. On the 28th of February, 1854, a contract for
the construction of the whole road to the Pilot Knob,
except that portion already contracted for, was entered
into with Messrs. Watts & Co. This contract did
not include the furnishing of iron rails. Messrs.
Watts & Co. subsequently bought out the other con-
tracts, with the exception of that for work connected
with the. bridge over the Maramec, and that for the
grading of a small portion of the line between St.
Louis and Carondelet, which was contracted for by the
board, in the spring and summer of 1854, with the
owners of the land through which the line of the road
passed.
On the 15th of June, 1855, a contract was entered
into with a Pennsylvania firm for nine thousand tons
of iron rails of their manufacture, the whole quantity
needed for the completion of the road to the Pilot
Knob.
The first locomotive (made in St. Louis by Wil-
j Ham Palm) was placed on the road in 1856, and the
road was opened for business a distance of eighty-five
! miles, from St. Louis to Pilot Knob, in May, 1858.
i The entire cost of the road, including Potosi Branch,
rolling stock, discounts and interest to Oct. 1, 1860,
was $5,519,948.51. The means of construction were
derived from the following sources :
1174
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
From stock subscribed and paid in $1,970,537.50
" Stute of Missouri bonds 3,50], 000. 00
" net earnings transportation to October,
1859 87,093,68
" floating debt 43,989.13
The company having received from the State of j
Missouri from time to time during the progress of !
construction loans of State bonds amounting in the i
aggregate to $3,50 1,000, for which the State took a
statutory first mortgage, and having failed for several
years, in common with some of the other railroads, to
pay all the interest falling due upon those bonds, the
Legislature on the 19th day of February, 18G6,
passed an act entitled " An Act to provide for the sale
of certain railroads and property by the Governor, to
foreclose the State's lien thereon, and to secure an
early completion of the Southwest Branch Pacific,
the Platte Country, the St. Louis and Iron Mountain,
and the Cairo and Fulton Railroads of Missouri."
Under the provisions of this act the Governor ad-
vertised the road for sale, and on the 27th of Septem-
ber, 18GG, sold it at public auction, and bid it in for
the State for the amount of principal and interest
due the State. Three commissioners, appointed under
the act, took possession of the road and managed it
for the State until Jan. 12, 1867. They were author-
ized by the law to receive proposals and sell the road
" to the highest and best bidders," one fourth cash, and
the balance in five equal annual installments, with six
per cent, interest, payable annually, and the pur-
chasers to enter into contract and give bond in the
sum of $500,000 to complete the road to the Missis-
sippi River, opposite to or below Columbus, Ky., in
five years after the date of sale, and to expend
$500,000 a year " in the work of graduation, masonry,
and superstructure on said extension." The commis-
sioners awarded the road to McKay, Simmons &
Vogel, and the Governor approved the award, and
completed the sale contract by a deed, and these par-
ties, without taking any but momentary possession,
sold and transferred the property to Thomas Allen,
who entered into possession Jan. 12, 1867. He as-
sumed the bond and the obligation to pay the pur-
chase-money, and the contract to complete the road as
required. He at once appointed James H. Morley
chief engineer, and the surveys for the extension
commenced in February, and owing to the rough
character of the country were continued on many dif-
ferent lines, which were fully reported on until July,
when the route from Bismarck to Belmont was se-
lected, finally located, and put under contract.
On the 20th of March, 1866, the Legislature
passed an act to enable the purchasers of the railroad
to incorporate themselves, directing how it might be i
done, and declaring that the corporation thus pro-
vided for should have the same rights as to property
and franchises that the corporation to which they suc-
ceeded through the sale made by the State formerly
had.
Accordingly Mr. Allen and his associates incorpor-
ated themselves on the 29th of July, 1867, in the
manner directed by the law, into the St. Louis and
Iron Mountain Railroad Company, adopting the same
name as the original corporation, and acquiring the
same right of property and franchises as had belonged
to that corporation.
On the 17th of March, 1868, the Legislature
passed an act entitled " An Act to confirm the title of
the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad to Thomas
Allen, his heirs and assigns, and to deliver possession
thereof to the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad
Company, organized as a corporation on the 29th day
of July, 1867."
In the month of April, 1867, a suit was com-
menced by the attorney-general of the State (Win-
gate) against the State commissioners and purchasers
of the road, to set aside the sale, as made by the
commissioners and Governor, seeking at the same
time to enjoin the company from going on with the
road. In this latter he was overruled by the court,
but his suit, prosecuted in the form it was, proved a
serious detriment, embarrassing all attempts to get
the public interested, and causing heavy discounts on
loans. This burden, in view of the short time re-
maining (six months) within the first year, for the
proper expenditure of $500,000, as required by law,
gave the company great anxiety. It succeeded, how-
ever, through strenuous efforts, with the aid of efficient
contractors, in getting forty miles of the lower divi-
sion graded, and by the time the first year had elapsed,
viz., from Jan. 11, 1867, to Jan. 1, 1868, the ex-
penditures had amounted to 8583,611.73, in addition
to the sum of $225,700 paid into the State treasury
on the purchase. This was done, and the statement
sworn to, certified by the Governor, and filed with the
Secretary of State, in spite of the impediments put
in the way by the attorney-general. The Legislature
upon petition were about to pass a resolution order-
ing the suit dismissed as to the road, but to insist on
its prosecution as to the Governor's commissioners
and the original purchasers, when the Governor, on
the night of the 15th of January, 1868, seized the
road. His reason, as afterwards published, was that
the company had not made the expenditure, nor the
annual statement, as required by law. The Legisla-
ture, however, subsequently ordered him to restore
the road and all its earnings and property forthwith,
RAILROADS.
1175
and at the same time confirmed the title forever by
the act of March 17th, above mentioned, and in six
days thereafter granted the balance due the State as
a subsidy to aid the company in building the Arkan-
sas Branch.
The Governor and his agents operated the road
from Jan. 15 to March 18, 1868 (sixty days),
when it was restored to its lawful owners. The suit
of the attorney-general was dismissed, as to the road
and the company, on the 16th of April ensuing, and
the net proceeds of the Governor's two months' oper-
ations ($3806 80) were turned over to the company
about the 1st of the ensuing May. A claim for
damages done by these acts of State officers was laid
before the Legislature January, 1869, amounting to
•$1,316,724. The road from St. Louis to Belmont
(opposite to Columbus, Ky.) was completed in 1869.
On the 7th of April, 1870, the board of directors
resolved " that the St. Louis and Iron Mountain
Railroad Company desire to avail themselves of the
provisions of an act entitled ' An Act to aid the build-
ing of branch railroads in the State of Missouri,' ap-
proved March 21, 1868, for the purpose of building
a branch of their road from Pilot Knob southerly to
the State line of Arkansas, under the name of the
' Arkansas Branch of the St. Louis and Iron Moun-
tain Railroad." " The act authorized a separate cor-
poration to be governed by the parent road, the
accounts to be kept separate, the stockholders having
the same right to vote for the directors as those of the
original company. It was therefore agreed that the
•capital stock of this branch should be $2,500,000,
and that bonds should be issued to the extent of
$2,500,000, payable in twenty-five years, with interest
at seven per cent., payable semi-annually in gold, and
secured by a special mortgage of the Branch Railroad,
its property and appurtenances. The State having by
law appropriated the unpaid portion of the purchase-
money and interest accruing after the date of the
act for the Iron Mountain and Cairo and Fulton
Railroads ($674,300), at the rate of $15,000 per
mile for every mile completed within a certain time,
it became necessary to complete the first twenty miles
on or before the 23d of March, 1871, and work was
commenced in the fall of 1870, and the first thirty
miles completed Feb. 23, 1871. The work was
prosecuted during the remainder of that year, and
Nov. 4, 1872, the whole line (ninety-nine miles in
length) was completed to the boundary of Arkansas.
It was duly accepted by the State, and the debt can-
celed. Trains commenced running regularly over
the line April 2, 1873.
As previously stated, the road was consolidated
with other roads in May, 1874, and a through line
secured to Texarkana, Texas.
The gauge of the road was changed in June, 1879,
from five feet to four feet eight and one-half inches,
to accommodate its running machinery to the roads
east of the Mississippi, with which it connects at St.
Louis by means of the great bridge.
The connections of this great railroad are, —
At Carondelet, five miles south of St. Louis, with
the Missouri Pacific and with the East St. Louis and
Carondelet Railways, by which it is enabled to handle
with great economy the provision and produce busi-
ness from Kansas City for Southern markets.
At Mineral Point, six miles from St. Louis, with a
branch to Potosi.
At Bismarck, seventy-six miles from St. Louis, the
line divides ; the one to Belmont intersects at Charles-
ton, one hundred and seventy-eight miles from St.
Louis, the Cairo, Arkansas and Texas Railroad ; here
a ferry connects with the Mobile and Ohio Railroad
for Mobile and intermediate points in Mississippi and
Alabama, also with New Orleans. The St. Louis,
Iron Mountain and Southern system connects at
Union City with the Nashville, Chattanooga and St.
Louis Railway for Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga,
Atlanta, Augusta, Charleston, Columbia, Port Royal,
Savannah, Macon, Selma, Montgomery, Decatur,
Jacksonville, and points in Florida. The other line
of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Rail-
road from Bismarck continues in the direction of Ar-
kansas and Texas, passing the great iron deposits at
Iron Mountain and Pilot Knob, the valley of Arcadia,
the grades of the Ozark Mountains, and the Black
River to Poplar Bluff, one hundred and sixty-six
miles from St. Louis. At that point the branch from
Cairo connects with the Arkansas division, crossing
the Missouri boundary at Moark, so called from Mo.
and ARK.
At Little Rock, three hundred and forty-five miles
from St. Louis, connection is made with the Memphis
and Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroads.
At Malvern, three hundred and eighty-eight miles
from St. Louis, connection is made for the Hot Springs
by the Hot Springs Narrow-Gauge Railroad.
At Texarkana, four hundred and ninety miles from
St. Louis, the southern terminus of the St. Louis,
Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad, connection is
made with the Texas and Pacific Railway, and by it
with New Mexico and California, and with the Inter-
national and Great Northern Railroad, by which
Hearne, Houston, Galveston, San Antonio, Columbia,
and Palestine trade with St. Louis. When Mexico is
opened to American enterprise, the St. Louis, Iron
1176
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Mountain and Southern Railway will, as heretofore
indicated, be one of the chief lines of intercommuni-
cation with that great and undeveloped country, and
St. Louis the entrepot for its trade with the United
States.
The Cairo, Arkansas and Texas Railroad Company
was an independent organization, which derived its
powers from a special act of the Missouri Legislature,
approved May 16, 1872, authorizing the construction
of a road from Greenfield, opposite Cairo, to Poplar
Bluff. This road, seventy-one miles in length, was
completed in September, 1873, intersecting the Bel-
rnont line of the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Road
at Charleston, in Missouri County, and the Arkansas
Branch at Poplar Bluff. Having a grant of gov-
ernment lands amounting to sixty-five thousand acres,
it became a desirable adjunct of and is now controlled
by the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Rail-
road Company.
The Cairo and Fulton Railroad was incorporated in
1853, and received a grant of land from Congress of
3840 acres per mile. In 1866 its privileges were ex-
tended for ten years and its grant enlarged to 6400
acres per mile. At that time the charter was controlled
by Eastern capitalists, but being a direct link in the
line from St. Louis to Texas, the St. Louis and
Iron Mountain Railroad and its Arkansas Branch, the
Cairo, Arkansas and Texas Railroad, entered into ar-
rangements by which the Cairo and Fulton Railroad
was consolidated with the St. Louis and Iron Moun-
tain Railroad.
The total mileage of the Iron Mountain road is as
follows :
Miles.
St. Louis to Texarkana 490
Bismarck to Columbus 121
Iron Mountain and Helena 43
Potosi Branch 4
Cairo to Poplar Bluff 74
Doniphan Branch (as far as completed) 7
Cowley Ridge Branch 140
Camden Branch 34
Total 913
The earnings of the road for the year ending
Dec. 31, 1881, amounted ($10,691.20 per mile) to
$7,686,973.38; expenditures ($6859.34 per mile)
to $4,931,863.70. The total assets were set down at
$56,334,799.54 ; capital stock, $22,084,115 ; funded
debt, $31,792,929.71.
During the year 1881 the greater part of the stock
of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Rail-
road Company was purchased by the Missouri Pacific
Railroad Company, the object of the purchase being
the consolidation of the two corporations, and on the
14th of March, 1882, the following directors were
elected : Henry G. Marquand, Jay Gould, Russell
Sage, Thomas T. Eckert, Sidney Dillon, Joseph S.
Lowery, Samuel Shethar, John T. Terry, and George
B. McClellan, of New York ; Henry Whelan, of
Philadelphia ; Frederick L. Ames, of Boston ; Rufus
J. Lackland and R. C. Kerens, of St. Louis. The
executive officers of the company are Jay Gould,
president, New York ; R. S. Hayes, first vice-presi-
dent, St. Louis ; Thomas T. Eckert, second vice-
president, New York ; S. D. Barlow, secretary, St.
Louis ; A. H. Calef, treasurer, New York ; C. G.
Warner, general auditor, St. Louis ; H. M. Hoxie,
general manager, St. Louis ; E. L. Dudley, superin-
tendent, St. Louis ; 0. A. Haynes, master-mechanic,
Carondelet, Mo. ; .Seth Frink, general freight agent,
St. Louis ; F. Chandler, general passenger agent,
St. Louis ; Thomas Essex, land commissioner, St.
Louis ; J. H. Morley, chief engineer, St. Louis ; R.
B. Lyle, purchasing agent, St. Louis ; A. E. Bu-
chanan, superintendent of bridges, Little Rock, Ark.
The principal office of the company is located at Bt.
Louis.
The Texas and Pacific Railway Company was
organized under an act of Congress, March 3, 1871r
and the general railroad laws of Texas. It acquired
the properties of the Southern Pacific, the Southern
Transcontinental, and the Memphis, El Paso and
Pacific Railroad Companies. The Southern Pacific
was a consolidation of the Vicksburg, Shreveport and
Texas and the Southern Pacific. The portion of the
line in Louisiana, about twenty miles, was built by
the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Texas, and the section
from the east line of Texas to Longview, Texas, about
forty miles, by the Southern Pacific Company. The
rest of the line in Texas was built by the* Texas and
Pacific Company. The road extends from New Or-
leans, La., westward through Louisiana and Texas,
and by junction with the Southern Pacific Railroad
of California to the Pacific coast. Its length June
1, 1882, was:
Miles,
From New Orleans to Sierra Blanca, Texas 1080
Other Divisions f. 312
Statement of mileage as operated by divisions, June 1, 1882 :
Miles.
New Orleans Division, New Orleans to Shreveport, La 335
Southern Division, Shreveport, La., to Sierra Blanca,
Texas 74&
Jefferson Division, Marshall to Texarkana Junction 69
Transcontinental Division, Texarkaua via Sherman to
Fort Worth 243
Total length of road 1392
During 1881 seven hundred miles of road were com-
pleted and equipped, and on the 1st of January, 1882,
a junction was formed with the Southern Pacific
Railroad of California, at a point five hundred and
RAILROADS.
1177
twenty-three miles west of Fort Worth, and on the
15th of the same month the road was opened for traf-
fic to El Paso, and a through line established from
St. Louis to San Francisco via the Iron Mountain
Road. On the 21st of June, 1881, the Texas and
Pacific was consolidated with the New Orleans Pacific
Railway, extending from Shreveport to New Orleans, a
distance of about three hundred and thirty-five miles.
The total earnings of the Texas and Pacific Rail-
way for the year ending May 31, 1881, amounted to
($6208.62 per mile) $3,201,777.08; expenditures
($4929.78 per mile), 02,608,021.32 ; total assets,
344,609,589.03 ; capital stock, $14,814,700 ; bonded
debt, $27,460,000.
By a general law of Texas the road, in common
with others in the State, is entitled to a land grant of
sixteen sections (10,240 acres) to the mile. The land
earned upon the mileage constructed up to May 31,
1881, was 10,225,462 acres.
The officers of the company are : Directors, Frank
S. Bond, Philadelphia, Pa. ; John C. Brown, Pulaski,
Tenn. ; Jay Gould, Russell Sage, E. H. Perkins, Jr.,
T. T. Eckert, A. L. Hopkins, New York ; James P.
Scott, Charles 0- Baird, Philadelphia, Pa. ; E. B.
Wheelock, New Orleans, La. ; B. K. Jamison, Phila-
delphia, Pa. ; W. T. Walters, Baltimore, Md. ; W. C.
Hall, Louisville, Ky. ; William M. Harrison, Jeffer-
son, Texas ; R. S. Hayes, St. Louis, Mo. President,
Jay Gould, New York ; Vice-Presidents, R. S. Hayes
and John C. Brown, St. Louis ; General Manager, H.
M. Hoxie, St. Louis.
The active and directing mind of the Texas and
Pacific Railway since its inception has been Hon.
John C. Brown. Governor Brown was born Jan. 6,
1827, in Giles County, Tenn., and was the son of a
farmer in moderate circumstances. His parents were
of Scotch blood, and he was the youngest of nine
children. He received his earliest training in the old
field school-house of that day, and then received the
best education which the times afforded at Jackson
College, at Columbia, Tenn. He finished his course
in 1846, and then engaged in teaching while pre-
paring for the bar, to which he was admitted in Octo-
ber, 1848. He opened an office in Pulaski, where
his diligence, integrity, and ability secured him a large
and lucrative practice, to which he mainly devoted
himself until the civil war. His devotion to his pro-
fession did not interrupt his private studies of general I
literature ; and having the means and the leisure, he
supplemented his studies with a journey abroad in
1858-59, visiting the country of his forefathers and
then making the tour of the Continent, Egypt, and
the Holy Land.
Up to 1860 Mr. Brown had strictly devoted him-
self to his profession. He never sought office, and
although a zealous and pronounced Whig avoided pol-
itics as a pursuit. In 1860, however, he was chosen
an elector on the Bell and Everett or Constitutional
Union ticket. As a consequence of Mr. Lincoln's
election the Southern States determined to secede
from the Union. The State of Tennessee was in a
condition of intense political excitement, during which
Mr. Brown took the stump and made a vigorous and
fearless canvass in favor of the Union and in opposition
to secession. But when Tennessee separated herself
from the Union and began organizing her troops for
the Confederacy, as a " son of the South" John C.
Brown did not hesitate, but joined the Confederate
army as a private, was elected captain of his company,
became colonel of the Third Tennessee Volunteers,
and as senior colonel commanded a brigade and par-
ticipated in the defense of Fort Donelson. When
the fort surrendered he became a prisoner of war.
After his exchange in August, 1862, he was promoted
to be brigadier-general, and was assigned to duty with
Gen. Braxton Bragg. In the campaign in Kentucky
he participated in the battle of Perryville and other
actions. After the battles of Chickamauga and
Missionary Ridge, and the actions incident to Gen.
Joseph E. Johnston's retreat (in all of which he par-
ticipated), he was promoted to be major-general. He
finished his active military career at Franklin, Tenn..
where he was so severely wounded as to be unable to
rejoin his command until a short time before the
surrender of Johnston's army at Greensboro', N. C.,
where he was assigned to the command of one of
Johnston's best divisions. In his relations with the
army he was a strict disciplinarian, and always at the
post of duty. No trespassing on private property was
tolerated, and marauding was severely and promptly
punished. He was several times severely wounded.
In 1864 he was married to Miss Childers, an
accomplished lady of Murfreesboro', Tenn., and a
niece of Mrs. James K. Polk, widow of the ex-
President. Mrs. Brown has contributed a woman's
share in promoting her husband's fortunes, and has
borne him an interesting family of four children.
At the close of the war Governor Brown returned
to the practice of his profession at Pulaski, and con-
tinued in full practice till 1869, when he was elected
delegate to the convention which, in January, 1870,
met and framed the present Constitution of Tennessee,
and was chosen, without solicitation, president of that
body. In 1870 he was unanimously nominated by the
Democrats of Tennessee for Governor. The issues in
this canvass were of a character that seriously affected
1178
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
the honor and prosperity of Tennessee. The war had
greatly wasted the resources of the State. An enor- j
mous public debt had accumulated, and default had
been made in payment of interest. The public credit
was low and the resources for current expenses almost
exhausted. Governor Brown took the statesmanlike
ground that the public debt could be and must be
paid. He was elected by forty thousand majority to
the office of Governor, an office to which his eldest
brother, Neill S. Brown (now living in Nashville),
had been chosen in 1847 over Aaron V. Brown, one
of the most popular Democrats of his day. The in-
fluence of Neill S. Brown, who was a central figure
in State and national politics, was sensibly felt in the
Presidential campaign which resulted in the election
of Gen. Taylor, and Mr. Brown was subsequently
tendered the post of minister to Russia, which he
accepted.
In 1872, Governor John C. Brown was unani-
mously renominated, and re-elected, and during his ad-
ministration (1871-75) the bonded debt of the State
was reduced from about forty-three million dollars to a
little more than twenty million dollars, a large floating
debt was paid, and the State re-established its credit
by resuming the payment of its current interest after
funding its past-due obligations at par. He retired
from office after having won the general approval of j
the people of the State.
In November, 1876, a new career opened to him
with the offer of the vice-presidency of the Texas and
Pacific Railway. This great highway from the At-
lantic seaboard, through Texas and Mexico, to Califor-
nia, a route unexposed to snows and frosts, had
been projected before the war. Such a system of
railways, connecting the Mississippi River with the
Pacific slope, was intended to attract the trade of
California and the trans-Cordilleras to the great
waterways of the United States, and at the same
time open the too-long neglected commerce of the
republic of Mexico to our enterprising merchants.
This Texas route, south of the isothermal line of
snow blockades, had been projected, a small portion i
of it built, and valuable franchises secured before the
war. An immense grant of land from the State of
Texas, which owned her own public domain, had been
secured, and favorable treaties with Mexico for the
right of way were in progress of negotiation, when
the secession of the Southern States stopped the
work. When the war had ended the Southern
States found their Mississippi River commerce de- !
stroyed and their great transcontinental railway still :
a paper scheme, while the North and West had made
rapid progress in the building of the Northern and '
Central Pacific Railroads towards the Pacific slope.
Governor Brown accepted the office of vice-president
of the Texas Pacific, with the enlightened views of
the statesman and publicist. He saw clearly if the
South was not to have her ante-bellum river traffic
there was in the projected railway through Texas and
Mexico, with its liberal franchises yet preserved and
its land subsidies, a ready means of reaching the trade
of California and the sister republic, and he entered
heartily into the project. As vice-president of the
company, he issued an appeal to the people of the
South, elaborating his views in relation to the enter-
prise in a statesmanlike, sagacious, and practical
pamphlet which deserves a leading place in the rail-
way literature of a period that was prolific of great
enterprises. He also delivered numerous addresses,
in which he appealed to the Southern States to lay
aside all questions of sectional political strife, and
urged them to address all their efforts to the im-
provement of their country, the fostering of educa-
tion, and the creation of wealth-producing facilities.
For three consecutive years he remained at Washing-
ton, appearing before congressional committees and
pressing upon them the claims of his great work.
His labors were onerous and difficult, but owing to
the opposition of rival interests they were not fully
successful. Nevertheless, he performed them to the emi-
nent satisfaction of Col. Thomas A. Scott and the capi-
talists who were interested in the enterprise, and who,
pending the appeal to Congress, had gone on with the
work. Ultimately Governor Brown was authorized
by Col. Scott to proceed to New York and effect
negotiations which had been invited by Jay Gould
and other capitalists. These negotiations were
satisfactorily accomplished in January, 1880. Gov-
ernor Brown was then continued in his confidential
position, and in September, 1881, he accepted the
position of general solicitor for the consolidated sys-
tem, which includes the Missouri Pacific system, with
the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway connections,
the Iron Mountain, Texas and Pacific, New Orleans
and Pacific, and International and Great Northern,
and continued in charge and superintendence of
the construction of the Texas Pacific from Fort
Worth to El Paso, with headquarters in St. Louis,
until the line was completed in the winter of 1881—
82.
Governor Brown's identification with the interests
of St. Louis was heartily welcomed, for his knowledge
of the law, and his abilities as a speaker, trained in
the sharp school of exciting debate and in the calmer
methods of inquiry, his experience in the command
of men and in the management of the most important
RAILROADS.
1179
affairs, his careful examination and knowledge of the
carrying trade and its auxiliary interests, had emi-
nently combined to fit him for leadership in the gi-
gantic schemes that are radiating from this centre
into the undeveloped regions of the great Southwest.
Each year of his present high responsibilities but
adds to the reputation for talent and usefulness which
he incontestably enjoys in the judgment of those best
qualified to determine.
The Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad. —
On the 20th of September, 1865, the " Union Pacific
Railway Company" (Southern Branch) was incorpo-
rated for the construction of a railroad, to be one hun-
dred and eighty miles in length, from Junction City
to Chetopa. When the road was completed to Ein-
poria, it passed into the hands of the Missouri, Kansas
and Texas Railway Company, which was organized
April 7, 1870, and which at the same time absorbed
the Neosho Valley and Holden, the Labette and Seda-
lia, and the Tebo and Neosho Railroad Companies.
The lines from Sedalia to Parsons and from Holden
to Paola were then constructed, and being the first to
reach the Indian Territory, the company became en-
titled to construct its road through the Territory. The
progress made was so rapid that in January, 1873,
the Red River at Denison was crossed and the Texas
railroad system united with. Failing in the effort to
obtain the control of the Missouri Pacific in 1872, by
•which arrangement St. Louis would have become the
eastern terminus, the managers effected (April 29,
1872) the purchase of the St. Louis and Santa Fe
Railroad, extending from Holden, Mo., to Paola, Kan.,
and (in 1874) of the Hannibal and Central Missouri
Railroad, by which connection between Hannibal and
Moberly was obtained. In 1873 trains were running
from Hannibal to Denison. The road was leased to
the Missouri Pacific Railway Company, Dec. 1, 1880,
the rental paid being the.net earnings of the road.
The International and Great Northern Rail-
road was organized Sept. 22, 1873, by the consolida-
tion of the International Railroad Company, chartered
Aug. 17, 1870, and the Houston and Great Northern
Railroad Company, chartered Oct. 22, 1870. In 1881
the company's road and property were purchased by
the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway Company.
Ohio and Mississippi Railroad. — The Ohio and
Mississippi, Marietta and Cincinnati, and Baltimore
and Ohio Railroads form a great highway of com-
merce and travel between the Mississippi River and
the Atlantic seaboard, and between St. Louis and
Baltimore. Practically under one management, they
illustrate the genius and ability of one man and the
enterprise of two great cities. To John W. Garrett,
of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, is due the honor
of having linked St. Louis and Baltimore together by
this great railroad line, thus making each city the
complement of the other in all that relates to trade
and commerce.
The Ohio and Mississippi Railroad was incorporated
by the State of Indiana, Feb. 14, 1848, its charter
authorizing the construction of a railroad from Cin-
cinnati via Vincennes to St. Louis, and providing that
the directors be taken from the citizens of Cincinnati,
Vincennes, and St. Louis, and one or more from each
county along the line of the proposed work. The
directors named in the charter from St. Louis were
Bryan Mullanphy, Ferdinand Kennett, Robert Camp-
bell, George K. McGunnegle, and William Carr Lane.
The St. Louis directors met at the Planters' House,
St. Louis, on the 24th of March, 1848, Mr. Camp-
bell in the chair, and Mr. Mullanphy acting as secre-
tary.
On motion of Col. Ferdinand Kennett, it was
" Resolved, That the citizens of St. Louis have heard with
pleasure of the public- spirited efforts in the State of Indiana
preparatory to the construction of the Ohio and Mississippi
Railroad, in which they most heartily concur, and trust that at
an early day a charter from the State of Illinois will enable
St. Louis to connect itself with that great contemplated under-
taking ; that in the mean time they feel assured that the citizens
of St. Louis will cheerfully aid in all preliminary steps, and
subscribe liberally for the establishment of a communication so
important to the whole West.
" Resolved, That we will respond to any allotment of labor
that may be imposed upon us towards promptly effecting the
foregoing objects."
On motion of George K. McGunnegle, it was
"Resolved, That we will, if it shall be judged proper by the
directory, attend to the opening of subscription books in St.
Louis, and to the obtaining subscriptions to stock in said rail-
road, and in conjunction with the public-spirited citizens of our
sister State of Illinois, attend to all details necessary or proper
to the procuring such charter, privileges, and powers as may be
necessary to the extension of said railroad to the State of Mis-
souri."
OQ motion of Dr. William Carr Lane, it was
"Resolved, That the period of construction of the Ohio and
Mississippi Railroad has now arrived, in the opinion of the most
cautious and practical business men in the community, and
that it cannot fail, so soon as completed, to realize and exceed
the most sanguine anticipations of its enterprising projectors."
On the 29th of March, 1848, a meeting of the di-
rectors of the company was held at Vincennes, at
which Abner T. Ellis was elected president, John
Ross treasurer, and Benjamin M. Monroe secretary.
At the same meeting it was resolved that a thorough
survey of the route from Cincinnati to St. Louis, to be
made by a competent engineer, was necessary, and that
a sufficient sum should be collected for this purpose.
1180
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
The directors in St. Louis, Vincennes, and Cincinnati
were appointed a committee for their several towns
and counties to receive subscriptions for this purpose.
On the 15th of March, 1849, the road was char-
tered by the Legislature of Ohio, and on the 28th of
the same month an " Ohio and Mississippi Railroad
mass-meeting" assembled in the rotunda of the court-
house in St. Louis to consider a proposition to loan
the city's credit for five hundred thousand dollars to
the proposed road. The mayor, Hon. J. M. Krum,
was called to the chair, and J. M. Field appointed sec-
retary. James J. Purdy, William M. McPherson,
Archibald Gamble, D. D. Page, and William M.
Campbell were appointed vice-presidents. The chair-
man explained the objects of the meeting, and an-
nounced his intention to sustain the proposition and to
vote for the loan. After an address by Professor 0.
M. Mitchell the following gentlemen were appointed a
committee to prepare an address to the people of St.
Louis in favor of the railroad loan: Thomas Allen,
Frederick Kretchmar, John McNeil, Willis L. Wil-
liams, Samuel M. Bay, Isaac N. Sturgeon, Samuel
Hawken, Trusten Polk, Daniel D. Page, L. V. Bogy,
A. L. Mills.
The committee reported an address, after the read-
ing of which Judge Mullanphy addressed the meeting.
The question was then put upon the adoption of the
address, and it was carried unanimously.
L. V. Bogy offered the following resolution, which
was unanimously adopted : " That the chairman appoint
ten delegates to represent the city of St. Louis in the
proposed convention to be held in the town of Salem,
in the State of Illinois, on the second Monday in May
next, the appointments to be made hereafter, and the
names of the delegates to be published in the city
papers." On his further motion, it was
" Resolved, That the chairman appoint a committee i
of vigilance, to consist of ten in each ward friendly j
to the proposition, to attend the polls on Monday next i
and secure the favorable consideration of the subject."
The election referred to in the last resolution was
for the purpose of deciding whether the city should
lend its credit to the extent of five hundred thousand
dollars for the construction of the road. A large
majority was returned in favor of the proposition.
The vigilance committee appointed in accordance with
Mr. Bogy's resolution was composed of:
" First Ward, Thomas Allen, R. J. Collins, S. Pilkington,
Sol Smith, Renick, C. Campbell, Edward Haren, J. McHose,
H. D. Bacon, D. B. Hill.
"Second Ward, Isaac A. Hedges, Charles Kribben, Ellis
Wainright, Fred Kretschmar, Thornton Grimsley, Patrick
Walsh, Hiram Shaw, Edward Tracy, J. C. Barlow, J. C. Maigne.
" Third Ward, C. G. Henry, John Largee, Charles Keemle,
L. V. Bogy, A. L. Mills, T. B. Targee, J. H. Lucas, H. E. Bridge,
J. F. Darby, Joseph H. Conn.
"Fourth Ward, Austin Piggott, L. M. Kennett, William
Robb, J. L. Finney, Charles M. Valle, T. Barnum, Arnadee
VallS, T. W. Hoyt, J. A. Eddy, J. H. Lightner.
" Fifth Ward, Samuel Hawken, Charles Dean, William Black-
more, Conrad Doll, John Sigerson, Trusten Polk, Samuel Gaty,
T. F. Risk. Dennis Marks, Conrad Fox.
"Sixth Ward, W. H. Belcher, Thomas Gray, W. G.Clark, E.
Dobbins, J. L. Garrison, J. R. Hammond, R. B. Austin, Charles
M. Pond, J. M. Wimer, L. Perkins.
" The heavy majority," said a St. Louis paper in announcing
the result, "cast in favor of the subscription by the city to
stock in this road must be gratifying to every friend of the
measure. It is now manifest that the citizens of St. Louis are
in earnest in their desire to see this work commenced and
speedily completed. They have manifested their appreciation
of the object and their confidence in its success by the unan-
imity with which they have agreed to invest their money in the
enterprise.
" This vote may be hailed as a new era in the history of St.
Louis. It is the first instance in which she has put forth her
efforts to the accomplishment of a great enterprise, and she has
come up to the full amount desired with a promptness and a
heartiness which evince that she understands her interest in the
proposed work. It is due to the success of this enterprise to
state that the vote on this question was not controlled, to any
considerable extent, by party feeling. A few men may have
been actuated to oppose it by the belief that opposition would be
popular, but the great body of the voters were governed purely
by their own sense of the expediency or inexpediency of the
measure, and the probable effect of the construction of the road
on business and the prosperity of the city. A few of the more
wealthy citizens and large property-holders opposed it, but they
were limited in number compared with those of the same class
who advocated the proposition. Efforts were made to rally the
holders of leased ground and the owners of small estates into
opposition to it, on the ground that it would bring about an in-
crease of taxes, but this failed to be successful except with a few
persons. The only ward which gave a majority against it was
the First. The Third Ward gave an overwhelming vote in favor
of it.
" Now that a million and a half of dollars have been secured
by the two cities of Cincinnati and St. Louis, and about eight
hundred thousand dollars by the counties of Indiana, the work
will doubtless be taken hold of promptly and pushed forward
with proper energy. There is no longer a doubt that the road
will be built. The only question is, how soon ? This will, to a
certain extent, depend on the early action of the Legislature of
Illinois."
On the 12th of February, 1851, the Ohio and
Mississippi Railroad Company of Illinois was incor-
porated by the Illinois Legislature to build a railroad
from Illinoistown (now East St. Louis) to connect
with the Ohio and Mississippi of Indiana. The in-
corporators named in the Illinois charter were Jos. G.
Bowman, Sidney Breese, James Hall, Alfred Kitchell,
Arthur McCauley, George W. Page, Benjamin Bond,
J. L. D. Morrison, A. T. Ellis, John Ross, Luther
M. Kennett, John O'Fallon, James H. Lucas, Andrew
Christy, Daniel D. Page, John Law, Peter Chouteau,
Jr., Benjamin F. Rittenhouse, Samuel B. Chandler,
RAILROADS.
1181
John A. McClernand, John S. Martin, Aaron Shaw,
William W. Roman, and Green C. Crawford.
In the latter part of March, 1851, the directors of
the St. Louis and Vincennes Railroad (the Western
Division of the Ohio and Mississippi) met at St.
Louis for the purpose of organization. The following
gentlemen were 'present : John A. McClernand, Shaw-
neetown ; James L. D. Morrison, Samuel B. Chan-
dler, Belleville ; Alfred Kitchell, Richland County, 111. ;
Aaron Shar, Lawrence County, 111. ; Abner T. Ellis,
Vincennes, Indiana ; John O'Fallon, Daniel D. Page,
Luther M. Kennett, and Andrew Christy, St. Louis.
The meeting was organized by calling Mr. Christy
to the chair and the appointment of Mr. Morrison as i
secretary. An adjournment then took place until I
March 24th, when the board again assembled at the
Merchants' Exchange, the same members being
present. Col. John O'Fallon, of St. Louis, was then
elected president of the company, and " it being
deemed important for the dispatch of business to have
an additional director in St. Louis, Mr. Bowman, of
Lawrence County, one of the earliest and most promi-
nent friends of the enterprise, tendered his resigna-
tion. It was accepted, and Charles P. Chouteau ap-
pointed to fill the place. Col. Robert Campbell was
also elected to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation
of Mr. Page."
On the 26th of March the directors requested the
directors of the Eastern Division to instruct their
chief engineer, E. Gest, to prosecute his surveys from
Vincennes to Illinoistown, and report to them his esti-
mate of the probable cost of the road. Mr. Gest re-
ported to the board on the 1st of September follow-
ing. In the latter part of September the board was
advised that the directors of the Eastern Division had
adopted the plan of constructing that division by let-
ting it to an association of individuals to construct
the whole line. The directors of the Western Di-
vision concurring in the views of the board of the j
Eastern Division as to the advantages to be gained by :
letting the whole line to one set of contractors, adopted
the same plan, and a committee was appointed with
full powers and authority to negotiate, which concluded
a contract in conjunction with a similar committee
appointed by the directors of the Eastern Division.
Under this authority a contract was negotiated, and
concluded on the 22d of November, 1851, with Messrs.
H. C. Seymour & Co., of New York, by which they
agreed to construct and equip the road from Cincin-
nati to St. Louis for nine million dollars, the rela-
tive proportions of the cost to be paid by each com-
pany, to be determined by the amount of work done
and equipment furnished on each division.
At a meeting of the directors of the Ohio and
Mississippi Railroad Company held on the 7th of
September, 1851, Col. John O'Fallon was unani-
mously re-elected president; George K. McGunnegle,
secretary ; and Sidney Breese, of Illinois, counselor
of the company.
At a meeting of the directors held Feb. 2, 1852,
it was
" Resolved, That a public demonstration of the commence-
ment of the work on the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad be had
at Illinoistown on Saturday, the 7th instant, at eleven o'clock
A.M., that the secretary request the insertion of a proper notice
thereof in all the daily journals in this city, and that in the
same an invitation be extended to the Governors of the States
of Illinois and Missouri, to the people of these States generally,
and to the citizens of St. Louis and Belleville and their public
functionaries, and that the president appoint a committee of
five to make arrangements for said celebration, and that at the
same hour the work be commenced on said road at its intersec-
tion with the Central Railroad in Marion County, 111.
"Resolved, That the secretary of this board communicate
with the City Council of the city of St. Louis and request them
to take action in aid of said celebration, in such manner as to
the Council may seem most proper, in co-operation with the
committee appointed by the board.''
The resolutions were submitted to the City Council
by the secretary of the company, and the invitation
accepted by both boards.
The following committees were appointed by the
Council to confer with the committee of the railroad
company : from the Board of Aldermen, Messrs. An-
derson, Sturgeon, Degenhart, and Lynch ; from the
Board of Delegates, Messrs. Farrar, Pilkington, Trask,
and McKee.1
On Feb. 7, 1852, the ceremony of breaking ground
took place according to the announcement.
" About ten or eleven o'clock," says a contemporary
account, " a large number of the citizens congregated
1 " On Saturday next at eleven o'clock the construction of this
road will be simultaneously commenced in Illinoistown and at
its intersection with the Central Railroad in Marion County.
The intervention of the telegraph enables the directors to have
the work commenced at each point, although far distant, at
almost the very same moment of time.
" At the commencement of the construction in Illinoistown
there will be present Judge Ellis, the president and father of
the enterprise; Professor Mitchell, who has taken from the first
a most lively interest in the work ; Mr. Seymour, the contractor
for the construction of the entire distance; and the board of
directors, at least such of them as are in the city. The public
functionaries of Belleville, Collinsville, Alton, and St. Louis
will be present." — Republican, Feb. 5, 1852.
Technically, the work had already been commenced. By the
contract of Seymour & Co. it was stipulated that the construction
of the road should be commenced on or before the 1st day of
February, 1851, and "on Saturday last," said the Republican
of February 2d, " Mr. Morris, the engineer for the contractors,
commenced the construction by breaking ground in Illinois-
town. This was necessary on the part of the contractors to save
the contract."
1182
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
on the ferry-boat, and proceeded across the river to
take part, in and witness the interesting spectacle.
The spot selected for the purpose was within a few
rods of the Mississippi, and there, with a plank or
two for the wheelbarrows, and an old cart for a ros-
trum, the immense work of connecting Cincinnati and
St. Louis by railroad was commenced.
" Charles D. Drake announced in a short but witty
and pithy speech the programme of the ceremonies.
By the arrangement Col. O'Fallon, as president of
the road, opened the business of the day. Having
addressed the citizens present on the magnitude of the
undertaking and the great results which must follow
from its completion, he proceeded to the working part
of his duties, and in a few moments had quite a load
of sand and gravel for the mayor of the city to wheel
off. Col. O'Fallon is one of the oldest inhabitants.
He has almost grown up with the city, and the past
and present in his memory represent two views of
the metropolis, one a French village on the borders of
civilization, the other a magnificent emporium, the
centre of commercial attraction, the nursery of refine-
ment and science for an immense area of country,
extending north to the Lake of the Woods and west
to the Pacific slope. His words on the occasion were
few but terse. Like the old Roman general, who was
' no orator,' he seemed to say, ' What others promise
I will do.' Although silvered with the frost of many
years, he looks forward to the completion of the work
within ' his day.'
" Judge Ellis next took the stand. He briefly re-
viewed the difficulties encountered thus far in the
work, spoke confidently of its completion, and dwelt
for a time on the great importance of the road. He
assisted Col. O'Fallon in 'breaking ground,' as an
earnest that on his section of the line the great under-
taking was commenced, to be prosecuted with unabated
energy to a full and triumphant completion.
" Mayor Kennett then addressed the assembly, and
in some happy remarks, in which he alluded to the
progressive links of connection with Illinois, from
sand to stone dikes, and now by iron bands, he hoped
the tie would ultimately become strong and indisso-
luble, wedded by reciprocal interests which nothing
should be able to dissever.
" The officers of the Pacific Railroad Company
were invited to take part in the ceremonies of the
day, and they were accordingly present. The presi-
dent, Mr. Allen, expressed his warmest wishes for the
success of the enterprise, as one intimately connected
with the prosperity of the work over which he pre-
sided." Addresses were also delivered by Professor
Mitchell and Mr. Seymour, the contractor.
At an election for directors of the company, held
Sept. 7, 1852, the following were chosen :
John O'Fallon, Henry D. Bacon, William H. Belcher, Joshua
H. Alexander, Joshua B. Brant, Samuel Gaty, Isaac. H. Stur-
geon, Abner T. Ellis, Sidney Breese, J. L. D. Morrison, Charles
P. Chouteau, Samuel H. Clubb, Alfred Kitchell.
The first section of the road was opened with ap-
propriate ceremonies on April 8, 1854.
" At the hour appointed," says a writer in a St. Louis news-
paper of April 9th, "we, in company with nine hundred and
ninety-nine others, presented ourselves at the office of the com-
pany on Fourth Street, and there found some twenty or more
omnibuses drawn up in array to receive their freight; from
thence a few minutes' ride brought us to the Mill Creek station,
where the invited disembarked from the horse conveyances and
jumped into the railway cars. Precisely at noon the first train
started, and In fifteen minutes was followed by the second.
" The line is of the six-foot or broad gauge, and is built be-
tween the banks of the Ohio and the Whitewater Canal, the
scenery on both sides being most variedly picturesque. On the
train moving the band struck up a lively air, the people
thronged the windows, road, and bridges, and amid the vivas
of the multitude, the cheers of the passengers, and the firing
of cannon the iron horse commenced its trip. All along the
line the same gay scene was presented until the cars reached
Sedamsville, where the train paused in its progress a few
minutes. The band again played, and Mr. Sedam, from the
bridge, fired several feu dejoies from a small piece of artillery,
making the welkin ring again. A short ride from Sedamsville
brought us to Industry, a flourishing little town of some fifteen
hundred inhabitants. Once again the iron horse moves on
through the valley, between the hills of Indiana and Kentucky,
till it reaches the bank of the Great Miami, at the junction of
the Lawrenceburg and Indianapolis Railroad.
" Here we were met and welcomed by a train from Aurora
(our destination), filled with the gallant sons of Indiana. With
this accession of numbers the cars crossed the Miami bridge, a
plain but substantial and ingeniously built structure of wood.
A few hundred yards over this a halt was made at Lawrence-
burg. Leaving Lawrenceburg and its inhabitants behind, Far-
mer's and Miller's Creeks are passed (both spanned by wooden
trestle bridges), and the train approached Aurora, which lies at
the foot of surrounding hills, with the Ohio on one side and
Hogan's Creek on the other. Here some time was passed in
examining the machine- and locomotive-shops, which are built
of stone, and in size commensurate with the prospective busi-
ness of the road. The train started homeward at 4.30 P.M.,
stopped on the road at Lawrenceburg, at Gen. Harrison's seat,
where the band played ' Auld Lang Syne,' at Sedamsville, where
the cannon was again fired, and finally arrived at the Mill Creek
station at six P. M., the passengers having had a most pleasant
trip, attended with unmixed pleasure."
The " last spike" on the road was driven Aug. 15,
1857.1
1 " We have official information that the grandest internal im-
provement work of the West will be completed to-day at noon,
by the driving of the last spike necessary to close up the gap in
the Eastern Division of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad. A
company of gentlemen left here last evening to meet one from
Cincinnati at the point of completion, near Mitchell, Ind.,
where, with appropriate extemporaneous observances, the happy
event will be duly inaugurated." — Republican, Aug. 15, 1857.
RAILROADS.
1183
Two years after the " last spike" was driven, Aug.
2, 1859, the following notice appeared in the Repiibli- ;
can of that date :
" To St. Louis Merchant*. — The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Company is receipting for goods through from all Eastern cities
from St. Louis, all rail via the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad,
without the necessity of insurance against the perils of river
navigation, and in as short time as by any other route."
The well-laid plans and bright anticipations with
which the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad began its
career did not avail to save it from the influence and
effects of the panic of 1857, and both companies of
that name succumbed before the blows of a financial
disaster that destroyed almost all commercial values
and prostrated enterprises of every kind. In order to
save the property, the " Ohio and Mississippi Rail-
road Company of Illinois" was organized in 1861, and
under the authority of its charter purchased the whole
road from East St. Louis to Vincennes. Similar action
was taken by the Indiana Company, and in 1869 the
two companies were consolidated. In 1871 steps were
taken to reduce the gauge from six feet to four feet j
eight inches, in conformity with that of the Marietta
and Cincinnati and Baltimore and Ohio Roads, over
and by which its " through" business with Baltimore
must be transacted. This feat, then considered very
remarkable, but now not so much so, was completed
in seven hours on the 23d of July, 1871. It was
during the administration of J. L. Griswold as gen-
eral superintendent that the change of gauge was
effected.
Before this time the gauge of the Ohio and Mis-
sissippi had conformed to that of the Erie Road of New
York, with which it connected via the Atlantic and
Great Western, across the State of Ohio. Hence
freights reaching Cincinnati from St. Louis and far-
ther West via the Ohio and Mississippi road, and des-
tined for the Atlantic seaboard, must have gone for-
ward to New York by the Erie connection or been
reshipped at Cincinnati, subject to the additional ex-
pense of that operation. To obviate this great ob-
struction to the trade of Baltimore as well as of St. j
Louis, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, by a large j
subscription to the new loan of the Ohio and Missis-
sippi, obtained an influence and power in the man-
agement of that company which effected first the
change of gauge, and subsequently a practical consoli- i
dation of the Ohio and Mississippi, the Marietta and
Cincinnati, and the Baltimore and Ohio in one great
central line.
The Louisville Branch of the Ohio and Mississippi,
from North Vernon to Jeffersonville, Ind., was built
under an act of March 3, 1865, and opened in 1869.
Surveys for the Springfield Division, extending
from Beardstown, on the Illinois River, to Shawnee-
town, on the Ohio, were commenced in 1865. The
organization that completed that part of the road was
the Springfield and Illinois Southeastern Railroad
Company. The road was opened from Springfield to
Pana in 1869, from Shawneetown to Flora in 1870,
from Springfield to Beardstown in 1871, and from
Pana to Flora in 1872. The panic of 1873, and
the years of business depression that followed, caused,
in 1874, a sale under foreclosure proceedings, at
which, on the 1st of January, 1875, the property
was purchased by the Ohio and Mississippi Railway
Company for $1,700,000 in bonds secured by mort-
gage on that division.
On the 17th of November, 1876, the Ohio and Mis-
sissippi Railway was placed in the hands of a receiver.
The Ohio and Mississippi Railway is a direct line
between St. Louis and Cincinnati, and the main stem
is three hundred and forty-one miles in length. It
has intersections at Sandoval, Olney, Vincennes, and
other points along the road. At North Vernon, two-
hundred and sixty-eight miles from St. Louis, the
Louisville Branch leaves the main line, making fifty-
five miles to Louisville. At Flora, 111., the Spring-
field Division crosses the main line, connecting
Shawneetown and Beardstown, two hundred and
twenty-eight miles, and joining at the north with the
St. Louis and Rock Island Division of the Chicago,
Burlington and Quincy Railroad.
The mileage of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad
on Dec. 31, 1882, was as follows:
Miles.
St. Louis to Cincinnati 341
Louisville to North Vernon 55
Shawneetown to Beardstown 228
Total 624
The earnings for the year ending Dec. 31, 1881r
amounted to $4,074,407.81 ; operating expenses,
83,115,355.19 ; net earnings, $959,052.62. The
share capital of the company is $24,030,000, of
which $20,000,000 is common and $4,030,000 pre-
ferred. The total funded debt is $12,872,000.
After the road was placed in the hands of a receiver,
it was proposed to reorganize the company as fol-
lows : To create a series of five per cent, fifty year
bonds secured by mortgage on road, equipment, and
personal property of the company to the amount of
$16,000,000, of which $12,784,000 will be exchanged
for old bonds as they mature as follows : Income and
funded debt bonds, due Oct. 1, 1882, $174,000; first
consolidated mortgage bonds, due Jan. 1, 1898, $6,-
772,000 ; second consolidated mortgage bonds, due
1184
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
April 1, 1911, $3,829,000 ; Springfield Division
bonds, due Nov. 1, 1905, $2,009,000. The residue
($3,216,000) to be used for the following purposes :
To pay past-due coupons on the first mortgage, $48,-
825 ; on second mortgage, $536,060 ; on Springfield
Division, $351,575; to pay contributions first mort-
gage sinking fund, $177,000 ; second ditto, $165,845 ;
to pay second mortgage, Western Division bonds,
$97,000; debenture bonds, $140,000; special loans
(for which Springfield Division bonds have been hy-
pothecated), $250,000 ; remainder of floating debt,
$150,000 ; contingent liabilities, $300,000 ; addi-
tional equipment and terminal facilities, $999,695.
The $3,216,000 issue is to be further secured by a
pledge of $991,000, Springfield Division bonds,
•which will be canceled on the retirement of the
present first mortgage bonds of the company. The
$12,784,000 to be held for the sole purpose of re-
tiring the old bonds as they mature. The above
proposition of the committee on reorganization, which
was under date of Jan. 20, 1882, was accepted by the
stockholders of the company on the 7th of April,
1882. The officers of the company are: Directors,
W. T. McClintick, Chillicothe, Ohio; Charles A.
Beecher, John Waddle, Cincinnati ; R. L. Cutting,
Jr., Henry M. Day, New York ; Robert Gdrrett,
Osmun Latrobe, James Sloan, Jr., T. H. Garrett,
Baltimore, Md. ; F. W. Tracy, Springfield, 111. ; F.
Janssen, Louisville, Ky. ; H. Pearson, London, Eng.
President, W. F. McClintick, Cincinnati ; Receiver,
J. M. Douglas, Cincinnati ; Superintendent, W. W.
Peabody, Cincinnati ; Secretary, W. M. Walton,
New York ; Treasurer, Charles S. Cone, Cincinnati ;
€hief Engineer, N. A. Gurney, Cincinnati ; Master
of Car Repairs, J. P. Coulter, Cochran, Ind. ; General
Passenger Agent, W. B. Shattuck, Cincinnati ; Gen-
eral Freight Agent, William Duncan, St. Louis;
Purchasing Agent, G. E. Atwood, Cincinnati ; Road
Master, H. D. Hanover, Aurora, Ind. ; Superin-
tendent of Bridges, H. M. Hall, Olney, 111.
The Ohio and Mississippi Railroad Company has
contributed immensely to the development of East
St. Louis. " The Ohio and Mississippi Railroad at
East St. Louis," said a St. Louis newspaper of April
16, 1864,
41 has congregated a population large enough to constitute
•quite a populous village of most industrious inhabitants. The
company owns there forty-two acres of ground about a mile
from the river. On that tract, with great labor and expense,
they have constructed an elevated plateau of more than four
acres of ground, about twelve feet above the average level of
the surrounding bottom land, and about six feet above the
high-water mark of 1858. On these four acres are the exten-
sive machine-shops of the company, which, with necessary
yard-room, occupy nearly the whole of that large space.
Within these shops over two hundred and seventy men are
employed, — machinists, carpenters, blacksmiths, painter?!, gla-
ziers, upholsterers, copper- and tin-workers, and common
laborers. In the various departments the workmen are of
the best class, skillful machinists, carpenters, and painters,
who all command the highest wages, and would be in demand
in any city where skilled labor is required."
The Marietta and Cincinnati and the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroads, continuing the great central
St. Louis and Baltimore line to the Atlantic Ocean,
fill a place in the railway system of which St. Louis
is the commercial and business centre, which requires
some description and explanation. The Belpre and
Cincinnati Railroad Company was chartered in 1848
to construct a line of railway from the Ohio River
opposite Parkersburg, W. Va., up the Hocking valley
to the Little Miami Railroad, and by an amendment
to the charter in 1851, was authorized to construct
to Cincinnati and to consolidate with the Franklin
and Ohio River Railroad, under the corporate title
of the " Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad Company."
For seven years the work of construction was pros-
ecuted slowly ; and the company having become em-
barrassed, was placed in the hands of a receiver in
1857, in which year (April 20th) it was opened, the
Little Miami Railroad being used from Loveland to
Cincinnati. From this receivership the company
emerged in 1860, barnacled with " first preferred,"
" second preferred," and " common stock." Other
legal obstructions as to the character of its franchises
kept the company " in chancery" until relieved by
legislative action in 1863. The Union Branch Rail-
road from Scott's Landing to Belpre was soon after
purchased, and also the road from Hillsboro' to
Loveland from the Hillsboro' and Cincinnati Railroad
Company. In December, 1863, the Marietta and
Cincinnati Railroad Company purchased that part
of the Scioto and Hocking Valley Railroad between
Portsmouth and the track of the Cincinnati and
Muskingum Valley Railroad, now known as its
" Portsmouth Branch."
The extension from Loveland to the Cincinnati,
Hamilton and Dayton Railroad was completed Feb.
17, 1866, and the Cincinnati and Baltimore Railway,
which continues the line into Cincinnati, was opened
June 1, 1872. The Baltimore Short-Line Railway
was opened Nov. 15, 1874. The Marietta and Cin-
cinnati Railroad Company guaranteed the stock and
bonds of these companies.
Owing to the non-completion of the Northwest-
ern Virginia Railroad, now known as the Parkers-
burg Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio, from
Grafton to Parkersburg, it was not until 1857
RAILROADS.
1185
that through business with Baltimore could be
effected. The material aid extended by the Balti-
more and Ohio kept the company afloat until June
27, 1877, when, having made default in the interest
on its fourth mortgage bonds, its property was placed
in the hands of a receiver. After remaining under
the control of receiver John King, Jr., for several
years, J. H. Stewart was appointed receiver, and in
1880 a committee on reorganization was named by
the bondholders, as follows : Augustus Kountze, E.
R. Bacon, George Arents, and J. B. Dumont, of
New York ; T. Edward Hambleton, Skipwith Wil-
mer, and H. Irvine Keyser, of Baltimore. This
committee adopted plans looking to the reorganization
of the road, which was finally sold for $4,375,000 to
the purchasing committee of security-holders, com-
posed of Messrs. E. R. Bacon, of New York, T. [
Edward Hambleton, and Robert Garrett. The Bal-
timore and Ohio interest, in the absence of Robert
Garrett, was represented by John K. Cowen. The
price was about two-thirds of the appraised value of
the property, the lowest amount at which it could be !
sold under the order of the court. As the transac- i
tion was entirely formal and in accordance with the
plan of reorganization, which was assented to by
ninety-eight per cent, of the security-holders, the
price is not a criterion of the value of the road.
Under the reorganization, the leased short line at
each end becomes part of the new line, one hundred
and ninety-five miles long, from Cincinnati to Parkers-
burg, with branches, etc., that make the total length
two hundred and fifty-five miles. The purchasers
paid $100,000 cash and the remainder in the securi-
ties of the corporation. After the ratification of the
sale new securities were issued. Their classification
is as follows : First mortgage bonds, four and a half |
per cent, guaranteed, $7,185,000, subject to reduc- i
tion ; second mortgage, five per cent., $3,040,000 ; ,
third mortgage, three per cent, for ten years and four [
per cent, thereafter, $2,270,000 ; fourth mortgage, j
first income, five per cent., $3,410,000 ; fifth mort-
gage, second income, five per cent., $4,000,000, to-
gether with preferred and common stock to be issued
upon the completion of' the reorganization. Some
claims in litigation remained to be settled by the
courts. The old first and second mortgages were
seven per cents., and the thirds and fourths were eight
per cents.
After confirmation of the sale by the court a new
company was incorporated, which was styled the Cin-
cinnati and Baltimore Railroad Company. It forms
the connecting link between Parkersburg and Cincin-
nati, in the St. Louis line of the Baltimore and Ohio,
and is fully under the control of the Baltimore and
Ohio corporation. J. H. Stewart, formerly receiver
of the Marietta and Cincinnati, is general manager
of the reorganized road.
The length of the Marietta and Cincinnati Rail-
road proper, from Cincinnati and Baltimore Junc-
tion, Ohio, to Main Line Junction, Ohio, in 1882,
was 156.80 miles.
Branches :
Scott's Landing, Main Line Junction to
Scott's Landing 31.20
Belpre, Marietta to Belpre 11.10
Hamden, Portsmouth to Hamden 55.40
Hillsboro', Blanchester to Hillsboro' 21.40
Total branches 119.10
Leased lines :
Cincinnati and Baltimore Railway, Cin-
cinnati to junction Marietta and Cincin-
nati Railroad 5.80
Baltimore Short Line Railway, Main Line
Junction to Belpre 30.30
Total leased lines.
Total length of lines operated.
36.10
312.00
The directors of the company, elected Feb. 15,
1882, were Robert Garrett, W. T. Burns, Theodore
Cook, W. W. Peabody, Baltimore, Md. ; George
Hoadley, H. C. Smith, R. M. Bishop, W. W. Scar-
borough, James D. Lehmer, W. B. Loomis, John
Waddle, Cincinnati, Ohio; William T. McClintick,
William Waddle, Chillicothe, Ohio. General super-
intendent, W. W. Peabody, Cincinnati, Ohio ; ticket
agent at Sfe Louis, J. D. Phillips.
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company. — The
history of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company
is too voluminous for more than brief and cursory
treatment in this work. As early as 1827 the mer-
chants of the Atlantic cities were looking to that
vast and fertile region of the great West between the
Alleghenies and the Mississippi River, for the bulk
of the productions that were to constitute the com-
merce and subsistence of the country. The Erie
Canal of New York and the public works of Pennsyl-
vania promised to New York City and Philadelphia a
future interest in that great valley, from which Balti-
more would be practically cut off for want of some-
thing better than the " National road." The Ches-
apeake and Ohio Canal, confronted by the elevations
of the Alleghenies, could promise but little, and that
little would go to Georgetown on the Potomac, hinder-
ing rather than promoting the commerce of Baltimore.
Steam railroads at that day were unknown, none
having been built either in England or elsewhere for
the transportation of passengers and produce. Iron
tramways for coal and other heavy productions were
in use only to a very limited extent. It was a bold
thought which induced Philip E. Thomas, then presi-
1186
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
dent of the Mechanics' Bank of Baltimore and com-
missioner of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, to re-
sign the latter position and undertake to enlist his
fellow-citizens of Maryland in the work of construct-
ing a railroad from the Chesapeake Bay to the Ohio
River. Nevertheless, Mr. Thomas entered upon the
work with a zeal born only of conviction, and suc-
ceeded in obtaining the co-operation of George Brown,
another prominent and influential capitalist of Balti-
more.
At a public meeting held in Baltimore, Feb. 12,
1827, these two gentlemen expressed the conviction
that rail transportation must supersede that of water,
and induced the appointment of a committee to col-
lect facts and carefully consider the novel proposition.
That committee was quick to observe and note the
facts that the trend of the Atlantic coast shortened
the line from the East to the West, placing
Southern cities nearer to the great valley than North-
ern cities, and that Baltimore was two hundred miles
nearer to the navigable waters of the Mississippi
valley than New York, and one hundred miles nearer
than Philadelphia. The committee also strongly sus-
tained in its report the idea that railroads .would
supersede canals in transportation, and earnestly rec-
ommended the construction of a railroad from Balti-
more to the Ohio River. John V. L. McMahon
prepared the charter of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail-
road Company, the charter for the first railroad in
the United States, which, from its very great clear-
ness, became the model for many subsequent charters.
At the session of the General Assembly of Mary-
land in 1828, the sum of five hundred thousand dol-
lars was voted to aid in the construction of the work.
The surveys of 1827 and those of 1828 made appa-
rent the feasibility of the route to the Ohio River
along the valley of the Potomac, and on July 4, 1828,
the venerable Charles Carroll of Carrollton " broke
ground," and on the 1st of October, 1828, the work
was fairly commenced " all along the line" from Bal-
timore to Ellicott's Mills. Congress was petitioned
at the session of 1828-29 to aid in this important
work, but notwithstanding a favorable consideration
by many members, the influence of the Chesapeake
and Ohio Canal Company was potent enough to pre-
vent any favorable action. The first division of the
road to Ellicott's Mills was opened for traffic in 1830,
and the " brigade of cars," * as trains were then called,
hauled by horses or mules, left " the depot on Pratt
Street at six and ten o'clock A.M., and at three and
four o'clock P.M., and will leave the depot at Ellicott's
1 Baltimore American, July, 1830.
Mills at six and eight and a half o'clock A.M., and at
twelve and a half and six o'clock P.M." It was in
1830 that George Stephenson's locomotive, " The
Rocket," made fifteen miles per hour on the Liver-
pool and Manchester Railroad. But the England of
1830 was very much farther from America than that
country is to-day. Ideas traveled then by sail- vessels,
and not by electricity, and it was to " put fire on their
backs" that the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Com-
pany offered to the mechanical genius of America
rewards of five and four thousand dollars respectively
for locomotives which, upon trial, should prove to be
the first and second best in complying with the speci-
fications. " The York," an engine built at York, Pa.,
by Davjs & Gartner, attained upon trial a speed of fif-
teen miles an hour, and practically demonstrated the
feasibility of steam as a traction agency. The charter of
the " Washington Branch" was obtained in 1832, as
well as authority to extend the tracks of the company
to the harbor of Baltimore from Mount Clare shops
and depot. The road was opened from Baltimore to
Point of Rocks in 1832, but further prosecution of
the work to Harper's Ferry was temporarily arrested
by injunction sued out by the Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal Company. The delay continued for about a
year, and the road was not opened to Harper's Ferry
until 1834. The charter of the Washington Branch
O
had been saddled with objectionable provisions, which
were not removed until 1833, after which so ener-
getically was the work of construction pushed that in
July, 1835, the branch was opened to Bladensburg,
and to Washington City in August of the same year.
The controversy with the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
Company impeded and obstructed the work of the
railroad company west of Harper's Ferry until the
Legislature of 1835-36 removed all obstructions to
the extension westward of the company's lines. The
State of Maryland and the city of Baltimore each
about this time subscribed three million dollars to the
capital stock of the company.
The Harper's Ferry viaduct over the Potomac
River was completed in December, 1836, opening a
connection with the valley of Virginia by the Potomac
and Winchester Railroad. From Harper's Ferry to
the Ohio River the work of construction was not
pushed forward steadily. Preliminary surveys were
completed in 1838, but the period of time fixed in
the charter of the company by the State of Virginia
for the occupancy of that part of the State to be en-
tered upon by the company having expired, an ex-
tension of five years for completion to the Ohio River
was granted by the State, coupled with the condition
that Wheeling should be one of the termini, and a
RAILROADS.
1187
subscription of $1,058,420 to the capital stock of the
company was made by the State of Virginia. In 1842
the road was opened to Hancock and Cumberland,
and in 1853 to Wheeling, a total distance of three
hundred and seventy-nine miles. The formal opening
took place on the 12th of January, 1853. The suc-
cessive periods of progress by this great road in reach-
ing its destination on the Ohio are worthy of being
preserved. They are :
Miles.
May 24, 1830, to Ellicott's Mills, by horse-power 14
Aug. 30, 1830, " " steam " 14
Dec. 31, 1831, to Frederick 61
April 1, 1832, to Point of Rocks 69
Dec. 31, 1834, to Harper's Ferry 84
July 20, 1834, to Bladensburg (Washington Branch) 32
Aug. 25, 1834, to Washington " " 40
June 1, 1842, to Hancock 123
Nov. 5, 1842, to Cumberland 178
July 21, 1851, to Piedmont 206
July 22, 1852, to Fairmont 302
Jan. 12, 1853, to Wheeling 379
The Northwestern Virginia Railroad was leased by
the Baltimore and Ohio in 1857, for a period of five
years, renewable, and became the Parkersburg Branch,
extending from Grafton on the main line to Parkers-
burg, on the Ohio River.
The civil war was a period of repeated raids and
injuries to the road, but the work of reconstruction
was promptly entered upon immediately after the ter-
mination of actual hostilities in 1865, and at the same
time the policy of the president, John W. Garrett,
looking to more intimate and thorough connections
with the railway system west of the Ohio River, took
active shape. In pursuance of this general plan the
Central Railroad of Ohio, between Bellaire and Co-
lumbus, was leased in 1866 by the Baltimore and Ohio,
and an unbroken line opened between Baltimore and
the capital of Ohio, where connection was made with
Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and other points in the West-
ern States.
The Winchester and Potomac Railroad, leased in
1867, opened the great valley of Virginia to this
railroad, and the line was further extended up that
valley by the lease in 1870 of the Winchester and
Strasburg Railroad and the Manassas Division, in the
valley, of the present Virginia Midland Railroad
Company.
In 1869 the Sandusky, Mansfield and Newark Rail-
road having passed under the control of the Baltimore
and Ohio, opened the lakes to the Lake Erie Divis-
ion of the road. The great iron bridge at Parkers-
burg was opened in 1871, and in the same year the
Hempfield Railroad, from Wheeling to Washington,
Pa., was purchased, and has since been operated as the
Wheeling, Pittsburgh and Baltimore Branch. The
Pittsburgh and Connellsville Road, which was leased
from Jan. 1, 1876, offered another outlet, and brought
Baltimore and Pittsburgh into a direct interchange of
trade and business. The Metropolitan Branch, from
Washington to the main line, was commenced in 1870,
and completed May 28, 1873. The Newark, Somer-
set and Straitsville Railroad Company passed into the
control of the Baltimore and Ohio in 1872, and in the
same year the charters from the States of Ohio, Indi-
ana, and Illinois for the Baltimore, Pittsburgh and
Chicago Railroad Company were granted, and the
road was completed from Centreton to Chicago in
1874, thus providing a through line between Balti-
more and Chicago.
The different lines of the Baltimore and Ohio
system in 1882 were:
Miles.
Main Stem, from Baltimore to Wheeling 379
Parkersburg Division, from Grafion to Parkersburg 104
Washington Branch, Relay to Washington 31
Metropolitan Branch, Washington to Junction 43
Alexandria Branch, liladcnsburg to Shepherd 12J
Washington County Branch, Wcverton to Hagerstown... 24
Harper's Ferry and Valley Branch, Harper's Ferry to
Staunton 126
Pittsburgh Division, Cumberland to Pittsburgh, with
branches from Connellsville to Uniontown, and Broad
Ford to Mount Pleasant 174
Central Ohio Division, Columbus! to Bellaire 137
Lake Erie Division, Sandusky to Newark 116
Chicago Division, Newark to Shavvnee 43
Wheeling, Pittsburgh and Baltimore Branch, Wheeling
to Washington, Piv 32
Marietta imd Cincinnati Railroad 297
Ohio and Mississippi Railway 620
Total 2409*
The " terminal facilities" of the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad Company at Locust Point, Baltimore, inur-
ing indirectly but most materially to the trade and
commerce of St. Louis, constitute a factor in the rail-
road facilities of St. Louis as well as of Baltimore.
As early in the history of the road as 1848 the coal
trade demanded and received the means of easy and
inexpensive trans-shipment from the cars to the boat.
In 1851 the Locust Point lands, purchased by Hon.
Thomas Swarm, president of the company, were in-
creased in area by means of inducements held out to
private parties to erect their own wharves at Whet-
stone Point. It was not until 1860, however, when
connections had been established with the West, and
the fruits of Mr. Garrett's sagacity were beginning
to be realized, that the development of the " terminal
facilities" at Locust Point took their presentdefinite and
complete shape. The experimental European line es-
tablished by Mr. Garrett's purchase of the " Alle-
gheny," the " Carroll," the " Somerset," and the
" Worcester" steamships from the United States
government was the beginning of that Atlantic
extension of the Baltimore and Ohio, by which
Western grain and produce are shipped in bulk to
1188
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Europe on through bills of lading. The erection of
piers, wharves, and warehouses followed immediately
upon the establishment of this European line. The
management of so vast an enterprise demanded the
sagacity and nerve of a man like Mr. Garrett to dem-
onstrate its feasibility, before the more timid would
take hold of a doubtful and untried business. The
experimental line finally gave way to others which
are now reaping the harvest of the seed which Mr.
Garrett sowed.
Elevators followed and facilities increased until
Baltimore offers cheaper and easier trans-shipment of
heavy products than any Atlantic port in the country.
The largest steamer in the United States transfers
trains of cars across the harbor of Baltimore to the
tracks of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Balti-
more Railroad, and an independent connection with
Philadelphia and New York will in the near future
make the Baltimore and Ohio a separate and distinct
line from New York as well as from Baltimore. When
this great object shall have been consummated it
is fair to presume, from his past career, that Mr.
Garrett will give greater freedom to transportation be-
tween the East and the West, as he has given cheaper
rates, and forced upon others the lesson that Baltimore
is an important factor in the foreign commerce of the
Western States.
To the great executive powers and financial talents
of John W. Garrett, ably seconded by his son, Robert
Garrett, now first vice-president of the company, the
present vast development of the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad is unquestionably due. Under Mr. Garrett's
prudent, wise, and at the same time aggressive manage-
ment the company has successfully weathered all the
financial storms that have threatened it in common
with other railroad properties, and has come off more
than conqueror in all the " wars" that have been waged
by it with rival companies. Mr. Garrett has also
preserved his company from the injurious effects of
" watered stock," and now enjoys the satisfaction of
seeing it command a place in the markets surpassed
by no other railroad corporation.
Several years ago Mr. Garrett called to his aid the
vigorous energies of his son. Robert Garrett, who had
been educated and trained to railroad management,
and who has since abundantly demonstrated his pecu-
liar fitness for the position.
To the facilities of transportation offered by the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and its extensive con-
nections, Mr. Garrett has added those of the telegraph
and express systems. By the former he provides com-
petition with the former telegraphic monopoly of the
Western Union Company, and by the latter he extends
the competition to the transportation of valuable and
perishable articles. He has also organized an Atlantic
Cable Company for telegraphic communication with
Europe, which will probably soon have in operation
two cables connecting the land wires of the Baltimore
and Ohio Telegraph Company with all European capi-
tals and commercial centres. It is doubtful whether
any single life has been more fruitful of grand achieve-
ments in railroading than that of John W. Garrett.
The labors of Mr. Garrett in the many departments
of his great railroad system have demanded the assist-
ance of men of marked ability and fertility of re-
source at points distant from the headquarters of the
company. The selection at St. Louis has been a most
fortunate one. To W. W. Peabody,- general super-
intendent of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, the
great success of this line has been pre-eminently due.
His zeal, ability, energy, and integrity have established
with the commercial and traveling community a con-
fidence in the safety and reliability of the great line
of railroad possessed by no other company to a greater
degree and enjoyed by very few to an equal extent.
The Ohio and Mississippi Railway claims to
be the shortest and quickest route between St.
Louis and Cincinnati, and between St. Louis and
Louisville. The road being under the management
of one general superintendent, all trains leaving St.
Louis for Louisville and Cincinnati are run through
promptly on time, and a continuous trip is guaranteed.
In connection with the Marietta and Cincinnati and
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroads, trains are run
through to Washington, D. C., without the change of
a single car in all the chain of day-coaches, parlor-,
palace-, and other cars. It is worthy of remark in this
connection that the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Com-
pany operates a sleeping-, dining-, and parlor-car system
of its own, and that it is the only line that passes
through the national capital in going East.
The Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway
Company originated in the Toledo and Illinois
Railroad Company, which was organized April 25,
1853, under the laws of the State of Ohio, to con-
struct a railroad between Toledo and the western
boundary of the State. On the 19th of August fol-
lowing the Lake Erie, Wabash and St. Louis Rail-
road Company was organized under the laws of
Indiana to build a road from the east line of the State
through the valleys of the Little River and Wabash
River to the west line of the State in the direction of
Danville. 111. The road from Toledo through Ohio
and Indiana was constructed under these two charters.
On the 25th of June, 1856, the two companies were
consolidated under the style of the Toledo, Wabash
RAILROADS.
11S9
and Western Railroad Company. This organization
having become financially embarrassed in the general
panic of 1857-58, its property was sold in October,
1858, under foreclosure proceedings, and purchased by
Azariah Boody, who conveyed it to two new compa-
nies, under the style of the Toledo and Wabash, of
Ohio, and the Wabash and Western, of Indiana, the
two being consolidated Oct. 7, 1858, under the cor-
porate name of the Toledo and Wabash Railroad
Company, which operated the road through the
States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois until 1865, when
all interests between Toledo and the Mississippi River
at Quincy and Hamilton were consolidated under an
agreement between the Toledo and Wabash, the
Great Western of Illinois, the Quincy and To-
ledo, and the Illinois and Southern Iowa Railroad
Companies, under the style and designation of the
Toledo, Wabash and Western Railway Company.
The Great Western Railroad Company of this
combination was organized in 1859, and its road ex-
tended from the Indiana State line to Meredosia, in
Illinois, with a branch from Bluff City to Naples.
The road from Meredosia to Camp Point was owned
by the Quincy and Toledo Railroad Company, and
the road from Clayton, 111., to Carthage, Lid., was owned
by the Illinois and Southern Iowa Railroad Company.
In 1870 the Decatur and East St. Louis Railroad
Company constructed and equipped a road between
Decatur and East St. Louis, which in the same year
came under the management and control of the To-
ledo, Wabash and Western Railway Company, and
which was opened to St. Louis in 1871. The Han-
nibal and Naples Railroad, between Naples and Han-
nibal, with a branch to Pittsfield from Maysville, was
leased in 1870 by the Toledo, Wabash and Western
Railway Company, and in 1871 the same company
obtained control of the Hannibal and St. Louis Cen-
tral Railroad, from Hannibal to Moberly, and also of
the Pekin, Lincoln and Decatur Railroad, which was
thenceforth operated as the " Pekin Division." In
1872 the Lafayette and Bloomington, from Lafayette j
Junction to Bloomington, was added to the lines of j
the Toledo, Wabash and Western Railroad Company, !
making a total of over nine hundred miles of road |
operated under ownership and lease by this cor-
poration. In 1874 financial disaster overtook the
company, and its property passed under decrees of the
courts into the hands of John D. Cox as receiver.
Mr. Cox retained control until 1877, when a reorgani-
zation was effected under the style of the Wabash
Railway Company. The leases of the Pekin, Lincoln
and Decatur and the Lafayette and Bloomington
Railroads were set aside during the receivership, as
76
well as that of the bridge at Quincy. In 1877 the
Edwardsville Branch passed under the control of the
Wabash, and on the 7th of November, 1879, the
Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway Company was
organized by the consolidation of the Wabash and
the St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern Railway
Companies and their branches.
The St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern Railway
Company is the outgrowth of the North Missouri
Railroad Company, which was chartered March 1,
1851, to build, equip, and operate a railroad from St.
Louis to the boundary line between Missouri and
Iowa, and thence on to Ottumwa and Chariton.
The work of construction was commenced in May,
1854, and the road was completed to the Missouri
River, opposite St. Charles, on the 2d of August,
1855 ; to Warrenton in August, 1857 ; to Mexico in
May, 1858 ; to Moberly Nov. 30, 1858, and to Ma-
con in February, 1859. The civil war affected all
works of this character, and the North Missouri re-
mained stationary at Macon until 1864. Unable to
meet its obligations to the State for interest, in con-
sequence of the war and its effects, the company met
with most favorable action on the part of the Legis-
lature of 1868-67, which relinquished the State lien,
upon the condition that the company should build a
branch from Moberly to Kansas City and the western
boundary of the State, and extend the road from Ma-
con to the Iowa line. By this generous action on the
part of the State the company was enabled to push
its extensions both north and west. In 1868 the road
was completed to the State line at Coatesville, and in
1869 the road was opened to Kansas City, on the west-
ern line, and to Ottumwa, on the northern line, which
was reached over the St. Louis and Cedar Rapids
Railroad, built by an independent corporation and
leased by the North Missouri. The Chariton and
Randolph and the Missouri River Valley Railroad
Companies were consolidated into the North Missouri
in 1864. The line of the latter companies was
opened from Moberly to Brunswick Dec. 15, 1857 ;
to Carrollton Aug. 15, 1868; to Lexington Junction
Oct. 1, 1868, and to the junction with the Hannibal
and St. Joseph Railroad Nov. 28, 1868.
In 1871 financial embarrassments overtook the
North Missouri Company, and foreclosure following,
the road was purchased by M. K. Jessup, of New
York, who in February, 1872, assigned it to the St.
Louis, Kansas City and Northern Railroad Company,
a corporation organized under the general railroad law
of Missouri. A new line from Ferguson into St. Louis
and the Union Depot was built in 1876, and the road
was extended from North Missouri Junction to Kan-
1190
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
sas City and from Pattensburg to Council Bluffs, with
a branch to Clarinda, in 1879.1
The capital stock of the new consolidated company
(Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway) on Jan. 1,
1880, was $40.000,000, half common and half pre-
ferred, of which $12,000,000 of each kind was as-
signed to the former stockholders and creditors of the
St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern, and $8,000,000
of each kind to those of the Wabash Company. The
indebtedness of the two companies, $35,469,550, was
assumed by the new company upon consolidation,
making the capital and bonded debt of the new com-
pany Jan. 1, 1880, 875,464,550.
Twenty-one railroad organizations which were at
one time operated as distinct lines have been merged
in order to form what is now known as the great
Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railroads, one of the
largest systems in the United States. Previous to
1880 the Wabash proper extended from Toledo to St.
Louis, Hannibal, Quincy, and Keokuk, with a branch
from Logansport to Butler, Ind., or a total length of
seven hundred and eighty-two miles. But in the fall
of 1879, as we have seen, the Wabash was consoli
dated with the St. Louis, Kansas City and North-
ern Railroad, extending from St. Louis to Kansas
City, St. Joseph's, Ottumwa, and Council Bluffs, with
several small branches, having in all seven hundred
and sixty-nine miles of road. The corporation thus
formed, with a mileage of fifteen hundred and fifty-
one miles, established its headquarters at St. Louis.
During the same year entry to Chicago was effected
by the purchase of the Chicago and Paducah, ex-
tending from Effingham and Altamont to Chester,
111., and the construction of a branch from Strawn,
ninety-six miles northward. Subsequent acquisitions
were the Toledo, Peoria and Warsaw Road, extending
from State line, Indiana, through Peoria to Burling-
ton, Warsaw, and Keokuk, a distance of two hundred
and forty-six miles, and before the close of the same
year, the Quincy, Missouri and Pacific, Champaign,
Havana and Western, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska,
and Centreville, Moravia and Albia Roads, all con-
necting at different points with the main line. On
Dec. 31, 1880, the system comprised two thousand
four hundred and seventy-nine miles.
The lines built and acquired during 1881 were the
Detroit and Butler, an extension of the Logansport
and Butler Division to the city of Detroit, one hun-
dred and thirteen miles ; and the purchase of the In-
1 On the 2d of February, 1 878, the Republican announced that
on " Monday morning the first through train from St. Louis to
St. Paul will leave the Union Depot via the St. Louis, Kansas
City, and Northern Railroad."
dianapolis, Peru and Chicago Railway, extending from
Indianapolis to Michigan City, a distance of one hun-
dred and sixty-one miles. Other roads added to the
system the same year were the Cairo and Vincennes,
the Danville and Southwestern, the Quincy, Mis-
souri and Pacific, the DCS Moines and Northwestern,
and the Attica and Coviugton, making the actual
revenue-earning mileage of the Wabash at the close
of the year 1881 three thousand three hundred arid
eighty-four miles.
The Butler and the Detroit, in connection with the
Toleda, Peoria and Warsaw, completed the second
independent trunk line of the system from the Mis-
sissippi River to Lake Erie, besides securing new
connections upon its entrance to Detroit.
Several extensions and branches were finished
during 1882, the most important of which were the
Shenandoah and the Des Moines Divisions. The former
continued the second trunk line from the Mississippi
to Lake Erie through to the Missouri, and established
another to Council Bluffs and Chicago line. The
cities of St. Louis and Des Moines were connected in
a more direct manner than heretofore. The total
length of the Wabash is 3670.6 miles, being the
third largest mileage of any distinct railroad company
in the world. The details of the mileage of the lines
east of the Mississippi are as follows :
Miles.
Toledo, Ohio, to St. Louie, Mo 435.7
Decatur, 111., to Quincy, 111 150.7
Bluffs, 111., to Hannibal, Mo 49. S
Maysville, 111., to 1'ittsfield, 111 6.2
Clayton, 111., to Keokuk, Iowa 42.3
Log;ins])ort, Ind., to Detroit, Mich 213.8
Edwardsville, 111., to Edwardsville Crossing, 111. 8.5
Indianapolis, Ind., to Michigan City, Ind 161.0
Havana, III., to Springfield, 111 47.2
Holli=, 111., to Jacksonville Junction, 111 75.3
West Lebanon, Ind., to Le Roy, 111 76.0
Vincennes, Ind., to Cairo, 111 158.0
Danville, 111., to St. Francisville, Ind 1 13.1
Toledo, Ohio, to Milan, Mich 34.0
Attica, Ind., 'to Covington, Ind 14.5
State Line, Ind., to Burlington, Iowa 214.8
La Harpe, III., to Elvaston, III 20.8
Hamilton. 111., to Warsaw, 111 5.0
Chicago, III., to Altamont, III 215.5
Streator, 111., to Strentor Junction, 111 39.6
Shurnway, 111., to Effingham, 111 8.5
Urban*, 111., to Havana. Ill 102.2
AVhite Heath, 111., to Decatur, 111 29.7
Bates, III., to Ural'ton. Ill 71.4
Champaign, 111., to Sidney, 111 14.0
Total 2307.6
The Western Division, connecting the Missouri
River with the great lakes, is the great Northwestern
feeder of St. Louis commerce, penetrating all portions
of Missouri, and furnishing an outlet to St. Louis for a
large portion of the commerce of Central and Northern
Iowa. The Western Division is being pushed for-
ward, and will ultimately be extended to Estherville,
Dickinson Co , in the northern border of Iowa, and
RAILROADS.
1J91
will some day penetrate the great wheat-fields of
Minnesota and Dakota. Various short lines have
been extended, until now the total mileage of the
Wabash west of the Mississippi is in detail as follows :
Miles.
St. Louis, Mo., to Kansas City, Mo 276.8
Brunswick, Mo., to Council Bluffs, Iowa 224.4
lloseberry, Mo., to Clarinda, Iowa 21.5
Moberly, Mo., to Ottuuiwa, Iowa 131.0
North Lexington, Mo., to St. Joseph, Mo 76.3
Centralia, Mo., to Columbia, Mo 21.8
Salisbury, Mo., to Glasgow, Mo 15.0
Ferguson, Mo., to Biddle Street, St. Louis 10. G
Quincy, Mo., to Trenton, Mo 135 9
Keokuk, Iowa, to Shcnandoah, Iowa 244.0
Relay, Iowa, to Des Moine?, Iowa 91.3
Des Moines, Iowa, to Fonda, Iowa 115.0
RECAPITULATION.
Lines east of the Mississippi River 2307.6
" west " " " , .. 1363.0
Total 3670.6
From Toledo the Wabash makes connection with
the Atlantic cities via the Lake Shore and also the
Canada Southern Road. The Wabash is located in
the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and
Iowa, or in that portion of those States lying be-
tween thirty-seven degrees and forty-two degrees of
latitude, and between eighty-two degrees and ninety-
six degrees of longitude. Within these boundaries
is contained one of the most productive regions on the
continent.
The elements of agricultural, forest, and mineral
strength combined make it now, under partial devel-
opment, a region of unsurpassed richness. The largest
agricultural production is of wheat and corn. The
production of wheat in the United States for 1882
was 502,798,600 bushels. Of this, 196,244,100
bushels was grown in the five States through which the
road passes, being thirty-nine per cent, of the whole
crop. The production of corn in the same year was
1,624,917,800, and the amount grown in the same
States was 740,665,000 bushels, being forty-six per
cent, of the whole crop. Other farm productions were
proportionately large. '
All the climatic and soil conditions are the most
favorable for the growth of the staple crops of the
temperate zone. In Ohio, Indiana, and Missouri are
yet extensive and valuable timbered areas, from which
the manufacturing establishments of these and adjoin-
ing States draw large supplies. The manufacturing
establishments of the United States turned out pro-
ductions valued at §5,369,667,706 in 1880 ; the five
States above mentioned, embracing an area of 256,880
square miles, about nine per cent, of the entire area
of the United States, turned out from their manufac-
tories a product valued at $1,147,606,405, or twenty-
one per cent, of the whole product of the country.
The mineral wealth of all these States is destined at no
distant period to make them the central manufacturing
ground of the country.
The large area of bituminous coal contained in
them, of a quality suitable for the manufacture of
iron, with the unlimited supply of Missouri ore of the
best quality located so near the coal, must place these
States in the front rank as manufacturing localities.
Their central location will give them great advantages
in distribution, much greater than any other locality
can command. This area also presents the rarest and
strongest combination of elements for future growth
and greatness.
The population of these States was, by the census
of 1880, 12,048,764, averaging in the States as a group
only 47 to the square mile. Their area has the capa-
bility of sustaining and profitably employing five times
the population it now has, and there is no other area
on the continent of equal extent that has within its
boundaries so small a percentage of waste or unpro-
ductive land.
The transportation facilities for movement of pro-
ductions, by natural and artificial means, are better
adapted to its wants than those of any other region
of equal extent. These are considerations of the
greatest importance, which will have a potent influence
on this region.
The officers of the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific
Railway Company are : Directors, Frederick L. Ames,
Boston ; A. L. Hopkins, Jay Gould, Russell Sage,
Sidney Dillon, Solon Humphreys, Samuel Sloan, G.
G. Haven, New York ; Charles Ridgeley, Springfield,
111. ; James F. Joy, Detroit, Mich". ; James Cheney,
Fort Wayne, Ind. ; B. W. Lewis, James F. How,
Thomas E. Tutt, St. Louis ; George L. Dunlap,
Chicago. President, Jay Gould, New York ; First
Vice-President, A. L. Hopkins, New York ; Second
Vice-President, John C. Gault, St. Louis; Third
Vice-President and Secretary, James F. How, St.
Louis ; Treasurer, W. B. Corneau, St. Louis ; Auditor,
D. B. Howard, St. Louis; Assistant Auditor, M.
Trumbull, St. Louis ; General Superintendent, R.
Andrews, St. Louis ; Assistant General Superintend-
ent, W. F. Merrill, St. Louis; General Solicitors, W.
H. Blodgett, St. Louis, and W. Swayne, New York ;
Chief Engineer, W. S. Lincoln, St. Louis ; General
Freight Agent, A. C. Bird, St. Louis ; First Assist-
ant General Freight Agent, M. Knight, St. Louis ;
Assistant General Freight Agent, C. L. Wellington,
St. Louis ; General Passenger Agent, H. C. Townsend,
St. Louis ; General Baggage Agent, C. P. Maule, St.
Louis ; Purchasing Agent, R. W. Green, St. Louis ;
Paymaster, G. F. Shepherd, St. Louis; Commercial
1192
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Agent, J. M. Osborn, Toledo, Ohio ; Car Accountant,
C. P. Chesebro, St. Louis; Superintendent Telegraph,
C. Selden ; Assistant Superintendent Telegraph, G.
0. Kinsman ; General Master-Mechanic, J. Johnson,
Springfield, 111. ; General Master Car-Builder, U. H.
Kohler, Toledo, Ohio.
Vandalia Line. — The St. Louis, Vandalia and
Terre Haute Railroad Company, which, in connec-
tion with the Terre Haute and Indianapolis Railroad,
is commonly known as the " Vandalia Line," origi-
nated in a project for an eastern connection along
the general route of this road, which was very early
considered by the people of St. Louis.
"So early as 1837," says the Republican of Feb. 2, 1847,
"the subject of connecting the improvements in the States of
Indiana and Ohio with the Mississippi River commanded the
attention of the Legislature, and it was deemed advisable to
authorize the construction of what is called the Northern Cross
Railroad, a route by which the works in our sister States could
be connected with the great commercial artery of the nation,
and a continuous line of communication formed between the
East and West, affording every facility to a free commercial
and social intercourse between the different and otherwise almost
disconnected sections of our common country. The route had
in contemplation not only the accommodation of a numerous
population along the line through which it would pass, but a
point nearly central in the State, and being the seat of govern-
ment, so that from that point roads or branches of the main
trunk would radiate to points upon the Mississippi and Illinois
River, and insure the building up of commercial marts within
our own State."
The Northern Cross Railroad was ultimately located \
between Galesburg and Quincy, 111., and was sold in •
1860 to the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Rail- |
road.
In 1847, by " An Act to incorporate the Mississippi J
and Atlantic Railroad Company," it was provided that
" J. B. Drake, M. G. Dale, James Bradford, William
S. Wait, W. S. Smith, Henry Willis, Curtis Blake-
man, G. T. Allen, A. B. Chambers, Ferdinand Ken-
nett, T. A. Madison, R. K. McLaughlin, and their
associates and successors, are hereby created a body
corporate under the name of the Mississippi and At-
lantic Railroad Company for the term of fifty years.
The incorporators were authorized and empowered
" to locate and construct a railroad from the banks of
the Mississippi opposite St. Louis through Greenville
and Vandalia to the east line of the State, and termi-
nating in Clark or Edgar County, most convenient for
the continuation of the same to Terre Haute, and fol-
lowing as near as may be the line of the great Cum-
berland Road."
In 1850 an convention was held at Vandalia for the
purpose of organizing a company to construct a railroad
from Terre Haute to Illinoistown, opposite St. Louis.
" Such a road when built," said the Republican of
March 21, 1850, "will connect Philadelphia, New
York, and Baltimore in a continuous line of railway
with St. Louis. It is now, we believe, the only piece
of route not under contract or unprovided for."
It was not, however, until 1865, when the St. Louis,
Vandalia and Terre Haute Railroad Company was
chartered (Feb. 10, 1865) for the construction of a
line via Vandalia, Effingham, and Marshall to the
Indiana line, that the project of 1847 took definite
shape. Though the work of construction was begun
in 1866, the enterprise would probably have eventu-
ated in a merely local road if the lease of the St. Louis,
Alton and Terre Haute Railroad to parties inimical to
the Pennsylvania Railroad Company had not threat-
ened the traffic of that great corporation with hostile
action and compelled it to seek other connection with
St. Louis. Under the influence and by the aid of the
Pennsylvania Railroad Company, the St. Louis, Van-
dalia and Terre Haute Railroad progressed so rapidly
that in 1868 trains were running between East St.
Louis and Highland, and the road was completed to
Effingham in July, 1869, and a through train ar-
rangement between St. Louis and Chicago effected by
the Illinois Central connection in 1870. l
The Terre Haute and Indianapolis Railroad Com-
pany leased the St. Louis, Vandalia and Terre Haute
Line as soon as it reached the Indiana State line. In
1876, the Vandalia Line and the Indianapolis and
St. Louis Line came under one management, and were
so operated until 1878.
The Terre Haute and Indianapolis Railroad Com-
pany, an integral part of the Vandalia Line, was
organized as the Terre Haute and Richmond Railroad
Company in 1847, under the railroad laws of Indiana,
to construct a railroad from Terre Haute to Richmond,
to connect with the Columbus and Indiana Central
Railroad. In 1851 the company was reorganized,
and built a line between Terre Haute and Indian-
apolis. In 1866 the title of the company was changed
from the Terre Haute and Richmond Railroad Com-
pany to the Terre Haute and Indianapolis Company.
The St. Louis, Vandalia and Terre Haute Railroad
Company, under the existing arrangement, is leased to
the Terre Haute and Indianapolis Railroad Company,
for account of itself and the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati
and St. Louis Railway Company and the Columbus,
Chicago and Indiana Central Railway Company,
which jointly guarantee the first mortgage bonds and
l"The railroad excursion from Indianapolis and Terre Haute
to this city, given in celebration of the opening of the St. Louis,
Vandalia and Terre Haute Railroad, occurred yesterday, and
the excursionists will be publicly received to-day." — Republican,
June 9, 1870.
RAILROADS.
1193
one million six hundred thousand dollars of second
mortgage bonds, the obligation of the Pittsburgh,
Cincinnati and St. Louis Railway Company in this
respect being guaranteed by the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company. The Terre Haute and Indianapolis Rail-
road operates the Vandalia Road under a lease for nine
hundred and ninety-nine years, at an annual rental of
thirty per cent, of the gross earnings, and guarantees
interest on the mortgage bonds. The Terre Haute
and Logansport Railroad is also leased and operated
and its bonds guaranteed by the same company.1
1 Mnj. John E. Simpson, general manager of the Vandalia
Line, died at the Lindell Hotel, St. Louis, Aug. 2, 1880. Mnj.
Simpson was born near Londonderry, Ireland, Nov. 1, 1839, his
father being a wealthy farmer of Scotch and Irish extraction.
In 1840 his family emigrated to America, his father engaging
in the grocery business in New York City. In 1843 the family
moved to Detroit, where the elder Simpson was occupied in
building light-houses for the government. He also became en-
gaged in the Michigan Central Railroad. While thus employed
he removed to Michigan City, Ind., where young Simpson at-
tended the free school, and at the age of eleven years started
out in life, selling Chicago papers. He was next employed as
messenger-boy in a telegraph-office, and during the illness of
the operator learned the art of telegraphing, by which means
he secured a position as telegraph operator at Detroit when but
thirteen years old. He remained in that position five years,
when he obtained a position with the Michigan Central Rail-
road in order that he might perfect himself in running trains
by telegraph. At the expiration of two years he received the
appointment from Col. Ricker, general superintendent of the
Louisville, New Albany and Chicago Railroad, of assistant train
dispatcher, and as such had charge of the movements of all
trains between Michigan City and Lafayette, Ind. While in
Michigan City he was chosen captain of the Zouaves, an inde-
pendent military company, and was made president of the
Literary and Library Society for the engagements of lectures,
etc. At the beginning of the war in 1861 he enlisted as a pri-
vate, and was soon elected captain of Company H of the Fifty-
ninth Indiana Volunteers. Previous to this he joined a regi-
ment composed entirely of railroad men raised as engineer troops,
and went to Chicago. After remaining in camp at Chicago for
six months it transpired that there was no law in existence au-
thorizing the raising of this regiment, and as a consequence it
was disbanded. Capt. Simpson, returning from Chicago with
his company, joined the Fifty-ninth, and soon after the battle of
Pittsburgh Landing joined the Army of the Tennessee, with
which he remained four years, participating in all the battles,
including the siege of Vicksburg and the inarch to the sea.
During the last two years he served on the staff of Maj.-Gen.
John E. Smith, commander of the Third Division of the Fif-
teenth Army Corps of the Army of the Tennessee, ranking as
major. While in active service in the field he filled several re-
sponsible positions. He was provost-marshal at Huntsville,
Ala., and performed that duty at other places. At the close
of the war he was appointed in the regular army, but declined.
On being mustered out in August, 1865, at Indianapolis, he ac-
cepted the position of train dispatcher and superintendent of
telegraph for the Terre Haute and Richmond Railway, under
Col. Ricker, and in 1867 was appointed assistant superintendent
of the Terre Haute and Indianapolis Railway.
In June, 1870, the Vandalia Line having been completed,
The lines owned and operated by the Terre Haute
and Indianapolis Railroad in 1882 were :
51 lies.
Main line from Indianapolis to Illinois State line.. 79.40
Coal branches 33.92
Leased :
Terre Haute and Logansport Railroad, — Logansport to
Rockville. Ind 94.00
St. Louis, Vandalia and Terre Haute, — East St. Louis,
111., to Indiana State line 158.10
Total length of line operated 365.42
The general balance sheet Oct. 31, 1881, placed the
assets at $5,734,507.43; capital stock, $1,988,150 ;
funded debt, SI, 600,000.
The president of the company is W. R. McKeen,
Terre Haute, and the general superintendent is Jo-
seph Hill, St. Louis. The principal office is located
at Terre Haute. The general freight agent at St.
Louis is H. W. Hibbard, and the general ticket agent
E. A. Ford.
The Vandalia Line stretches one hundred and
sixty-seven miles across Illinois and Indiana, con-
necting at Effingham with the Illinois Central, fur-
nishing an outlet to Chicago on the north and Cairo
on the south, and terminates at Terre Haute. From
there it runs via Indianapolis and Columbus over the
Pan Handle, connecting at Pittsburgh with the Penn-
sylvania Railroad. This road has a great many small
branches and coal connections, but its total direct
mileage is three hundred and fifty-six miles between
St. Louis, Terre Haute, Indianapolis, and Logans-
port. The general offices of the Vandalia are nearly
all located at St. Louis. Within the past two years
the road-bed has been put in the most thorough
Maj. Simpson was appointed division superintendent in charge
from Indianapolis to Terre Haute. In July, 1871, he was made
general superintendent of the entire line from Indianapolis to
St. Louis, and continued thus until November, 1875, when, the
Vandalia and St. Louis and Indianapolis Lines having been com-
bined under one management, Mnj. Simpson was made general
manager of the consolidated lines. This position he held up to
the time of his death, with headquarters in St. Louis. He was
married December, 1866, to Miss Ilattie L. Sherman, second
daughter of Dr. W. G. Sherman, of Michigan City. During
his residence in St. Louis he filled numerous positions. He was
president of the Railway Employes Mutual Benefit Association,
president of the Governing Board of the Union Depot, and
chairman of the committees in charge of relay depots at East
St. Louis and at Indianapolis. He was a member of the So-
ciety of the Army of the Tennessee, and belonged to the Cin-
cinnati Society of ex-army and navy officers. He was also a
member of the Ancient Landmarks lodge of Masons at Indian-
apolis, and belonged to the Order of Elks.
Maj. Simpson was pre-eminently a self-made man, rising to
a position of great responsibility by sheer energy and faithful
performance of duty. His integrity and honesty were unques-
tioned, and he was honored and esteemed for many sterling
qualities.
1194
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
order, and the iron rails between St. Louis and In-
dianapolis have been replaced with steel rails. Many
other improvements have been made.
The eastern prolongation of the Vandalia Line is
the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railroad,
which operates in addition to its own line the Colum-
bus, Chicago and Indiana Central Railway. The
latter road, beginning at Indianapolis, where the Terre
Haute and Indianapolis Railroad terminates, extends
to Columbus, Ohio, where it meets the Pittsburgh,
Cincinnati and St. Louis Railway. The latter road
extends to Pittsburgh, Pa., and forms part of the
Pennsylvania Railroad system.
The Pennsylvania Company was chartered by the
Legislature of Pennsylvania, April 7, 1870, for the
purpose of managing in the interest of the Pennsyl-
vania Railroad Company the railroads leased and
controlled by it west of Pittsburgh. The organiza-
tion of the company dates from April 1, 1872. The
aggregate length of the lines operated in 1882 was
H422.70 miles. Of this vast network of roads the
Vandalia Line is one of the most important.
The Pennsylvania Railroad Company was char-
tered April 13, 184G, to construct a railroad from Pitts-
burgh to Harrisburg, to unite with the Harrisburg,
Portsmouth, Mountjoy and Lancaster Railroad or
by extension eastward with the Columbia Railroad.
Authority was also conferred upon the company to
connect with the Portage Railroad over the Allegheny
Mountains at or near Hollidaysburg or Johnstown.
The work of construction was begun at Harrisburg in
July, 1847, and the division from that point to the
junction with the Portage Railroad at Hollidaysburg
was opened Sept. 16, 1850. The Western Division,
from the western end of the Portage Railroad at
Johnstown to Pittsburgh, was opened Sept. 10,1852.
The Mountain Division, and with it the whole line,
was opened Feb. 15, 1854. From Harrisburg to Phil-
adelphia the line is made up of the old Philadelphia
and Columbia Railroad and the Harrisburg, Ports-
mouth, Mountjoy and Lancaster Railroad, which was
leased in 1849.
The capital stock of the company was authorized to
be increased in 1853, under which authority the com-
pany has been able to aid its western connections.
In 1856 authority was obtained for the construction
of a railroad to the Schuylkill River from the Phila-
delphia and Columbia Railroad, as well as for the con-
struction of wharves, warehouses, etc. In 1857 the
policy of disconnecting the State with the public
works by the sale of all the works then owned by
the State was confirmed by legislative action. These
public works consisted of the Philadelphia and Co-
lumbia Railroad, the canal from Columbia to Dun-
can's Island, the Juniata Canal, the Allegheny .Por-
tage Road, and the canal from Johnstown to Pitts-
burgh. The property thus disposed of was purchased
by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. In 1860 the
Lancaster and Harrisburg Railroad was leased, and
in 1861 the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad was also
leased. In 1864 the Philadelphia and Erie was
opened for through traffic by means of the Western
Pennsylvania Railroad. In 1865 the old canal below
Freeport was converted into a railroad to connect the
Western Pennsylvania and the Fort Wayne Railroad
at Allegheny City, and during this year the " Con-
necting Railway" from Frankford to Mantua Junc-
tion, West Philadelphia, was constructed. " Fast
freight" lines were introduced upon the road in 1865.
In 1868-69 were effected those extended leases of
Western lines by which communication was secured
with Indianapolis, St. Louis, Louisville, and Chicago.
In 1869 the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago
Railroad was leased by the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company; in 1870, the Erie and Pittsburgh ; in the
same year also the Wrightsville, York and Gettys-
burg Railroad came into the possession of the Penn-
sylvania Railroad Company. In 1870, as previously
stated, the " Pennsylvania Company" was chartered
to give greater efficiency to the management of the
Western leased roads, and to the latter company all the
interests of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company were
transferred. In 1876 arrangements were effected
with the Northern Central Railway Company which
opened direct communication with Baltimore, and re-
sulted in the construction of the Baltimore and Poto-
mac Railroad, which gave the Pennsylvania Railroad
a through line to Washington in 1873. In May,
1871, the railways and canals of the United Compa-
nies of New Jersey were leased by the Pennsylvania
Railroad Company, and the amplest terminal facilities
at Jersey City were secured. In the same year the
Cleveland and Pittsburgh was transferred to the Penn-
sylvania Railroad Company, and also a controlling in-
terest in the Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis
Railroad.
In 1881 the company purchased a controlling in-
; terest in the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore
Railroad (including the Delaware, the- West Chester
and Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia and Baltimore
Central Railroads), and thus secured another and
more direct line connecting Philadelphia and Balti-
more.
The total mileage of the Pennsylvania Railroad
proper, including branches, leased and operated lines,
etc., in 1882 was:
RAILROADS.
1195
Pennsylvania Railroad proper, with leased
lines and branches 1172.50
Lines operated by the Pennsylvania Company 3422.70
Total 4595.20
The above statement includes the lines operated
between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and west of
Pittsburgh, but does not comprise the New Jersey
roads, the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore,
the Northern Central, and the Baltimore and Potomac,
with their branches in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Del-
aware, and New Jersey.
Chicago and Alton Kailroad. — The Alton and
Sangamon Railroad, chartered in 1847, commenced
in 1849, and completed in 1852, was the first link
in one of the most important railroads in the country,
and the parent of the Chicago and Alton Railroad.
After completion to Springfield, the road was ex-
tended to Bloomington, thence to Joliet, and thence
to Chicago. The Chicago and Mississippi Railroad,
chartered Feb. 27, 1847, was the organization that
completed the road to Joliet. In December, 1857, the
road from Alton to Joliet was sold for the paltry sum
of five thousand dollars to Governor Matteson. The
road represented an expenditure at the time of the
sale of nine million five hundred and thirty-five thou-
sand dollars. The purchaser was the St. Louis, Alton
and Chicago Railroad, from whose hands the prop-
erty passed in 1860 to James Robb, receiver. Under
the financial and executive management of Mr. Robb
the property improved in value, resources, and revenues
rapidly, aud in 1861 measures were inaugurated
looking to the rehabilitation of the company, and in
that year (February 16th) the Chicago and Alton
Railroad Company was formed, with Mr. Robb as
president. The proper termini of the road were rec-
ognized as being Chicago and St. Louis, and the offer
of John J. Mitchell to build an independent line
from Alton to East St. Louis, provided the Chicago
and Alton Railroad Company would merge its fran-
chises with those of the Alton and St. Louis Com-
pany, was accepted, and the road completed between
East St. Louis and Alton. In 1868 the Chicago and
Alton secured control of the Bloomington and God-
frey Line, a distance of one hundred and fifty miles,
which had been built under the charter of the St.
Louis, Jacksonville and Chicago Railroad Company.
The lease under which this important connection was
made runs for nine hundred and ninety-nine years,
and the rental to be paid is forty per cent, of the gross
earnings, provided the forty per cent, does not exceed
two hundred and forty thousand dollars in any one
year. In 1870-71 arrangements were entered into
with the St. Louis. Jacksonville and Chicago Rail-
road Company by which a branch road from Rood-
house, 111., to Louisiana, on the Mississippi River, was
built, and at the same time the charter and franchises
of the Louisiana and Missouri River Railroad Com-
pany were transferred to the Chicago and Alton Rail-
road Company. This latter charter contemplated the
construction of a road two hundred and sixteen miles
in length (with a branch from Mexico to Cedar City,
fifty miles in length), to a point opposite Jefferson
City. The road from Louisiana to Mexico, Mo., was
opened in the year 1871-72. from Mexico to Fulton
March 6, 1872, and from Cedar City to Fulton in
July of the same year. Legal difficulties intervened
to prevent the construction of the contemplated line
from Louisiana to Kansas City, and arrangements were
made with the St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern
Railroad for traffic and passenger transportation over
the road of the latter company from Mexico, Mo., to
Kansas City, and for running passenger-trains on the
line via Bloomington, Roodhouse, Louisiana, and
Mexico, Mo., between Chicago and Kansas City. In
1878 the formation of an independent company to be
controlled by the Chicago and Alton Company was
effected, to build the Missouri extension from Mexico,
Mo., to Kansas City. The corporate name of this
company is the Kansas City, St. Louis and Chicago
Railroad Company. Its road was opened through on
the 1st of May, 1879.
The Chicago and Alton Road, main line, extends
to Chicago, making connection there with the great
number of roads running to the north and east.
The Missouri Division uses the main line to Rood-
house. The length of the main lines east of the
river and all in the State of Illinois, including
branches, is five hundred and sixty-seven miles.
This road is now in the twenty- first year of its ex-
istence, and, including side tracks, is one thousand and
seventy miles in length east and west of the river.
It forms a triple link between the cities of Chicago,
St. Louis, and Kansas City, and there is a branch
from Dwight to Washington, 111., 86.96 miles in
length. Very nearly the entire road has been relaid
with steel rails within the past few years. The line
traverses rich sections of country, and has a splendid
freight and passenger business.
In 1877 the Chicago and Alton Company built a
bridge across the Mississippi at Louisiana.
The directors of the Chicago and Alton Railroad
Company are T. B. Blackstone, John B. Drake, Chi-
cago, 111. ; Morris K. Jesup, New York ; John F.
Slater, Norwich, Conn. ; George Straut, Peoria, 111. ;
James C. McMullin, John Crerar, Chicago ; Lorenzo
Blackstone, Norwich, Conn. ; John J. Mitchell, St.
1196
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Louis. The president of the company is T. B.
Blaekstone, Chicago. The Louisiana and Missouri
River Railroad, extending from Louisiana, Mo., to
Cedar City, Mo., a distance of 100.80 miles, was
chartered in 18G5, completed in July, 1872, and
leased in perpetuity to the Chicago and Alton Rail-
road Company from Aug. 1, 1870. R. P. Tansey,
St. Louis, is president of the company, and W. W.
Pope, St. Louis, is secretary and treasurer.
The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad
Company had its origin in the organization in 1849
of the Aurora Branch Railroad Company, and the
construction of a railroad from Aurora to Geneva. In
1852 the Chicago and Aurora Railroad Company
was organized, and built the road from Chicago to
Aurora. In 1856 this latter road was consolidated
with the Central Military Tract Railroad Company,
which owned the road from Mendota to Galesburg,
the new company being known as the Chicago,
Burlington and Quincy Railroad Company. The
Northern Cross Railroad Company, owning a line
between Galesburg and Quincy, became embarrassed,
and was purchased in 1860 by the Chicago, Burling-
ton and Quincy. The Peoria and Aquatoka Rail-
road, which was purchased in 1862, gave the com-
pany a line from Peoria to East Burlington, with a
terminus on the Mississippi River. In 1862 the
company built the line from Gates City to Lewiston,
and in 1868 the road from Lewiston to Rushville,
under the charter of the Peoria and Hannibal Rail-
road Company. The Dayton, Peoria and Hannibal
Railroad Company's charter was obtained about the
same time. From Galva to New Boston and Keiths-
burg, the road was built under the charters of the
American Central and of the Dixon and Quincy Rail-
road Companies, and leased by the Chicago, Burling-
ton and Quincy. The Fox River Line was built under
the charter of the Ottawa, Oswego and Fox River
Valley Railroad Company, and leased by the Chicago,
Burlington and Quincy. The road from Mendota
to East Clinton was built by the Illinois Grand Trunk
Railroad Company, and leased by the Chicago, Bur-
lington and Quincy. By the lease of the Chicago
and Iowa Railroad by the Chicago, Burlington and
Quincy the Chicago and Rock River Railroad was
reached, and by the lease of the Quincy and Warsaw
Railroad and of the Carthage and Burlington Rail-
road the line from Quincy to Burlington was obtained,
while the Keokuk and St. Paul Railroad Company
opened the trade and travel of Keokuk to the Chicago,
Burlington and Quincy. The Quincy Division, from
Quincy to East Louisiana, was built by the Quincy,
Alton and St. Louis Railroad Company, and was
leased to the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy in
1876. The St. Louis, Rock Island and Chicago,
built under the charter of the Rockford, Rock Island
and St. Louis Railroad Company, and leased in 1876
to the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, extends from
the Chicago and Northwestern, near Sterling, to Rock
Island, and thence to St. Louis.
The Burlington and Missouri River Railroad was
consolidated with the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy
in 1872, and became the Iowa Division. During 1881
a number of extensions and new lines of road were
built in Missouri, Nebraska, Illinois, Iowa, and Colo-
rado.
The St. Louis Division of the great Burlington
Road consists of the old Rockford, Rock Island and
St. Louis Railroad, two hundred and forty-seven miles
in length, to Rock Island, and connects St. Louis with
the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy system, with two
thousand five hundred and eighty-six miles of road in
Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and Colo-
rado. The St. Louis Division was opened up in 1877.
Previous to that time the Burlington had no line of
its own into St. Louis, though it had good connections.
From St. Louis a through line is formed in connection
with the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern and
Minneapolis and St. Paul Roads to points in the North-
west. Via Rock Island and the Chicago, Milwaukee
and St. Paul a line is formed for all Missouri River
and Wisconsin points, Manitoba, Montana, and Idaho.
The Denver extension of the Burlington was completed
July 1, 1882, and it is the only one of the lines from
St. Louis which has its own track to that city. It
penetrates the most fertile portions of Nebraska, and
has opened up a section of country the trade of which
ought to be very valuable to the merchants and manu-
facturers of St. Louis if the proper efforts are put for-
ward to secure it.
The south end of the St. Louis Division of the Bur-
lington passes through a rich wheat country. North
of Vermont, 111., the corn country along the line is
reached and extends on through Illinois and Iowa,
and in that section are also the great dairy farms of
the West. This road brings over four million pounds
of butter to St. Louis annually in its refrigerator-cars.
The business both in and out of St. Louis is rapidly
increasing.
The president of the company is C. E. Perkins,
Burlington, Iowa ; First Vice-President, A. E. Ton-
zalin, Boston ; Second Vice-President and Treasurer,
J. C. Peasley, Chicago ; Third Vice-President and
General Manager, T. J. Potter, Chicago. Officers of
the St. Louis Division : Superintendent, W. R. Crump-
ton, St. Louis ; Freight and Passenger Agent, W. D.
RAILROADS.
1197
Sanborn, St. Louis; Master-Mechanic, A. Forsyth,
Beardstown, 111.
The Texas and St. Louis Railway Company was
organized on the 14th of April, 1879, as the successor
of the Tyler Tap Railroad, and the road was opened
to Trinity, one hundred and eighty-one miles, at the
close of 1880. It was extended to Corsicana, a dis-
tance of two hundred and three miles, on the 1st of
April, 1881, and to Waco, two hundred and sixty
miles, Sept. 1, 1881. The company purchased the
Little River Valley and Arkansas Railroad in Mis-
souri, and organized under the name of the Texas and
St. Louis Railway Company of Arkansas and Missouri,
to build a railroad from Texarkana to Cairo, the object
being to run through cars from Bird's Point, opposite
Cairo, 111., to Gatesville, Texas, a distance of seven
hundred and thirty-two miles. On the 29th of May,
1882, the company effected a traffic alliance with the
Illinois Central Railroad and the St. Louis, Alton and
Terre Haute, commonly known as the Cairo Short
Line, by which those companies agreed to interchange
business and operate their respective roads as one line.
Under this agreement the company is enabled to run
its trains into St. Louis and Chicago. On the 16th of
May, 1882, a similar arrangement was effected with
the Arkansas Midland and the Batesville and Brink-
ley Railroad Companies, by the terms of which those
companies agreed to change their gauge from three
feet six inches to three feet and to complete their
lines to their respective termini. This agreement
secures to the Texas and St. Louis Company a line into
Little Rock and Helena, Ark., and also to Augusta,
Newport, Jacksonport, and Batesville, in the White
River valley. Arrangements were also made to ex-
tend the line from Waco to Laredo, and to construct
a branch from Mount Pleasant to Dallas, Texas.
The road is known as the " Cotton Belt" route, and
is a most important addition to the railroad interests
of St. Louis. The project originated among the
cotton men of St. Louis, who saw an opportunity to
penetrate one of the richest cotton belts in the South
and draw the staple to the St. Louis market. With
the exception of a gap of forty-five miles to be filled
in Arkansas, this road has a continuous track between
Bird's Point, Mo. (opposite Cairo, 111.), and Gates-
ville, Texas, or a distance of seven hundred and fifty-
two miles. There is a branch from New Madrid, Mo.,
to Maiden, the county-seat of Dunklin, the " banner"
cotton-producing county of Missouri, and also pro-
ducing a large amount of corn. A branch will soon
be constructed to Dallas. Texas, and as soon as the
forces can be transferred from Arkansas the extension
through Texas to Laredo, on the Rio Grande, will be
pushed along as fast as men and money can accomplish
it. When the road reaches Laredo a connection will
be formed with a narrow-gauge road which will be
running into the city of Mexico by that time, — the
Mexican National. From Texarkana the road runs
parallel with the Iron Mountain Railway through Ar-
kansas, and divides the country between it and the
Mississippi River. While the richest cotton counties
are traversed, there are also along the route some of the
heaviest and best timber forests to be found in the
United States. In Arkansas and Texas there have
already been over fifty saw-mills started along the line
of the narrow-gauge ; new towns are being established,
and immigration is pouring into the counties through
which the road passes.
From Cairo the connection is made by change of
trucks with the Cairo Short Line, over which road
the freight will be transported to East St. Louis.
During the past year a large and substantial brick
building was put up at East St. Louis and supplied
with the machinery necessary to establish there a
cotton compress, the total cost of which was two hun-
dred thousand dollars. This press will receive and
handle the staple from along the narrow-gauge line,
and it is expected that the cotton trade of St. Louis
will be largely increased by the receipts over the
Texas and St. Louis and Cairo Short Line roads.
The earningsduringlSSl amounted to $198,039.90,
and the expenses to $166,237.49. The company has
a land grant of 10,240 acres to each mile of com-
pleted road, and capital stock is provided for at the
rate of $10,000 per mile; funded debt, first mortgage
six per cent, thirty-year bonds, dated June 1, 1880,
interest June and December, $10,000 per mile; land
grant and income six per cent, thirty-year bonds,
dated June 1, 1880, $10,000 per mile, interest pay-
able if earned. Up to April 1, 1882, there had been
issued $2,660,000 first mortgage bonds, $2,660,000
income bonds, and $2,660,000 of stock, a total of
$7,980,000. On the Missouri and Arkansas Division
bonds were issued upon 160 miles of road at $10,000,
or $1,600,000 first mortgage, and the same amount of
income bonds.
The officers of the company are : Directors, J. W.
Paramore, W. M. Senter, J. L. Sloss, St. Louis ; L.
H. Roots, Little Rock, Ark. ; T. R. Bonner, L. B.
Fish, Tyler, Texas; L. C. De Morse, Texarkana,
Ark.; T. J. Lowe, Gilmer, Texas; C. M. Seley,
Waco, Texas. President, J. W. Paramore, St. Louis ;
Vice- President, W. M. Senter, St. Louis; Treasurer,
L. B. Fish ; Secretary, C. T. Bonner ; General
Freight and Ticket Agent, G. W. Lilley, all of
Tyler, Texas ; Master of Machinery, G. W. Prescott,
1198
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
St. Louis ; General Superintendent, J. B. Van Dyne,
Tyler, Texas ; Chief Engineer, C. F. Stephens, Pine
Bluff; Purchasing Agent, F. W. Paramore, St. Louis ;
Master of Car Repairs, W. J. Lewis, Tyler, Texas.
The principal office of the company is at St. Louis.
Col. James W. Paramore, president of the Texas
and St. Louis Railway Company, was born near Mans-
field, Ohio, Dec. 27, 1830, — a farmer's son and the
tenth of a family of eleven children. He early de-
termined to secure a college education, and as his
father was only in moderate circumstances, he decided
that it should be obtained at his own expense. After
some debate his father gave his consent, on condition
that he should relinquish his share of the paternal
estate. At seventeen he prepared for college at Mans-
field Academy, and then went through Granville Col-
lege (now Denuison University), graduating in the
class of '52 with high honors. During this entire
period he supported himself by his own labor. He
then taught two years in the Montgomery (Ala.)
Academy, and studied law in the office of Bortley &
Kirkwood, at Mansfield, Ohio. Mr. Bortley was af-
terwards elected supreme judge, and also became Gov-
ernor, while Mr. Kirkwood moved to Iowa, and be-
came Governor and United States senator, and was
a member of President Garfield's cabinet.
Young Paramore then attended the Albany Law
School, graduating in 1855 as Bachelor of Laws, and
subsequently opened a law-office at Cleveland, and
made an excellent beginning. A disastrous commer-
cial speculation, however, in 1857, induced him to
seek a new field in the West, and he settled at Wash-
ington, Mo., where, in addition to conducting a prom-
ising law business, he published the Washington Ad-
vertiser, a local paper of fair circulation and influence.
Upon the breaking out of the war he returned
with his family to Ohio, and promptly responded to
the call for troops, becoming major in the Third Ohio
Cavalry, and serving under Buell, llosecrans, and
Thomas, in the Armies of the Ohio and the Cum-
berland. He participated in twenty-seven engage-
ments (many of them very severe ones), without,
however, receiving a wound. He was very popular
and efficient as an officer, and after the battle of Stone
River was promoted to the colonelcy of the regiment
over the lieutenant-colonel and the senior major, and
for a considerable period commanded the Second
Cavalry Brigade.
In 1864 he resigned from the army and engaged
successfully in business at Nashville, Tenn. In 1867
he turned his attention to railroading, and obtained a
charter for the Tennessee and Pacific Railroad, a
link designed to connect the Southern Pacific with
the Atlantic waters at Norfolk, Va. Under the
stimulus of liberal aid from the State, a portion of
the line was completed, but unfriendly legislation
followed and the work was suspended. As superin-
tendent, etc., Col. Paramore continued to operate the
finished portion until the adoption of the new Consti-
tution forbade any further hope of help from the
State, and then he sold his interests and removed to
St. Louis, attracted by the grand capabilities of the
city. He here began to urge upon others the possibil-
ities of St. Louis becoming a great cotton market, but
generally his ideas were declared to be Utopian. The
Iron Mountain Railroad had just been completed into
the cotton belt, and his quick perception grasped the
idea that this highway, extending into the very heart
of the cotton-producing region of Arkansas and Texas
(the finest in the world), opened a new enterprise for
St. Louis and made it possible to establish here one of
the leading cotton markets of the world. To accom-
plish this two things were requisite: 1. Reasonable
transportation charges to St. Louis, which were readily
conceded by Mr. Allen, the president of the Iron Moun-
tain Railroad ; and 2. The reduction of the expense
of handling the staple to the lowest possible figures.
The latter could be accomplished only by the use of
machinery more powerful than had been previously
considered necessary. Chiefly through his labors the
Cotton Compress Company was formed in 1873, with
himself as president. It started with seventy-five
thousand dollars, but now has one million two hun-
dred and fifty thousand dollars paid-up capital, and
maintains the largest and most convenient warehouses
for handling cotton in the world. The company oc-
cupies about eighty acres of land, and has a hand-
ling capacity of fully five hundred thousand bales of
cotton a year, and a compressing capacity of three
thousand bales daily.
Col. Paramore was president of the company, and
1 the architect of all the buildings and compresses that
now comprise this magnificent system of handling
cotton, which (by the way) is being copied by other
cotton markets of the country.
This was the pioneer of other establishments of a
similar character, and the result of Col. Paramore's
prompt and far-sighted action has been to place the
cotton trade of St. Louis on a substantial basis.
From an average of 28,575 bales from 1866 to 1873
it has risen to 480,028 bales in 1879-80, and
402,706 bales in 1880-81.
In such esteem were Col. Pararaore's services in
this respect held, that in December, 1880, the busi-
ness men of St. Louis presented him with a silver
service, accompanied by the following letter :
ov
RAILROADS.
1199
"Mn. J. W. PAUAMORE :
" Dear Sir, — By this testimonial we desire to express our high
regard for your character as a friend, and to offer our tribute of
admiration for the rare ability you have shown in the successful
management of the large business enterprise under your control.
To you more than to any other person is due the credit for erect-
ing the compress warehouses, by which a flourishing trade in
cotton was created ; and to you, also, should be accorded espe-
cial praise for your untiring efforts to build a railroad into
Texas, that our commerce with that State might be increased
and forever secured. Not alone as a leader in these enterprises
have, you manifested that consummate skill and courageous, in-
domitable energy which have marked your conduct as a business
man, but in every useful measure with which you were concerned,
whether for the public good or for private gain, you have always
shown the fidelity and disinterested zeal of a true friend and
benefactor. Please accept this solid silver service as being the
token of our esteem commemorative of your career."
While studying the cotton question, Col. Paramore
observed that in Arkansas, Texas, Southern Kansas,
and the Indian country there was a region capable of
producing more than two million bales of cotton yearly
legitimately tributary to St. Louis, but with no eco-
nomical means of reaching a market, and he conceived
the system of roads known as the " Cotton Belt Route"
to penetrate this region. In the fall of 1881 he re-
signed the presidency of the Cotton Compress Com-
pany, and has ever since given his undivided attention
to the prosecution of this great work. It is a system
of narrow-gauge railroads, extending from Cairo, 111.,
to Laredo, Texas, with " feeders" at various points,
embracing, when completed, over one thousand five
hundred miles of railroads, and penetrating a section of
the Southwest unrivaled for the raising of cotton and
miscellaneous produce. At Laredo the system con-
nects with the road now building under the " Palmer-
Sullivan concession" through Mexico, and at Cairo it
has an extremely advantageous traffic contract with
the Illinois Central Railroad, by which, as previously
stated, it makes direct connection with St. Louis, and
also Chicago and all Eastern cities.
It is not by chance that Col. Paramore has selected
the three-feet gauge for his system of railroads. His
is a strong, analytical mind, and before engaging in
any enterprise he is accustomed to give it a thorough
and exhaustive study from every stand-point. He
chose the three feet gauge, not on grounds of present
expediency merely, but in the firm belief that this
system is the one best adapted to the South, and must
crowd the old " broad-gauge" roads to the wall. He
argues that since the product of about eighty acres of
cotton may be carried in one car, while only five to
ten acres of the staple products of the North are re-
quired to till a car, the South does not need the heavy
and expensive system of broad-gauge railroads. He
asks, " Why send a four-horse wagon to bring a two-
horse load?" In other words, why maintain broad-
gauge roads when narrow-gauge will answer the same
purpose ?
In his investigation of the matter, Col. Paramore
has come to the most important conclusions, if true.
He not only claims the absolute economy of a three-
feet gauge road, but he believes that such a road, with
a debt limited to the expense of building and oper-
ating, can hold in check the vast railway monopolies
already in existence, with their roads bonded for
many times their value. It must be apparent that a
railway whose fixed charges for interest do not ex-
ceed six hundred dollars per mile, and which if sub-
stantially built can be worked for 33 J per cent, of its
gross earnings, can afford to give lower rates, both for
freight and passenger traffic, than one whose fixed in-
terest charges are twelve hundred to fifteen hundred
dollars per mile annually, and which, under the most
favorable circumstances, cannot be worked for much
less than sixty per cent, of its gross earnings.
There seems little room to doubt the correctness of
Col. Paramore's belief that this system of railways
will effectually protect the people of the South against
the concentrating tendencies of the great broad-gauge
roads. In the judgment of Col. Paramore the nar-
row-gauge railroad is the one upon which the future
business of the country will be done ; the present
standard gauge must ultimately give way before it,
since it embraces economy in construction and econ-
omy in operation, and lessens immensely the cost
of moving the products of the farmer and manufac-
turer. There is also the important consideration that
such roads, properly managed, will always be able to
respond to the popular cry of cheap transportation,
and will effectually spike the guns of those who are
demanding that " government should lay its iron hand
on the railroads and undertake to regulate their
charges."
Upon the subject of cheap transportation Col.
Paramore holds novel and striking views, contrary to'
the belief generally entertained by the people in the
Mississippi valley, viz., " that railroad transportation
I is cheaper than river." While others have proclaimed
the Mississippi to be " God's great highway for com-
merce," he views it as merely a great " national
sewer," and says that to man has been left the labor of
providing " cheap and rapid transportation" by the
construction of railroads. He energetically insists
that, as a matter of fact, cotton can to-day be shipped
from Arkansas and Texas via St. Louis to Europe
cheaper than from the gulf port cities.
This discussion illustrates very forcibly the original
and striking methods of thought that characterize
1200
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Col. Paramore. Whether his conclusions agree with
those of previous investigators in the same field matters
little to him ; like every independent and original
thinker, he has supreme confidence in his own judg-
ment, and follows it unfalteringly, although it may
lead him to abandon old traditions and attack old
idols. Living in a period celebrated for great railroad
men, he loses nothing by comparison with the
greatest of them. In one short decade he has
written his name indelibly on the history of St.
Louis and the great Southwest. As has been well
said, " He has been the chief promoter, and in some
sense the creator, of one of the richest trades that pay
tribute to St. Louis, and has now laid hold upon the
carrying trade of the Southwest with a boldness and
vigor and originality that make him one of the most
conspicuous and able leaders of the time."
Col. Paramore has not only shown St. Louis how
to be a great cotton market, but he has also exerted
himself to make it the centre of a system of railroad
transportation which now seems destined to revolu-
tionize the railroad system of the South and South-
west, and work incalculable benefits to the industries
of those regions.
Col. Paramore is still in the full vigor of manhood,
when judgment is at its best, and although he has
already done more for St. Louis than often falls to the
lot of one man to accomplish for a community, his
fellow-citizens are encouraged to hope that what he has
already performed is only a promise of a yet more
brilliant and useful future.
Indianapolis and St. Louis Railroad and the
St. Louis, Alton and Terre Haute Railroad. — The
Terre Haute and Alton Railroad was chartered Jan.
28, 1851. In 1852 the Belleville and Illinoistown
Railroad Company was incorporated by the Illinois
Legislature to construct a railroad from Illinoistown
(now East St. Louis) to Belleville. In 1854 an act
was passed by the Illinois Legislature authorizing the
consolidation of both of the above railroads under the
style of the Terre Haute, Alton and St. Louis Rail-
road Company. The consolidation was not effected
until 1856, when the whole line from East St. Louis
to Terre Haute and from East St. Louis to Belleville
was completed and opened to traffic. Financial embar-
rassments overtaking the new company it was placed
in the hands of a receiver, and on the 18th of February,
1861, reorganized under the style of the St. Louis,
Alton and Terre Haute Railroad Company, which took
possession in 1862.
The Indianapolis and St. Louis Railroad was char-
tered Aug. 31, 1867, and opened July 11, 1870,
having been built in the interest of and leased to the
Pennsylvania Company (Pennsylvania Railroad). In
18G7 it leased the St. Louis, Alton and Terre Haute
Railroad for ninety-nine years ; the Cleveland, Colum-
bus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis, the Lake Shore and
Michigan Southern, the Indianapolis, Cincinnati and
Lafayette, and the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago
Railroad Companies being guarantors of the lease.
The Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Lafayette Railroad
having passed into the hands of a receiver, the other
companies were left to guarantee the provisions of the
lease, which they did until April 1, 1878, when the
Indianapolis and St. Louis Railroad Company refused
to pay the monthly rental unless the St. Louis, Alton
and Terre Haute consented to a reduction of the
rental to three hundred thousand dollars. Litigation
ensued to compel a performance of the lease.
The Cairo Short Line, as the St. Louis, Alton and
Terre Haute is generally called, is the connecting link
between St. Louis and New Orleans. It is also
closely allied with the Illinois Central, and the latter
now controls the Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans,
or Great Jackson route, which with the Cairo Short
Line forms the through line between St. Louis and
New Orleans, the entire distance being six hundred
and ninety-eight miles. The distance between St.
Louis and Cairo by the Short Line is one hundred
and fifty miles. The traffic agreement with the Texas
and St. Louis, it is confidently believed, will result in
a large exchange of business between the two roads.
The narrow-gauge has opened up an entirely new sec-
tion of country, and one, too, that is rich in resources,
and rapidly filling up with a good class of settlers. At
Cairo adequate transfer facilities have been provided,
and very little time will be lost in changing the cars
from the trucks of the two lines, which is to be dono
in order not to break bulk. The Cario Short Line
not only has a large through business, but its local
business is exceptionally fine. It is one of the heaviest
of the coal-carrying roads.
The Indianapolis and St. Louis Railroad is a part
of the " Bee-Line System," the other lines in the sys-
tem being the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and
Indianapolis Railroad and the Dayton and Union,
all of which are practically under one management.
The Bee Line has been in operation more than twenty
years. The mileage of the system is as follows :
Miles.
Indianapolis and St. Louis Line, from St. Louis to
Indianapolis 263
Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, from In-
dianapolis to Cleveland 283
Cincinnati to Cleveland 245
Columbus to Delaware, Ohio 25
Dayton to Union 47
Total..., 863
RAILROADS.
1201
The president and receiver of the company is J.
H. Devereux, of Cleveland, Ohio. The president of
the St. Louis, Alton and Terre Haute Company is
\V. Bayard Cutting, of New York ; Vice-President,
Treasurer, and General Manager, George W. Parker,
St. Louis ; Secretary, E. F. Leonard, St. Louis.
Louisville and Nashville Railroad. — The St.
Louis and Southeastern Railway (Louisville and
Nashville Railroad, St. Louis Division) was the
outcome of railroads chartered by the States of
Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The
St. Louis and Southeastern and the Evansville
and Southern Illinois were chartered by the State
of Illinois in 1869. The Evansville, Carmi and
Paducah Railroad Company was chartered by In-
diana in the same year. Under those three charters
the main line from St. Louis to Evansville, Ind., and
the Shawneetown Branch were constructed. The road
from Mount Vernon to Ashley and from Ashley to St.
Louis was put under contract immediately, and trains
were running to Mount Vernon in 1870, and to East
St. Louis in 1871. The Illinois companies were con-
solidated in 1870 under the name of the St. Louis
and Southeastern Railway Company of Illinois and
Indiana.
In 1872 negotiations were finally completed by
which the franchises of the Evansville, Henderson
and Nashville Railroad, incorporated by Kentucky in
1807 to build a railroad from Henderson to the State
line of Tennessee, were transferred to the St. Louis
and Southeastern. The length of the road proper is
208 miles, divided into the St. Louis Division, from
East St. Louis to Evansville, 1G0.8 miles; the Shaw-
neetown Branch, 4 1.5 miles; and the O'Fallon Branch,
5.9 miles. The Kentucky Division, from Henderson
to Guthrie, is 98 miles in length, and the Tennessee
Division, from Guthrie to Nashville, is 47 miles in
length.
In 1880 the road passed under the control of the
Louisville and Nashville Railroad, and now forms a
part of that, great system.
The Louisville and Nashville Railroad connects
St. Louis with Nashville, Tenn., it being three
hundred and sixty-one miles to the latter point, and
there joins the system which extends through the
Southeast, penetrating with its leased lines and allied
roads the States of Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee,
Georgia, and Florida. The Louisville and Nashville
system proper, without including the leased lines, is
two thousand three hundred and twenty miles in
length. The headquarters are at Louisville, and it
is regarded as one of the most valuable of the lines
classed as Southern roads.
In conjunction with the Chesapeake and Ohio Road,
with which it connects at Louisville, a through route to
points in West Virginia, Virginia, Washington, Balti-
more, and Georgia is formed. During the past year
the Louisville and Nashville opened up a line be-
tween St. Louis and the city of Louisville, the route
being formed over the Louisville Air Line, which
meets the Louisville and Nashville at Mount Vernon,
111. The line passes the county-seat of every county
on the route in Illinois, and traverses one of the
best wheat-growing sections of that State. There is
a large milling interest on the road, and it is one of
the heaviest coal-carrying roads that enters the city of
St. Louis.
St. Louis and Cairo Railroad. — The Cairo and
St. Louis Railroad Company was chartered Feb. 16,
1865, to construct a railroad from East St. Louis, via
Columbia and Waterloo, Red Bud and Sparta,
Murphysboro' and Jonesboro', to Cairo. Ground was
broken Aug. 30, 1871, and the road was completed
and opened on the 1st of March, 1875. On July 14,
1881, the road was sold, under foreclosure of the first
mortgage bonds, and a new company organized, under
the name of the St. Louis and Cairo Railroad Com-
pany, which took possession of the road on Feb. 1,
1882. The line of the road extends from East St.
Louis to Cairo, 111., a distance of 146.5 miles. The
St. Louis and Cairo Railroad is a narrow-gauge line,
and was the first of its kind built near St. Louis. Its
business has been chiefly of a local nature, and prin-
cipally between the points from which the name is
derived. It passes through some of the most pros-
perous counties of Illinois, and has built up a business
which, while not being regarded as large, is fairly
satisfactory. One of the drawbacks has been the
gauge, on account of which the exchange of business
with the standard gauge roads has been comparatively
light. About a year ago it was generally supposed
that the St. Louis and Cairo would make connec-
tion with the Texas and St. Louis (the Paramore
system), and thus form the connecting link between
that chain of narrow-gauge lines and the Toledo, Cin-
cinnati and St. Louis, the latter now practically com-
pleted to East St. Louis. The arrangement, however,
was not carried out, as the Texas and St. Louis some
time since made a traffic arrangement with the Cairo
Short Line and the Illinois Central.
The directors of the company in 1882 were S.
Corning Judd, H. B. Whitehouse, Chicago; J. A.
Horsey, E. Norton, New York ; J. B. Livingston,
East St. Louis ; F. Bross, Cairo. President, W. F.
Whitehouse, Chicago ; General Superintendent,
Charles Hamilton, St. Louis.
1202
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
The Toledo, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railroad
is the longest narrow-gauge road east of the Missis-
sippi River, and is now practically finished to East
St. Louis, where track-yards, freight-houses, and de-
pots are being provided. The original name of the
road was the Toledo, Delphos and Bloomington, but
it was subsequently changed to the style given above.
The system now embraces a mileage of about nine
hundred miles, and the necessary amount of money
has been secured to put in order and equip the St.
Louis end. At Delphos, Ohio, the line branches to
St. Louis, making nearly a direct route from St. Louis
to Toledo, Ohio. This will be a most important road
to St. Louis, as it runs through the upper Ohio val-
ley, and thus opens up to trade a territory not here-
tofore directly tributary to this market.
The West End Narrow-Gauge Railway extends
from Grand Avenue, St. Louis, to Florissant, Mo., a
distance of sixteen miles. It was opened Oct. 1,
1878, and sold under foreclosure in March, 1879.
The president of the company is Erastus Wells ;
Superintendent, Holla Wells ; Secretary and Treasurer,
William D. Henry.
The East St. Louis and Carondelet Railway
was chartered on the 18th of February, 1857, and
opened Sept, 26, 1872. It is used chiefly as a con-
necting road for all lines terminating at East St. Louis.
It extends from East St. Louis to Falling Springs,
111., a distance of 9.25 miles, with a branch to East
Carondelet, a distance of 2.25 miles. At East Ca-
rondelet. by means of the Missouri Pacific steam ferry,
cars are transferred to and fro between the Missouri
Pacific and San Francisco and Iron Mountain Roads
and the roads on the east bank of the river. The
officers of the company are Thomas D. Messier, presi-
dent, Pittsburgh ; John B. Bowman, secretary, East
St. Louis ; W. H. Barnes, treasurer, Pittsburgh ;
Joseph Hill, general superintendent, St. Louis.
The East St. Louis Connecting Railway ex-
tends along the levee in East St. Louis a distance of
1.25 miles. The company was chartered Dec. 2G,
1877, and the road was opened Oct. 28, 1879. The
officers are S. C. Clubb, president, St. Louis ; S. A.
Chouteau, secretary, St. Louis; Gordon Willis, gen-
eral freight agent, East St. Louis; H. L. Clark,
treasurer, St. Louis ; Robert Henry, road-master,
East St. Louis.
The Illinois and St. Louis Railroad and Coal
Company was chartered originally as the St. Clair
Railroad Company on the 26th of February, 1841,
and the name was changed to that of the Pittsburgh
Railroad and Coal Company, chartered Feb. 10, 1859.
The corporation was reorganized under its present
title on the 16th of February, 1865. The line ex-
tends from Belleville, 111., to East St. Louis, 111., a
distance of fifteen miles, and has coal-mine branches
aggregating three miles in length.
The St. Louis Bridge Railroad was operated
until 1881 by the St. Louis Bridge Company, which
succeeded (March 17, 1879) the Illinois and St.
Louis Bridge Company, sold out under foreclosure.
On the 1st of July, 1881, the bridge was leased to
the Missouri Pacific and Wabash, St. Louis and
Pacific Railway Companies. The length of the track
on the great bridge across the Mississippi and its
approaches is 6439 feet, and the length in St. Louis
is 11.19 miles, and in East St. Louis 5.77 miles.
The bridge has two roadways, — the lower one for
steam railway traffic alone, the upper one for horse
railways, wagons, and foot-passengers.
The St. Louis Coal Railroad is owned and con-
trolled chiefly by capitalists of St. Louis, mostly
manufacturers and coal-miners. Its length is now
about one hundred miles. It runs to some of the
largest coal-mines in Illinois, and there are being
started on the line som« iron- and steel-works that
promise to be the largest in the State. It reaches
St. Louis over the Cairo Short Line track.
The Tunnel Railroad of St. Louis was formerly
the St. Louis Tunnel Railroad, which was sold under
foreclosure, and a new company formed under the
title of the Tunnel Railroad of St. Louis, with a
capital of one million two hundred and fifty thousand
dollars, divided into shares of one hundred dollars
each. In July, 1881, this company leased its road
and property to the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific
and the Missouri Pacific Railway Companies, which
agreed to pay as rental an annual dividend of six per
cent, on the capital stock, to pay two thousand five
hundred dollars a year for the expenses of organiza-
tion, to provide and maintain offices in New York
and St. Louis, and to pay all expenses of advertising,
etc. The president of the company is Julius S.
Walsh, of St. Louis. The length of the tunnel is
about one mile.
MILEAGE OF RAILROADS CENTERING IN ST. LOUIS IN 1882.
HAILROADS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
Miles.
Ynndalia Line 356
Ohio and Mississippi 624
Bee Line 863
Chicago and Alton 567
AVab:ish,St. Louis and Pacific (east).. 2307
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy 1064
Louisville and Nashville 319
St. Louis nnd Cairo 151
Toledo, Cincinnati and St. Louis 900
Cairo Short Line , 150
Total eastward .
7,301
RAILROADS.
1203
RAILROADS WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
Miles.
Southwestern system 5944
St. Louis and San Francisco 891
Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific (west).. 1363
Chicago and Alton (west) 265
Keokuk and St. Louis Line 189
Texas and St. Louis 800
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy
(west) 1522
Total westward..
Aggregate..
10,924
18,225
St. Louis, although advantageously situated, with
sixteen railroads and three great rivers, has labored
under many disadvantages in respect to freight rates,
and an attempt is now being made through the or-
ganization of a Freight Bureau to obtain her just
rights in the premises. The amount of business in
the past year, as indicated by the tonnage handled,
shows a steady increase, as will be seen by the fol-
lowing table :
1882. 1881. 1880.
Tons freight received... 7,702,702 7,602,985 6,990,384
Tons fi eight shipped 4,519,065 4,346,937 3,793,205
Total by river and rail 12,221,767 11,949,922 10,783,589
"Union Depot, on the south side of Poplar Street,
between Ninth and Twelfth, is the central point at
which converge the railroads entering St. Louis. It
is a large building of brick and stone, and was erected
by a company organized on the 10th of June, 1871.
At the preliminary meeting held for the purpose of
completing the organization " for the establishment of
a union passenger depot and tunnel in St. Louis"
the following persons were present :
Daniel Torrance, president 0. and M. R. R. Co.; A. N.
Christie, vice-president 0. and M. R. R. Co.; Gen. L. B. Par-
sons, director 0. and M. and North Mo. R. R. ; W. R. McKeen,
president St. Louis, Vandalia and Terre Haute Railroad ; W.
G. Broughton, superintendent St. L. and St. J. ; E. W. Wood-
ward, president Indianapolis and St. Louis R. R. ; Oscar Town-
send, president C. C. C. and I. 11. R. Co.; J. J. Mitchell, di-
rector C. and A. R. R. ; J. C. McMulkn, general superintendent
C. and A. R. R. ; Gen. E. F. Winslow, president St. L. and S.
E. R. R.; A. Carnegie, director U. P. R. R.; Capt. James B.
Eads, chief engineer Bridge Company; Dr. William Taussig,
chairman executive committee Bridge Co.; William P. Shinn,
gineral agent Pcnn. Central R. R. Co.; James Smith, of Jami-
son, Smith & Cotling, bankers, New York ; Col. T. A. Scott,
president Penn. Central R. R. Co.; J. A. McCullough, general
manager Penn. Central; J. N. Drummond, assistant president
T. W. and W. R. W. Co.; Gen. A. Anderson, vice-president T.
W. and W. R. W. Co. ; Hon. W. M. McPherson, director in
Bridge Company and N. M. R. R. Co.; Col. George E. Leighton
and B. M. Chambers, directors in Mo. Pacific 11. R. Co. ; Thomas
Alkn, president Iron Mountain R. R.
On motion of Col. Thomas A. Scott, the following
plan of organization was adopted :
" 1. The company to be organized on a basis of five millions
of dollars, as follows:
" First mortgage seven per cent, gold bonds,
free of tax ,
Three millions capital stock
"From which it is expected to realize —
Two millions of bonds, at say 85
Three millions capital (assuming that only
one-third will be called)
"Which will cover the following estimated
cost :
Real estate
Tunnel (according to engineer's estimates)
Depot building (according to engineer's esti-
mates)
Interest on bonds during construction
Contingencies
$2,000,000
3,000,000
$5,000,000
$1,700,000
1,000,000
$2,700,000
$750,000
615,000
1,000,000
100,000
235,000
$2,700,000
"2. The amount necessary to pay the annual interest on the
bonds and the premium thereon (say $155,000), also eight per
cent, interest on the paid-up capital ($80,000), also the costs
and expenses of maintenance (say $50,000), and a sufficient
amount to provide a sinking fund of not less than $50,000 per
annum, which shall bo used by the trustees, first, to reduce by
lot annually the bonded indebtedness until it is paid off, and
thereafter to return ratably to each shareholder ninety per
cent, of his stock investment, and when this is accomplished,
the depot and its business shall ever thereafter be subject only
to such assessment as will be required to pay its maintenance.
Taxes and working expenses with eight per cent, per annum
on the remaining ten per cent, of stock, which shall be pre-
served for the purpose of holding intact the corporate organi-
zation and franchises of the company, shall be assessed pro
rata against all the roads using the depot and tunnel.
" 3. Contracting roads pay only the net amount of such as-
sessment; non-contracting roads or future lines shall pay thirty
(30) per cent, in addition to their j»-o rated assessment, of which
additional percentage one-half is to be returned to the contract-
ing roads according to their pro rata, and the other half, to-
gether with all the rents obtained from the building proper,
such as offices, eating-houses, restaurants, etc., goes to stock.
" 4. AVith the consent of the depot company and two-thirds
of the contracting lines, the additional percentage of the as-
sessment against non-contracting lines may be reduced to not
less than ten (10) per cent.
"5. The pro rating shall be made on the tonnnge of freight
passing through the tunnel or going to the depot, whether
through the tunnel or otherwise, and also on each passenger-,
baggage-, and express-car entering the depot or tunnel (an
account of which shall bo kept by the depot company), and
each passenger-, baggage-, and express-car shall be assessed the
same as ten tons of freight. But the board of directors shall,
by the assent of two-thirds of its entire body, have authority
to make and establish from time to time such tariff of rates and
charges, both as regards the through and local business that
may be done in said tunnel and depot, as they may deem just
and equitable, it being, however, provided that the rates so es-
tablished shall produce the amount required as stated in Sec-
tion 2.
"6. No charge shall be made to contracting roads for loco-
motives or empty cars.
"7. The privileges of the depot consist in the use of tracks
in the depot proper and sidings for empty trains, waiting-rooms,
baggage- and conductors' rooms, ticket- and telegraph-offices.
" 8. The choice of tracks and other depot facilities shall be
at the option of contracting roads. In case of disagreement it
shall be determined by lot.
1204
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
"9. The passage of trains through the tunnel shall be regu-
lated in the same order of precedence as that established by the
bridge company.
" 10. Each contracting road shall bind itself to use the pas-
senger depot and tunnel during the term of the corporate ex-
istence of the Union Depot Company, and they further respec-
tively agree to run each and all of their passenger-trains
running through the present limits of St. Louis to and from
said company's depot in St. Louis, and to pay such rates for
their use and maintenance (according to provisions of para-
graph 2) as may be equitably assessed against it according to
their use, and shall subscribe not less than fifty thousand dol-
lars to its capital stock, payable in installments, as called for
by the board during the progress of the work.
"11. Every contracting road terminating in East St. Louis
or in St. Louis shall be entitled to be represented by one di-
rector in the board of directors, and provision shall be made as
soon as possible to carry this article into effect."
The following were the articles of association :
"ARTICLE 1. The corporate title of this association shall be
the Union Depot Company of St. Louis.
" ART. 2. The object of this company shall be the acquisition
of the necessary grounds and the erection of the necessary
buildings for the establishment and maintenance of a union
passenger depot in the city of St. Louis, also, ultimately, of a
union freight depot for the accommodation of through and local
freight, and to make such arrangements with the bridge com-
pany as may be found needful for the early completion of the
connections leading from the bridge to the depot or depots of
this company or other companies, by tunnel or otherwise.
•' AUT. 3. The company shall organize under the provisions
of the act of the General Assembly of the State of Missouri,
approved March 10, 1871, providing for the formation of such
companies.
" AUT. 4. The capital of the company shall be three million
dollars, to be represented by thirty thousand shares of one hun-
dred dollars each, and its corporate existence shall continue for
nine hundred and ninety-nine years.
"ART. 5. So soon as five hundred thousand dollars are sub-
scribed to the capital stock, the subscribers thereto shall, either
in person or by duly executed proxy, elect a board of nine
directors, who shall continue in office for one year, and who,
immediately after their election, shall organize by the choice of
a president from among their number, and of a secretary and
treasurer. Until such time as the company has its own offices,
such election and meetings of the board shall be held at the office
of the Illinois and St. Louis Bridge Company.
" ART. 6. Five per cent, of the amount subscribed shall be
paid in cash at the time of subscription, and until a treasurer
is elected William Taussig, of the city of St. Louis, is author-
ized to collect such first cash payment.
" ART. 7. The board of directors shall, as soon as practicable,
enact by-laws for the government of the company, and the ' plan
of organization' hereto attached shall form the basis of such by-
laws.
" The undersigned agree to the above articles of association,
and subscribe the number of shares set opposite their names to
the capital stock of the Union Depot Company of St. Louis :
•
Subscribers. No. Shares.
Ohio and Mississippi Railway Company, by D. Torrance,
president 1000
A. N. Christie 1000
Louis B. Parsons 1000
The Toledo, Wabash and Western, by A. Anderson..*... 2500
St. Louis, Vondalia and Terre llaute, by William K.
McKeen 1000
Indianapolis and St. Louis Railroad Company, by E. W.
Woodward 500
J. B. Ends, on account of the North Missouri Railroad.. 1000
Illinois and St. Louis Bridge Company, by William M.
McPherson, president 1000
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railroad Company,
by Thomas A. Scott, president 2250
The Pennsylvania Company, by Thomas A. Scott, presi-
dent 2000
St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad Company, by
Thomas Allen, president 500
Chicago and Alton Railroad, by J. J. Mitchell 500
James B. Eads 50
James D. Smith 50
Andrew Carnegie 100
William Taussig 100
Thomas A. Scott 50
James II. Britton 50
D. Torrance 50
A. N. Chiistie 50
Stock having been subscribed to the extent of fifteen
thousand shares, a meeting of the stockholders was
held. Thomas A. Scott was elected chairman, and
William P. Shinn secretary.
On motion of Capt. Eads it was resolved that the
subscribers proceed to an election of nine directors of
the company by ballot. Messrs. Smith and Britton
were appointed tellers. The election having been
held, the tellers reported the whole number of votes
cast fourteen thousand three hundred ; necessary to
a choice, seven thousand one hundred and seventy-six.
The following gentlemen were declared duly elected
for the ensuing year, each receiving fourteen thousand
three hundred and fifty votes, to wit : D. Torrance,
E. W. Woodward, William R. McKeen, Thomas
Allen, J. B. Eads, Thomas A. Scott, J. J. Mitchell,
A. Boody, William Taussig. The meeting then ad-
journed.
The board of directors then met, and was called
to order by Col. T. A. Scott. Dr. William Taussig
was then elected president of the board, and Daniel
Torrance vice-president ; E. W. Woodward was
chosen secretary pro tern. ; Col. James II. Britton
was elected treasurer of the board.
On motion of Col. Scott, it was resolved that the
president be requested to collect and prepare a report
of all the data and information respecting sites and
plans for depot purposes, with power to employ proper
persons to assist in obtaining such data.
On motion of Mr. Mitchell, it was resolved that the
books of subscription to the stock of the company
be closed until otherwise ordered by the board.
At a meeting of the directors held on the 27th of
June, 1871, it was
"Resolved, That a special committee of five be appointed to
confer with the authorities of the city of St. Louis, with the
officers of the several lines of railroads west of the river that
terminate in St. Louis, and such other parties as said committee
may deem needful, in order to ascertain whether the facilities
and united action can be obtained, said committee to have
RAILROADS.
1205
power to call the board together whenever they are prepared to
submit a report for consideration of the board.
"Resolved, That no location of the depot west of Fourth
Street should be considered."
The resolutions were adopted unanimously, and the
following gentlemen were appointed the committee :
Col. Thomas A. Scott, D. Torrance, A. Boody,
Thomas Allen, J. B. Eads. The president, Dr.
Taussig, was added to the committee. The site on
Poplar Street was finally chosen, and the building
erected.
On the 9th of May, 1874, the St. Louis Union
Depot Company was chartered under an act author-
izing the formation of union depots and stations for
railroads in the cities of Missouri, approved March
18, 1871. The charter was to run ninety-nine years.
The capital stock of the company was $1,000,000,
divided into ten thousand shares of one hundred
dollars each. The following is the list of incorpo-
rators, with the amount of stock subscribed by each :
William D. Griswold $10,000
William H. Clement 25,000
Joseph N. Kinney 25,000
llobert M. Shoemaker 25,000
Peter W. Strader '. 25,000
AVilliam Taussig 5,000
Samuel Gaty 2,500
Total $117,500
OMNIBUS AND STREET-CAR LINES.
In St. Louis as elsewhere the omnibus preceded
the street-car, just as the stage preceded the railway
train.
In March, 1838, Mr. Belcher was proprietor of an
omnibus line which a local journal stated was " de-
serving of the praise and patronage of the public for
the handsome and convenient style in which his car-
riage is fitted up." This enterprise did not, however,
receive the patronage it deserved, and Mr. Belcher's
omnibus line soon suspended operations. In the fall
of 1844, Erastus Wells, now one of the leading
citizens of St. Louis, associated himself with Calvin
.Case, and the firm of Case & Wells established an
omnibus line. Referring to the enterprise a St. Louis
newspaper of June 11, 1845, said, —
" It is but a few months since our opinion was asked as to the
probable profits of an omnibus to be run in a certain part of the
city. At that time no omnibuses were run in the city. The ex-
periment was attempted. The first was started by Messrs. Case
& Wells, to run from the National Hotel, on Market Street, to
the ferry at the upper end of the city. We believe it has been
as successful as could have been expected from a new under-
taking. At first people were a little shy of it; some did not
think it exactly a genteel way of traveling the streets. These
scruples have entirely disappeared, and everybody now rides in
them, and is glad of the opportunity. Messrs. Case & Wells
manifest a determination to keep up with the encouragement
given, and have lately put on their line a new and beautiful
77
omnibus manufactured in Troy, N. Y. It is a fine specimen of
workmanship, and is a very comfortable carriage. In addition
to the line above mentioned, wo now have regular lines running
from the National Hotel to the arsenal, along Second Street; a
line from the Planters' House to the arsenal, along Fourth
Street; a line from the corner of Fourth and Market Streets to
the Camp Springs, and a line to the Prairie House. All seem
to be doing a flourishing and profitable business, and they
prove to be a great convenience to persons residing in distant
parts, and to those having business to attend to in remote parts
of the city. They have contributed not a little to give an in-
crease of value to real estate lying at a distance from the centre
or business part of the city."
The first omnibus of St. Louis manufacture was
placed upon the Market Street and Carondclet Avenue
line Sept. 17, 1845. It was constructed by T. Salorgne,
and was " in every respect equal to those used on the
Case & Wells line."1 The Sunday idea in 184(1
entered into the legislation about omnibuses, and the
City Council adopted the following ordinance :
" It shall not be lawful for any omnibus or vehicle capable of
containing more than four persons to be driven in the streets of
this city on Sunday after the hour of two o'clock in the after-
noon, for the purpose of carrying passengers from point to point
within the city, or from a point within the city to a point with-
out the same, or from a point without the city to a point within
the same. For any violation of this section, the owner, driver,
or person in charge of any such vehicle shall forfeit and pay for
the first offense not less than twenty dollars, for the second
offense not less than fifty dollars, for the third offtnse not less
than one hundred dollars, and upon a third conviction the
license to run such vehicle shall be adjudged to be forfeited."
"The above," said the Jtepullivun of June 22d, in reference
to the ordinance, "is a fair specimen of the legislation of the
Native American City Council. The distinction drawn between
the morning and evening of Sunday, making an act lawful if
done before 2 o'clock P.M. and unlawful if done after that hour,
the distinction between carriages that will hold four and those
that will hold five persons, the allowing the rich and prodigal
who can own or hire a carriage an unbounded latitude to ride
and drive through the streets at all hours, while the laboring
and less prodigal must not enjoy a ride, although it only costs
a dime, is worthy of this enlightened age and the liberal spirit
of the board that can sanction it."
In 1850, Erastusi Wells, with Calvin Case, Robert
O'Blennus, and Lawrence Matthews, formed a com-
bination which purchased and operated all the omni-
bus lines in St. Louis. In the following year there
were six lines in- existence, as follows : First, from the
arsenal to Carondelet ; second, from the corner of
Market and Second Streets to the arsenal ; third, from
the corner of Main and Market to Camp Springs ;
fourth, from the corner of Broadway and Franklin
Avenue to Rising Sun Tavern ; fifth, from the cor-
ner of Market and Third to Bremen; sixth, from
Bremen to Bissell's Ferry. The omnibuses from
these points started from every four to ten minutes,
i Republican, Sept. 17, 1815.
1206
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
and the lines comprised in all ninety omnibuses, four
hundred and fifty head of horses, four stables, and
about one hundred hands.
Luther Case also had a line running on Seventh
Street, from the corner of Morgan Street and Broad-
way to the Flora Garden, and comprising seven omni-
buses, forty-five head of horses, and about fifteen
hand?.
William Billings was just entering into the busi-
ness, and had three omnibuses on Broadway, which
ran from the corner of Second and Market Streets to
Bremen.
In 1859 the city's territory had grown to such di-
mensions that the introduction of the street-car sys-
tem had become a necessity. On the 3d of January
of that year a meeting of citizens of the First Ward
was held at Jaeger's Garden, " to consider the subject
of horse railroads." T. C. Chester called the meeting
to order, and David Bayles was elected chairman.
Benjamin Bryson, Sebastian Burbeck, and Noah H.
Whittemore were chosen vice-chairmen, and William
S. Hilyer secretary. On taking the chair, Mr. Bayles
made a short address, in the course of which he
argued that the establishment of a safe, speedy, and
comfortable mode of travel from one end of the city
to the other parts would enhance the value of sub-
urban property, increase the population of the out-
skirts, and build up business in those localities. A
committee consisting of Thomas C. Chester, H. C.
Lynch, B. Vanewitz, A. Hammer, and Joseph N.
Lock, was appointed by the chairman to draft resolu-
tions expressive of the sense of the meeting. While
the committee were absent, W. S. Hilyer addressed
the meeting.
The committee on resolutions reported through
Mr. Chester the following :
" Resolved, By the citizens of the First Ward, in mass-meet-
ing assembled, —
•'1. That the construction of horse railways upon the public
streets, connecting the suburbs more clcfsely with the centre and
with each other, and affording increased facilities for rapid and
convenient communication with all parts of the city, is a
measure commending itself highly to our favor and encourage-
ment.
"2. That the successful completion and operation of such
railways will contribute in an especial manner to the growth
and prosperity of our own ward, by inducing settlement and
improvement within its limits, and filling up our now large
vacant territory with an industrious and thrift}- population.
" 3. That the aldermen and delegates of the First Ward in
the City Council be, and they are hereby instructed to en-
courage and promote by all lawful means within the sphere of
their official duties the granting of the right of way for one
track on Carondelet Avenue, and one on Seventh Street, and
such other necessary facilities to city railway companies as will
contribute to the speedy completion of the roads, limiting them,
however, to passenger traffic alone, and surrounding them with
such proper and wholesome restrictions as will insure the safety
and convenience of the public."
Mr. Chester, on reporting the resolutions, made a
few appropriate remarks. Dr. Hammer also spoke,
" criticising the action of the late meeting of citizens
of the Second and Third Wards, and ascribing the
disaffection manifested there to the influence of a few
politicians who had axes to grind."
T. E. Courtenay followed in a brief speech, setting
forth the advantages of street railroads, and answer-
ing the arguments of their opponents.
The resolutions were then submitted to the action
of those present, and were adopted by a large vote.
The first street car corporation in St. Louis was the
Missouri Railroad Company, and the first car was
run on the 4th of July, 1859, the driver being the
president of the company, Hon. Erastus Wells. A
contemporaneous account thus describes the event :
"In accordance with previous arrangements and expecta-
tions, this the first horse railroad in St. Louis was brought into
practical use yesterday at ten o'clock by running over its track
the first car, which arrived via the Ohio and Mississippi Rail-
road yesterday morning, and was immediately placed upon the
track at the Fourth Street termination of the road, in the pres-
ence of a large number of spectators congregated there to wit-
ness the somewhat 'novel sight of a horse-car. It is a beautiful
vehicle, light, elegant, and commodious, built with fifteen others
of the same style for the Missouri Railroad Company by Kiui-
ball & Gorton, Philadelphia, at a cost of nine hundred dollars,
including freights, etc.
"At ten o'clock a few invited guests with the directors of tho
road took their scats within the car, and the horses were at-
tached to the pole, which can readily be shipped to cither end
of the car. Mr. E. Wells, president of the road, then took the
reins, and after a jerk or two the first car moved slowly but
steadily up the track, amidst loud shouts and cheers from the
crowd. Troops of urchins followed in its wake, endeavoring to
hang on, and we fear unless this is prevented in future serious
accidents may occur. The centre of the track, or footpath,
being macadamized and not sufficiently settled, small pieces of
rock were constantly being detached by the horses' feet, and
falling upon the track material!}' retarded the progress of the
car, in several cases throwing it from the track. The switches
or turn-out?, too, require some alterntion, as they do not answer
entirely the purpose intended. Several times the car failed,
to run upon the track intended, and a general backing out
was found necessary before the car could proceed. But after
various delays of this nature the car arrived at Tenth Street,
the track having been cleared of stone only that distance. The
horses were then attached to the other end, and the return trip
progressed, and after but few delays, the track being much
improved by the first trip, the pioneer car arrived at Fourth
Street, where it was again greeted by a large crowd of persons,
each waiting an opportunity for a free ride. During the pro-
gress of the car through the streets its presence was greeted by
hundreds of fair faces beaming from every window and door,
while shouts of joy from scores of urchins heralded its ap-
proach. The first trip has proved the enterprise a complete
success, and at each subsequent trip which was made with the
car crowded to repletion fresh laurels were won, as the horses
pulled the enormous load without apparent effort."
RAILROADS.
1207
During the same year the St. Louis, Citizens', and
People's Lines were started in close succession in the
months of August, September, and October. With
each succeeding year new companies have been or-
ganized and new lines constructed, until now the city
is amply supplied with transportation facilities. The
first two-story car, or "double-decker," was used on the
Northwestern St. Louis Railway, Oct. 25, 1874. The
running of a steam motor was attempted in the sub-
urbs, but the accidents occurring from the frightening
of horses caused the experiment to be abandoned. In
April, 1881, a general strike was inaugurated on the
part of the conductors and drivers on all the lines,
and resulted in a general suspension of business. On
April 24th, 25th, 2Gth, and 27th no cars were run in
the city. On the 28th of April the Missouri Railroad
Company and the Lindell Company effected a com-
promise with their employes and resumed business on
their respective lines. On the 29th and 30th the other
roads followed their example. The various roads with
their connections form one complete network, and
afford the traveling public every facility for going to
any portion of the city on short notice. A uniform
fare of five cents is charged, the tickets on any road
being good on all others.
According to the assessment of 1882, the valuation
of the different street railway companies of St. Louis
is as follows :
Bcnton and Bellefontaine, 6J miles of track, $10,330 ; real
estate, 632,760. Total, $43,090.
Ca.-ss Avenue and Fair Grounds, 8.62 miles of track, §26,550;
real estate, $32,850. Total, §59,400.
Lindell Railroad, 9J miles of track, $33,250 ; real estate, $54,-
020. Total, $87,270.
Missouri Railroad (Olive and Market Streets), Si miles of
track, $29,750; real estate, $57,240. Total, $86,990.
Mound City, 6J miles of track, $15,000.
People's Railway, 8 miles of track, $28,000.
St. Louis (Fifth Street), 14 j miles, $44,000; real estate, $39,-
100. Total, $83,100.
South St. Louis, 12 miles of track, $24,400.
Tower Grove, 1 mile, $2000.
Tower Grove and Lafayette, 3£ miles, $8000 ; real estate,
$6790. Total, $14,790.
Union Line (Fourth and Locust), 8 miles, $28,000 ; real estate,
$15,030. Total, $63,030.
Union Depot, 10 miles, $25,000; real estate, $14,390. Total,
:;90.
The total length of the roads is 119.6 miles; total number of
rars, 4HG; total number of horses, 2280; total number of men
employed, 1010; total number of passengers carried, 19,000,000.
These companies return horses and mules as follows : Benton
and Bellefontaine, 132; Cass Avenue, 193; Lindell, 356; Olive
and Market, 295; Mound City, 93; People's, 250; Fifth Street,
437; South St. Louis, 75; Tower Grove and Lafayette, 93; Union,
210; Union Depot, 366.
THE MISSOURI RAILROAD COMPANY was organ-
ized May 10, 1859, with a capital stock of three
hundred thousand dollars, as authorized by an act of
the Legislature of Missouri dated Dec. 13, 1855,
and by an ordinance of the City Council May 6,
1859. The incorporators were William Vanzandt,
Marcus M. Hodgman, Charles Hathaway, Erastus
Wells, George Trask, Marshall Brotherton, and Wil-
liam M. McPherson. Erastus Wells was chosen
president of the company upon its organization, and
was successively re-elected and held the position until
Nov. 5, 1881. The construction of the road was
commenced in the early part of 1859, and was com-
pleted from Fourth and Olive Streets as far west as
Twelfth Street in July of that year. On July 4,
1859, as previously stated, the first car was run over
the track. The Fourth and Olive Streets line has
since been extended, running west as far as Grand
Avenue. In 1859 the Market Street line extended
from Fourth to High Street, but has since been ex-
tended west to Grand Avenue, and to Tower Grove
Station. This road was controlled and managed by
the original incorporators until Nov. 5, 1881, when
the stock was transferred to the present corpora-
tion and an election held, resulting as follows : P.
Chouteau Maffitt, president ; John R. Lionberger,
vice-president; William D. Henry, secretary and
treasurer, and Charles M. Allen, superintendent ; P.
C. Maffitt, John R. Lionberger, Charles Parsons,
Daniel Catlin, and James Clarke, directors. Under
the new management the capital stock of the road
was increased from three hundred thousand dollars to
six hundred thousand dollars. The route at present
is from Fourth and Market Streets to Bellevue House,
Manchester road, and Olive Street to Grand Avenue.
The offices and Market Street stables are located at
No. 1827 Market Street, and the Olive Street line
stables on Olive, between Leonard and Channing
Avenues.
THE ST. Louis RAILROAD COMPANY was organ-
ized Feb. 1, 1859, and incorporated March 24, 1859,,
the incorporators being Hudson E. Bridge, D. A. Jan-
uary, John How, Alexander Peterson, Robert A.
Barnes, James H. Lucas, William M. McPherson,
D. H. Armstrong, Frederick Meyer, and George R.
Taylor. The original capital stock was three hundred
thousand dollars, but it has since been increased to
nine hundred thousand dollars. D. H. Armstrong
was elected president of the company in 1859, and
his successors in order have been D. A. January,
Hudson E. Bridge, W. T. Sherman (afterwards the
distinguished general), D. H. Armstrong, Hudson E.
Bridge, J. 0. F. Farrar, James H. Blood, Benjamin Far-
rar, John F. Madison, Robert A. Barnes, and Chris-
tian Pepcr. The road was built and the running oi
1208
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
cars commenced in 1859, the line of route being from
the old city limits on the north to Keokuk Street on the
south ("Wild Hunter), via Bellefontaine road, Broad-
way, Fifth and Seventh Streets, and Carondelet Ave-
nue. The total length of the company's tracks is
seven and one-half miles. The officers of the com-
pany are Christian Peper, president ; Robert A.
Barnes, vice-president; Robert B. Jennings, secre-
tary and treasurer ; Smith P. Gault, attorney ; and
Charles Ischer, superintendent. Directors, Christian
Peper, Robert A. Barnes, Henry Blakesley, F. E.
Schmieding, John N. Straat, B. Brockmann, and
Gerhard Droge.
THE CITIZENS' RAILWAY COMPANY was organized
in 1859, and commenced running during that year.
The present organization was chartered in July, 1874,
with a capital stock of three hundred thousand dol-
lars. Among the incorporators and officers were B.
Gratz Brown, president; Edward Walsh, Henry T.
Blow, James B. Eads, B. Gratz Brown, G. S. Case,
John Doyle, and Gary Gratz, directors. The track
was laid on Franklin Avenue and Morgan Street, from
Fourth to Garrison Avenue. In 1864 the company
extended the line from Garrison Avenue to Prarie
Avenue, along Easton Avenue, also from Easton Ave-
nue, along Grand Avenue, to the fair-grounds. In
1865 the capital stock was increased from three hun-
dred thousand to five hundred thousand dollars. An-
other extension was made in 1881 from Prairie Ave-
nue, along St. Charles Rock road, to Renkelville, and
along Papen Avenue to the National Bridge road and
King's Highway. The total length of the company's
lines with extensions is fourteen miles of single
track. The stables and depot are located on Prairie
Avenue and St. Charles Rock road. The first and
successive presidents have been B. Gratz Brown,
James B. Eads, A. R. Easton, and Julius S. Walsh,
who still retains the position. The other officers of
the company are J. P. Helfestein, vice-president ;
George Kaufhold, secretary and treasurer ; and
Thomas Gartland, superintendent. Directors, Julius
S. Walsh, J. P. Helfestein, A. R. Easton, G. S. Case,
John A. Walsh, J. N. Straat, and G. H. Plant,
THE PEOPLE'S RAILWAY COMPANY was organized
in 1859, and chartered June 22d of that year by spe-
cial act of the State Legislature, with a capital stock
of three hundred thousand dollars. The incorporators
were R. M. Renick, B. Able, J. H. Lightncr, P. L.
Foy, H. Crittenden, J. B. Sickles, and John S. Cav-
ender. The first president of the road, elected in
1859, was R. M. Renick, who was succeeded in turn
by G. W. Dreger, J. H. Lightner, James H. Britton,
J. R. Lionberger, D. E. Walsh, and Julius S. Walsh.
In the fall of 1859 the road was completed from
Morgan Street, running along Fourth Street and
Chouteau Avenue, to St. Ange Avenue. In 1864
the track was extended from St. Ange Avenue to
Lafayette Park. In 1882 another extension was
made from Lafayette Park, running along Lafayette
Avenue, to Grand Avenue. The total length of the
road at the present time is eight miles of single track,
which is fully equipped and supplied with all the
latest and most improved rolling stock, etc. The
stables and depot, located on Park Avenue, between
Mississippi and Second Carondelet Avenue, are sub-
stantial brick buildings, being especially constructed
for the purpose for which they are being used.
The officers of the company are Julius S. Walsh,
president; Wm. B. Ryder, secretary, and Patrick
Shea, superintendent. Directors, Julius S. Walsh,
John R. Lionberger, J. T. Sands, Chas. Green, J. H.
Lightner, James F. How, and John Jackson.
Julius S. Walsh, the present able and popular
president of the Citizens', People's, Tower Grove,
and Union Lines, has been conspicuously identified
with the growth and development of St. Louis for
twenty-five years, and his name has been associated
with many important enterprises. Mr. Walsh was
born in St. Louis, Dec. 1, 1842, and was a son of the
late Edward Walsh and Isabelle de Mun. His father
was a native of Ireland, who emigrated to America as
early as in 1815, first settling at Louisville, Ky. In
1824 he removed to St. Louis, and during that year
established the well-known firm of J. & E. Walsh.
After receiving the usual primary instruction in the
preparatory schools, Julius entered the St. Louis Uni-
versity, where he prosecuted his studies until 1859,
when he entered St. Joseph's College, Bardstown,
Ky., from which institution he graduated in 1861.
In 1863 the St. Louis University conferred upon him
the degree of Master of Arts. In 1864, Columbia
College, New York, conferred upon him the degree
of LL.B., and he was also admitted to the bar in
the State of New York.
In 1864 he returned to St. Louis and entered the
office of the firm of J. & E. Walsh. In 1866, Ed-
ward Walsh, the senior member of the firm, died,
leaving the management of the business to Julius, and
from 1866 until 1870 he was occupied in settling up
the affairs of his father's estate. The assets were of
a varied character, consisting of steamboats, railroad
stocks, real estate and other securities. During
these years he was elected director in several corpora-
tions.
Abandoning mercantile life, Mr. Walsh turned his
attention to the street railway system of St. Louis, and
EAILROADS.
1209
is among the most active of those who have con-
tributed to its extension and development. In 1870
he was elected president of the Citizens' Railway Com-
pany, and of the Fair Grounds and Suburban Railroad
Company ; the last named road having since been con
solidated with the Citizens', of which company he is
still the chief executive officer. In 1880, Mr. Walsh
was elected president of the People's Railway Company,
the Park Railroad Company, and the Tower Grove
and Lafayette Railroad Company, which positions he
still retains. In 1882 he was chosen a director in the
Third National Bank of St. Louis.
In 1874 he was elected president of the St. Louis
Agricultural and Mechanical Association, and served
as its chief executive officer for four consecutive years,
infusing into the management an energy and method
strikingly characteristic of all his business operations.
At the time he became president of the association, its
eighty-three acres were occupied only one week during
the entire year, which was during the annual fair,
while the remainder of the year it remained closed to
the public. He at once set to work to make the
grounds attractive at all seasons and on every day of
the year. He commenced this improvement by first
erecting the Art Gallery, and next founded the Zoo-
logical Gardens, which have since become so popular
and such a favorite public resort. The gardens con-
tain some of the finest and rarest specimens of the
animal kingdom in America. During his term of
office as president of the association, all the beautiful
buildings of the department: of natural history were
erected, and the grounds converted from an unsightly
waste to a beautiful landscape. These improvements
were most beneficial to the association, securing to it
a daily revenue instead of during only one week of
the year. The grounds were embellished with fine
trees, handsomely inclosed and ornamented with
shrubbery, flowers, drives, graded walks, etc., and
were made one of the most beautiful spots of the kind
in the country.
In 1875 the Illinois and St. Louis bridge passed
into the hands of receivers, and Julius S. Walsh was
appointed agent in St. Louis. The affairs of the
Bridge Company at that time were much complicated
and embarrassed ; but upon his resignation as agent
in 1876 he received the most complimentary letters
from J. Pierpont Morgan and Solon Humphreys, of
New York, who were the receivers, and from Messrs.
J. S. Morgan & Co., of London, the agents of the
bondholders, expressing their entire satisfaction at the
manner in which he had conducted the affairs of the
corporation, and urging him to continue his relations
with the Bridge Company.
In 1875 he was made president of the South Pass
Jetty Company, and continued to hold that position
for the term of three years, when he resigned on ac-
count of the pressure of other business. Mr. Walsh
was the first person to subscribe to the stock of the
corporation, and it was largely owing to his individual
efforts that its financial success was secured.
On the reorganization of the Tunnel Railroad Com-
pany of St. Louis, at the first meeting of the directors,
on Dec. 19, 1878, Mr. Walsh was elected president,
and has ever since retained that position. In 1880,
having served for a number of years as director in the
St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern Railroad Com-
pany, he was, upon its consolidation with the St. Louis,
Wabash and Pacific Railway, made a director in the
last-named corporation, which position he afterwards
resigned to accept the presidency of the St. Louis
Bridge Company. The executive ability of Mr. Walsh
is well known, and has been exhibited in several other
positions of great responsibility.
Notwithstanding his great popularity and wide-
spread influence, Mr. Walsh has never aspired to
municipal, State, or national office, but has always
exhibited the keenest interest in every important
movement concerning the growth and welfare of the
city. All the corporations with which he is connected
are upon a firm financial basis, and are among the
most important and solid institutions of St. Louis.
In 1 870 he was married to Miss Josephine Dickson,
daughter of the late Charles K. Dickson, of St. Louis.
Mr. Walsh has aided in building up and maintain-
ing some of the most important corporations of the
city, and to his unswerving business integrity and
indefatigable, though unostentatious, energy their
success is largely due. As a citizen, he stands with-
out reproach, and as a business man, second to none
in the community. His benevolence of disposition is
proverbial among all who know him. Strictly moral
in every walk of life, and a truly high-minded, honor-
able gentleman, but few men possess in so marked a
degree the merited confidence and friendship of their
fellow- citizens.
Julius de Mun, grandfather of Julius S. Walsh,
was descended from one of the most ancient and influ-
ential families of the province of Bigorre, France,
where the castle and the domain bearing the name of
De Mun — to which the family possessed a title until
1690 — were situated. The first of the family, or
rather the first seigneur known by name, was Anstor
de Mun (knight), who was born about the year 1180.
Of this Anstor, Julius de Mun was a lineal descendant.
The immediate ancestor of Mr. de Mun was Sieur
Jacques de Mun, knight of the Old Guard of the
1210
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
person of His Majesty, and of the Lady Marie Made-
leine le Meilleur, his wife. The children of Jacques
de Mun and wife were :
Juliette Marie Madeleine, who married M. de
Pestre. She accompanied her mother in 1817 to the
island of Cuba, where she remained until her children
required education beyond the ability of the neigh-
boring schools to furnish, when she removed to Phila-
delphia to complete their training. Having accom-
plished this object she returned to Cuba, and when
her grandchildren required similar advantages, she
again repaired to Philadelphia for that purpose, and
finally died there after the year 1854.
Luuis de Mun, who became an attache to the em-
bassy of Baron Hyde de Neauvillc, French minister
to the United States, and from that position went to
Cuba, became a sugar-planter in that island, and died
there unmarried.
Auguste Elizabeth Vincent de Mun, killed at Ste.
Genevieve, Mo., by McArthur, about the year 1816,
unmarried.
Jules Louis Rene Marie de Mun, known in St.
Louis as Jules or Julius de Mun, and Amadee de
Mun, who was lost at sea, unmarried. Julius de Mun
was born in Port au Prince, in the island of San Do-
mingo, on the 25th of April, 1782, his parents having
visited that island to look after their large possessions.
Here they remained, in consequence of the disturbed
condition of France, until the massacre of the whites
during the insurrection of the negroes, from which
they escaped after great peril and difficulty. They
went to England, the condition of France (then con-
vulsed by the Reign of Terror) not permitting them to
return there with safety. Shortly after this, Jacques
de Mun died, and the family remained in England
for the purpose of educating their children, until the
year 1808, when they came to the United States,
stopping in New Jersey, from whence they moved to
Ste. Genevieve, Mo. (then the largest town in the
State), in 1810. Here they remained until the year
1817, when Mrs. de Mun, heart-broken by the death
of her son Auguste, removed with her family (except
her son Julius, who was married) to Baltimore, Md.,
and from thence to the island of Cuba, where she died.
The life of Julius de Mun was filled with extraor-
dinary incidents. Born, as we have seen, in San
Domingo of noble parentage, he was sent with his
brother Auguste, when quite young, to Paris, France,
to be educated, where he remained until his parents
removed from San Domingo to England, when word
was conveyed to the brothers of their father's desire
that they should join him. In charge of a devoted
servant, who disguised them in the habiliments of
poverty, they then started for the coast, and arrived
safely in England. As they were passing through
Paris they witnessed the scenes of blood and death
near the guillotine when Robespierre was being exe-
cuted. The little boy Julius began to cry, whereupon
his brother shook him and told him to be quiet, and
not to attract attention.
In the year 1816, Mr. de Mun formed a partner-
ship with Auguste P. Chouteau and Pierre Chouteau
for the purpose of trading with Santa Fe and Chi-
huahua; Auguste P. Chouteau and Mr. de Mun,
with their employes, going on the expedition. When
they arrived at Chihuahua they were robbed of their
goods and the whole party imprisoned. They re-
mained in durance for nearly two years, when, owing
to the pressure brought to bear by the government
of the United States on the central government of
Mexico and the good offices of the French minister
at Washington, they were released and returned to
St. Louis.
In the fall of 1819, Mr. de Mun and family left St.
Louis for the island of Cuba, where he arrived early
in 1820 and purchased a coffee estate, which he cul-
tivated until the fall of 1830, when he returned to
St. Louis, arriving in January, 1831. Shortly after
his return he was appointed secretary and translator
to the board of United States commissioners for ad-
justing the titles of the French and Spanish grants
to lands in Missouri, the duties of which position he
discharged with marked ability. Mr. de Mun was
afterwards appointed United States register of the
land office at St. Louis, and subsequently was elected
recorder of deeds for the county of St. Louis, which
office he held at the time of his death.
On the 31st of March, 1812, Mr. de Mun was mar-
ried to Miss Isabelle Gratiot, daughter of Charles
Gratiot, who was considered the most beautiful woman
in St. Louis, and of charming manners. She died
July 13, 1878.
The issue of this marriage were Isabelle, married
to Edward Walsh ; Julie, married to Antoine Leon
Chenie ; Louise, married to Robert A. Barnes; Emilie,
married to Charles Bland Smith ; and Clara, who died
unmarried just after becoming of age.
Upon the restoration of the Bourbon family to the
throne of France royal letters were forwarded by the
government of Louis XVIII. to Julius de Mun
through the French ambassador, inviting himself and
family to return to France, and accompanying these
letters was the decoration of the order of the Fleur
de Lys, the highest honor in the gift of the king.
Mr. de Mun died in St. Louis on the 15th of
August, 1843.
RAILROADS.
1211
Julius de Mun had a fine English and French edu-
cation, also speaking and writing Spanish, and was
possessed of accomplishments not common to the
gentlemen of this country at that period. He was of
gentle but distinguished manners, modest and retiring
in his disposition, of perfect integrity and pure morals,
and of the most delicate sense of honor.
THE UNION DEPOT RAILROAD COMPANY, which
was originally known as the " Gravois Railway," was
chartered under an act of the Legislature of tho
State of Missouri on April 27, 1862. After its con-
struction the road was sold under foreclosure of a
second mortgage, and purchased by Green Erskine
and Thatcher S. Johnson, who afterwards sold it to
the present corporation. The original incorporators
were John Scullin, C. M. Seaman, Francis Carter,
Thatcher S. Johnson, Green Erskine, and James H.
Roach. The road was constructed in 1862 from the
corner of Fourth and Pine Streets west to Gravois
road, a distance of three and one-half miles. Since
that time extensions have been made, the route at
present being': Gravois Branch (yellow cars), from
Fourth Street, corner of Pine, on Ninth ; Clark Avenue,
Twelfth ; south on Park Avenue to Ninth ; Gravois
road to Jefferson Avenue, with extension to Tower
Grove Park. Lafayette Branch (blue cars), same to
Park Avenue ; thence north to State, Carroll, Linn,
and Lafayette to Lafayette Park. The present capital
stock of the company is three hundred thousand dol-
lars, with first mortgage bonds of one hundred and
seventy-five thousand dollars. John Scullin was
elected president of the road in 1876, at the time of
the sale of the " Gravois Railway" to the present
company, and has filled the position ever since. The
general offices and stables are located on the corner of
Gravois road and Jefferson Avenue. The officers of
the company are John Scullin, president; Clement
M. Seaman, vice-president and treasurer ; James H.
Roach, secretary ; John Scullin, Clement M. Seaman,
Francis Carter, Francis Erskine, and James II. Roach,
directors.
THE BENTON-BELLEFONTAINE RAILROAD COM-
PANY was incorporated under a special charter Feb.
8, 1864, with a capital stock of 8500,000. The in-
corporators were A. W. Hciming, Felix Coste, Wil-
liam W. Warren, Norman Cutler, Silas Bent, Jacob
B. Terrell, Charles L. Holmes, and II. M. McKittrick.
The construction of the road was begun in 1864, and
completed in 1866. In 1876 the road was sold for
the payment of first mortgage bonds, the present cor-
poration becoming owners of the franchise. Under
the present management the capital stock was reduced
to $300,000. The lines extend from Third Street
and Washington Avenue via Washington Avenue,
Tenth and Eleventh Streets to the Water Tower, the
length being seven miles of single track. The officers
are George H. Chase, president, and Robert McCul-
lough, secretary and treasurer.
THE LINDELL RAILWAY COMPANY was chartered
on Feb. 26, 1864, with an authorized capital stock of
$600,000. Among the applicants for the charter and
the original stockholders were John H. Lightner,
Wayman Crow, Dwight Durkee, Levin H. Baker,
John M. Krum, D. R. Garrison, William Patrick,
Joshua Cheever, Bernard Crickard, William D'Oench,
Charles K. Dickson, William Mayer, and Morris
Taussig. Dwight Durkee was elected president of
the company in 1864, and continued to hold the posi-
tion until March, 1870, when he was succeeded by
John H. Maxon, the present incumbent. The road
was begun in October, 1864, and cars commenced
running on Washington Avenue March 15, 1867,
and on the Fourteenth Street line May 12, 1867.
The route extends from Third and Washington to
Ware and Lucas Avenues, along Lucas Avenue
to Grand Avenue, north on Grand Avenue to
Delmar Avenue, west on Delmar Avenue to Vande-
venter Avenue, thence north on Vandeventer Avenue
to Finney Avenue, thence east on Finney to Grand
Avenue, thence south on Grand Avenue to Morgan,
thence east on Morgan, connecting with regular tracks
(blue cars), to Summit Avenue, via Fourteenth Street
and Chouteau Avenue. The offices and stables are
located at No. 2305 Washington Avenue, and there
are stables also at 2330 Chouteau Avenue, corner of
Finney and Vandeventer Avenues. The officers of
the company are John H. Maxon, president; John
H. Lightner, vice-president ; and G. W. Baumhoff,
secretary and treasurer. Directors, John H. Maxon,
John H. Lightner, G. W. Baumhoff, John M. Gil-
keson, E. Catlin, and W. A. Hargadine.
THE BADEN AND ST. Louis RAILROAD COM-
PANY was organized in 1865, and chartered during
the same year. The road was finished and equipped
in 1866. The line of route is from Grand Avenue
and Bellefontaine road to Baden, a distance of two
and one-half miles. The capital stock is $100,000.
The offices and stables are located on the east side of
Bellefontaine road, near Dowling Avenue. The offi-
cers of the company are George S. Case, president ;
John H. Reel, vice-president ; and John W. Archer,
superintendent.
THE UNION RAILWAY COMPANY was organized
in 1865, and chartered July 29, 1865, with a capital
stock of §300,000. Among the incorporators were
• C. D. Colman, C. D. Blossom, W. E. Saltmarsh, II.
1212
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
M. Blossom, and C. W. Horn. During 1865 the
road was constructed from the corner of Fourth and
Locust Streets west to Hyde Park. In 1875 the
lines were extended from Hyde Park to the fair
grounds, and at present their entire length is eight
miles of single track. Hon. B. Gratz Brown was
elected first president of the road, and was succeeded
by John Brown, who held the position for a short
term, being followed by Julius S. Walsh, who has
ever since retained the presidency of the company.
In 1866 the capital stock was increased from $300,-
000 to 8600,000. In 1882 the officers were Julius
S. Walsh, president ; J. P. Helfestein, vice-president ;
M. J. Moran, secretary and treasurer; and Michael
Moran, superintendent. Directors, Julius S. Walsh,
B. Gratz Brown, A. B,. Easton, J. P. Helfestein, J.
A. Walsh, Charles Greene, and George S. Case.
THE TOWER GROVE AND LAFAYETTE RAILWAY
COMPANY was chartered March 20, 1866, with an
authorized capital stock of $300,000, the incorpo-
rators being H. N. Switzer, John J. Roe, James B.
Eads, C. K. Dickson, and J. 0. Cavender. The road
was constructed and put in operation during 1866,
over Second and Third Streets from the corner of
Fourth and Morgan to Anna Street, the total length
being six miles of track. G. W. Dreyer was elected
first president of the road in 1866, and his successors
in regular order have been J. H. Lightner, J. H.
Britton, J. R. Lionberger, D. E. Walsh, and Julius
S. Walsh, the latter being still the chief executive
officer. W. B. Ryder is secretary and treasurer of
the company, and the directors are Julius S. Walsh,
John R. Lionberger, J. T. Sands, Charles Green, J.
H. Lightner, James T. How, and John Jackson.
THE CASS AVENUE AND FAIR GROUNDS RAIL-
WAY COMPANY was organized in 1874, its incorpo-
ration being approved by the City Council Jan. 19,
1874, and the charter granted Feb. 9, 1874. The
first directors were James Edwards, William T.
Wernse, Louis H. Stroube, Joseph M. Fitzroy,
Jeremiah Fruin, H. Klages, William Miller, Thomas
Bowe, John Cunningham, Sol. Lawrence, and D. E.
Lockwood. The construction of the road was begun
during the latter part of 1874, and it was completed
and equipped with the cars running on June 25,
1875. William K. Patrick was elected the first
president, and held the position during the construc-
tion of the road. He was succeeded in June, 1875,
by W. R. Allen, who has since retained the position.
The capital stock of the company originally was five
hundred thousand dollars, but it has since been re-
duced to three hundred thousand dollars. At the
present time the company has no bonded indebted-
ness. The line extends from Fifth and Walnut
Streets north on Seventh Street to Cass Avenue,
thence to Glasgow Avenue, north to St. Louis Ave-
nue, west to Grand Avenue and the Fair Grounds,
returning by the same to Eighth Street, south to
Walnut Street, and thence to Fifth Street. The
entire length of the road is nine miles of single track.
The stables and car-sheds were erected in the spring of
1875. The officers of the company are W. R. Allen,
president; George W. Allen, vice-president; and G.
G. Gibson, secretary and treasurer. Directors, W.
R. Allen, George W. Allen, Thomas Allen, William
R. Donaldson, J. D. Barlow, James W. Wallace, and
E. M. Smith. The general offices are located in the
Southern Hotel building, corner of Fifth and Walnut
Streets, and the stables and car-sheds on the corner
of Cass and Glasgow Avenues.
THE MOUND CITY STREET RAILWAY COMPANY
was organized in 1875, as the successor of the Mound
City Railway Company, chartered in December, 1865,
with a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars.
The original incorporators were John Scullin, Clement
M. Seaman, William Nichols, A D. Jaynes, Francis
Carter, J. B. Johnson, and Thatcher S. Johnson.
The first and only president of the company, elected
in 1875, is John Scullin, who has ever since retained
the position. Immediately after the organization of
the company the charter and franchises of what was
then known as the " Northwestern St. Louis Railway"
were sold on foreclosure to J. B. Johnson, by whom
they were transferred to the present corporation.
The road was completed and the cars commenced
running in January, 1866. The route extends from
the corner of Fourth and Pine Streets west to Ninth
Street, thence north to North Spring Street, thence
west on Spring Street and St. Louis Avenue to Jef-
ferson Avenue ; returning by St. Louis Avenue,
North Spring, Fourteenth, Locust Avenue, Twelfth,
Locust, Ninth, and Pine Streets to Fourth Street.
The total length is seven miles of single track. The
cars of the Mound City Line pass by the new post-
office and government building, Pope's Theatre, St.
Luke's Hospital, St. Louis University, St. Louis
Place Park, Lindell Park, Base- Ball Park, Fair
Grounds, and Zoological Garden. The officers of the
company are John Scullin, president ; Francis Carter,
vice-president; and Clement M. Seamen, secretary
and treasurer. Directors, John Scullin, Francis Carter,
Clement M. Seaman, George A. Madill, and James
H. Roach. The offices are located at 623J Olive
Street, and the stables on the southwest corner of St.
Louis Avenue and Twenty-first Street.
THE SOUTH ST. Louis RAILWAY COMPANY was
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1213
incorporated in April, 1876, with a capital stock of
one hundred thousand dollars, the incorporators being
Charles P. Chouteau, P. A. Hadney, A. Habsinger,
and others. Soon after its organization the company
absorbed the Carondelet Railway Company, with its
franchises, tracks, etc., and extended the tracks of
that road to the corner of Sixth and Market Streets.
I. C. Terry was elected the first president of the road
in April, 1876, and was succeeded by Pierre Chou-
teau, who in turn was followed by Theo. Plase, the
present incumbent, who is also the treasurer of the
corporation. The secretary is J. B. Greensfelder, and
the directors are F. W. Moss, J. S. Robertson, M. A.
Wolff, L. Gottschalk, and C. F. Hermann. The ,
route extends north from the stables along Main
Street, Carondelet road, and Jefferson Avenue, east
on Pestalozzi Street, north along Eighth and De-
catur Streets, east on Lafayette to Fulton, north
to Hickory, east to Fifth, north to Market; re-
turning same to Pestalozzi, south on Eighth to Ar-
senal, thence west to Jefferson Avenue, and south to
the stables, which are located on the north side of
Davis, near Main Street. The general office is at
the corner of Sixth and Walnut Streets.
THE ST. Louis TRANSFER COMPANY was char-
tered Dec. 12, 1859, as the Ohio and Mississippi
Transfer Company, the original incorporators being
P. W. Strader, Joseph N. Kinney, Alex. H. Lewis,
Thomas Lowe, Henry C. Cooling, and Alfred Gother.
P. W. Strader was elected the first president in 1859,
and was succeeded by Samuel Gaty, .the present in-
cumbent. The capital stock is eight hundred and
fifty-nine thousand two hundred dollars, and the com-
pany transacts a general transfer business, handling
passengers, baggage, and freight to and from railroad
depots, steamboats, etc. S. H. Klinger is secretary of
the company; T. B. Thompson, treasurer; and R. P.
Tansey, manager. The directors are Samuel Gaty,
R. P. Tansey, S. C. Clubb, W. H. Clement, J. J.
Mitchell, D. S. Gray, and J. M. Thompson. The
office is located at No. 213 North Third Street.
THE RAPID TRANSIT COMPANY was chartered
June 3, 1880, with an authorized capital stock of
fifty thousand dollars, the incorporators being M. A.
Wolff, Charles McClaren, John H. Terry, John
Lumsden, John T. Davis, George D. Reynolds, and
Henry Gennett. The company commenced opera-
tions with twenty of the " Herdic" coaches on Sept.
16, 1880, and continued the transfer of passengers
over various streets in the city up to May 1, 1882,
when the coaches were taken off and the company
changed in character to that of one doing a general
livery business. The first president was M. A. Wolff,
who was elected in 1880, and was succeeded by John
H. Terry in 1882. The other officers of the com-
pany are Geo. D. Reynolds, secretary ; M. A. Wolff,
treasurer; M. A. Wolff, Geo. H. Shields, E. S.
Barnes, E. G. Obear, Peter Lehman, John H. Terry,
and John T. Davis, directors.
CHAPTER XXX.
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
EVERY great centre of trade must possess or con-
trol a maximum of natural and acquired facilities for
all the particular operations of PRODUCTION, CON-
VERSION, and EXCHANGE.
Production includes agriculture, mining, forestry, —
the ensemble of all those arts which supply men with
food and the raw materials which he converts into
food, fuel, shelter, clothing, light, conveniences, luxu-
ries ; conversion includes the processes and the instru-
ments of manufacture in all its branches ; exchange,
or commerce, is the duplex process and machinery by
which the producers are brought together and enabled
to barter their products, by which the raw materials
are gathered in and the converted products distributed
and exchanged ; it includes banking and transporta-
tion, capital and credit.
Every operation of production, conversion, and
exchange depends upon the existence of facilities
acquired from nature or created and bestowed by man.
Without these facilities there would be no trade, and
to be a centre of trade a city must not only possess
them very largely, but possess also the means and the
will to enlarge, develop, and increase them steadily
and rapidly. Rivalry may be submitted to, superi-
ority tolerated in other things, but no city determined
upon success can tolerate rivalry, much less superiority,
in the spirit of improvement.
The natural advantages of St. Louis as a centre of
production are in part the result of the co-operation
of soil and climate with intelligent labor ; in part
they are derived from the geological configuration of
the earth, — the distribution of its mineral strata and
the superficial contour. — determining the course and
volume of streams. St. Louis could not occupy its
present commanding position and maintain its lofty
attitude as a trade centre if it were seated upon a
bog, like those of Ireland, or amid the granite bowl-
ders and masses of trap and sand which diversify the
soil of New England, or upon the margin of a swamp,
like New Orleans, or in the gateway of a great fresh-
water pond, like Chicago. As has been sufficiently
1214
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
shown in other parts of this work, St. Louis combines
more of the advantages of site and location — which
arc necessary to the building up of a great city — than
any other interior city in the world. It is the focal
point, the centre, the key to the greatest river system,
the largest and most magnificent valley, the widest
area of the richest and most productive soils, the
finest juxtaposition of exhaustless mineral wealth,
and the most comprehensive and far-reaching railroad
system upon the Aice of the globe.
What nature bestows, man has seized upon and is
improving to the utmost with energy and intelligence.
" Science, whence foresight, foresight, whence ac-
tion,"— excellent words of Auguste Comte, — is the
guiding rule of man's action upon nature for the de-
velopment of the resources of St. Louis. " Man com-
mands nature only by obeying her laws," the philoso-
phers have declared, and the limitation is thoroughly
well understood in St. Louis. Capital, labor, talent
— meaning by talent natural capacity developed and
shaped by acquired skill — are the three forces which
have worked together in harmonious unison to pro-
mote the growth and expand the trade of this " the
great cjty of the future." St. Louis is not so rich in
money capital as many older and larger cities, but
what she possesses is entirely in hand, absolutely
active, and so thoroughly energized and vitalized by
will, purpose, and intelligent co-operation, that some-
how each dollar seems to do the work which it requires
three to do elsewhere. In that capital which money
does not always stand in place of and which often
money cannot buy, — business talents, business judg-
ment, business pluck, business co-operation and associa-
tion,— St. Louis allows no rivalry, admits of no equal.
In different parts of this work we have spoken in
detail and given the complete statistics of the re-
sources of St. Louis in production and for conversion
and exchange. It only remains to speak of these
things in a group as the essential qualifications for
producing a great and unrivaled centre of trade. The
promise of the future can best be seen by comparing
the results and accomplishments of the past and
the present. St. Louis may reasonably expect to
become the greatest market on the continent, because
the tendencies of the city's development, ever since
it began to grow, have been favorable to that expec-
tation, and because the character of the improvements
made and the facilities enjoyed are all in the direc-
tion of consummating and perfecting a great central
mart for the conversion and exchange of the products
of a very wide and very rich area. No city in the
world has such an extent of back country convenient
to it, and which is or can be made tributary to it.
Let us give an example of what we mean by a
region which has or must become tributary to St.
Louis. Take the cotton manufacture, which is as
yet only a nascent industry in St. Louis, although
nothing can prevent it from becoming a supreme and
controlling one, if St. Louis will but make a proper
use of its many and superb advantages in this respect.
The cotton of Arkansas, Texas, West Tennessee,
West Louisiana, and Middle and North Alabama —
an area in which more than half the entire cotton
crop of the country is grown — can be delivered by
rail or river on the Levee at St. Louis as cheaply as
it can at Atlanta, Mobile, New Orleans, Chattanooga,
and any other distributing centre in the country,
excepting only Memphis, and more cheaply than at
Chicago, Boston, New York, Baltimore, Cincinnati,
Norfolk, Charleston, and Savannah. To convert this
cotton into fabrics there are needed capital, food, fuel,
machinery, labor, and skill. Now how does the case
stand ? The cotton gathered at St. Louis is sent fif-
teen hundred miles farther east to New England, or
four thousand miles farther east to England, to be
manufactured. To aid in this distant manufacture, —
the finished products of which are returned to St.
Louis to be distributed by her merchants in every
region to which their trade extends, — St. Louis further
contributes food-supplies for the labor employed in it,
and iron for the manufacture of the machinery used.
Thus St. Louis, having the capital, having the raw
material, having the cheap food and the cheaper fuel,
I sends all these things thousands of miles away, and
fetches the finished products thousands of miles back
again, instead of employing the means necessary to
invite or compel the capitalists engaged in this indus-
try to bring their plant and their skilled labor to the
trade centre, where there is not only the newest and
most complete conjunction of cheaper food and cheap-
est fuel, with cheap raw material, but where also
there is the best market for the sale and distribution
of the finished fabrics. This is an unnatural perver-
sion of ways and means, an unnatural misuse of su-
perior facilities, and it cannot last. The cotton
manufacturer, other things being equal, will not pay
for the transportation of his raw materials and his
products over such long distances when he can pro-
duce and sell his fabrics on the spot where cheap raw
materials meet cheaper food and cheapest motive
power. Mohammed will go to the mountain, for the
reason that it is cheaper than for the mountain to go
to Mohammed. There can be but one settlement of
this problem. It has been delayed by the rapid
cheapening of transportation, the reluctance of capital
and manufactures to change their sphere of operation,
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1215
and by other causes ; but it is certain to come in the
end, for St. Louis, whenever tho right use is fully
made of her facilities, is the place where cotton can
be manufactured most cheaply. A hundred years
hence, perhaps, Alabama, Georgia, and Texas may be
competing with St. Louis, through their natural ad-
vantages, for the position of cheapest manufacturing
point ; but this will not be the case so long as St.
Louis maintains her superiority as a centre for cheap
food, cheap fuel, and cheap exchange.1
The Cotton-Trade. — The cotton manufacture will
grow as the cotton-trade has grown. From a few bales
in 1844, from twenty thousand bales in 1863, to five
hundred thousand in 1880 looks like a considerable
stride, but it is the work of a very few years, and it
is only the beginning, for the cotton country properly
tributary to St. Louis yields three million bales and
upwards per annum. That trade trickled along like
a feeble rivulet for some time, then suddenly it ex-
panded into a great river. It must continue to expand
with every mile added to the Southern railroad con-
nections of St. Louis, which are already so extensive.
So will it be with the cotton manufacture of St. Louis.
That appears to be feeble and small, but it must ex-
pand and grow to greatness, because all the con-
ditions are exceptionally favorable to it. The census
of 1880 only shows three factories, with capital of
8625,500, hands 444, $36,325 wages, $318,156 value
of materials, and 8453,295 value of products, — an in-
fant indeed; wages $192.40 per capita per annum
for employes, of whom three-fourths were women and
children, and profits inside of eight per cent, on the
invested capital ; but it is the beginning, the founda-
tion of a controlling industry of the future.
The first indication we have of the establishment
of a cotton-factory in St. Louis appears in the old
Missouri Gazette of the 31st of January, 1811. The
paragraph reads, —
1 " Forty years ago the trades and industries of St. Louis were
already extensive and flourishing. At this time (1841) there
were in St. Louis two foundries, twelve stone, grate, tin, and
copper manufactories, twenty-seven blacksmith! and house-
smiths, two white-lead, red-lead, and litharge manufactories,
one castor-oil factory, twenty cabinet- and chair-factories, two
establishments for manufacturing linseed-oil, three factories
for the making of lead-pipe, fifteen tobacco and cigar man-
ufactories, eleven cooper?, nine hatters, twelve saddle, har-
ness, and trunk manufactories, fifty-eight boot- and shoe-
shops that manufactured, six grist-mills, six breweries, a
glass-cutting establishment, a Britannia manufactory, a carpet
manufactory, and an oil-cloth factory. There was also a sugar-
refinery, a chemical and fancy soap manufactory, a pottery and
stoneware manufactory, an establishment for cutting and beau-
tifying marble, two tanneries, and several manufactories of
plows and other agricultural implements." — Edward*' Great
West, pp. 376-77.
"An event, not viewed as of public importance in itself, may
yet be highly interesting from the reflections to which it gives
rise. An English gentleman (Mr. Bridge), of considerable
capital, arrived here on Tuesday evening last, with his family,
for the purpose of establishing himself in this place. We un-
derstand he has brought with him the machinery of a cotton-
factory and two merino rams. Such an emigrant is an impor-
tant acquisition to the country."
Whether Mr. Bridge ever carried his purpose into
excution does not appear, but the probability is that
the " two merino rams" may have diverted him into
the wool business, as seven years afterwards " carding-
machincs and cotton-spinning machinery" were pre-
paring to commence, in thespring of 181 8, in St. Louis.
Adolphus Meier2 enjoys the distinction of having
been the first to establish a cotton-factory in St. Louis.3
2 Adolphus Meier was born in the city of Bremen, Germany,
on May 8, 1810. His father, Dr. G. Meier, occupied a very
honorable and influential position, being a lawyer of that city
and secretary of the Supreme Court. He gave his son Adolphus
all the opportunities of an early education, which were ample
in Bremen, and further to improve it sent him for some time to
Switzerland.
After completing his education, Adolphus Meier spent three
years in a large banking-house, where he became instructed
in the business of banking, but wishing for a more active
field engaged for some time in the shipping business. On
May 9, 1831, he commenced business on his own account,
and was successful from the outset; and feeling comfortable in
life, on April 21, 1835, was married to Miss Anna R. Rust,
daughter of a respectable merchant of his native city. Mr.
Meier having freighted many vessels with emigrants at Bremen,
and hearing much of the fertility of the great Mississippi valley,
embarked at Bremen for New Orleans on Oct. 20, 1830, with his
wife, child, and '• household gods." After landing at New
Orleans, Mr. Meier took passage for St. Louis, and arrived there
on March 2, IS.'iT. He opened a hardware-store in an old rickety
building on the corner of Main and Chestnut Streets. He
occupied this spot for many years, until the old building was
torn down and a splendid edifice erected in its stead, where the
firm of Adolphus Meier & Co. conducted their extensive opera-
tions. The firm at this time (1860) consisted of Adolphus Meier,
his eldest son, and John C. Rust.
3 The statement that Mr. Meier was the first to establish a
cotton-factory in St. Louis is denied by a correspondent in the
Jicpiillicnii of March 15, 1857, who says, "The first establish-
ment of the kind (a cotton-batting factory) was put in opera-
tion by Mr. J. T. Dowdall, now of the firm of Dowdall, Mark-
ham & Co. The demand increased so rapidly that within
twelve months from the commencement it required about two
thousand pounds per day to fill the orders. The proprietors,
Messrs. J. T. Dowdall & Co., when starting in St. Louis had
connected a finishing-shop with their factory, and as the de-
mand for machinery increased it became necessary to enlarge
this branch of their business. The starting of a cotton-batting
factory in St. Louis attracted the attention of persons wanting
such descriptions of machinery, and a demand for cotton- and
wool-carding machines having sprung up, they determined to
dispose of their cotton-factory, and devote their entire attention
to the manufacture of steam-engines, mill-work, and carding-
machines. Messrs. Doan, King & Co. became the purchasers
of the factory, and continued their business in connection with
1216
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
In 1844, Adolphus Meier & Co. started a cotton-
factory at the corner of Main and Chestnut Streets.
It had at first twelve spinning-machines and eight
hundred spindles, which were soon increased to double
the number. The business proved successful from the
start, and the firm soon erected a new and commodious
building at the corner of Eleventh and Soulard Streets,
sixty feet wide by about one hundred and fifty in
length and four stories high. They introduced new
and improved machinery, and in 1854 it was the only
factory west of the Mississippi River making yarn
carpet warp and " bats" and lamp-wick. It is thus
described in the account of that year's industries,
under the head of the St. Louis Cotton-Factory :
" This is one of our earliest and most extensive manufacturing
establishments; Adolphus Meier & Co. are the proprietors. The
factory itself is built on a square of ground, three hundred by
one hundred and fourteen feet, between Soulard and Lafayette
Streets. One-half of the block is covered with substantial brick
buildings, and full of machinery of the latest and most im-
proved kinds. The factory employs about one hundred and ten
hands, and runs over one thousand spindles. We learn that its
annual capacity of production may be thus stated : 570,000
pounds of yarn, 90,000 pounds of cotton yarn, 90,000 pounds
of white and colored carpet warp, 80,000 pounds of candle-
wick, and 150,000 pounds of batting. The proprietors, we also
learn, are now putting in power-looms to weave one-half of
their yarns into brown sheetings. This will give employment
to a largely increased number of operatives, and to St. Louis
the credit of having the first cotton-factory west of the Missis-
sippi. It will not be long, we trust, before the necessity of im-
porting cotton yarns from the Ohio River will altogether cease
to exist."
The factory did a successful business until 1857,
when it was totally destroyed by fire. At the time
of this disaster the factory contained 4500 spindles,
and consumed thirty-five bales of cotton per week.
It was making daily 2500 yards of sheeting, 2400
pounds of yarn, 500 pounds of batting, 150 pounds
of twine, 150 pounds of wicking, besides a large
quantity of carpet warp and bagging. The period of
their jobbing trade until the latter became so large that they
were compelled to dispose of the former, and sold to Messrs.
Bredell & Baldwin. The demand by this time had greatly
increased, and large quantities of the batting were sent to the
cities and towns along the lake shore as far as Buffalo and New
York. The death of Mr. Bredell closed their business. About
one year after this the foreman of the factory commenced busi-
ness on a very limited scale, and although he has since in-
creased his works, still he cannot supply even the demand of
the retail trade. There is now another factory to be started by
Messrs. Essex <fc Block, which they hope will be able to supply
not only the demand of our city, but ' to ship a large amount
to the Northern and Southern markets.' This factory will be
located on Green Street, between Seventh and Eighth, and
within sixty days from this time the builders of their machinery,
Messrs. Dowdall, Markham & Co., expect to put it in full opera-
tion."
labor was twelve hours a day for five days in the week,
and nine hours on Saturday, all the year round. Em-
ployment was given to 150 hands.
After the fire the company was reorganized and
incorporated as the " St. Louis Cotton-Factory," Mr.
Meier holding the largest amount of stock, and being
elected president. The works were rebuilt, and the
factory under Adolphus Meier's able management
continued to do a lucrative business.
In 1865 the St. Louis Cotton-Factory Company
was reorganized under a new charter, and its manu-
facturing capacity increased. At this time Col. Rob-
ert Campbell and other leading citizens became largely
interested in the enterprise.
In 1854, when Mr. Meier's factory was in success-
ful operation, the total receipts of cotton in St. Louis
was 913 bales. Now it is the greatest cotton market
of the interior, and, what is equally to the purpose in
support of its destiny to become the centre of a great
cotton manufacture, it is the centre of a dry-goods
trade and distribution now valued at over forty mil-
lion dollars, and rapidly increasing. The capital in
this business is over ten million dollars. The busi-
ness and capital have all grown up since 1849, and
more than half the sales made arc of cotton fabrics.
George H. Morgan, secretary of the St. Louis Mer-
chants' Exchange, who is one of the most intelligent
and best-informed business experts in the United
States, has given it as his opinion that St. Louis must
continue to increase rapidly in importance as a cotton
market. He gives as the reasons for his faith the
summary of superior facilities and advantages pos-
sessed by the city, as compiled and presented by C. W.
Simmons, secretary of the St. Louis Cotton Exchange :
"1. St. Louis is in a direct line from Arkansas and Texas to
the East and Liverpool.
"2. As the country merchants control the cotton, they save
exchange by shipping to where they buy.
" 3. St. Louis is the best point from which the planters and
merchants can draw their supplies.
"4. St. Louis is above the yellow fever line, and the trade can
be conducted the year round.
" 5. The cotton produced by the above States is of the best
quality, thus making our market desirable for spinners and
buyers.
"6. Our market, under its system of warehousing, can and
does handle cotton cheaper than other markets.
" 7. Our railroad facilities are better than those of any other
cotton market.
" 8. Our purchasers are the North, East, Liverpool, and
home."
In the same way, the advantages and facilities of
St. Louis as a centre for cotton manufacture might be
summed up :
A. Production.
a. Control of the best quality of the staple by means
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1217
of cheap transportation on short interior lines by the
most direct routes to the Southwest. This area, the
cotton produced in it and the connection of St. Louis
•with it, arc rapidly and steadily increasing every year.
b. The planters sell to the country merchants from
whom they buy their supplies. As plantations be-
come smaller, the sales of the country merchants will
become larger and tend more and more to include the
entire line of goods consumed by the planting class.
It might pay the planter of one hundred to five hun-
dred bales to go to the city and buy at wholesale ; but
the planter of five to fifty bales cannot do this. Hence
the country merchant's trade is increasing in volume
and importance.
c. To the country merchant of the Southwest St.
Louis is the best and cheapest market. It is better
stocked, its goods are cheapest, its transportation facili-
ties most extensive, most convenient, and cheapest. The
country merchant of the Southwest, therefore, will buy
in St. Louis his corn, flour, provisions, dry-goods, cloth-
ing, fertilizers, groceries, hardware, agricultural im-
plements, and the furniture, vehicles, jewelry, liquors,
and luxuries which the planter needs and the country
merchant supplies, — an enormous line of goods, all of
which can be most cheaply paid for in live-stock and
baled cotton. Thus St. Louis secures and is able to
maintain control of unlimited supplies of the raw ma-
terial of the cotton manufacture on the most favorable
terms possible.
B. Conversion.
a. Manchester (England) and Fall River (Mass.),
to compete with St. Louis in the cotton manufacture,
must buy their raw cotton in St. Louis and carry it
to their mills, a distance of fifteen hundred miles in
one case, of four thousand miles in another. This is
a freight advantage in favor of St. Louis which aver-
a<ires, under all circumstances, one-fourth of one cent
O 7 '
per pound.
b. Fall River must pay for coal, the controlling
motive-power in cotton manufacture, fifty per cent,
more than it costs in St. Louis. In Manchester coal
is not quite as cheap as in St. Louis, and while the
price of fuel in the latter place tends to decrease as
wider areas of coal are opened and the facilities for
cheap transportation are increased, the tendencies of
fuel in price in England are upward, in consequence
of diminished supply and greater cost and difficulty
of procuring it.
c. Fall River and Manchester equally must buy
their breadstuff's and provisions in St. Louis, — that is
to say, they must pay for breadstuff's and provisions a
price which is equal to the St. Louis price phis the
cost of transportation from St. Louis and their deliv-
ery in those cities. This is equal to an enhancement
of twenty-five per cent, upon the price of food in St.
Louis. But the total labor employed in cotton manu-
facture is twenty-five per cent, of the cost, and in
England and this country the cost of food represents
about seven -twelfths of the total cost of labor. Thus
St. Louis, through its cheaper food, has an advantage
in the cost of labor in cotton manufacture equal to
fourteen and one-half per cent.
d. The sum of the advantages of St. Louis for cot-
ton manufacture, therefore, growing out of its position
as a trade centre, would be seventeen per cent, over
England and New England.
e. These advantages are increasing steadily from
natural causes, and to them must be added a similar
line of advantages in respect to the raw materials for
machinery, and the cheapness of rents, sites for facto-
ries, etc.
f. The advantage of new plants and machinery of
latest and most improved make, when St. Louis
goes into cotton manufacture, must not bo overlooked.
In old establishments usually one-half the capital is
locked up in old, inconvenient buildings and machi-
nery, heating apparatus and the like, which do not
produce the best results, and are costly out of propor-
tion to their value.
C. Exchange.
St. Louis could distribute more cheaply than any
competing city the products of looms capable of con-
verting into fabrics every bale of staple annually re-
ceived by her merchants. This cotton-goods market
is extending rapidly through new connections with
the far West and with Mexico, and it would be still
more largely enhanced by the facilities of St. Louis
for outstripping competition in the extensive manu-
facture of cotton.
The drawbacks are want of capital, want of ma-
chinery, want of skilled labor, and the opposition, of
course, of the jobbers, who sell the goods manufac-
tured in other places. These deficiencies St. Louis
must remove. With her natural and acquired ad-
vantages she can well afford to do so. In corrobo-
ration of the facts and conclusions adduced above, it
is proper to add the following statistics and figures :l
GROWTH OF THE ST. LOUIS COTTON-TRADE.
No. of Bales. Net per ct.
Gross. Net. of Crop.
1866-67 19,338
1871-72 36,421 16,706 0.56
1873-74 103.741 79,418 1.90
1879-80... 496,570 324,284 5.63
1880-81 398,839 301,353 4.56
1881-82 374,415 259,151 4.78
1 From a paper by Charles W. Knapp on " St. Louis : Past,
Present, and Future," read before the " Round Table Club,"
Oct. 14, 1882.
1218
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
" This presents a picture of trade aggrandizement
•which should at once inspire confidence in the future
and stimulate the merchants of St. Louis to try what
the same energy and enterprise will accomplish in
other fields. To have built up in half a dozen years
from unimportant proportions a trade running yearly
over twenty million dollars proves that it is often only
necessary to dare in order to do. I ask your atten-
tion especially to the fact that the cotton trade of St.
Louis showed signs of healthy growth during the year
just closed, in despite of the great falling off in the
volume of its receipts, as you will see that only in
1879-80 did it receive so large a percentage of the
whole cotton crop. The significance of this fact you
will find still more strikingly illustrated by the follow-
ing:
PERCENTAGE OF COTTON CROP RECEIVED AT LEADING
MARKETS, ESTIMATED ON GROSS RECEIPTS.
Per Cent, of Crops of 1881-82. 1880-81. 1879-80.
St. Louis 7.21 6.11 8.43
Memphis 6.24 7.13 7.12
New Orleans 21.91 24.37 26.13
Galveston 8.45 10.83 8.60
Mobile 4.88 5.95 6.23
Savannah 13.64 13.51 12.88
Charleston 9.61 10.19 8.59
Houston 7.80 10.60
Cincinnati 7.46 4.90 5.46
" This presents a comparison of gross receipts, of
which alone could I find the statistics for comparison.
St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Savannah are the only
points which show receipts of a larger percentage of
the crop than previous years, and of these Cincinnati,
as heretofore stated, is only a point in transit and not
a market. St. Louis, therefore, held its own in 1881-
82 better than any other market in the country, and
has every reason to count upon a large increase this
year, if the crop realizes present anticipations."
In the same connection, Mr. Nimmo, in his recent
report on the internal commerce of the United States,
sums up the
"RECEIPTS OF COTTON AT ST. LOUIS, BY RIVER AND BY
RAIL, DURING THE PAST FOURTEEN YEARS.
Cotton Year Ending August 31st. By River. By Rail. Total.
Bules. Jiales. Balet.
]sf,fi 53.506 1,921 55.4L'7
1867 18,712 1,066 19,779
1868 38,804 220 39,024
1S69 16,614 82 16,696
1870 17,034 1,484 18,518
1871 15,582 4,6S8 20,270
1872 30,018 6,403 36,421
^7;; 2rt,577 33,132 59,70'.)
1S74 27,538 76,203 Id::. 7-11
1875 11,750 122,219 133,969
1876 19.020 22.1.1)78 244,598
1877 6,650 211,084 217,734
1S7S 9,998 238,858 248,s;,<;
1879 15,012 320,787 3;i5,7(J9
1880 32,279 464,291 496,570
'•' The receipts of cotton at St. Louis by river fell from 53,506
bales during the cotton year 1866 to 32,279 bales during the
cotton year 18SO, while the receipts by rail rose from 1921 bales
to 464,291 bales. The total receipts increased from 55427 bales
to 496,570 bales.
"The receipts of the cotton year ended Aug. 31, 1880, were
principally by the rail lines west of the Mississippi River, the
Iron Mountain Road alone bringing about 84 per cent, of the
total receipts.
" The total receipts were as follows :
Bales.
By Iron Mountain Railroad 417,238
San Francisco Railroad 21,669
Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad.. 20,867
railroads east of Mississippi River 4.517
lower Mississippi River boats 32,279
Total 496,570"
And George H. Morgan, secretary of the St. Louis
Merchants' Exchange, in the report on which Mr.
Nimmo based his conclusions, replied as follows to
some of the interrogatories propounded to him :
" Question 18. Please to state such facts as will indicate the
growth of the cotton traffic of St. Louis, giving both receipts
and shipments, and presenting tables showing the growth of the
cotton traffic over the various routes during the last five or six
years. In this connection please also to give the States and
localities in which the cotton received by the different routes is
produced.
"Answer. The business of the cotton year ending Aug. 31,
1880, has more than realized the expectations of the trade. The
gross receipts amounted to 496,570 bales, placing St. Louis at
the head of the interior cotton markets of the country. The
prevalence of yellow fever at Memphis during the fall of 1879
no doubt turned to St. Louis some cotton that otherwise would
not have come to this market, but the amount so diverted could
not have exceeded at the utmost 25,000 bales. The increase
was by the railroads from Arkansas, Texas, and the Indian
Territory, which trade legitimately belongs to St. Louis, and
will doubtless increase with the production in those States.
"The value of the cotton business to our city is equal to at
least 950,000,000 per annum. The value of the net receipts the
past year, at $55 per bale, would be $17,835,620. It is safe to
estimate that the greater portion — say three-fourths to seven-
eighths — of the proceeds of the cotton sold here is expended in
the purchase of goods and supplies. Add to this the trade that
has naturally followed the channel opened by the cotton trade,
and the amount named will not more than cover the amount of
business that is the natural result of the diversion of cotton to this
market. Of the gross receipts, 172,286 bales were on through
bills of lading to Eastern and foreign markets, leaving 324,284
bales as the amount handled by our factors, against 218,716 bales
the previous year. Of the shipments, 173,644 bales were ex-
ported direct to Europe, 7248. bales to Canada, 110,761 bales to
the Atlantic seaboard cities, 432 bales to San Francisco, and
186,134 bales to interior manufacturing points. Of the receipts,
the larger amount came from Arkansas, and the next from
Texas, as will be seen by tables on following pages. As the
business has increased the facilities for handling the same have
been provided. The St. Louis Cotton Compress Company, the
largest establishment of its kind in the world, has added to its
former buildings, and has also erected a compress on the line of
the Missouri Pacific Railroad. The capacity of the three com-
panies is now as follows :
Capacity
Storage per Day
Capacity, lor Com-
pressing.
Bale*. Bales.
St. Louis Cotton-Press Company 150,000 4000
Factors' and Brokers' Compress Company.... 25,000 1000
Peper Cotton-Press 25,000 1500
Total 200,000
6500
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1219
The tables below, derived from the same source,
about complete this exhibit :
STATEMENT allowing iJie sources of supply rf cotton received at
St. Louis for the year ending August 31, 1880.
Bales.
From Arkansas 239,374
Texas 207,779
Missouri 24,180
Tennessee 15,589
Mississippi 6,136
Indian Territory 3,268
Alabama 93
Kentucky 89
Louisiana 62
Total receipts 496,570
FOREIGN EXPORTS AND DOMESTIC SHIPMENTS IN 1880-81.
Bales.
To Liverpool, England 188,160
London,
Oldham,
Manchester,
Farnsworth,
Wigall,
Burg,
To Havre, France
Bremen, Germany.
Hamburg, "
Antwerp, Belgium....
Amsterdam, Holland.
Rotterdam, "
492
402
372
127
51
78
3,531
569
253
2,417
Chemnitz, Saxony
Canada
New York for export.
Total foreign
To seaboard points :
To New Orleans 7,240
Philadelphia 7,353
New York 34,190
Boston 4,269
Baltimore, Md 3,816
189,682
3,266
4,100
2,507
4,940
200
5,810
1,575
212,080
Interior shipments :
To Massachusetts 44,633
Rhode Island 23,830
Connecticut. 15,872
Pennsylvania 13,745
56,868
New Hampshire..
Maine
New York (State).
Vermont...-
Ohio
Delaware
New .Jersey
Maryland
Illinois
Michigan
Wisconsin
Indiana
Kentucky
Minnesota
San Francisco
7,751
5,518
2,426
1,834
819
728
240
629
153
269
87
603
11
184
270
119,602
Total exports.
38S,5oO
RECEIPTS THROUGH COTTON.
By 1879-80.
St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Rule*.
Railway 149,041
Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway 11,853
St. Louis and San Francisco Railway 9.713
By River 1,679
1878-79.
Bales.
115,957
1,076
Total bales 172,286 117,083
1879-80.
Jiales.
1878-79.
Half a.
1877-78. 1876-77.
Haiti. Bales.
Gross receipts 496,570 335,799 248,856 217,734
Shipped via St. Louis on
through bills of lading. 172,286 117,083 61,561 69,258
Net amount handled •
by St. Louis factors. 324,284 218,716 187,295 148,476
The rate of freights on cotton from interior points
in Texas to St. Louis is about the same as that to
Galveston, and the transportation charges from in-
terior points in Texas to Liverpool via St. Louis do
not materially differ from those via Galveston to
Liverpool, thus making St. Louis a strong competitor
with Galveston for the cotton trade of interior Texas.
On the general subject of the mutual interaction
of local advantages in production, conversion, and
exchange, as affecting St. Louis and its competitors,
C. H. Pope, an expert in transportation matters, ob-
serves, in regard to the territory south of the Ohio
River and of the State boundary of Missouri, that
"at the opening of the era of railway transportation the com-
mercial relations of Chicago with the territory considered were
meagre and spasmodic. The city did not form a market for
any of the products of the Southern soil; it did not possess
organized railway facilities nor lines of non-competitive com-
modities, all of which, added to disadvantageous position,
practically placed that city outside the commercial pale for the
Southern Mississippi River basin.
" Her first traffic with the States of Tennessee, Mississippi,
Alabama, and Louisiana, via the Illinois Central Railroad and
connections, was rapidly improved and followed up, and trade
relations were organized which, on some lines of merchandise,
have re.mained permanent and prosperous. The influence of
Chicago in the South at present is an important one. It is
felt most largely along the line of the New Orleans, St. Louis
and Chicago Railroad, and of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad.
In fact, during the era of railway transportation, the line of
New Orleans, St. Louis and Chicago Railroad has formed as
nearly a dividing boundary for the commerce of the interior
cities as it is possible to establish.
" To the west of this road the city of St. Louis, since the
completion of its Southern trunk connections, controls more of
the commerce of the country than either Cincinnati or Louis-
ville, and in this territory Cincinnati, Louisville, and Chicago
each enters as a competitor, the aggregate value of the com-
merce in all commodities controlled by each therein being
almost equal, although the trade seeking each city varies
largely with the commodities moved, — i.e. the aggregate trade
of each city in particular commodities being widely different."
He adds that the trade specialties which Chicago
advantageously offers to this territory are grain, hides,
pork, and live-stock, besides a large list of manufac-
tured goods, including clothing, implements and ma-
chinery, iron, etc. Those which St. Louis offers are
furs, flour, grain, and manufactured articles.
J. D. Hayes, of Detroit, one of the experts best
known in connection with trade and transportation,
in a letter to Mr. Nimmo, dated April 7, 1881, re-
marks as follows upon the force of natural advan-
tages in promoting manufactures :
1220
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
" In reply to your valued favor of 23d ultimo, in regard
to ' the development of manufacturing interests in the chief
cities of the West, viz., Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Chicago,' I
would say the manufacturing interests of those cities, as well
as all other cities, towns, and villages, depend very much upon
natural advantages, aided by circumstances, controlled by
business energy, and capital to bring out and develop those
natural advantages.
" Take St. Louis for example. For hundreds or thousands
of years before the present race of people were known the
Mississippi and Missouri Rivers formed their junction near
the place where St. Louis now stands, — those rivers being
navigable for so many hundred miles in each direction, drain-
ing a country rich in agricultural lands, as well as very
abundantly supplied with iron, coal, and other minerals,
together with the great variety of different kinds of valuable
timber suitable for manufacturing, all of which could be
brought to that point from the north by the natural flow of
water, thence onward down to the Gulf of Mexico, to reach
open and unobstructed ocean navigation all the year round to
all parts of the world. This vast region of country along those
rivers is capable of sustaining a population of three hundred
millions of people, without having more inhabitants to the
square mile than some parts of Europe. With such a country
and such natural resources to and from, such a central point
would not fail to attract the attention of the dullest mind to
its future prospects long before the steamboats or the railroads
had entered into competition in rates with the currents of the
rivers in their onward course to the ocean. Therefore from the
beginning to the present time, and for all coming time, rail-
roads and steamboats must compete with the currents of those
rivers for the traffic of St. Louis; therefore manufactories at
that point enjoy benefits which are in some respects a protec-
tion as against interior towns or cities having to pay local or
non-competing rates. The St. Louis rates affect the rates upon
all productions far back into the country each side of that
river, as far as to where the local rates into St. Louis and the
through rate from St. Louis added together equal the east-
bound rate by rail from the interior cities and towns.
"The public are educated to call this natural advantage 'dis-
crimination in rates in favor of St. Louis,' which is true so far
as the other places are concerned, but it is a 'discrimination'
made by God himself in the formation of the world, therefore
beyond the power of railroad managers to change. The man-
ufacturer can with some degree of certainty put his money,
energy, and material together at that point, looking to the future
wants of the vast number of people that are now in the West
and the millions upon millions more that will be there, and go
forward with manufacturing enterprises without limit, feeling
secure in the ability to compete with any other part of the
world."
In different words and varying forms, all that has
been said on this subject only serves to enforce and
illustrate what was said long ago by the author of the
" Wealth of Nations," Adam Smith, in that great
work, the foundation, in fact, of all political economy,
and in many respects the wisest and most healthy
treatise upon that complicated science :
"The great commerce of every civilized society is that which
is carried on between the inhabitants of the town and those of
the country. It consists in the exchange of rude for manufac-
tured produce, either immediately or by the intervention of
money, or of some sort of paper which represents money. The
country supplies the town with the means of subsistence and
the materials of manufacture. The town repays this supply by
sending back a part of the manufactured produce to the inhab-
itants of the country. The town, in which there neither is nor
can be any reproduction of substances, may very properly be
said to gain its whole wealth and subsistence from the country.
We must not, however, upon this account imagine that the
gain of the town is the loss of the country. The gains of both
are mutual and reciprocal, and the division of labor is, in this
as in all other cases, advantageous to all the different persons
employed in the various occupations into which it is sub-divided.
The inhabitants of the country purchase from the inhabitants
of the town a greater quantity of manufactured goods with the
produce of a much smaller quantity of labor than they must
have employed had they attempted to prepare them themselves.
The town affords a market for the surplus produce of the coun-
try, or what is over and above the maintenance of the culti-
vators, and it is there that the inhabitants of the country ex-
change it for something else which is in demand among them.
The greater the number and the revenue of the inhabitants of
the town, the more extensive is the market which it affords to
those of the country ; and the more extensive that market, it is
always the more advantageous to a greater number. The corn
which grows within a mile of the town sells there for the same
price with that which comes twenty miles' distance. But the
price of the latter must generally not only pay the expense of
raising it and bringing it to market, but also afford the ordinary
profits of agriculture to the farmer. The proprietors and culti-
vators of the country, therefore, which lies in the neighborhood
of the town gain in the price of what they sell, over and above
the ordinary profits of agriculture, the whole value of the car-
riage of the like produce that is brought from more distant
parts, and they save, besides, the whole value of this carriage
in the price of what they buy."
And this rule applies not only to cotton, but to
every other manufacture in which St. Louis has em-
barked already or will embark in the future, and the
extent and profits of these manufactures of St. Louis
will be in exact proportion to the extent of tributary
country, its need for supplies, and the advantages of
transportation and conversion possessed by St. Louis
over other competing trade centres. The extent of
these natural and acquired facilities constitutes what
may be termed the natural protection of St. Louis, as
distinguished from the artificial protection which may
be derived through the tariff. The percentage of that
natural protection cannot exactly be determined, .since
so many various factors enter into its composition.
We have shown that it is at least seventeen per cent,
in the case of cotton. In the case of flour and pro-
visions for the cotton sections tributary to St. Louis
it is probably fully as great.
COTTON COMPRESS COMPANIES. — What the ele-
vators are to the handling of grain the compress com-
panies are to the handling of cotton shipments, and
in " terminal facilities" for the latter trade St. Louis
is without an equal, one of the three establishments
of the kind of which the city boasts being, as we
have indicated, the largest, most complete, and most
convenient of the kind in the world. There are three
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1221
compress companies in St. Louis, and a summary of
their compressing facilities makes the following re-
markable exhibit :
Capital Stock.
St. Louis $1,250,000
Factors' and Brokers'. 150,000
Peper 100,000
Storage
Capacity.
Bales.
200,000
25,000
25,000
Capacity per
Day for
Compressing.
Bales.
6000
1500
1000
REPORT OB' COTTON COMPRESSED AT ST. LOUIS.
Year ending Receipts. Shipments. Stock.
A"g- 31- Balee. Bales. Bales.
1882 259,151 265,637 1739
1881 317,195 316,537 8225
1880 358,124 351,818 7467
1879 237,437 237,101 1161
1878 205,861 206,537 825
The Peper Cotton Compress was the first in St. j
Louis, being erected in 1871, at the old building cor-
ner of Twelfth and Market Streets. The press was
of primitive character and capacity, but was used until
1878, when the company removed to its present spa-
cious warehouse, bounded on the river-front by the
Levee, and on its western length by the tracks of the
St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway. The
warehouse is two hundred and fifty by three hundred
feet, and two stories high. It contains two powerful
hydraulic presses, with a maximum power of five mil-
lion pounds pressure on the bale. The other ap-
pointments of the warehouse are also very complete.
The officers of the company are Jerome Hill (of Hill,
Fontaine & Co.), president ; Christian Peper, vice-
president ; and E. D. Meier, secretary and treasurer.
The St. Louis Compress Company was organized
July 20, 1873, and has since so increased its business
as to employ one million two hundred and fifty thousand
dollars capital. The vast establishment covers a space
of five entire blocks, with a total frontage of seventeen
hundred and forty-eight feet, occupying fifteen acres
of ground, and with its two stories occupying thirty
acres of floor space. The company's warehouses are
arranged in three divisions, — two on the Levee and
Park Avenue, and a third (new) on the Missouri
Pacific and San Francisco Railways in the West End.
There are in the first two nine buildings with heavy
brick walls and iron doors. A network of railway
tracks surrounds the platforms, and the arrangements
for loading and unloading direct from cars and boats
are most complete.
Cotton is received and delivered by the company
free of drayage. After a bale has been properly classed
and marked up for shipment it is compressed, and
taken from the delivering platforms by the Cotton
Transportation Company, which company was or-
ganized for the express purpose of transporting cotton
in through car-load lots, without breaking seals, to
the initial lines in East St. Louis, and from thence
to the East and Europe. As the Compress Com-
pany insure all cotton in their hands, this organ-
ization of the Transportation Company in connection
with them enables them to cover the cotton by one
policy from the time they receive it until it is handed
to the railroad companies in East St. Louis. The
Transportation Company was organized and con-
ducted under the able management of Col. J. W.
Paramore, the first president of the Compress Com-
pany. As a greater security from fire, the buildings
are divided into some twelve or fifteen compart-
ments, and throughout the whole the arrangements
for handling the cotton are of the most elaborate
character. The floors are all on an inclined plane
from the receiving platforms to the compresses, and
thence to the delivery platforms, and all of these plat-
forms are well roofed in.
The company has four powerful presses, so com-
bining steam and hydraulic power that they compress
a bale of cotton to a density of nine inches, enabling
twenty-five thousand pounds to be readily loaded on
an ordinary freight-car. In 1879-80 two hundred
and seventy-five thousand bales were compressed here.
The new warehouse comprises six hundred feet front by
a depth of four hundred, with thirty-seven and one-
half acres of ground, and most complete machinery
and other appointments. The company employs from
three hundred to eight hundred men, according to
the season, and paid for labor since its organization,
and up to September, 1880, three hundred and ninety-
four thousand two hundred and four dollars. The
original officers remained up to 1881, when President
J. W. Paramore was obliged, on account of his great
railway operations in Arkansas and Texas, to resign.
The officers of the company then chosen and still re-
maining as such are William M. Senter, president;
C. M. Donaldson, vice-president, secretary, and treas-
urer ; F. W. Paramore, assistant secretary ; Directors,
William M. Senter, James L. Sloss, M. C. Humphrey,
J. D. Goldman, J. N. Stegall, Thomas H. West, I. M.
Wiener, George D. Fisher, R. B. Wright, C. M. Don-
aldson, William F. Obear.
The board for the Texarkana Cotton Compress Com-
pany, which is also a St. Louis enterprise, is composed
as follows : F. M. Martin, C. M. Donaldson, R. B.
Wright, J. H. Reifsnyder, A. C. Stewart, J. W.
Phillips. M. C. Humphrey, J. D. Goldman, James
L. Sloss, William M. Senter. The Texarkana Com-
pany is organized under the laws of the State of
Missouri ; the stockholders are mainly the same as in
the St. Louis Cotton Compress Company ; the chief
office is at St. Louis ; the branch office and general
agent at Texarkana.
1222
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
The Factors' and Brokers' Compress Company,
located on Columbus and Lafayette Streets, and
covering an entire block of ground, commenced
business in November, 1874, with a capital stock
of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The
mechanical advantages are such as to insure speedy
and economical handling of the staple, and the ware-
houses are extensive and conveniently arranged.
The capacity has been so increased from year ;
to year that the company can now handle with
its two powerful presses fifty-five thousand bales
during a cotton year. The officers are R. B. Whitte-
more, president; C. T. Mitchell, secretary; and
Messrs. Oliver Garrison, H. M. Mandeville, Richard
H. Allen, and John G. Wells, directors.
There are as yet only two cotton-mills in St. Louis, ;
those of Bemis & Marriott and of Theo. G. Meier, •
and both are doing so large a business that the I
erection of other manufactories on a still more exten- ;
sive scale is in contemplation. The requisite capital
is already assured.
Hemp, Bagging, and Tow. — Hemp and tobacco
are still great staples of Missouri and great materials
for manufacture in St. Louis, but their importance
relatively is not so transcendent as it used to be.
Other products have outstripped them in the scale
and give larger results. Hemp and tobacco will
always be grown upon limestone land, because this,
the only soil which will produce blue grass, is also the
only one upon which those two products can be suc-
cessfully cultivated and without exhausting the fer-
tility of the soil. These products have been culti-
vated largely since the first settlements in Missouri.
The French raised tobacco before St. Louis was
founded, and it was an article of trade with the In-
dians in the days of Laclede. The first Kentucky
immigrants brought with them the cultivation of
hemp, while the Canadian habitant of Cahokia grew
and hackled flax for linen and tow-cloth from the
days of Charlevoix down. Under the old colonial
system, however, so active was the competition of to-
bacco that the cultivation of flax and hemp and the
manufacture of linen and cordage had to be enforced
by penalties and encouraged by bounties, yet much
of the domestic wear was of tow and linen and linsey-
woolsey until fulling-mills were established and the
use of cotton goods became universal. In St. Louis,
in 1821, there was no linen made except a little spun
and woven for domestic use, and there was no rope
nor bagging manufactured. The consumption of rope
had been comparatively large, as there was a demand
for it for cordelles, but it was all imported from New
Orleans or from the Eastern cities. In 1810 the cul-
tivation of hemp sprang up largely in Kentucky on
account of the blockade of the Baltic, and these Ken-
tuckians and their children emigrating later to Mis-
souri, carried the cultivation of hemp with them.
But as in 1820 the total manufactures of Missouri
only yielded one hundred and sixty thousand dollars,
and all the capital invested was only forty-six thou-
sand dollars, it is not to be supposed that the hemp
crop had led to the establishment of a co-ordinated
industry. Still there was the crop, and the manufac-
ture would follow.
In 1842 the tariff laid a duty of 25 per cent, on
bagging, 5 cents per square yard on gunny-cloth, 25
per cent, on flax and hemp bags, 25 per cent, on linen
tick, and the same on burlaps, canvas of linen, 30 per
cent, on hemp and jute carpet, 4£ and 5 cents per
pound on cordage of hemp and manilla, 25 per cent, on
drillings and manufactures of flax, $20 per ton on raw
flax, 5 per cent, on flaxseed, $40 per ton on raw hemp,
with 20 per cent, on manufactures of hemp, 20 per
cent, on hemp-seed, and the same on manilla, $25 per
ton on jute, 25 per cent, on jute butts, and 25 per
cent, on linen fabrics. With this the cultivation of
hemp and the manufacture of the raw hemp and flax
may be said to have begun in Missouri. In the
course of about ten years rapid progress was made.
The commercial statistics of St. Louis for 1853 show
a receipt of 63,450 bales of hemp, against 49,124 the
previous year, valued at $300,000, the price having
risen to $130 per ton in consequence of the Crimean
war.
The cordage business was also prosperous, as the
reports show. Receipts this year (1853) foot up
58,437 coils, against 41,674 in 1852, showing a differ-
ence of 16,763 coils. This difference, at the ruling
market rates, gives the sum of $17,000, and when to
this is added the advance on the whole receipts over
the prices of the preceding year, the cash increase on
operations, sums up $60,000. Sales during the year
were unusually large. Many Southern orders previ-
ously sent to the Ohio River were filled at this point,
the St. Louis market offering equal inducement as far
as quality was concerned and superior claim to the con-
sideration of buyers as regards cheaper transportation.
Sales ranged from 6 to 6f , the larger portion at 6J-
to 6J ; in 1852, 4£ to 5£ were the ruling rates.
The heavy advance in hemp, of course, led to this
result. As far as can be ascertained, the quantity
manufactured in St. Louis amounted to from 14,000 to
15,000 coils ; of this the Lowell Factory, in the north-
ern part of the city, turned out 11,000, the greater
part of which found sale in the St. Louis market.
Missouri rope regained its standard during the season
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1223
for excellence of quality, and was eagerly sought by
Southern buyers.
R. W. S. Allen, of Kentucky, and J. H. Alexan-
der & Co., McClelland, Scruggs & Co., and Douglass
& Bier, of St. Louis, purchased about this time of
W. A. Richardson, of Louisville, the Perry & Slaugh-
ter patent for making bale-rope and hackling hemp.
The right included the whole of Missouri and the
western half of Illinois. Operations were commenced
about the 1st of April, with machinery sufficient to
turn out one hundred coils of rope and three tons
hackled hemp per day. The annual consumption of
hemp was from two to three thousand tons.
Hon. John Hogan, speaking of the hemp industry
of this period, remarks, —
" It would almost be unpardonable if, in such notices of manu-
factures as I take, I were to omit all notice of the productions
of one of our own great staples, hemp. There are in St. Louis
many rope-works, carried forward on the old principle of opera-
tion; these aggregately do a pretty extensive business, and al-
though they are important, yet they do not exactly come within
my plan. There are here in successful operation two extensive
steam-propelled hemp-works, and two more nearly ready for
operation. The works of Mr. John L. Elaine are located above
the shot-tower. They contain some twenty-five machines, which
are soon to be increased. The building is a large stone and brick
edifice, and the business is understood to be quite remunerative,
although during the past year the price of the raw material has
been relatively higher than the manufactured commodity. The
Missouri Hemp Company, of which John T. Douglass is presi-
dent, have their establishment located on Stoddard, just south
of Chouteau Avenue. The buildings, all of brick, were erected
purposely for this business, and are said to be fire-proof, cer-
tainly they are secure- from any external hazard. The chief
building is ninety by forty feet, three stories high, and contains
thirty-two spinning-machines and four hackles, all made by
Todd, McKay & Co., of Paterson, N. J. The machines are of
the Perry & Slaughter patent, and the hackles are of the Arnold
patent, besides cards, breaks, and picks, as usual. The engine-
house, also of brick, is supplied with an engine of fifty horse-
power, built by Gaty, McCune & Co., which propels all the
machinery. The average consumption of hemp is seventy tons
per week, and the product averages one hundred coils of rope
and fifteen bales of hackled hemp per day.
"Johnsons, Bartley <t Lytle are erecting on the corner of
Decatur and Barry Streets, opposite the church of St. Vincent,
another extensive rope manufactory. The principal building is
to be one hundred and twenty by forty-four feet and four sto-
ries high, the engine and boiler house is to be ninety-six by
twenty feet, the whole built of brick in the best manner. Mr.
L. D. Baker, builder. As the buildings are not yet finished,
there is of course no machinery erected, consequently I can
give no description of it or its product; but I may say that the
gentlemen who have it in hand are energetic business men,
familiar with all the details of this species of manufacture,
having lately been engaged in its prosecution in Louisville,
Ky., and the machinery will be all new and of most approved
character; and for the present they will confine themselves to
making bale-rope and hackled hemp. There is another large
establishment nearly ready for the machinery, which is situated
on the corner of Austin and Twelfth Streets, got up by Mr. R.
B. Bowler, lately a very extensive manufacturer of bagging and
rope in Cincinnati, also a good business man, and every way
qualified to push forward the enterprise. Here the chief com-
modity made will be bagging and bale-rope, to the produc-
tion of which the machinery is perfectly adapted. I have
understood that a company of heavy capitalists are associated
with Mr. Bowler, and they have obtained a charter from the
Legislature under the name of the ' St. Louis Rope and Bag-
ging Company.' "
In 1860 these industries in hemp and flax had at-
tained the following respectable proportions :
No. of
Articles. Estab. Cnpitnl. Hands. Materials. Products.
Bags 1 $8,000 6 $71,500 $76,000
Tents 1 3,000 8 4, (100 6,000
Rope and bagging.. 14 474,130 464 1,029,100 1,189,018
The maximum was reached in 1855, which year
also was that in which American ship-building culmi-
nated. Since the civil war the culture of hemp and flax
in Missouri has not flourished. In 1870 there was
manufactured in St. Louis 3,377,845 yards of bagging.
In 1880 there were engaged in these manufactures:
Bagging (flax, hemp, and jute), 3 establishments;
capital, $370,000 ; hands, 551 ; wages, $150,216; ma-
terials, $545,900 ; product, $867,395. Awning and
tents, 9 establishments ; $127,200 capital ; 259 hands;
$54,850 wages ; $249,185 materials; $388,940 pro-
ducts. Cordage and twine, 14 establishments ; $12,-
875 capital; 89 hands; $16,423 wages; $33,250
materials ; $67,664 products.
BECEIPTS OF HEMP AND TOW FOR THIKTY-ONE YEARS.
Years. Bales.
1865 40,846
1864 64,078
1863 56,337
1862 78,313
1861 25,558
1860 68,673
1859 68,796
1858 81,423
1857 80,094
1856 53,737
1855 91,320
1854 69,629
1853 62,692
1852 48,819
1851 65,471
Years. Bales.
1881 3,580
1880 1,731
1879 4,072
1878 5,087
1877 7,930
1876 3,157
1875 3,960
1874 11,266
1873 16,860
1872 20,790
1871 15,292
1870 12,716
1869 24,468
1868 25,699
1867 30,750
1866 18,759
The Grain Trade. — The history of the grain trade
of St. Louis embraces a succession of mutations, all
tending to the enlargement and expansion of this in-
terest, and exhibiting a remarkable extension in re-
spect to tributary commercial relations. A few years
ago it was insisted, as indeed it had been for forty
years, that the local mills made the St. Louis market,
but large as the milling interest is, that. demand bears
a relation of only about fifty per cent, to the actual
grain supply. To illustrate : The receipts of wheat
from all sources in 1881 were 15,275,931 bushels,
while the milling consumption was 7,407,536, less
than one-half. The difference between these amounts
represents the shipments. As to corn, the great staple
1224
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
of Illinois and Iowa tributaries, the receipts aggre-
gated 24,049,983 bushels, while the milling demand
was only 4,576,963, a trifle more than one-fourth of
the exportation of this cereal. The proportion as to
rye is still more marked.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY OF WHEAT FOR TWO YEARS.
From 1882. 1881.
The West, by rail and Missouri River 12,229,248 7,819,478
The South, by rail from west of Mississippi River. 1,322,094 422,033
The South, by Mis-i>si|>i>i Hiver boats 1,149,629 330,900
The South, by rail from east of Mississippi River.. 1,629,318 115,667
The East, by Vail and by Illinois River 2,190,684 2,028,063
The North, 'by rail and river .-.. 756,2:19 903,009
Wagons from near the city 1,491,875 1,621,831
Total receipts, bushels 20,774,987 13,243,571
COMPARATIVE RECEIPTS BY RAIL, RIVER, AND WAGONS
FOR TWO YEARS.
By 1882. 1881.
Railroads 16,379,690 9,715,568
Rivers 2,903,422 1,904,172
Wagons 1,491,875 1,623,831
Total bushels 20,774,987 13,243,571
DIRECTION OF SHIPMENTS FOR TWO YEARS.
Shipped to 1882. 1881.
Europe direct via Atlantic seaboard 125,467 134,610
Europe via New Orleans 5,637.391 4,197,981
The East, by rail and Illinois and Ohio Rivers 6,015,427 1,640,318
The West, by rail and Missouri River 4.018 3,076
The Soulh, by rail and river 368,574 893,^54
The North, by rail and river 295,183 51,791
Total shipments, bushels 12,446,060 6,921,630
COMPARATIVE SHIPMENTS BY RAIL AND RIVER FOR TWO
YEARS.
By 1882. 1881.
Railroads 6,691,926 2,758,962
Rivers 5,754,134 4,162,668
Total shipments, bushels 12,446,060 6,921,630
It was when St. Louis ceased to be a market of
mere consumption demand and attracted to this
centre the crops of Central and Southern Illinois,
Northern Iowa, and the great Northwest, the West,
South, and Southwest, and when she began to supply
other cities and other countries, — it was when, in
short, she became one of the distributing points for
the world's breadstuff's that she came into prominence
as a leading market. The growth of the speculative
tendency doubtless aided St. Louis, and her call-
boards, like those of Chicago, were a great advertise-
ment, but the transactions in actual grain also grew
with the increase of rail- and water-route facilities for
the movement of crops. Chicago had the lakes and
more trunk lines, but the genius of Capt. James B.
Eads opened a highway to the sea, and St. Louis
began shipping grain via the jetties direct to Liver-
pool. River transportation companies were formed,
and many bottoms built to carry the outward-bound
grain from St. Louis to deep water. Meantime more
railroads extended their lines to St. Louis, and in
shipping facilities were greatly increased in the inter-
est of new tributary points. Thus St. Louis ac-
quired the key to the situation, and invited the invest-
ment of large foreign capital in the grain-trade of the
Mississippi valley. Moneyed men were swift to ap-
preciate the advantages St. Louis offered in this
regard, and Jay Gould, among others, hastened to
devote several million dollars to the extension of rail-
roads centering here, and to the advancement also of
the water-route transportation companies.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. — The following tablq exhibits
the receipts in 1882 and the sources of the same.
The shipments via New York, it will be observed,
are trifling as compared with those by the St. Louis
and Liverpool route via the jetties.
FBOH
Bushels. Bushels.
The We?t, by rail and Missouri River 12,229,248 5,256,665
The South, by rail from west of Mississippi River 1,322,094 402,805
The South, by Mississippi River boats 1,149.529 | 87,770
The South, by rail from east of Mississippi River 1,629,318 ! 50,970
The East, by rail and by Illinois River i 2,196,684 j 4,400,215
The North, by rail and river 756,239 ' 3,593,130
Wagons from near the city 1,491,875 750,000
Wheat.
Corn.
Oats.
Total receipts 20,774,987 14,541,555 8,138,516 403,707
Bushels.
3,751,934
485,243
8,038
40,983
1,118,296
2,383,622
350,400
Rye.
Bushelt.
320,406
800
59
13,372
44.070
25,000
Barley.
Bushelt.
120, 070
7,516
49,541
400
352,369
1,258,072
25,000
1,818,968
DIRECTION OF SHIPMENTS OF GRAIN.
To
Wheat.
Corn.
Oats.
Rye.
Barley.
Europe direct, by rail via New York
Europe direct via New Orleans
The East, by rail and Illinois and Ohio Rivers.
The West, by rail and Missouri River
The South, by rail and river
The North, by rail and river
Bushels.
125,467
5,637,391
6,015.427
4,018
368,574
295,183
Bushelt.
Bushels.
Bushels.
Bushels.
Total shipments.
12,446,060
250,485
2,523,947
327,572
6,251,618
23,353
1,647,341
126,586
2,617,023
19,061
15,994
307,433
2.066
17,907
1,470
32,754
8,021
40,947
4,523
9,376,975
4,410,011
344,870
86,245
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1225
SHIPMENTS IN 1881. — The following table exhibits the movement in grain at this market during 1881,
and while compiled as of shipments, necessarily comprehends also the receipts during the same period :
BY
Wheat.
Corn.
Oats.
Rye.
Barley.
Chicago and Alton Railroad (Missouri Division)
Bushels.
103
3,469
92
Bushels.
Bushels.
Bushels.
Bushels.
127,372
114,283
49,217
1,033,026
8,213
617,512
424,562
95,702
1,677,707
106,845
819.673
461,796
222,673
23,215
1,174
59,187
6,359
8,817,980
472,305
172,233
8,158
12
18,201
27,428.
11,106
14,241
50,736
6,529
1,938
414,477
11,291
205,699
77.949
38,077
59,353
101,156
68,734
10,919
5,265
1,888
844
1,352
19,880
1,661
9,136
23,325
10
138,840
1,361
26,588
18,238
2,660
5,378
1,780
6,497
3,514
614
12,112
54,668
105
13,390
4,394
830
50,033
32
St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad
St Louis Wabash and Pacific Railroad (Western Division)..
St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad
389,540
170
442,802
242,881
23,730
566,686
201,197
367,120
205,916
245,807
3,208
24,405
41,468
368
3,983,228
1,244
7,618
9,955
52
12
160,637
22
Missouri Pacific Railroad (Kansas and Texas Division)....
Chicago and Alton Railroad (Main Line)
St Louis Vandalia and Terre Haute Railroad
St. Loui*, Wabash and Pacific Railroad (Eastern Division).
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (Eastern Div.)..
8,051
3,800
335
1,760,771
270,666
99,851
7,114
122
2,678
10,278
2,322
4,747
1,364
52
690
23,845
2,797
7,010
574
315
94
22,237
18,013
963
438
3,015
372
332
5,710
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (Northern Div.)..
Keokuk a,nd St Louis Railroad
Illinois " "
16
4,858
Ohio " "
6,921,630
69,563
7,407.536
15,390,180
1,173,830
4,576,963
1,950,934
958,076
3,222,858
26,500
304,761
187,064
Shipped direct from country points
60,000
76,281
91,941
3,131,166
162,466
. 2,137,981
161,822
Stock on hand Dec. 31, 1881
877,202
15,275,931
24,049,983
6,542,990
532,983
2,486,867
COMPARATIVE STATEMENT. — The following table exhibits the growth of the grain trade of St. Louis from
1851 to 1882, inclusive:
RECEIPTS AND SHIPMENTS OF GRAIN FOR A SERIES OF YEARS.
YEAR.
Wheat, Bushels.
Corn, Bushels.
Oats, Bushels.
Rye, Bushels.
Barley, Bushels.
Receipts.
Shipments.
Receipts.
Shipments.
Receipts.
Shipments.
Receipts.
Shipments.
Receipts.
Shipments.
1851
1 712,776
1852 . ..
i fus 3S7
1853 2075872
1854 2V6272
::
1855 sai-> 854
1856
1857
1858
1859
1860
1861
3,747,2*4
3,218,410
3,835.759
3,568,732
3,555,871
2,654,787
3,559,336
2,621.020
3,315,828
3,452,722
4,410,305
3,571,593
4.353,591
6,736,454
6,638,2f)3
7,311,910
6,007,987
6,185,038
8,255,221
7,604,265
8,037,574
8,274,151
14,325.431
17,093,362
21.022,275
13,243,571
20,774,987
'" 67,710
635,818
321,888
542,231
1,715,005
636,562
1,048,532
918,477
1,210,286
1,938,841
1, 562,453
2,630,007
2,410,190
6,900,802
7,302,076
11,313,879
6,921,630
12,446,060
938.54U
2,485,786
892,104
1,639,579
4,249,782
4,51.1,040
1,7:59,219
1,361,310
2,369,500
3,162,310
7.233,n71
5,155,480
2,800,277
2.395,713
4,708,838
6,030,734
9,479,387
7,701,187
6,991,677
6,710.263
15,249,909
11,847,771
9,009,7*3
13,360,636
22,288,077
21,259,310
14,541,555
1 029 908
'!>}i!)U55
6,757,199
4,318,937
1,611,618
1.298,803
3,637,060
4,4(19,849
8,079,739
5,2(10,916
4,148,5)6
3,523,974
12,728.849
9,309,014
6,382,712
8,311,005
17,571,322
15,390.180
9,376,975
1,624,158
1.690,010
1,267,624
1,832,634
1,735,167
3,135,040
3,84%877
4, 105, 040
4,173.227
3,568,253
3,4 15,388
3,259,132
3,461,814
4,519,510
4,358.099
5,467,800
6,369,853
5.296.967
5,006.860
3,61)0,912
3,124,721
3,882.276
5,002,165
5.607,078
6.295,050
8,138,516
30.442
45,900
123,056
159,974
117,080
253,552
205,918
140,533
217,568
375,417
250,704
367,961
266,056
210,642
374,336
377,587
356, i80
2-8,743
275,200
399,826
472,907
845.932
713,728
468,755
469,769
403,707
201,434
290,925
182,270
326,060
846,230
548,797
705,215
634,591
767,600
778,518
876,217
1,263,486
1,158,615
1,421,406
1,171,337
1,492,985
1,326,490
1.517,292
1,831,507
2,561,992
2,411,723
1,818,968
18IJ2
1863
1864
1865
3,083,864
2,624,044
2,244,756
1,925,579
2,903.002
3,144,744
2,484,582
3,467,594
3,215.206
3,027,663
2/77.015
1,932,983
1, 550 665
1.792,801
2,154,026
2,541,613
3,222,858
4,410,011
32,445
225,460
56,076
192,553
110,947
100,254
138.756
150,208
206,652
166,133
134,960
304,192
397.183
757,621
423,720
276,041
304,761
344,870
50,000
89,751
55,720
64,426
57,134
70,451
62,843
87,566
125,604
227,418
146,330
223,680
188,251
244,799
260,422
155,113
187,064
86,245
1866
1867
1868
1869
1870
1871
1872
1873
1874
1875
1876
1877
1878
1879
1880
1881
1882
1226
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
STOCKS IN STORE AT THE CLOSE OF EACH YEAR, IN PUBLIC
ELEVATORS AND PRIVATE HANDS.
YEAR.
Wheat.
Corn.
Outs.
Rye.
Barley.
1807
Bll'lirl*.
174.874
7(1,849
4:!7,I15
329.740
625977
6:17,388
21!l,l(l8
51(1,154
772.806
610,!'f>6
413,495
437,149
1 •':!•> 258
Butlirt*.
35.000
31, 153
21,878
19.763
V.'4,nJl
181,115
l.r.!Mti3
1 88,28;
412/.98
553.H72
290,845
4! '2.594
1,379,8--'G
1,010,843
958.070
905,310
Bitfliel*.
42,822
81,729
69.077
89,702
238,087
178,537
lll.Olfi
1(4,824
89.H78
154,202
31,470
37,213
187,122
2'.' 1,440
1(12.406
72,563
Buflirh.
2.250
20.234
16,331
3,243
48,001
134,045
19.0(10
2,442
2(5,589
60,1.54
35,027
42,720
55.804
63.214
91.941
43,570
Bii'helt.
24,149
68,537
101,557
62.916
00.202
130,(i25
45,836
100.320
117,815
199,080
93,309
219.433
165,089
75.144
101X22
101,373
1808
lbi;9
1S70
1871
1872
1873
1874
1875
187fi
1877
1878
18SO
1881 -
1,902.797
m,'2o2
830,502
1882
The season of 1880 was an exceptional one in re-
spect to an immense crop, the largest by nearly thirty
per cent, in the yield for many years.
EXPORTS BY TONS. — A comparative compilation
by tons of direct shipments from St. Louis to foreign
countries for 1875 and 1878-81 makes this exhibit:
1881. 1880. 1879. 1878. 1875.
By river and jetties. 389,5*7 453,681 170.531 154.000 6,857
By rail eastward 01,727 140,087 135,381 72,091 16,«25
Total tons 481,314 599,768 312,412 226,151 23,082
The foreign shipments by river and the jetties on
through bills of lading in 1881 aggregated 564,839
bushels, and to this must be added 12,861,124
bushels of grain via New Orleans, but not on
through bills, making the grand aggregate of 13,-
425,963 bushels. The bulk grain exports from New
Orleans and the foreign destination of the same are
thus compiled :
Corn.
To
England ..................... 2,042,613
Germany .................... 776.916
Belgium ..................... 1.256,364
France ...................... 1,5)70,472
Holland ..................... 216.447
Ireland ...................... 195,916
Denmark .................... 835,991
Scotland ..............................
Cape Breton ................ 261,110
Wheat. Rye.
Bnshth. Bushels.
417,893
558,210
2,608,644
215,517 22,423
125,099
29,932 ........
578,494
Total 7,555,829 4,533,789 22,423
Total bushels, 1880.... 9,596,956 5,901,137 23,000
A comparison of the shipments of grain in bulk by
river and for export during the twelve years of 1870—
81 makes this interesting: exhibit:
Tear.
Wheat.
Corn.
R.ve.
Oats.
Totals.
Bn«hels.
Bushels.
Bushels.
Bushfls.
1881
4,1 1)7,981
8,640,720
22.423
132,823
12,993,947
1880
5,913,272
9,804.392
45,000
15,762,664
1879
2,390,897
3,585,589
157,424
30,928
6,164,838
1878
1,876,639
2.857,056
609,041
108,867
5,451,603
1877
351, -153
3,578,057
171,843
4,101,353
1876
37,142
1,737.238
1,774.379
1875
135,961
172,617
308,578
1874
365,252
1,047,794
10,000
1,423.046
1873
1,373,969
1,373,969
1872
1,711,039
. .........
1,711,039
1871
309,077
3,000
312,077
1870
66.000
66,000
Thus has the grain trade of St. Louis grown from
the proportions of a purely local market to tho'se per-
taining to one of the chief commercial centres of the
world, situated in the heart of the greatest grain-pro-
ducing section of the American continent.
All indications point to an immense increase in the
grain trade of St. Louis. The superior facilities for
transportation offered by the jetties at the mouth of
the Mississippi, and by the improvements which the
large appropriation made in the River and Harbor Act
of 1882 will secure in the navigation of the river,
must insure not only greater safety but a considerable
reduction in the cost of shipment.
The position of St. Louis as a grain mart is indi-
cated in the following table of shipments of grain and
flour during 1880 :
Bushels.
Chicago 154,377,115
Toledo 53,372,739
St. Louis 46,675,581
Milwaukee 29,691,524
Peoria 20,544,508
Detroit 10,366,491
Duluth 6,511,100
Total 321,539,058
From the paper, by Charles W. Knapp, on " St.
Louis : Past, Present, and Future," read before the
" Round Table," Oct. 14, 1882, it appears that St.
Louis, in 1881,
" led Chicago as a wheat market last year, receiving one and
one-fourth million bushels more than Chicago handled. Nor
can the fact be altered by counting the gross receipts of Chicago,
•which show it a million and a half bushels ahead in 1881, for,
after all, the true basis of comparison is by crop and not calendar
years, — that is, from August 1st to July 31st. They know this
at Chicago, the Board of Trade reports giving the receipts by
crops for a number of years, and the gross receipts at Chicago
from Aug. 1, 1881, to July 31, 1882, were only 13,116,580
bushels, or 3.45 per cent, of the whole crop, while St. Louis re-
ceived 14,085,964 bushel?, or 4.71 per cent. Is there any
chance now to cavil at my statement that St. Louis was the
greatest wheat market of the world last year ? It got nearly a
million bushels more than the gross receipts of Chicago, and
at least 4,000,000 more than Chicago's net receipts, for in the
first six months of the year in question a through movement of
2,000,000 bushels was included in Chicago's gross receipts, so it
is no injustice to assume a total through movement of 3,000,000
bushels in the whole year. Chicago, therefore, got only about
71i per cent, as much wheat as St. Louis, and, unless Minneap-
olis, which received 3,500,000 bushels more than St. Louis in
1881, is called a market, in despite of the fact that it receives
for home consumption only, and shipped out but 500,000 bushels,
the pre-eminence of St. Louis must rest undisputed.
"This enormous consumption at Minneapolis suggests, what
more direct statistics confirm, that that city is the greatest flour
manufacturing city of the country, yet St. Louis is a greater
flour market. Counting iu all the Minneapolis flour passing
through Chicago, that city figures itself a greater market, but
it has no just claim to the through movement, which it does not
handle. Let it stand by its net receipts and manufacture, ag-
gregating only 1,194,657 barrel?, while the 1,718,429 barrels
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1227
manufactured in St. Louis and 261,264 barrels sold on its Ex-
change, but shipped direct from country mills without passing
through St. Louis, in addition to 1,620,996 barrels received, make
a total of 3,600,689 barrels. Minneapolis ranks second, with
a manufacture of 2,890,474 and receipts of 262,500 barrels,
yet it is half a million under the St. Louis figures."
ELEVATORS AND WAREHOUSES. — The immensity
of the grain-trade of St. Louis requires unusually ex-
tensive and complete terminal facilities ; hence it is
that the chain of elevators and warehouses in St.
Louis and suburbs provides most amply for the hand-
ling of grain in bulk. The river-front of nearly six-
teen miles is dotted here and there on both sides with
elevators, having all the modern appliances and appa-
ratus for storing, weighing, cleaning, receiv-
ing, and delivering grain into barges, which
are towed alongside by tow-boats belonging to
the elevator companies. Double tracks and
sidings from the Levee also run into these for
loading and unloading cars, and the addi-
tional chain of elevators on the lines running
out from the Union Depot supply ample ter-
minal facilities to the Western trunk lines.
There were warehouses of primitive build
and limited capacity and conveniences in St.
Louis nearly half a century ago, but it was
not until about the year 1860 that the ne-
cessity of changing the plan of handling grain
consigned to St. Louis began to be strongly
felt by the commission houses and millers,
and it was proposed that sacks should be dis-
pensed with and the grain transported in bulk.
The great difference between high- and low-
water level — some forty feet — presented a dif-
ficulty, but not an insurmountable obstacle.
In I860 several meetings were held by influ-
ential dealers in grain, at which, while no
definite results or plans were arrived at, the
conviction was generally expressed that bulk
grain transportation must supplant the sack
before St. Louis could successfully compete
with Chicago as a grain market. The proposition of
Messrs. Henry and Edgar Ames and Albert Pearce to
construct an elevator was vetoed by the mayor after
the ordinance empowering the construction of the
elevator had passed the City Council, and it was not
until 1864 that an elevator was erected. This was
the present building, save the additions since erected,
of the St. Louis Elevator Company, on the Levee,
between Biddle and Ashley Streets.
The St. Louis Elevator Company, which now con-
trols four elevators, when organized in 1864, was
believed to be in advance of the then demands of trade.
It did not prove profitable in its earlier management,
nor indeed until its control was obtained by the pres-
ent officers, — John Jackson, president; and Capt. D.
P. Slattery, secretary and general manage!'.
Only those who are aware of the almost incalcula-
ble impetus which the grain trade of St. Louis has
received from the utilization of the river route to
New Orleans for shipment to Europe and South
America can appreciate the work that has been done
by such far-seeing and ardent spirits as Eads and
Jackson and their associates.
John Jackson was born in County Down, North
Ireland, April 21, 1821, of Scotch-Irish parents.
The father, a farmer, trained the boy to habits of in-
ST. LOUIS GRAIN ELEVATOR.
dustry, and gave him all the school privileges which
the country then afforded. When nineteen years old
young Jackson entered a wholesale grocery establish-
ment at Belfast, and remained there twelve years.
He then followed a younger brother's example and
came to America, landing at New Orleans in 1852.
For three years he was connected with the house of
Dyas & Co., and then (in 1855) removed to St. Louis
and established the branch house of McGill, Jackson
& Co., of New Orleans, who dealt in salt, etc. The
business was well managed, and Mr. Jackson made
money. His energy, honesty, and ability attracted
the attention of his fellow-merchants, and they sought
1228
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
his advice and aid in matters involving the industrial
development of the city.
Mr. Jackson early gave much thought to the open-
ing and development of lines of traffic from St. Louis
to outlying regions, and was a director in the Wabash
system of railroads west of the Mississippi, reaching
to Kansas City, Omaha, and the rich grain-fields of
Iowa, etc. When it had been demonstrated that the
grain trade of the Northwest was not henceforth to be
completely monopolized by Chicago, and that ship-
ments of grain to the Atlantic from the South and
West could be made advantageously by way of St.
Louis, he was an earnest and practical advocate of the
introduction of improvements, such as elevators, steam-
car transfers, etc., by which grain could be handled
quickly and economically at St. Louis.
From the first he was an earnest advocate of the
great bridge, and became prominently identified with
its construction. In the many dark days of the en-
terprise, when the project seemed at a hopeless stand-
still, no man gave it more cheering or more energetic
support.
When the bridge was finished, Mr. Jackson realized
that the time had come to make a determined effort
to improve the Mississippi River and establish its su-
premacy as the " water-way of the continent,"and he be-
came the president of the South Pass Jetty Company,
and labored devotedly at the side of the heroic Eads
in his audacious engineering feat at the mouth of the
Mississippi.
Mr. Jackson gave liberally of his means to this
vast work, which has taken its place as one of the
great achievements of the nineteenth century, and
he has now the satisfaction of knowing that the time
and money of himself and his associates have been
instrumental in solving the problem of cheap trans-
portation for the West and Northwest. Their success
entitles them to be classed as the preservers of the
commerce of the Mississippi valley, and statistics jus-
tify their right to this proud title ; for while during
the past decade the shipments of grain from St. Louis
have increased over one hundred, per cent, and those
by rail about fifty per cent., the shipments by way of
river have increased within the same period five thou-
sand per cent, (being only 312,077 bushels in 1871,
and 15,762,664 bushels in 1880). In 1881 they
were very nearly fifty per cent, of the whole grain ship-
ments of the year.
While thus largely interested in questions affecting
transportation, Mr. Jackson has necessarily been
brought to face the important subject of the terminal
handling and transfer of grain, and it is to a great
extent due to his labors that the problem has been
solved so satisfactorily for St. Louis. He was one of
the first subscribers to the St. Louis elevator, and the
company of which he is president also controls the
East St. Louis and Venice elevators, and occupies the
St. Louis salt warehouse.
These immense establishments are connected by
wires with each other, and although the East St.
Louis and Venice elevators are on the Illinois side
of the river, the entire business is transacted with the
utmost promptness and regularity from the general
office, where Mr. Jackson is the directing mind. The
grain handled by these three elevators has in some
years reached as high as sixty per cent, of all the
grain received at St. Louis, and this system of eleva-
tors is justly regarded as a most important agent in
giving a permanent and healthy stimulus to the grain
trade of St. Louis.
Early in 1880 it became apparent that the existing
barge lines in operation between St. Louis and New
Orleans were inadequate for the rapid and economical
transportation of grain, and Mr. Jackson united with
other capitalists in the establishment of the St. Louis
and New Orleans Transportation Company, with a
fleet of five tow-boats and thirty-five barges. Sub-
sequently a consolidation of this company and the
Mississippi Valley Transportation Company was ef-
fected, and the result of the union, the St. Louis and
Mississippi Valley Transportation Company, employs
thirteen tow steamers and nearly one hundred barges,
with capacity for four million nine hundred thousand
bushels of bulk grain, and the ability to move to New
Orleans monthly three million bushels of grain.
Mr. Jackson's efforts to build up the grain trade of
St. Louis by furnishing suitable terminal facilities for
the handling of grain, and by providing cheap trans-
portation to Europe, have not lacked recognition .on
the part of his fellow business men. He has been
vice-president of the Merchants' Exchange, and is one
of the most influential and honored members of that
body. In 1880, when the jetty system at the mouth
of the Mississippi had proved its utility, and ships of
deep draught were loading at New Orleans with St.
Louis grain, a party of Mr. Jackson's friends (some of
whom had been his associates in the South Pass Jetty
Company) visited him at his elegant home in St. Louis,
and presented him, as a testimonial of their apprecia-
tion of his public-spirited labors in behalf of St. Louis,
a handsome and costly watch, which bore the inscrip-
tion, " The stockholders of the South Pass Jetty
Company to their esteemed president, John Jackson,
in grateful remembrance of his fidelity to these inter-
ests in the darkest hours of the enterprise." The
esteem in which Mr. Jackson is held by those who
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1229
have been closely associated with him in these great
works is shared by the public generally, among whom
his name is a tower of strength, and a synonym of
that strong faith in St. Louis and that patient and
progressive energy which have made her the queen of
the Mississippi valley.
Since Mr. Jackson has been president of the St.
Louis Elevator Company the original elevator has
been enlarged to its present capacity of two million
bushels of bulk grain and two hundred thousand
sacks, and is a marvel of conveniences, having double
capacity and room for forty cars at a time to discharge
or receive, besides meeting the demands of the barges
along its river-front. The other elevators controlled
by this corporation are :
The East St. Louis elevator, recently enlarged
and now having a capacity of one million bushels.
Seven tracks run through the building, capable of ac-
commodating forty-six cars at a time, and discharging
or loading thirty-two.
The Venice (111.) elevator, with ample rail and
water conveniences, and a capacity of six hundred
thousand bushels.
The North St. Louis elevator, formerly a salt
warehouse only, but now arranged for elevator pur-
poses, with a capacity of seven hundred and fifty
thousand bushels. Thus this corporation supplies an
aggregate storage capacity of nearly five million bush-
els, and employs a capital of one million five hundred
thousand dollars.
The Central Elevator Company, of which N. G.
Larimore is president and J. W. Larimore secretary
and treasurer, was organized in 1873, and has two capa-
cious elevators. Central A and Central B, located re-
spectively at Eleventh and Austin Streets and on the
Levee and Chouteau Avenue. In 1879 that on the
Levee was burned, but speedily re-erected with in-
creased capacity and added conveniences. The com-
pany also owns the St. Louis Warehouse, on Fifth
Street and Chouteau Avenue, which has a capacity
of two hundred thousand bushels, and which, though
one of the oldest, is one of the most complete in the
city, and is used for " overflow" in bulk grain over
the Missouri Pacific. The Missouri Pacific Elevator,
just completed at Carondelet, has a capacity of one
million five hundred thousand bushels, and is also
managed by the Messrs. Larimore.
N. G. Larimore, president of the company, was
born in Bourbon County, Ky., Aug. 29, 1835. His
ancestors resided in Maryland and Virginia, and his
grandparents were among the pioneers of Kentucky.
He was reared in good circumstances. In 1844 his
family settled on a farm in the northern part of St.
Louis County, Mo., and were well-known and in-
fluential people. He enjoyed good educational ad-
vantages, attending Wayman Institute and a college
in the interior of Missouri. Soon after leaving col-
lege in 1855 he married Miss Susan Ashbrook,
youngest daughter of Levi Ashbrook, Sr., a well-
known pork-packer, and bought a farm near Belle-
fontaine, on which he resided until 1865, when he, with
his brother, J. W. Larimore, G. G. Schoolfield, and
D. H. Silver, built the warehouse on Fifth Street
and Chouteau Avenue, which was completed just in
time to hold the Southern Relief Fair, at which over
fifty thousand dollars was realized and distributed to
the sufferers from the ravages caused by the civil
war. This building was afterwards converted into a
warehouse for the handling of grain in special bins.
Millers at that time were unwilling to buy grain by
grade, but insisted on having each car-load stored by
itself, and the Larimore Brothers undertook to ac-
commodate them. These beginnings were compara-
tively modest, and they could hardly have foreseen
the development and present magnitude of their busi-
ness. They handled the first bulk grain that was
received in St. Louis from the Missouri Pacific Rail-
road, and were among the earliest to appreciate the
stimulus that might be given to the grain trade of the
city by the elevator system. Accordingly in 1873
they organized a company and built " Central Ele-
vator A." At that time this was a great stride
forward, and the friends of the brothers declared it
to be a " great business mistake," and predicted
failure ; but the foresight of the Larimores wa&
abundantly verified, the elevator was crowded, and
their business increased to such a volume that i»
1876 they were obliged to build another elevator
(" Elevator B"), on the river at the foot of Chouteau
Avenue, with a capacity of two hundred thousand
bushels. As previously stated, this elevator was de-
stroyed by fire in 1879, but the brothers immediately
rebuilt it with a capacity of nine hundred thousand
bushels. The capacity of Elevator A was originally
five hundred thousand bushels, but increasing busi-
ness has compelled its enlargement to seven hundred
thousand bushels. In addition the company has leased
and is now running the Missouri Pacific elevator at
Carondelet, built in 1882, with a capacity of one
million five hundred thousand bushels. The total
storage capacity of the elevators controlled by the
Larimore Brothers is over three million bushels.
Mr. Larimore has been identified with many other
important enterprises, and he and his brother were
the largest individual subscribers to the St. Louis and
New Orleans Transportation Company, by which was
1230
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
triumphantly demonstrated the great economy of a
water- route to the sea. The brothers are also largely
interested in the Elk Valley Farming Company, which
controls fifteen thousand acres of farming land in Da-
kota, on which a prosperous town of two thousand in-
habitants, only a year old and named " Larimore,"
has sprung up. The brothers regard this as one of
the most important and promising of their ventures.
Mr. Larimore was also president of the Iron Moun-
tain Bank, and has been for four years an efficient
member of the City Council. He is also a member
of the St. Louis Club and of the St. Louis Legion of
Honor. He has long been a member of the Centenary
Methodist Episcopal Church.
J. W. Larimore, brother of N. G. Larimore, was
born July 16, 1837, in Bourbon County, Ky., and
removed to Missouri with the family in 1844. The
time occupied in making this journey was two weeks,
the household goods being brought in wagons and the
family in a carriage; now the trip would require only
ten or twelve hours. His father, W. L. Larimore, had
purchased a large tract of land in St. Louis County.
Being a man of unusual foresight, he predicted a I
bright future for himself and family, as he looked ;
upon St. Louis as the coming metropolis of the Mis- j
sissippi valley, although the population at that time |
was only about thirty-four thousand. He at once set |
about opening up his large and magnificent farm, j
which in 18G4 took the premium offered by the St. j
Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Association for !
the most highly improved and best cultivated large
farm, there being nearly one thousand acres, most of
which was meadow land. This farm was bought at
from ten dollars to twelve dollars per acre, and was
sold by him in 1865 in small farms for from one hun-
dred and twenty-five dollars to two hundred dollars per
acre, and was known as " The Model Farm." It was
on this farm that J. W. Larimore considers he received
the most valuable part of his education, having had
the management of it for seven years, although his
father gave him all the advantages of the best schools
in the city. In 1865, with his brother, he removed
to St. Louis, and his subsequent prosperous career is
embraced in the sketch of that of N. G. Larimore.
He was married Jan. 29, 1867, to Bettie 11. Car-
lisle, of St. Louis, both being active members of the
Centenary Methodist Church, and closely identified
with the Methodist Orphans' Home, she being a
manager and he secretary and a member of the board
of trustees of that worthy and admirably managed
institution. He is also one of the board of trustees
of the Bethel Association, one of the most useful
charities in the city. Here every Sunday are gathered
together from five hundred to one thousand of the
poor and their children who are deprived of the privi-
leges of a regular church by reason of the long dis-
tance from their homes to that portion of the city
where most of the churches are. They are provided
with competent teachers, and the faithful and zealous
chaplain, Capt. Kitwood, preaches to them two or
three times every week.
J. W. Larimore is also a stockholder and director
in the Continental Bank, which is one of the most
prosperous financial institutions in the city. He is
also secretary and director of the Central Elevator
Company, a stockholder and director of several other
elevator companies, and vice-president of the Elk
Valley Farming Company, on whose farm in Dakota
were raised in 1882 some sixty thousand bushels No.
1 hard spring wheat.
Only those familiar with the effect which the in-
troduction of the elevator system has had upon the
grain trade of St. Louis can appreciate what such
men as N. G. and J. W. Larimore have done for the
city. Not many years ago the grain trade of the
West and Northwest was handled by Chicago, but
the Larimores and others of similar courage addressed
themselves to the great problem of handling grain
economically and expeditiously, the solution of which,
in connection with the rapid development of the
grain-growing region lying west and south of St.
Louis, has amounted to almost a revolution in that
line of business. The Larimores have contributed
their full share to accomplishing this result, and it is
thought that, owing to their intimate relations with
the Gould Southwestern railroad system, they handle
much the greater portion of the grain that comes to
St. Louis.
J. W. Larimore has taken a great interest in the
improvement of Pine Street, west of Grand Avenue,
where he purchased several large blocks of ground,
on which he has erected six large, fine stone-front
houses, two of which are double and elegantly fin-
ished in hard wood. One of them is occupied by
Mr. Larimore as his family residence. His enter-
prise has given quite an impetus to the improvement
of that part of the city, and the value of adjacent
property has advanced from twenty-five to fifty per
cent, during the past year. Nor is this all : together
with his brother, N. G. Larimore, he has recently
(January, 1883) secured a quarter of the block at
the southwest corner of Fourth and Oiive Streets, and
they intend shortly to erect thereon a series of build-
ings worthy of the location and a credit to the city.
The Advance Elevator Company (Messrs. McCor-
mick) is admirably equipped at East St. Louis, and
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1231
has two elevators, A and B, with a total capacity of
1,500,000 bushels.
The Union Elevator, East St. Louis, has been re-
cently built on the line of the Chicago, Burlington
and Quincy Railroad, and enjoys unusual terminal
facilities and a capacity of 1,500,000 bushels, which
is to be still further increased. The proprietors,
Messrs. Greer Brothers, of St. Louis and Peoria, 111.,
have also an elevator at the latter point.
The Union Depot Elevator D is also new, and is
most admirably arranged and located. It has a ca-
pacity of 750,000 bushels, and John R. Lionberger,
the proprietor, has also Union Depot Warehouse, with
a capacity of 250,000 bushels.
Central Elevator C has a capacity of 800,000
bushels.
The McPheeters Warehouse Company, so organized
last year, but in existence as a firm since 1877, has
built one of the largest and most complete warehouses
in the West. It has rail and water connections, and
occupies a large river-front, from Nos. 1104 to 1115
inclusive, North Levee. The directors are W. L.
Wickham, T. T. Turner, and T. S. McPheeters, Mr.
Wickhaui being president and Mr. McPheeters sec-
retary and manager. The capital is one hundred
thousand dollars. Besides the new building, two
hundred and sixty-four by one hundred and two feet
with a capacity for eight hundred car-loads, the com-
pany has another warehouse on North Main Street.
A recapitulation of the storage capacity of elevators
and the larger warehouses makes the following ex-
hibit, which no other Western city can boast :
Bushels.
St. Louis Elevator 2,000,000
Central Elevator A 700,000
Central Elevator B 900.000
Central Elevator C 800,000
East St. Louis Elevator 1,000,000
Advance Elevator A 500,000
Advance Elevator B 1,000,000
Union Elevator 1,500,000
Venice Elevator 600,000
Union Depot Elevator 750,000
Salt Warehouse Elevator 750,000
St. Louis Warehouse 200,000
Total 10,700,000
McPheeters Warehouse Company 500,000
Mills and Milling. — The inauguration of the flour-
milling interest in what is now St. Louis antedates
the Revolutionary war and the declaration of inde-
pendence by nearly a decade. During the period of
Spanish subsidies, on Aug. 11, 1766, Laclede Liguest
received a grant of land, " situate on La Petite Riv-
ttre," afterwards known as Chouteau Pond, on which
he caused to be built c< two mills for grist purposes,"
one of them run by water, and the other termed a
horse-mill. How long these primitive establishments
existed is unknown, but up to a.bout 1862 a very
ancient looking lime-mill stood upon this old site, then
fronting Chouteau Pond, which, since filled up, is now
occupied by the Union Depot, railroad tracks, freight
warehouses, and other evidences of commercial progress.
Precisely when merchant mills took the place of
the rude structures of the last century is not disclosed
by the early commercial records, and it seems uncer-
tain whether the mill erected at the corner of Florida
Street and the Levee in 1827 and afterwards operated
by Edward Walsh was really the first of compara-
tively modern character. In 1836, Capt. Martin
Thomas built a mill in the northern part of the city,
which was burned on July 10, 1836, just after it had
been put in complete order. Its re-erection was
speedily followed by the building of numerous other
flouring-mills, so that in 1847 fourteen were in active
operation, the foundation being thus laid of the St.
Louis flour market, since characterized by uniform
excellence of brands and great business enterprise. Of
these fourteen mills five remain, though greatly en-
larged and improved. A majority of the others were
destroyed by fire. The names and capacity of the
mills of 1847 are thus recorded :
Barrels
a Day.
Eagle 200
Union 200
«Exc,clsior 100
*Mound 75
Franklin 125
^Planters' 125
Park..., 200
Barrels
a Day.
*Missouri 176
«Star 200
*Nonantuin 125
*Centre 100
^Washington 100
Camp Spring 125
*Chouteau.... .. 100
Those marked thus * are no longer in existence.
In 1850 we find that there were twenty-two mills
in operation in St. Louis, whose capacity for manu-
facturing flour was about two thousand eight hundred
barrels, and whose actual consumption of wheat was
not far short of twelve thousand bushels daily. The
mills were as follows:
•...,, Run of Number of
Stone. Barrels.
Saxony 2 50
Mound 2 75
Diamond 2 75
Centre 2 75
O'Fallnn 2 75
Franklin 2 75
Cherry Street 3 100
Nonantum 2 100
Washington 3 100
Magnolia 2 100
Phreiiix 3 100
Engle 2 100
Kxcclsior 2 100
Park 3 125
Chouteau's 3 150
Star 4 150
Planters' 2 150
Agawan 4 200
Empire 4 250
United States 3 250
McElroy's 4 400
Missouri (burnt)
Total.
2800
1232
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
The Laclede Mill, the largest at that period, was
erected in 1856, at the corner of Soulard and Decatur
Streets, with four run of stone and a manufacturing
capacity of three hundred barrels a day. Sears & Co.,
the owners, expended forty thousand dollars in its
erection. While there have necessarily been a variety
of changes with time, yet a majority of the millers of
1850 are still among the "jolly millers of St. Louis,"
and participated in the annual excursion of the craft
in May, 1882.
The millers of 1849-50 took a prominent part in
the organization of the " Merchants' Exchange," and
the Millers' Exchange of that period is said to have
been the pioneer corn exchange of this country. Prior
to that time wheat came to the St. Louis market
solely by river and in sacks, and samples were hawked
about from mill to mill for sale. The outfit or furnish-
ing of this exchange consisted of two pine counters,
and twenty-four tin pans for flour samples. The
Millers' Association had already been organized, with
Gabriel Chouteau, John Walsh, Joseph Powell, C. L.
Tucker, Dennis Marks, Dr. Tibbets, James Waugh,
and T. A. Buckland as directors. The prominence
then assumed by this interest in the direction of the
commercial affairs of St. Louis has since been main-
tained in the election of five millers as presidents of
the Merchants' Exchange, viz. : E. 0. Stanard, in
1866; C. L. Tucker, 1867; George P. Plant, 1869;
George Bain, 1878; Alexander H. Smith, in 1880.1
Among the most aggressive and enterprising of
these was George P. Plant. Mr. Plant was born in
Lancaster (now Clinton), Mass., March 23, 1814, the
eldest son and the third in a family of six sons and
six daughters. His boyhood was one of thrift and
labor, and he was brought up in a practical atmosphere,
his father being a cotton manufacturer, with an excel-
lent library of mechanical and scientific works, which
the boy, directed by a gifted sister, carefully studied.
From these books he contracted a desire for the calling
of a civil engineer. Opportunities for studying the
science were in those days very meagre, and with little
but self instruction, he launched at once into the
school of practice, and was employed as a subordinate
under Maj. Whistler, who was engaged in building a
railroad between Springfield and Worcester, Mass.
The West was then beginning to attract the atten-
tion of the young and venturesome, and the projected
construction of railroads and canals in Illinois seemed
to young Plant to offer a promising field for the exer-
• l A full account of the organization of the Millers' Exchange
is given in connection with the Merchants' Exchange, with
which it was afterwards incorporated.
cise of his talents. Consequently in 1835 he went
West, and after visiting an uncle who was living in
Kentucky, located at Jacksonville, 111., where he was
employed as chief engineer in building the first rail-
road west of the Alleghenies.
This road was called khe Northern Cross Railroad.
The first rail was laid at Meredosia, May 9, 1838, and
the first locomotive arrived by steamboat Sept. 6,
1838. It was put upon the track Nov. 8, 1838, for
a trial-trip over the eight miles of the road that were
finished. George P. Plant, the chief engineer, was
master of ceremonies, and in the party were Governor
Duncan, of Illinois, Murray McConnell, the State
commissioner, James Dunlap and Thomas T. January,
contractors, Charles Collins and Myron Leslie, of St.
Louis, and Alexander Strother. There were then less
than two thousand miles of railroad in the United
States ; but Mr. Plant, to whom belongs the unques-
tioned honor of having first harnessed the iron horse
in the Mississippi valley, lived to see nearly seventy-
five thousand miles of railroad in the country, and the
valley gridironed with railroads, distributing the pro-
ducts of the Southwest through St. Louis in every
direction, north, east, south, and west, with the city
itself occupying a then undreamed-of prominence as
the gateway to China and Japan.
At Jacksonville he met and married Matilda W.
January, sister of D. A. and Thomas T. January, who
soon removed to St. Louis and engaged in mercantile
and other pursuits, in which they won an honorable
name. In 1839, Mr. Plant followed them to St. Louis,
and after a varied experience built the Franklin flour
mills, on Franklin Avenue near Fifth Street, and
founded the firm of George P. Plant & Co. Subse-
quently his brother Samuel became a partner, and
when he died in 1866, Mr. Plant admitted his son
George J. to membership in the firm, and still later
George H. Plant, the son of Samuel Plant.
In 1859 his wife died, leaving two sons, and in
1863 he married Miss Martha G. Douthitt, a daugh-
ter of the late Robert H. Douthitt, of Pittsburgh, Pa.,
who still survives him.
While active and energetic in the prosecution of
his own business, which he conducted with such suc-
cess as to amass a large fortune, Mr. Plant was much
interested in affairs about him, and among the many
positions of trust which he held were the following:
President of the Merchants' Exchange, president of
the Millers' National Convention, president of the
American Central Insurance Company, president of
St. Luke's Hospital, etc.
Mr. Plant was of delicate constitution, but his
strength of mind enabled him to do perhaps more
v*
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
work than many stronger men accomplished. In
February, 1875, he was seized by a cold that rapidly
developed into typhoid pneumonia, and on the morn-
ing of February 24th he breathed his last.
His death and funeral were the occasion of such a
display of respect and esteem as are accorded to no
common man. All the bodies with which he had been
connected adopted resolutions expressing their regret
at the decease of Mr. Plant in words of the most
tender and touching eulogy. The press, not only of
St. Louis but of distant cities, joined in paying tribute
to one whose name throughout the land was a syno-
nym of business integrity, and who had come to be
recognized as one of the representative men of the
Southwest. " It was," wrote a friend soon after his
death, " his long career in St. Louis as a strict and
honorable business man, a successful manufacturer,
the establishing of a name national in its reputation,
his fidelity in places of trust and honor, his disinter-
estedness as a citizen, his charity and benevolence,
his ready ear to the misfortunes of others, his sound
judgment and advice, ever ready for those who sought
it, his known conservatism, yet progressiveness of
thought and ideas, that gave him the eminence he
attained in the community, made his loss so widely
felt, and called forth from all sides such widespread
testimonials of genuine regard and respect."
In addition to the twenty-four flour mills within the
city limits, several of the St. Louis mills have like es-
tablishments in Illinois and other tributary points, and
the aggregate capital invested in this interest is esti-
mated at thirty-five million dollars. The daily manu-
facturing capacity exceeds twelve thousand barrels.
Only since 1871, however, has the home product ex-
ceeded the receipts from other marts. Flour made
from the wheat grown in the Mississippi valley has the
keeping or self-preservative quality to such an extent
that it is much in request in Southern latitudes, and
St. Louis millers export largely to Rio and the West
Indies. George Bain, president of the Atlantic Mill-
ing Company and of the National Millers' Associa-
tion, was the pioneer in the export trade. Ten years
ago he went to England with a consignment of flour
in sacks equal to thirty thousand barrels, and found
ready sale for the product. Since then St. Louis has
become a distributing-point to the markets of the
world, and St. Louis flour has won first premiums
at the World's Expositions in Paris, Vienna, and
Philadelphia. In 1879 there was exported to Eu-
ropean nations and to South America an aggregate
of six hundred and nineteen thousand one hundred
and three barrels of flour of St. Louis manufacture.
The flour shipments on through bills of lading to
foreign countries during 1881 makes this exhibit:
Barrels.
To England 178,879
Scotland 64,744
Ireland 18,893
Belgium 23,728
Wales 600
Germany 2,906
France 4.087
Holland 6,184
South America 8,416
West Indies 383
Other places 571
Total 309,391
The following table, compiled from the reports of
millers to the Merchants' Exchange, exhibits the ag-
gregate amount of flour handled by them during the
last nine years :
1882.
1881.
1880.
1879.
1878.
1877.
1876.
1875.
1874.
2,203,424
1,850,215
991,986
1,620,996
1,718,429
261,264
1,703,874
2,077,625
436,165
1,607,236
2,142,949
404,569
1,305,336
1,916,290
412,246
1,157,932
1,517,921
262,475
1,071,434
1,441,944
254,596
1,300,381
1,484,821
304,721
1,683,898
1,573,202
228,789
Sold and shipped direct
from country mills
Total barrels
4,845,625
3,600,689
4,217,664
4,154,757
3,633,872
2,938,328
2,767,974
3,089,923
3,485,889
" Previous to 1880," says Secretary George H.
Morgan, of the Merchants' Exchange, in his valuable
report on the trade and commerce of St. Louis for
1882, " St. Louis manufactured a greater number of
barrels of flour than any other city, but owing to the
fact that within the past three years several of our
largest flouring- mills have been destroyed by fire, our
enterprising Northwestern neighbor, Minneapolis, has
outstripped us in the manufacture of flour. But with
the new mills built in the past two years, and those
now building and planned, St. Louis will soon regain
its old pre-eminence as the largest manufacturer of
flour in this country. The first section of the Atlantic
Roller-Mill, with a capacity of thirteen hundred bar-
rels per day, was completed in December, and further
additions will doubtless be made during the comiu"-
o o
year. J. B. Kehlor & Co. have commenced the erec-
tion of the Grand Pacific Mills, which, when fully
completed, will have a daily capacity equal to, if
not exceeding, that of any other mill in the world.
1234
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Messrs. Teideman & Co. are perfecting plans for the
rebuilding of the Iron Mountain Mills, burned in
August last. These mills, when completed, will in-
crease the capacity of St. Louis mills to 17,500 bar-
rels per day, — over 5,000,000 barrels per annum.
Notwithstanding the fact that our manufacturing
capacity has decreased, St. Louis can justly claim to
be the largest flour market in the United States.
While New York shows receipts of 5,883,709 bar-
rels, it must be borne in mind that in this amount is
included all the flour shipped directly from interior cities
to Europe and South America, and in which the New
York merchant, whether receiver or exporter, has no
interest whatever; and while some of our Western
competitors show nominally very large receipts, a
large proportion of such receipts pay no tribute to
the city through which they pass on their way to the
seaboard for export or to the New England States for
consumption, while of the 4,845,625 barrels handled
the past year by St. Louis millers and dealers, there
was not one per cent, that did not actually change
hands here, being bought and sold in this market.
" The amount of flour manufactured during 1882
was 1,830,215 barrels, an increase over 1881 of
131,786 barrels. The receipts reached 2,003,424
barrels, the largest in the history of the trade. The
shipments aggregated 3,305,765 barrels, a greater
amount than ever before, of which the equivalent of
623,211 barrels was shipped in sacks direct to foreign
ports, 970,462 barrels went to Eastern consumers,
and 1,661,481 barrels were taken by the Southern
States. In addition to the amount exported from St.
Louis, 344,984 barrels were reported by St. Louis
dealers from points other than St. Louis, being shipped
direct from the country mills to save expense, but all
of which was sold in this market."
FLOUR MANUFACTURED during 1882 by mills outside of the
city of St. Louis, but owned by citizens of St. Louis, members
of the Merchants' Exchange.
(-•O
= £
= =
OWNER.
Name of Mill.
Location.
KJ
IS
^
E. 0. Stanard & Co
Alton Citv
Alton, III
122,277
F. Ttedrnmu & Co
Capf County
Jackoon, Mo
3(i.4I2
Futli, Ewald & Co
St. Marys
St. Marvs, Mo
37,600
John W. Kanflmaii
Pri'Mileiit1
Betlutltn, 111
30 61 15
I). L. Wins; A Co
Planet
Litchti.-lu. Ill
195.210
Keillor HUM
Edwarilsville
Edwaiilsvillc, III
121,684
Cn-wn Mills Company..
Crown
H.-lU-vill,-, Ill
59.00U
Mauntel, Boi^ess A Co.
AvNton
A vision. 111
B6,5Ufi
Maunlel, Burgess & Co.
Cone
Ste. Gcnevicvc, Mo..
211.7 1.'.
F. A. Kens* & Co
Belleville Star..
Hrlleville, III
44,600
F. A. Reuss & Co
Georgetown
Georgetown, 111
24,900
Total
754 598
The product for 1881 of those mills making a
specialty of corn meal, rye flour, grits, hominy, and
corn flour should be added to obtain a complete exhibit
of the milling interest of St. Louis. It is as follows :
Company.
Hezel
pany.
Humpei
Saxony
Lalleme
I'lanaga
foil....
J. L. Pi
Camp
Company.
•e.3
sS
g»
* |»
!S2
ILLER8.
Name of Mill.
S §
£?f
£ £
O
Io5
P
63
a
« a
& Feiner
214 709
25923
aiicln Milling
245 495
36098
tilling Com-
3 500
&Co
Lowell
7,000
2691
it Bros
2,000
is & Ricliard-
Mississippi Valley...
430000
60000
;e & Co
Tuscan
3,000
Sprint; Mill
7500
y\or & Co
Globe
1,200
[
905704
122021
12001
These figures show a steady increase in this par-
ticular, averaging over forty per cent, a year. The
exports of corn meal in 1881 aggregated 599,016 bar-
rels, and 1228 car-loads of bran and ship stuffs in
bulk were shipped, and 560,115 sacks of the same.
The growth of the flour trade of St. Louis will be
seen in the following table of the receipts and manu-
facture of »flour for thirty-two years and the exports
for eighteen years:
Year
Receipts.
Manf.
Exports.
Year
Receipts
Manf.
Exports.
1851
1852
185:i
1854
1855
1856
1857
1X58
1X59
1860
1861
1862
1863
1804
1865
1866
BM*.
184.715
132,050
192/J45
226.450
323,446
573.664
687,451
4x4,715
4X4^000
647.419
689,242
815.144
1,161,038
1,208,726
Bbl*.
408,099
383.184
455,076
503.157
& 13,353
078,496
662,548
825,651
063,446
839,165
694,110
75«,422
782,500
743,281
818,300
Bbfc.
1867
1868
1869
1870
1871
1872
1873
1874
1875
1876
1S77
1878
1879
18SSO
1881
18S2
Bbls.
944,075
80o,X.',6
1,210,555
1,491,626
1,428,408
1,259,933
1,296,457
1 ,683,>98
Bbls.
765,298
895.154
1,O6*,592
1,351,773
1,507,915
1,494,798
1,420,287
1,573,202
1.484.821
Bblt.
1,450,475
1,499,337
2,172,761
1,790,739
2,076.525
2.247,040
2,506,215
2,981,760
2,4SO,«77
l,i (71,434 1,441,944
1,157,932 1,5I7,!121
1.305.336 1,916,290
1.607,236 2,142.949
1,703,874 2,077,625
1,620,990 1.71H.429
2,003,424 1,850,215
2,217,578
2.295,fi57
2,670,740-
3,045,035
3,2112,803
2,696,245
3,305,765
1.521,465
1,700,740
The soui
ments of fl
from the fo
By
Eastern rail re
Illinois River
Western railr
•ces of supply and the dir
3ur during 1881 and 188
ilowing table :
RECEIPTS,
ads 45
ection of ship-
2 will be seen
1882. 1881.
Bbl». Bblt.
7,034 359,153
7,205 9,210
5.176 451.106
oads....
58
1 Burned August, 1882.
Missouri River 4,iil>r> 14.660
Southern railroads 645,fi50 486,505
Lower river I. oats 39,933 34,851
Northern railroads 131.918 157,071
Upper river boats 79,828 52,137
From local points 32,585 56,303
Total 2,003,423 1,620,996-
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1235
Direction.
Direct to Europe
SHIPMENTS
1882.
Bbls.
.... 623,211
1881.
Bbls.
Year.
Corn Meal.
Barrett.
Bran and Ship
in Sacks.
82,773
103,385
120,183
102,906
85,317
Bran and Ship
in Sacks.
560,115
602,103
539,443
499,481
680,565
661,458
578,062
558,696
471,447
386,321
457,908
444,450
313.585
Stuffs
in Bulk.
Cars.
Stuffs
in Bulk.
Cart.
1228
1936
1185
1058
To Eastern points by rai
« a rjv
Southern " rail
" " riv<
.... 961,094
329,896
817,156
871,386
631,038
312,312
366,366
1872
51 207
sr
9,368
1871
38 003
.... 934,968
1870
38 225
•r
.... 726,513
1869
ni 13
17,663
Year.
1881
Exports.
Corn Meal.
Barrels.
599,016
Northern points
32,948
Total
... 3,305,765
2,696,545
BRAN AND
Stuffs
in Bulk.
Cart.
644
447
463
336
RECEIPTS AND SHIPME
SHIP STUFFS
Year. C
1881
NTS OF C(
FOR THIR
Receipts.
orn Meal.
Barrels.
12,057
37.435
10.475
2,046
13 075
)RN MEAL,
TEEN YEARS.
Bran and Ship
in Sacks.
143,753
123,374
118,605
148.844
220,564
179,990
207,219
194.345
1880
632,343
1879
393,710
1878
281 712
1877
395,908
1876
383,242
1880 .
1875
420,399
1879
1874
402,871
1878
1873
358,736
1877
1872
234,938
1876
. 17,768
1871
191,910
1875
31,706
34.595
1870
171,203
1874....
1869....
.. 106.667
FLOUR MANUFACTURED IN ST. LOUIS FOR THREE YEARS.
MILLERS.
Name of Mill.
Capacity in
24 Hours.
Manufactured
1882.
Manufactured
1881.
Manufactured
1880.
Atlantic1
194 425
286 882
E. 0. Stanard & Co
900
158,263
159,196
171*243
Kohlor Brothers
TjiiuU'de
600
133,000
128,000
120 672
Union Strum Mills Company
Union Steam
600
134,786
123 150
105 640
( 600
118,900
104 259
92 300
Park
800
150,525
97,951
74 192
Empire Mill Company
600
80,439
91,442
130 131
400
91,100
90 000
88 116
George P Plant A Co
Franklin
450
84,980
86 845
90 490
Saxony Mill Company
Saxony
350
73,717
82,606
81 040
lie/el Milling Company
400
84,000
78,000
89 000
George P. Plant <t Co
Pearl
325
63,890
67 030
60 750
Anchor Mill Company
800
196,350
65,000
E. Goddurd & Suns Company
600
70,235
56,140
80 685
F. L. Johnston & Co
350
50,900
51,800
78 600
500
142,300
46,750
90 542
F. Tiedeman A Co
500
31,420
45 675
Henry Kalhfleisch & Co
St. George
200
500
31,250
120,155
34,385
33 575
24,150
43 000
38 420
W. S. Taylor & Co
Globe
150
5,000
20 000
16 980
Ca rondo let
150
17,800
18 000
18 000
J L Price A Co
Tuscan
125
3,000
600
3 000
Kehlor*
800
8,205
336 792
Total, 24 Mills.
24 Mills.
10,700
1,850,215
1,718,429
2,077,625
1 Burned Aug. 12, 1881 ; rebuilt December, 1882. * Burned Aug. 24, 1882.
* Completed November, 1882.
8 Burned February, 1882.
Bread, Crackers, etc. — " At the time of the
transfer of the province of Louisiana to the United
States," says Edwards ("Great West," p. 288),
" there was but one baker in the town, by the name
of Le Clerc, who baked for the garrison, and who
lived on Main Street, between what is now known as
Elm and Walnut." Dec. 5, 1812, Toussaint Benoit
had a baker-shop on North Church Street, in Block
64. On the llth of November, 1815, Christian
Smith informed
"the citizens of St. Louis, and those who attend the St. Louis
market, that he has opened a bake- shop in Decatur Street, oppo-
site Edward Hempstead's office, where household breads, cakes,
biscuits, crackers, etc., will always be ready for customers. To-
morrow evening the first batch will be drawn, and the citizens
are invited to send and make trial. For the accommodation of
hi8 friends of the north end of St. Louis, he will keep bread for
sale at the house of Mr. Wallace, the place lately occupied by
Mr. Jourdan Labrose."
April 20, 1816, the Missouri Gazette published the
following ordinance :
1236
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
" Ax ORDINANCE to establish the tariff and regulate the inspection
of bread for the town of St. Louis,
" Be it ordained by the board of trustees of the aforesaid town,
that hereafter no loaf of bread shall be vended in said town at
a price greater than twelve and one-half cents, and in order to
re •
fix the weight of said loaf of bread, the bakers of bread shall
hereafter be regulated by the following tariff:
Price of the
100 cwt.
S2 Olt
Weight of the ;
Loaf, of Flour.
No. of Ounces.
. 76
Price of the
100 cwt
Weight of the
Loaf, of Flour.
No. of Ounces.
28
o 50
61
6 00 ,
, 25
3 00
51
6.50
24
3.50
41
7.00
23
4 00
36
7.50
22
4 50
.. 34
8.05
21
5.00....
.. 30
" Provided, however, That if the prices of flour should be
different from the prices fixed in the above tariff, the weight of
the loaf shall be regulated accordingly."
June 20, 1816, Abijah Hull & Co., bakers, were
located on South Main Street, in block No. 6.
According to the census of 1880, the number of
firms engaged in the bread and cracker business was
195, but in 1881 the number was estimated at 215,
with a total business of $2,000,000 ; hands employed,
500 ; wages paid, $350,000.
One of the largest houses in the cracker trade is
the Dozier-Weyl Cracker Company, of which the
founder was Capt. James Dozier. Capt. Dozier was
born in Nash County, N. C., Jan. 7, 1806, the son
of Thomas Dozier, and descended from an old and
well-known Virginia family. Of Capt. Dozier's boy-
hood little is recorded, but that he was of a stirring
and adventurous spirit may be inferred from the fact
that when but eighteen years old he migrated to the
West, his only attendant being Peter, a negro boy,
whom his father had given him. The journey, which
was undertaken by land, was a toilsome one, there
being no railroads then, and only a few primitive
steamboats. He settled near Paris, Tenn., where,
after a short season spent in farming, he commenced
the mercantile business in a small way, and followed
this pursuit several years with excellent success, hav-
ing gained the confidence of all with whom he came
in contact.
In 1826, Mr. Dozier married Miss Mary A. Dud-
geon, the daughter of John Dudgeon, originally of
Virginia, but later of near Lexington, Ky., where
most of his family were born. In 1828, accompanied
by his father-in-law and family and two other families
of that neighborhood, he emigrated to Missouri, set-
tling in the upper part of St. Louis County, near the '
Virginia settlement of the Tylers and Colemans,
families whose descendants are among the leading
people of that locality. Here Capt. Dozier and Mr.
Dudgeon, his father-in-law, leased the old McAllister
tan-yard, and operated it with success for some years,
when Capt. Dozier retired and resumed the mercan-
tile business. He continued in this employment for
a few years, and finally removed to the north side of
the Missouri River, into St. Charles County, where,
he lived for many years. Here he laid the founda-
tion of his subsequent fortune, conducting a flourish-
ing business as a merchant and farmer, and became
one of the leading men of that region. By frugality
and industry he accumulated a large estate, consisting
of lands, stock, etc., and in doing so was greatly aided
by the most estimable of wives, of whom it was
justly said that " she was a bee that brought a great
deal of honey to that hive."
In 1844, Mr. Dozier engaged in the steamboat busi-
ness, and owned and operated successively the " War-
saw," "Lake of the Woods," "St. Louis Oak,"
'•Cora," "Mary Blane," and "Elvira" (a boat of
much reputation in her day, and named for his second
daughter). Later he or his sons owned the " Row-
ena," "Thomas E. Tutt," " Mollie Dozier," etc.
There are doubtless many old steamboatmen yet
living in whom the mention of the names of these
vessels will awaken the most interesting recollections.
Those were the palmy days of steamboating on the
Missouri River, and the vessels owned by Capt.
Dozier made his name widely known along that stream
and its tributaries, and everywhere respected as the
synonym of all that was honest and straightforward.
He was a contemporary and acquaintance of Capts.
Roe, Throckmorton, La Barge, Eaton, Kaiser, and
others, most of whom he survived.
In 1854, Capt. Dozier retired from the river to his
country home, where he built a fine residence near
the river-bank. A more beautiful place or a better
improved farm, or rather set of farms, could, perhaps,
not have been found on the Missouri River than that
of Capt. Dozier, at " Dozier's Landing." His house
was ever open to his friends and neighbors, and for
the twenty years he lived in St. Charles County was
seldom without some visitors. His charities to the
poor and orphans were of the most generous character,
and his house at times was the home of many unfor-
tunates. In his numerous benefactions he was wholly
free from ostentation, and the world never knew of
most of his deeds of benevolence. Cnpt. Dozier was
an owner of slaves, but a kind and thoughtful master.
Immediately after the war he removed to St. Louis,
and in 1867 formed a partnership with the long-estab-
lished and well-known baker, Joseph Garueau, in the
bakery business. In 1872 this firm was dissolved,
and Capt. Dozier then founded the present large baking
establishment of the Dozier-Weyl Cracker Company,
:' /
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1237
than which perhaps no manufacturing establishment
in America is better known, it being probably the
largest cracker- factory in the world.
Capt. Dozier died July 15, 1878, after but a few
hours' illness. For more than twenty years he had
been a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal
Church South, and enjoyed the confidence and respect
of the members of that communion, by whom his
counsels were prized and his example is held in affec-
tionate remembrance. As a citizen, he stood very
high, yet his real worth was appreciated only by
those who knew him intimately, for his nature was
reserved, and while his friends embraced all with
whom he was ever brought into business or social
relations, comparatively few were privileged to
thoroughly know and comprehend his character. As
a business man, though reticent, he was quick to de-
cide and equally quick to act, and his judgment was
clear and seldom at fault. Consequently he left to his
family a good heritage, the accumulation of a lifetime
of economy and upright dealing, but he bequeathed
also what they prize far more, the life record of a
good citizen, a loving husband, and a wise and tender
father.
Groceries. — In early times the grocery trade was
included under the general designation of " dry-
goods," but as far back as May 2, 1812, we find
J. F. Laveille advertising a new store, his stock con-
sisting of groceries, queensware, and other goods. In
1853 the importations of groceries embraced 50,774
hogsheads, 13,993 barrels, and 40,257 boxes and
bags of sugar, 53,554 barrels and hogsheads of mo-
lasses, 868 barrels of syrup, and 104,467 bags of cof-
fee. This was largely in advance of the previous
year's imports, given as follows : Sugars, 35,283
hogsheads, 27,672 barrels and boxes, 31,745 bags;
coffee, 96,240 sacks; molasses, 54,933 barrels and
hogsheads.
In 1855 there were fifty-six houses engaged in the
wholesale grocery trade, with annual sales amounting
to $22,783,505. Under the classification of groceries,
dry-goods, boots and shoes there were five firms en-
gaged, their annual sales aggregating $710,675.
The total number of wholesale grocery firms in St.
Louis in 1881 was fifty- two ; wholesale and retail
groceries, nine ; dealers in fancy groceries, three, —
making a total of sixty-four firms in the wholesale
grocery business. The sales (exclusive of sugar, cof-
fee, rice, etc.) are estimated at thirty millions of dol-
lars per annum. During the same year (1881) there
were one thousand and twenty-five retail groceries in
St. Louis.
One of the largest grocery firms in the country, and
T9
probably in the world, the Greeley-Burnham Grocer
Company, is located in St. Louis. Its founder was
Carlos S. Greeley (a sketch of whose active and
beneficent career is printed elsewhere in this work in
the history of the operations of the Western Sanitary
Commission), who in 1838 established a wholesale
grocery-house in St. Louis, the firm being composed
at first of Messrs. Greeley & Sanborn, and afterwards
of Greeley & Gale. Business was commenced on the
Levee on a very moderate scale, and one of the pecu-
liarities of its management was that, contrary to the
usual practice of the time and place, the firm sold no
liquor. The enterprise prospered, and the partner-
ship of Greeley & Gale continued in successful opera-
tion until 1858, in which year C. B. Burnham was
admitted to partnership, and the house took the name
of C. B. Burnham & Co.
Daniel B. Gale, who was associated with Mr. Gree-
ley in the establishment of the original firm, was
born in Salisbury, N. H., March 30, 1816. When
he was but six years old his father, a prosperous far-
mer, died, but his mother, a woman of rare qualities
of mind and heart, cheerfully assumed the added re-
sponsibilities, and, watching over his childhood and
youth with unceasing love, laid the foundations of a
singularly fine and noble character. The lad worked
on the farm until he was about fourteen years of age,
and his early education was mostly received from the
common country school, taught six months in the
year ; but he afterwards enjoyed for a time the ad-
vantages of the academy in his native town, and then,
with the intention of becoming a lawyer, entered
Meriden Academy, in Plainfield, N. H., to prepare
for college. Like many another New England stu-
dent, he taught a country school during the winter,
and at the same time prosecuted his studies ; but a
change having come over his mind as to his life-work,
he abandoned the idea of entering the legal profession,
and became a clerk in the store of Samuel C. Bart-
lett, a prominent and wealthy merchant of Salisbury.
A friend who knew him well at that period writes,
" He was rather impulsive, very affectionate in his
nature, and more delicate in his constitution than his
brothers, and on that account was perhaps rather
more the favorite of his mother. He was always,
even in boyhood, perfectly correct in his deportment,
was reliable in all that he said or did, and was never
guilty of any of those boyish tricks and vices so
common with young men, and by some considered
almost necessary follies of youth. There was a
small public library in Salisbury, from which he pro-
cured books, and he early acquired the habit of
filling up his leisure time in reading. This habit con-
1238
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
tinued ever after, and made him a man of great gen-
eral information."
Very soon after becoming of age, at the earnest
solicitation of his brother, a lawyer in Peoria, 111.,
who was anxious for him to settle at that point, he
determined to try his fortune in the West, and having
some money from his father's estate at his disposal,
he purchased a stock of goods in Boston, shipped
them by way of New Orleans to Peoria, and proceeded
without delay via Pittsburgh to that town, where he
intended to reside. But having chanced, in March,
1838, to meet at Peoria a native of his birthplace,
Carlos S. Greeley, who was establishing himself in
St. Louis, and who urged upon his young townsman
the superior advantages which St. Louis as a business
centre offered to a stirring young man, he visited St.
Louis, where he found Mr. Greeley just opening busi-
ness, and suggested the formation of a partnership,
offering to put into the capital of the firm the two
thousand dollars' worth of goods then on the way up
the river. Mr. Greeley accepted the proposition, and
the two, who were destined to be from this moment
lifelong friends and associates, repaired to a room in
the National Hotel, corner of Third and Market
Streets, and there arranged the basis of partnership
and the general principles on which the business
should be conducted. .
A noteworthy feature of their agreement was that
it was wholly verbal. When one proposed to reduce
it to writing, the other remarked that were it put on
paper it would be no more binding, for if people would
not keep a verbal contract, they would surely find
some way to break a written one. And so, on the
28th of March, 1838, the firm of Greeley & Gale
was organized, without any written articles of copart-
nership, and during the thirty-six years in which the
principals were associated they never found it neces-
sary to draw up any such articles, nor to commit to
writing any agreement, either with each other or with
those who were subsequently admitted to the firm.
The rapid rise and development of the firm has
already been related. Of his associate in the years
of toil that first ensued and of honorable and well-
earned success that followed Mr. Greeley says, " Mr.
Gale was a good, honest, working man, always ready
to do his share of hard work, — and there was plenty
of it for many long years. A more conscientious or
correct man I never had the pleasure of knowing. I
never knew him to fail in any capacity. He was in
every respect a good man, a thorough Christian."
Mr. Gale was pre-eminently a man of business, and
attended strictly to details. He did not allow his
time or capital to be squandered in outside invest-
ments and speculations, which allure from their legiti-
mate callings so many merchants only to result in
financial disaster, but to all public enterprises which
promised good to St. Louis he gave hearty and ma-
terial support. For many years he was a director in
several of the banks, and was a liberal subscriber to
the stock of the Kansas and Pacific Railroad. In com-
pany with Messrs. Greeley, John D. Perry, Joseph
O'Neil, and others, he rendered to that great enter-
prise important financial aid at a most critical period
of its history. For several years, too, he was the
faithful and incorruptible representative of the Sev-
enth Ward in the City Council, — a- service prompted
not by love of applause or personal gain, for such
motives were entirely foreign to his quiet and unsel-
fish nature, but by a serious conviction of the duty
he owed his fellow-citizens, whom he served in a
strong and upright way, without compromise of their
rights or loss of his own self-respect. Thus, though
diligent in business, he found time and means to
render substantial aid to the city of his residence
and love, and his honorable, successful, and praise-
worthy career as a merchant and citizen was truth-
fully eulogized on the occasion of his death by the
Union Merchants' Exchange, of which he was a
member, in these words : " A gentleman of univer-
sally modest deportment, yet widely known and
beloved on account of the remarkable purity and be-
nevolence of his character; a merchant of sterling
integrity, about whose name the most pleasant mem-
ories will forever cluster."
Mr. Gale was a thoroughly benevolent man, and
for years he was an efficient worker in that noble
charity the Provident Association. He was also
trustee and counselor in various charitable organiza-
tions, to the prosperity and usefulness of which his
best energies were consecrated. He ever kept his
heart fresh and warm by personal intercourse with
the poor, listening patiently to tales of sorrow and
want, and alleviating human suffering and wretched-
ness with all the means at his command. He gave
freely to the cause of education, especially to the
training of young men for the Christian ministry,
and at his death, which occurred on the 23d of Sep-
tember, 1874, he left, among other liberal benefac-
tions, a bequest of five thousand dollars to Shurtleff
College, Upper Alton, 111., and an equal sum to the
Girls' Industrial Home in St. Louis. His modest
nature shrank from publicity, and he literally did not
let "his left hand know what his right hand" did.
On March 15, 1850, Mr. Gale was baptized by
Rev. J. B. Jeter, D.D., into the fellowship of the
Second Baptist Church of St. Louis. During those
LIBRARY
Of THE
UNfVf I |MiN
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1239
times which tried men's souls, when the church, like
every other institution of society, was passing through
the shock of civil war, he accepted the responsible
office of treasurer, and discharged its duties with
fidelity and skill. The records of the church show
that from four hundred dollars to two thousand four
hundred dollars of his private funds were annually
employed to preserve the credit of the church. Few
men could have done this in the delicate and quiet
way in which all now know that he did it. Until he !
was stricken down by ill health his service in the
church was characterized by the most considerate
wisdom and great generosity. He was one of the
principal advocates of moving the location of the '
church edifice from Sixth and Locust to Locust and j
Beaumont Streets, and one of the largest contributors \
to the building fund of the present beautiful struc-
ture. Even after sickness prevented active partici- j
pation in church work, he still rendered important aid
to the church by his judicious counsels and liberal !
gifts.
On the 3d of February, 1842, Mr. Gale was mar- i
ried to Miss Caroline E. Pettengill, a native of his i
birthplace, and an acquaintance of his youth and i
early manhood. From this union were born five
children, — Charles, Theodore F., Ella R., Arthur H.,
and George. Charles and George died in early child-
hood, and Theodore F. at the age of twenty-one. ;
Ella R. is the wife of Charles W. Barstow, of St. \
Louis.
Into his home Mr. Gale brought his best thoughts
and most sacred affections. Here, as nowhere else, i
were manifested the purity and sweetness of his gentle
and affectionate disposition, the fragrance of which
still lingers in the hearts of those who knew him best
and loved him most. The memorial organ placed by
his wife in the choir gallery of the Second Baptist
Church of St. Louis was a just tribute to his life and
character, and a fitting expression of the affection in
which his memory is held.
The firm of C. B. Burnham & Co. continued as
such until 1876, when the title was changed to
Greeley, Burnham & Co. In 1879 the firm was in-
corporated as the Greeley-Burnham Grocer Company,
with C. S. Greeley, president; C. B. Burnham, vice-
president; Dwight Tredway, secretary; C. B. Greeley,
treasurer, and A. H. Gale, assistant secretary. These
gentlemen still constitute the board of officers. The
house has passed through many crises in the com-
mercial affairs of the country, but its career has been
one of great and uniform prosperity. It now occupies
a large, convenient, and finely-equipped building at j
the corner of Christy Avenue and Second Street, and
transacts an immense business, with ramifications
covering a wide extent of territory.
Another leading grocery firm is that of Alkire & Co.
Josiah Alkire, the senior member, has been identified
with the business for thirty years, having founded the
house in 1852. Associated with him as members of
the present firm are Frederick H. Beimes and William
D. Scott. Mr. Alkire was born at Williamsport,
Ohio, in 1818. The early years of his life were spent
in farming in that State and in Illinois, whither he
removed with his father's family in 1840. In 1852
he arrived in St. Louis and engaged in the grocery busi-
ness, in which he has continued without interruption
ever since. He began in a moderate way, but the
business grew rapidly, and the house now occupies
five floors, 160 by 70 feet each, of the building em-
bracing Nos. 514, 516, 518, and 520 North Second
Srteet, St. Louis. The firm stands well in commer-
cial circles, and its career has been one of uniform
and constantly increasing success.
Mr. Alkire is a modest and unassuming business
man, and his prosperity is due to prudent and careful
management. His judgment is clear and accurate,
and he can probably point to as good an average suc-
cess as any of his contemporaries. In business mat-
ters he is watchful without being parsimonious, for he
believes that, frequently, liberal expenditures bring the
most liberal results. Perhaps his most distinguishing
characteristic is the thoroughness with which he ap-
plies himself to every detail of his business. Perso-
nally, he is easily approached, and to his employe's is
kind-hearted and considerate to a remarkable degree.
Such a nature readily responds to the appeals of the
distressed, and Mr. Alkire is liberal almost to a fault.
In 1864, Mr. Alkire was married to Lydia Tomlin.
They have two sons living, — Francis Alkire, born Dec.
27, 1865, and George Alkire, born April 28, 1871.
His tastes are domestic, and he has ample means to
gratify them at his beautiful home on the West End
Narrow-Gauge Railroad.
Among the men with whom Mr. Alkire has been
closely connected in business was the late C. P.
Shepard. He regards the partnership with Mr.
Shepard as having been a most advantageous one for
the house, and personally a most delightful one to
himself, and he takes a sad pleasure now in paying
this loving tribute to a good man's memory.
The firm of Brookmire & Rankcn has long occupied
a prominent position in the wholesale grocery trade
of St. Louis. James H. Brookmire, the founder of
the house, was born Jan. 8, 1837, in Hestonville,
then one of the suburbs of Philadelphia, but now a
portion of that city. He is of Irish lineage, the son
1240
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
of a mechanic, from whom he inherited sturdy common
sense and valuable mechanical gifts. The family were
in moderate circumstances, and he enjoyed only the
ordinary country school privileges of that period.
His boyhood was passed uneventfully, and at the age j
of seventeen he found employment in a retail grocery j
in Philadelphia, an engagement which lasted about one i
year.
In February, 1855, he removed to St. Louis and
took a position as shipping clerk in the wholesale
grocery establishment of his uncles, S. & J. Hamill,
then doing business on the Levee. The house was a
leading one in its line of trade, and the engagement
was an extremely beneficial one to young Brookmire.
He served the establishment so faithfully that after
successive promotions the young man, who landed in
St. Louis with no capital but an indomitable will and
faith in himself, was admitted in five years to an active
partnership in the house, which then (in 1860) took
the name of Joseph Hamill & Co. In 1868 the
senior partner, Mr. Hamill, retired, and the firm-name
then became Brookmire & Ranken, under which title
it has continued to flourish until the present day. Of
the career of this firm and of its present standing it
is only necessary to remark that it is not only a lead-
ing house in its particular line, but may fairly be re-
garded as representative of the general trade of St.
Louis in its stability and its capacity for expansion.
The scene of its operations has been at the great dis-
tributing point for the mighty Mississippi valley, in-
viting operations on a large scale, and not only in-
volving the use of large capital, but imperatively
demanding the employment of decision, judgment,
and nerve. The house has also had to pass through
many stormy seasons of trade, when success depended
upon close and accurate observation and clear and
speedy judgment; but its uninterrupted progress
through wars and panics and its present prosperity
may be taken as conclusive evidence that its managers
(at whose head has stood Mr. Brookmire for nearly
fifteen years) possessed those necessary qualities in a
marked degree.
The secrets of Mr. Brookmire's success have been
thoroughness and system. Such were the qualities
which led to his remarkably speedy promotion to a
partnership, and they have proved to be the founda-
tion stones of his subsequent fortune. Upon assum-
ing the obligations of a partner, he aspired to be a
leader among men of his particular line of business,
not only in those routine matters which every grocer
is supposed to master, but in those particulars which
perhaps a majority neglect. In such matters as the
chemistry of his trade, for instance, he is especially
well informed, and his knowledge has greatly con-
tributed to the judicious and successful management
of the firm's large business. His mechanical tastes
are strong, and he figures as the inventor of several
patents of special ingenuity and in general use among
the trade, by whom Mr. Brookmire's inventive genius
is properly appreciated.
Mr. Brookmire has often been solicited to serve the
public in various official capacities, but has always
declined, having no taste for the excitements of such
a life, although deeply appreciating the honor his
fellow-citizens sought to pay him. He is, however, a
close observer of public affairs, and his influence as a
citizen has ever been exerted on the side of economy
and honesty in the management of the city, State, and
national governments.
Outside of his own business, Mr. Brookmire has
not cared greatly to interest himself; his reputation
(by which he hopes hereafter to be best remembered)
is that of one of the most successful grocers of St.
Louis. Nevertheless his name is associated with
some enterprises of considerable importance. He is
also a valued member of several boards and societies,
including the popular St. Louis Legion of Honor;
and the possession of considerable real estate in various
parts of the city still further identifies him with St.
Louis. Without a particle of pretense or affectation,
he is one of the best representatives of the self-con-
tained and aggressive class of business men who have
made St. Louis known and respected throughout the
great Mississippi valley.
In January, 1867, Mr. Brookmire married Miss
Anna Forbes, daughter of Dr. Isaiah Forbes, an old
and well-known citizen.
One of the important branches of the grocery busi-
ness is the sugar trade. In 1881 the receipts were
58,535 hogsheads, 128,393 barrels, 320 boxes, and
15,108 sacks. The receipts of coffee during 1881
amounted to 243,239 sacks, and the annual value
of this trade is set down at over $500,000. The
pre-eminence of St. Louis as the largest interior
coffee market in the world is still maintained. Her
shipments of coffee are about twenty-five per cent,
greater than those of Chicago, Cincinnati, or New
Orleans. The receipts of butter during 1881 ag-
gregated 8,247,401 pounds, and the receipts of
cheese to 109,272 boxes, the total value of the trade
being estimated at $1,500,000. Several firms are
engaged in the direct importation of tea, their busi-
ness aggregating over $500,000. The trade of St.
Louis in oysters and fish is estimated at about the
same amount, and the trade in fruits and nuts
aggregated in 1881 the sum of $800,000.
v\*a* R;
^*
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1241
The trade in molasses, coffee, rice, and tea is shown in the following tables :
RECEIPTS AND EXPORTS OF MOLASSES, COFFEE, AND RICE FOR EIGHTEEN YEARS.
YEARS.
MOLASSES.
Receipts.
Exports.
1882
Bblt.
57,608
52,750
26,243
21,234
16,426
13,285
13,270
19,679
24,726
15,962
12,263
17,449
Kegs.
68,833
83,419
14,555
3,562
528
1,894
2,870
13,568
15,472
6,548
9,463
5,238
5,221
5,053
4,189
996
761
1,461
Hhds.
Bbls.
74,060
67,655
40,707
30,035
32,990
26,524
26,202
40,393
36,136
22,269
24,209
42,758
27,891
25,857
19,862
14,789
12,072
10,444
Ke
117,
125,
37,
36,
39,
27,
37,
65,
37,
20,
18,
31,
21,
20,
•17,
14,
11,
H,
1881
7
77
1880
1879
1878
12
25
390
2,495
1,489
1,111
1877
1876
1875
1874
1873
1872
1871
1870
14,166
27,465
16,568
8,802
6,616
10,589
1869
1868
1867
1866
1865
COFFEE.
Receipts. Exports.
Bags.
255,880
245,239
303,649
267,533
201,080
197,099
191,543
166,914
153,919
142,863
135,792
169,058
113,950
135,491
92,669
98,617
90,367
60,106
Bags.
254,842
233,616
277,184
207,938
190,950
180,696
179,025
202,192
179,548
142,778
141,970
159,730
112,621
107,853
91,615
80,344
65,985
56,963
RICE.
Receipts.
Exports.
Sk>. & Bbls.
PJcgs.
49,305
48,797
48,661
50,281
39,399
34,608
34,213
28,154
25,600
20,467
22,386
26,563
20,379
24,665
17,991
24,465
18,115
24,553
10,997
12,019
7,649
10,764
6,620
15,148
6,448
10,971
9,593
10,804
9,020
9,781
6,069
7,560
3,977
5,344
2,035
•
RECEIPTS OF TEA.
Year. Pkgs.
1882 35,641
1881 35,518
1880 34,908
1879 52,799
Year. Pkgs.
1878 '. 37,702
1877 65,189
1876 26,008
The importation of sugar at St. Louis from 1865
to 1882 is presented in the following table, as well as
the shipments to the interior:
RECEIPTS AND EXPORTS OF SUGAR FOR EIGHTEEN YEARS.
Year.
Receipts.
Exports.
1882
HJidK.
42,867
58,535
68,182
65,235
65,004
51049
49)415
36,389
36,647
33,532
30,024
35,532
23,289
23,742
16,628
19,730
14,686
17,889
Bbls.
179,900
128.393
126,061
89,993
75,028
66,103
54,311
51,680
56,068
35,314
36,275
31,353
10,597
24,529
15,973
19,819
12,119
8,189
Boxes.
102
320
225
1,224
7,735
30,494
60,985
40,690
80,836
50,656
60,762
38,050
56,255
61,041
44,196
29,924
43,607
29,410
Bags.
84,672
15,108
779
595
20,792
6,400
12,908
8,031
39,774
19,735
5,057
47
114
409
516
2,112
1,049
Hhds.
1,921
2,853
4,150
6,615
4,059
5,816
7,691
7,424
6,292
3,566
7,006
9,390
5,160
4,648
3,374
2,855
1,985
1,852
Bbls.
319,034
294,796
331,014
256,544
250,240
238,090
236,276
252,770
223,641
152,198
150,175
138,675
98,243
9fi,9'. 0
80,208
67,670
57,548
53,069
Bags.
19,581
12,171
19,420
33,008
48,013
40,901
53,755
41.458
21,144
25.168
18,797
10,053
10,870
21,125
22,735
24,849
17,960
1881
1880
1879
1878
1877
1876
1875
1874
1873
1872
1871
1870
1869
1868
1867
1866
1865
David Nicholson, one of the representative men in
the grocery trade of St. Louis, was born in the vil-
lage of Fowlis Wester, in the county of Perth, Scot-
land, on Dec. 9, 1814. His parents were in only
moderate circumstances, and he was reared in the
sharp and rigorous school of comparative poverty.
He received in early youth such education as the
Scottish rural schools then afforded, but being fond
of books and of ready intellect and more than ordi-
nary aptness, he was a promising scholar. His parents
were of the most rigid integrity, and instilled early
into his mind and being the principles of the strictest
uprightness and honesty.
After his school-days his first employment was the
toilsome service of a grocer's apprentice in the city
of Glasgow. An apprenticeship in Scotland in those
days meant thorough instruction in all the details of
the trade to be learned, and when young Nicholson
had served his time he had an all but perfect knowl-
edge of the business as then conducted. Afterwards
he went to the town of Oban, in the West Highlands
of Scotland, and there entered the service of a mer-
chant who had been attracted by his activity and
energy thus early developed in the store at Glasgow.
While yet in his eighteenth year he came to Amer-
ica, landing at Montreal, and afterwards proceeded to
Ottawa, but finding no employment in the business
to which he had been disciplined and educated, he
engaged as tutor to the children of the postmaster,
where he remained until learning that his employer
had withheld his letters, apparently for fear of losing
his services as a teacher, he gave up his position.
He then learned the trade of a carpenter, and worked
as such at Hamilton and other Canadian towns, also
at Erie, Pa., and Chicago, and in 1838 removed to
St. Louis, where he continued to follow that occupa-
tion. Physically strong and mentally quick, he was
noted above many of his fellow-craftsmen for rapid
and superior workmanship. Some of the finest orna-
mental woodwork in St. Xavier's Church, St. Louis,
was done by him, and he often referred to it with
pride in later years.
In 1843 he relinquished the trade of a carpenter to
1242
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
embark in the grocery business, and formed a part-
nership with William Strachan, who was at that time
a wine merchant of St. Louis. The title of the firm
was Strachan & Nicholson. Mr. Strachan became
surety for the obligations incurred in establishing the
business, but no cash capital was invested. Mr. Nich-
olson was the sole manager and director of the new
interest thus created, which was originally estab-
lished at Fourth and Market Streets. His thorough
business training now asserted itself, and under his
direction the business prospered and soon attained
large proportions. After a number of removals in the
passing years, necessitated by the steady growth of
its trade, the house finally in 1870 settled in the
present commodious building, Nos. 13 and 15 North
Sixth Street, between Market and Chestnut Streets, a
structure erected by Mr. Nicholson himself to meet
the modern requirements of a continually increasing
business. The house contains five floors, each fifty
by one hundred and thirty-five feet, and at the pres-
ent time employs a force of fifty assistants.
Mr. Nicholson's remarkable success as a merchant
may be attributed to his unremitting diligence, and
the conducting of all his business transactions, small
and large, on the basis of strictly honorable princi-
ples, to his promptness in payments, and the hand-
ling of only the best goods. In all his thirty-seven
years of commercial life no one having a just claim
was ever turned away from, his counting-house with-
out receiving his due, and the name of David Nichol-
son was never commercially dishonored at home or
abroad.
He had great contempt for the " sharp practices"
common in the trade, and despised those who were
guilty of them. He was original in his business
methods, having little respect for the stereotyped ways
of others, and did not follow them.
The establishment always occupied its own distinct
position in the grocery system of St. Louis. It was,
however, thoroughly progressive and aggressive ; its
growth was co-extensive with that of the city, and it ul-
timately came to be recognized throughout the country
as a leading house. It was also well known abroad,
for Mr. Nicholson was the first, and also the largest,
importer of foreign groceries in this market, at times
chartering vessels and loading them with cargoes
solely for his own account, and dealt directly with the
merchants and producers of almost every foreign
clime. He did more than any other man in the St.
Louis trade to educate the community to the impor-
tance of purchasing superior goods, and to induce the
consumption of commodities hitherto unknown in
this market.
From the time of his coming to St. Louis, Mr.
Nicholson took a very active and practical interest in
the development and growth of the city, and gradu-
ally, as his means permitted, became a large real es-
tate owner, and left many enduring tokens of his en-
terprise scattered throughout the city. He erected
the beautiful " Temple Building," at Fifth and Wal-
nut Streets, and had he built nothing more this hand-
some structure would have been a convincing evidence
of his superior taste and spirit. But few men in St.
Louis ever built more largely or after a better style
than he did. A man of commerce by education and
practice, he was nevertheless a mechanic by nature.
As a lifelong friend happily remarked, " the spirit of
a builder lived in him," and the bent of his genius
took form in many stately edifices. One of his most
I tasteful improvements was " Nicholson Place," laid out
and adorned by him, and which he stipulated should
! be occupied only by dwellings of " elegant design and
substantial character."
During the civil war David" Nicholson was a stanch
and unswerving Unionist, an outspoken adherent of
the loyal cause, and prominent in the counsels of its
i friends. Through the darkest days of civil strife,
from 1861 to 1865, he never doubted the final tri-
umph of the lawfully constituted powers, that of the
'. government of the United States. In a career noted
for its activity and industry his charities were many,
— his ever-open hand responded munificently to the
generous impulses of his noble heart.
Mr. Nicholson possessed many traits which en-
titled him to be classed among the most remarkable
business men of his time. He intensely loved his
business, and his energy in the prosecution of it was
almost unexampled. To this were added unswerving
rectitude, intense hatred of dishonesty and dissimu-
lation of every type, and an outspoken condemnation
of wrong. There was also another side to his char-
acter less publicly known. In his nature, tender as
that of woman, there was an element of poetry that
always belongs to men of fervent feeling. Possessing
a fine mind and an intimate knowledge of Bible his-
tory and teachings, and having read much historical
and current literature of the highest order, he enjoyed
the companionship of large and elevating thoughts,
and in moments of relaxation was a most entertaining
companion. In certain issues which at times sprang up,
regarding his business, he was led into various news-
paper controversies, and proved himself a racy master
of the pen. In his early days he wrote numerous
compositions in verse that were of a high order of
merit, and during the civil war wrote several patriotic
odes that were characterized by unusual poetic inspi-
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1243
ration and fervor. His love for the home of his boy-
hood and his native land, which he often visited, grew
as his years were multiplied, and he never ceased to
give evidence of his deep affection and warm friend-
ship for his schoolmates and the companions of his
early years. The scenes and surroundings of his
youth, beautiful in nature and luxuriant in their
adornment, were precious to him, and the thatch-
roofed cottages of his birthplace were ever dear to
his heart. A striking evidence of the tenderness of
his nature was shown in the fact that, having learned
that the roof of the cottage in which he was born
needed rethatching, he promptly forwarded the money
while the community sorrowed ov^er the loss of an
upright and honored citizen.
BELCHERS SUGAR REFINING COMPANY. — One
of the most prominent features of the manufacturing
and mercantile interests of St. Louis is the Belcher
Sugar Refinery. The business of which it is the
outgrowth was established in 1840 by William H.
Belcher and Samuel McLean, and in August of that
year the firm of McLean & Belcher invited the atten-
tion of the trade to the fact that they " had on hand
a stock of refined sugars and sugar-house molasses, —
a pure article." The refinery was originally located
on Cedar Street, between Main and Second Streets.
THE BELCHER SUGAR REFINERY,
Southeast corner Main and Ashley Streets.
to have it done, and cared for its proper preservation'
ever afterwards.
He was frank and bluff in his manner, and courted
no man's favor, but was also an humble, sincere, and
faithful Christian, and the teachings of his pious home
in Scotland inspired the activities of a long and honor-
able career. He was early schooled in the tenets of
Presbyterianism, and for nearly forty years was an effi-
cient, esteemed, and highly-respected member of the
Second Church of St. Louis. He died on the 26th day
of November, 1880, after a short illness, surrounded
by his family, who mourned the departure of an affec-
tionate, kind, and noble-hearted husband and father,
After it had been in operation a comparatively short
time, Gay, Glasgow & Co., then importing island
sugar, purchased Belcher's interest, and finally Mc-
Lean's interest also. For nearly a year Edward J.
Gay, one of the partners of the firm, gave his personal
attention to the management of the refinery, and in
1843, William H. Belcher returned to St. Louis, and
purchased from Gay, Glasgow & Co. the works in the
old building, on which they held a lease. He gave
his closest personal attention to the business, although
it was then very small; secured the services of practi-
cal refiners, and was gradually gathering confidence,
strength, and ability, when the "high water" of 1844
1244
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
drowned out his establishment and caused him con-
. siderable loss.
In 1845 a site was purchased on the block between
Main and Lewis and Bates and O'Fallon Streets, and
the erection of new buildings was commenced. Al-
though the building put up was of considerable extent,
it was only the nucleus of the numerous buildings which
afterwards constituted the immense establishment of the
refining company. From this time the business, con-
trolled by William H. Belcher and his brother Charles
Belcher, received a new impetus and steadily increased
in magnitude. Additional ground was purchased and
new buildings were put up from year to year as the
enlargement of operations rendered it necessary. For
ten years the career of the establishment was steadily
successful, and its operations rapidly assumed most
important proportions. During the years 1854 and
1855 some rather extensive operations in Cuba re-
sulted disastrously and heavy losses were incurred,
and early in 1855 the business was transferred to a
corporation now known as the Belchers' Sugar Refin-
ing Company, which was composed of the creditors
of Belcher & Brother, the capital stock being fixed at
one million dollars. The original incorporators were
William H. Belcher, Rufus J. Lackland, George D.
Humphreys, Charles W. Horn, Edward Walsh, Derick
A. January, William M. Morrison, Edward Wyman,
Joseph C. Cabot, Constance J. Peifers, Edward Y.
Ware, and Charles Belcher. The charter, which was
approved Jan. 25, 1855, fixes the capital stock at the
amount above named, and authorizes its being in-
creased to one million five hundred thousand dollars
whenever the stockholders shall by vote so direct.
Thus organized, and with energetic and experienced
men at the head of affairs, the operations of the refin-
ery were prosecuted successfully. In the general
financial crash of 1857 the business suffered severely,
there being a sudden drop in sugars of from four to
five cents a pound. A loss of from four hundred
thousand to five hundred thousand dollars was
incurred, but the business went on without inter-
ruption. William H. Belcher remained at the head
of the business until the close of 1859, when he re-
moved to Chicago, where he died in 1866. He was
succeeded by Charles Belcher, the junior partner of
Belcher & Brother. Having weathered the storm of
1857, the career of the company since has been one of
steady progress, and it has now reached a position of
commercial influence national in point of view.
The premises occupied by the company consist of a
number of buildings, covering nearly four of the
squares in that part of the city, embracing the main
structure of the refinery proper, bonded warehouses,
cooperage-shops, bone-black houses, and various other
buildings occupied by other departments.
"The sugar refinery proper," says a description of the estab-
lishment written in 1868, "where the different processes of re-
fining are carried on, has a front on Lewis Street, between Bates
and O'Fallon Streets, of two hundred and forty feet, with a depth
of one hundred and twenty-five feet, and is six stories in height.
The first part of this building was erected in 1845, but it has
been added to constantly until it reached- its present propor-
tions. It is built with great solidity, as a great weight has to
be supported in the stories. The processes of refining require
that the building in which they are carried on should be of con-
siderable height, so as to admit of the sugar in solution being
let down from story to story in the various stage?, and to gain
the advantage of the pressure of a column of liquid which is
required in the course of refining. The portion of this build-
ing erected in 1845 stands on the southern half of the square ;
the central portion was erected in 1856, and that covering the
northern portion of the square was built in 1852. The central
part is principally devoted to the clarifying process, the filter-
ing of the liquid sugar, storing or drying hard sugars. In the
lower part of the southern portion of the building the packing
is done, while the northern and the upper floors generally are
devoted to various operations in the work of refining, purging
sugars in the moulds, etc. Here also are the crushing- and pow-
dering-mills, shaving-mills, and other appliances used in the
preparing of the sugar in the different forms for the market.
The vacuum-pans, where the refined solution is reduced again
to the form of sugar by boiling, are situated in a small building
south of the main structure, and fronting on O'Fallon Street.
The basement is used principally as a fill-house, where the
'melted sugar is run into the moulds and allowed to stand until
it is well settled preparatory to drawing. In the rear of the
refinery, and occupying the balance of the square to Main
Street, is a bonded warehouse and other buildings. On the east
side of Lewis Street the bone-black house is situated, with a
front of one hundred and seventy feet on Lewis Street and a
depth of eighty feet. This was built in 1867. On the square
between O'Fallon and Ashley Streets, and covering half of the
entire square, with a front of two hundred and forty feet on
Lewis Street, is a line of warehouses four stories in height, built
in 1852 and 1854. In the rear is the mechanics' shop, occupy-
ing the central portion of the square, and running back to Main
Street. On the square on the opposite side of Main Street is an
extensive cooperage-shop, with a front on Second Street of one
hundred and seventy-five feet, which was built in 1852. On
the northeast corner of the same square is the water reservoir,
built in 1867. The company have water- and gas-works of their
own, and supply all that is needed throughout the refinery
premises. The total value of real estate owned and occupied
at present by the company is not far from half a million dollars,
and the total frontage is about fourteen hundred feet. In some
instances the buildings on different squares communicate by
bridges across the streets, stretching from the upper stories, and
the bone-black house is connected with the refinery by a tunnel
under the street. In various places tramways are laid for the
easy transportation of the trucks containing bone-black."
The company, which still occupies the building at
the corner of Lewis and O'Fallon Streets, is now
erecting a new refinery and incidental buildings on
Main and Ashley Streets. The building will be the
highest in the city, having thirteen stories, including
a spacious basement. The foundation on which this
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1245
gigantic structure rests is built of cut stone, the walls
having a thickness of forty four inches. The refinery
has a frontage of one hundred and thirty-eight feet
on Main Street, and the filtering-house, including
wash-house and warehouse, has a frontage of two
hundred and eighty feet on Ashley Street. The boiler-
house, fronting on an alley, measures two hundred and
eighty feet. The floors in the refinery are each sup-
ported by twenty-four oak posts, having an average
thickness of twenty-two inches. In the filtering-
house, each floor is supported by twenty-four cast-iron
columns, which are connected with wrought-iron
beams. The height of the refinery is one hundred
and thirty-two feet ; height of the filtering-house, one
hundred and ten feet ; height of the tower, one hun-
dred and twenty-seven feet. The average height of
the floors is eleven feet. The material used in the
building is principally pressed brick above the founda-
tion. In appearance it is plain and substantial.
Richard Berger was the architect.
The present officers of the company are W. L.
Scott, president, and A. D. Cunningham, secretary.
William H. Belcher, founder of Belchers' Sugar
Refinery, was born in Connecticut in 1811. From
fifteen to twenty years of age he was clerk in his
father's store in a country town in Massachusetts.
When not quite twenty he went to New York, enter-
ing as clerk in a wholesale grocery store. After a
year or two he took up the business of selling books
at auction, traveling through the country for that pur-
pose, and selling in the largest towns. At the close
of 1834 he went through the Southern States, and
continued in the business until 1840, selling books in
most of the Southern cities and in some of those in the
West. In 1840, as already stated, he embarked with
Samuel McLean in the business of sugar refining in
St. Louis. The business connection was dissolved
next year, Mr. Belcher leaving it; but in 1843 he
bought the whole establishment, and the enterprise
from that time went forward prosperously and ex-
panded yearly. Mr. Belcher knew nothing of the
business when first connected with it, but soon learned
the old plan and system of sugar refining, and learned
further that it was going out of date, and that new
and improved methods must be adopted to secure
success. These he introduced from time to time, and
from a very small beginning built up a sugar refinery
that when he left it was one of the largest in the
country, as well as being one of the most important
manufacturing establishments in St. Louis or the
West. The principal part of the present buildings
of the sugar refinery were erected by him. He pur-
chased the site after suffering severely at his old loca-
tion from the flood of 1844, selecting a locality that
was found water-proof that year. In 1859 he went
to Chicago, and established a sugar refinery there
with fair prospects of success, but the outbreak of the
war ruined that enterprise, and the refinery was worked
irregularly during the war with only partial success.
While in Chicago he introduced the culture of the
sugar-beet into Illinois, and inaugurated other enter-
prises which promised more of benefit to the public
than to himself. He died at Chicago in March, 1866,
honored and esteemed by the mercantile community
of that city for his rare business qualifications, his
public spirit, and his personal character.
SPICES. — The sale of spices also forms an important
factor in the grocery business of St. Louis. One of
the largest firms engaged in this branch of the trade
is that of William Schotten & Co. William Schotten,
the founder of the house, was born in Neuess, near
Diisseldorf, Germany, Sept. 26, 1819. His father
was a man of limited means, and his boyhood passed
without special incident. He received the usual
parochial education, and was then employed by a
prominent physician in his neighborhood, who had a
very large practice. In this occupation young Schot-
ten acquired a practical knowledge that could not be
obtained in the schools. In 1847 he embarked for
America, and repaired directly to St. Louis, having
heard that a number of his countrymen had settled
here. Soon after his arrival he established a spice-
factory on Walnut Street, opposite the Cathedral.
He began on a small scale, grinding his stock himself
by hand, and then peddling it about town from a
basket. He labored with remarkable energy and per-
severance amid discouragements that would have ap-
palled a less determined man. One by one, however,
the obstacles yielded, and he finally secured a prosper-
ous business, his goods not only obtaining a local
reputation but being in demand in Chicago, Cincin-
nati, and other large cities in the West. Year by
year the trade continued to expand until his death in
September, 1874, when he left a comfortable fortune
to his family, together with a large spice and coffee
business. His sales aggregated yearly about two
hundred thousand dollars, a very large amount for
those days. As has been said, this result required
hard and steady work and many sacrifices ; but Mr.
Schotten possessed in an uncommon degree the val-
uable German qualities of patience and perseverance.
His genial disposition secured him hosts of friends,
and added largely to his list of customers.
In addition to the spice trade, Mr. Schotten engaged
in the milling business on North Market Street, oppo-
site the old North Missouri Railroad depot. This
1246
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
enterprise prospered for a time, but the mill was
burned, and the insurance proving worthless, the in-
vestment was a total loss. Thenceforward he confined
himself strictly to the business of manufacturing
spices, etc., and handed over to his sons at his death
the fine results of a quarter of a century of honest and
diligent labor.
Mr. Schotten was twice married, and left three
sons, — Hubertus by his first wife, and Julius J. and
Henry E. by his second. Upon his arrival in St.
Louis, Mr. Schotten attended a night school in order
to gain a knowledge of English and other branches
essential for a business man, and thoroughly appreci-
ating the importance of a good education, gave his
three boys the advantages of a college course. His
sons seem to have inherited much of their father's
aptitude for business, for in the eight years since his
•death their trade has doubled, and is constantly in-
creasing.
In 18*70, Mr. Schotten visited Europe, remaining
abroad over a year. Much of the time was spent in
gaining additional knowledge of his business, and he
brought back improved machinery.
Outside of his business, Mr. Schotten did not seek
prominence, being naturally very unpretentious. He
once, however, accepted a directorship in the Iron
Mountain Bank.
In politics he was inclined to be independent, and
never sought an office. In religion he was a Catholic,
and was, successively, a member of the Cathedral and
St. Mary's parishes, and was a faithful and generous
adherent of the church.
Salt used to be in the past, and probably will be
in the future, a valuable mineral resource of Missouri.
As early as Jan. 25, 1810, William Christy & Co. adver-
tised that they wished to employ fifteen hands to work
at salt-making on the Missouri, to whom they would
give liberal wages. " Our boat," added the advertise-
ment, " will depart from this place for the salt-works
about the 1st of March." Jan. 4, 1812, McKnight
& Brady announced that they had just received " a
quantity of salt from the Missouri saline." At the
present time the cost of transportation bears such an
inconsiderable relation to the cost of establishing im-
proved modern salt-works, with the elaborate ma-
chinery, royalties, rentals, etc., that it is cheaper for
St. Louis to buy its salt than to manufacture it. In
former times, when the costs of transportation were
excessive, the salines of Missouri and the adjacent
counties of Illinois were a source of revenue and a
stimulus to trade.
The salt springs and salines of Missouri are most
abundant in the central part of the State, yielding
excellent brine, especially in the counties of Cooper,
Saline, Howard, and those adjoining them. They are
adjacent to the Missouri, in a country full of cheap
wood and coal, and the supply of saline is regarded
by experts as inexhaustible.
RECEIPTS AND EXPORTS FOR EIGHTEEN YEARS.
Receipts.
Barrels.
Year.
1882 297,425 42,750
1881 232,843 73,239
1880 313,379 61,348
1879 244,966 78,345
1878 271,521 78,781
1877 202,377 104,406
1876 242,153 114,850
1875 246,193 96,880
1874 201,268 136,165
1873 379,699 149,861
1872 262,413 117,367
1871 211,235 107,197
1870 316,435 62,626
1869 238,452 63,937
1868 242,899 64,512
1867.- 141,869 78,674
1866 134,542 88,013
1865 170,814 83,221
Sacks. Bulk, in Bushels.
368,290
314,720
333,868
439,788
Exports.
Year.
Barrels.
Sacks. Bulk, in Bushels.
1882 291,188
1881 218,185
1880 239,163
1879 221,965
1878 218,997
1877 184,934
1876 196,988
1875 219,102
1874 205,442
1873 230,939
1872 199,940
1871 202,629
1870 251,509
1869 195,100
1868 182,187
1867 114,817
1866 115,252
1865 109,248
16,519
25,197
21,688
21,691
32,049
25,519
39,900
30,381
40,119
35,978
51,594
52,547
23,164
27,031
24,778
28,737
47,432
24,328
245,071
182,382
Tobacco. — According to the early advertisements
of industries in St. Louis, the manufacture of tobacco
was begun about the year 1817. On November 29th
of that year, Richards & Quarles advertised a " tobacco
manufactory on the cross street nearly opposite the
post-office, northeast corner of block No. 36," and in
1836, H. Richards informed the citizens of Missouri
and Illinois Territories that he carried on the tobacco
manufactory " on the cross street nearly opposite the
copper and tin manufactory of R. Neal." From that
day the trade in tobacco in St. Louis has steadily
grown and expanded into its present enormous dimen-
sions. The absence of data prevents the tracing of
their growth ; commercial statistics were not regarded
as of any importance at that day, and for many years
afterwards there existed no reliable record of commer-
cial facts and conditions. In 1841 the Republican
regarded tobacco as " another item of our trade which
is swelling etery year into much greater importance."
•ARY
,015.
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1247
"To show the importance of this item," added that journal,
•" we here incorporate a letter addressed to us by a house in the
city who are extensively engaged in the trade, and the extent
of their connection with it will be appreciated by the fact that
they this year took out an open policy of insurance on tobacco
to the amount of $500,000. From the interest and attention
they have devoted to the subject their statement may be relied
upon as very near the actual amount :
"'A. B. CHAMBERS, Esq.:
"'DEAR SIR, — In answer to your inquiries in relation to the
tobacco crop of Missouri, we reply that the shipments this season
do not vary materially from 9000 hogsheads, of which number
at least 8500 pass St. Louis. The relative quality and value will
be found nearly as follows :
2000 hhds. strips, worth in Europe $175 $350,000
2500 " Ists, " New Orleans 120 300,000
2500 " 2ds, " " 70 175,000
1500 " X, " " 50 75,000
500 " ings and bull's eye, worth in New Orleans
$25 12,500
$912,500
" ' From the best estimate that can be formed of the growing
crop, it will range from 12,000 to 15,000 hogsheads, but prices
will not be equal to last year.'"
hogshead, the price fixed by an act of the Legislature, will
amount to five thousand dollars, to say nothing of the quantity
which will be brought from the other States and Territories.
If viewed only in the light of revenue, with reason it might be
urged upon the City Council to adopt this measure, but it pre-
sents itself in another form more enlarged and benevolent, that
of benefiting the entire population of the great valley of the
upper Mississippi, more particularly our own State. The planter,
if we act wisely, will find here a market for his tobacco, can at-
tend in person and dispose of it to his own satisfaction, and re-
turn home convinced that the citizens of St. Louis feel an in-
terest in his welfare, and are willing to lend a helping hand in
advancing not only her own prosperity, but that of the entire
State, that she knows no difference between honorable and
valuable customers on her frontier and her own immediate
citizens."
The increasing crops of tobacco in Missouri and
adjacent States induced the City Council to establish
regulated inspections of tobacco, and Messrs. Wimer
and Shaw, as a select committee of the City Council,
reported an ordinance to that effect.1
From 1853 to 1868, inclusive, the following were
the receipts of tobacco at the warehouses of St. Louis :
John W. Witner and Hiram Shaw, in recommend-
ing the City Council of St. Louis to establish tobacco
inspection, said, —
" The crop of Missouri tobacco in 1841, although the business
of growing that staple is yet in its infancy, is estimated by gen-
tlemen well versed in this matter at not less than twelve thou-
sand hogsheads; the crop of 1842 is estimated at twenty thou-
sand hogsheads, and should one-third only of this quantity be
inspected here, the storage on the same, at seventy-five cents a
.RECEIPTS, SHIPMENTS, AND OFFERINGS, IN HOGSHEADS, DURING THE PAST THIRTEEN YEARS.
Hilda.
1853 9,926
1854 9,485
1855 6,632
1856 6,829
1857 5,646
1858 6,721
1859 9,006
1860 11,956
Hhds.
1861 8,505
1862 13,050
1863 19,325
1864 42,490
1865 16,483
1866 13,669
1867 18,584
1868 12,266
Since and including 1870 the receipts, shipments,
and offerings have been :
1882.
1881.
1880.
1879.
1878.
1877.
1876.
1875.
1874.
1873.
1872.
1871.
1870.
Receipts
17,445
22,042
18,813
20,278
25,870
28,064
29 204
13 110
22 881
19 062
12 676
16,523
11 193
Shipments
Inspections
7,946
6,871
10,737
10,457
8,879
11,470
10,766
14,870
19,701
16,322
22,109
18,913
24,221
17,466
11,574
10,980
17,772
18,174
14,648
13,048
9,137
10,087
11,243
14,677
7,642
10,480
About 1850, Missouri possessed the largest tobacco
manufacturing establishment in the West, the house
of Swinney & Lewis, Lewis Brothers, Lewis Company,
of Glasgow, afterwards of St. Louis. This house was
founded in 1837 in Glasgow, and removed to St.
Louis in 1847, the Glasgow branch being still main-
tained. In 1860 the house employed five hundred
hands, manufactured between three and four million
pounds of plug and fine-cut, and exported large quan-
tities of leaf and strips to Great Britain and the Con-
tinent of Europe. Of its operatives, one hundred and
twenty-five were negro slaves owned by the firm.
This firm, before it closed operations to go into other
occupations, sold tobacco in every State and Territory.
In the production of manufactured tobacco, St.
Louis now ranks second among the cities of the United
States, being surpassed only by Jersey City, and is
also becoming quite a market for leaf tobacco. The
trade has increased of late years to about four million
five hundred thousand dollars, and the capacity of all
1 The old State tobacco warehouse, situated between Washing-
ton Avenue and Green and Fifth and Sixth Streets, was destroyed
by fire on the llth of August, 1873. The building was erected
by the State for a tobacco warehouse in 1843, and after being
used for that purpose for a few years was abandoned. It was
closed for a long time, and about 1859 the State donated the
use of the building to the city of St. Louis. While the old Lin-
dell Hotel was in process of construction, the State ordered the
sale of the ground and building, and they were purchased by
Jamieson & Getting, for the purpose of erecting an immense
dry-goods house. This plan was afterwards abandoned, and
the property was sold to John J. Roe, and belonged to his estate
at the time of his death. It was afterwards purchased by John
G. Copelin, Mr. Roe's son-in-law, for $190,000. The building
was estimated to be worth not more than $4000. During the
time it was in disuse for commercial purposes it was in great de
mand for parties, balls, drills, and large assemblages generally,
its extensive floor-room rendering it at one time the most eligible
place in the city for such purposes.
1248
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
the factories together is over twenty million pounds a
year. Some of these establishments have erected
magnificent buildings and other improvements of this
nature within the last two years. The revenue paid
by St. Louis manufacturers and its excess over that
paid in Chicago establishes the pre-eminence of the
St. Louis market ; indeed, the monthly tax of one St.
Louis factory in excess of one hundred thousand dol-
Company, and Price & Austin Tobacco Company, to-
gether with a large number of individual firms.
The cigar trade has grown scarcely less in propor-
tion, and the dealers in leaf tobacco express themselves
as well satisfied with the ratio of increase in their
branch of the trade.
The receipts of leaf in 1882 were seventeen thou-
sand four hundred and fifty-five hogsheads, and the
LIGGETT & MYERS TOBACCO COMPANY,
Corner Thirteenth and St. Charles Streets.
lars (including the cigar duties) is frequently larger
than that of all the Chicago dealers. St. Louis manu-
factured tobacco is found in every part of the United
States, and the volume of product has steadily in-
creased since the reduction of the government tax in
1879. Among the largest manufacturers of tobacco
in St. Louis are the Liggett & Myers Tobacco Com-
pany, Catlin Tobacco Company, Dausman Tobacco
shipments seven thousand nine hundred and forty-
six.
In St. Louis, as elsewhere, the manufacture of
cigarettes has developed within a year or two, and the
present season already shows a marked increase in this
branch of the trade. Including this, the following
tabular statement covers the local manufacture in all
lines :
1877.
1878.
1879.
1880.
1881.
1882.
Ibs.
5,448,522
5,954,747
8,642 688
12,846,169
17 139,087
17,121.199
Cigars
M.
33,920
:::; 5110
35 042
38 412
39 904
40 877
M.
1 9S2
453
Snuff
Ibs.
35,595
36.180
41,180
43,710
47 769
48,990
In 1880 the census return was, for the whole trade :
Tobacco.— Establishments, 222; capital, $1,419,-
125 ; hands, 2627 ; wages, 8668.926 ; material,
$4,262,681 ; product, $5,702,762 ; net profit, $629,-
243, equal to 44 per cent., which will do very well
This is divided up thus :
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1249
Cigars.— Establishments, 201 ; capital, $272,925 ;
hands, 825 ; wages, $265,967 ; material, $312,725 ;
products, $888,993.
Tobacco (chewing, smoking, snuff). — Establish-
ments, 21 ; capital, $1,146,200 ; hands, 1802 ; wages,
$402,959 ; material, $3,950,956 ; products, $4,813,-
769.
The leading Southern factories keep agencies and
an extensive stock in St. Louis for sale and conve-
nience of distribution, and the Havana and Key West
cigar manufacturers have also large dealings here.
The following tables will show the extent of the
business done in St. Louis during 1882 and for the
nine years previous, though half of the period is counted
by the fiscal year, the method of keeping the record
previous to 1877.
YEAK.
Tobacco Man n fac-
tured anil Sold.
Amount Tax
Paid.
Fiscal 1872
Pounds.
5,751.185
5,441,872
4,794,985
6,324,408
4,928,147
5,484,431
5,990,801
8,670,466
12,889,784
17,234,869
17,170,190
$1,358,717.50
1,094,600.03
1,154,651.52
1,317,783.26
1,185,712.92
1,319,036.16
1,440,716.84
1,477,899.00
2,062,541!. 45
2,751,307.00
2,728,525.82
" 1873
" 1874
« 1875
" 1876
Calendar, 1877
1878
1879
1880
1881
1882
Total
85,839,684
The manufactures of 1882 can be cla$
lows : ]
Plu0' chewing tobacco 13
>sified as fol-
Ponnds.
,223.857*
2»».7Sli|
,657,6 15i
48,990|
Snuff ---
Total....
.. 17.170.19544
Lead. — The earliest mineral of value to St. Louis
in point of time, was lead. In fact, it may almost
be said that St. Louis owes its existence to lead. The
Hon. E. B. Washburue, of Illinois, ex-minister to
France from the United States, in a letter to A. D.
Hagen, Librarian of the Chicago Historical Society,
dated Dec. 13, 1880, after speaking of the researches
of M. Margry in the archives of the French Ministry
of Marine, and his important and valuable contribu-
tions to the early history of the United States, in
which he takes an enthusiastic interest, says, —
" I took the opportunity to talk with him touching the early
discoveries of lead-mines in what is now Illinois and Missouri,
and received a letter in reply, which I also inclose herewith. He
was kind enough to send me a transcript of certain documents
which are to be published by Congress, and which I have not
yet seen. By these documents I am more convinced than ever
that the Galena and Dubuque lead-mines were the earliest ever
discovered by the French explorers, either :n Illinois, Iowa, or
Missouri. The accounts of the discovery, about the year 1719,
of the mine of M. de la Motte and the Mnramec mines of Mis-
souri are very interesting, but I cannot here refer to them par-
ticularly. What interested me very much is an extract from a
letter written from Fort de Chart.res on the 21st day of July,
1722, by one Le Gardeur de Lisle, which I copy herewith, and
which is in relation to the discovery of minerals on the Illinois
River :
" ' I have the honor to inform you, gentlemen, that I have
been sent in command of a detachment of twelve soldiers to ac-
company M. Rennud to the Illinois River, where the Indians
had found some lumps of copper, which they brought to M.
de Boisbriant, and more particularly to a coal-mine, said to be
very rich.
" ' When we reached the place of our destination, M. Renaud
commenced the search for the copper-mine, but without success,
no sign of that metal being visible anywhere. However, in
looking for the coal-mine, which we had been told was near the
spot we had examined before, we discovered a silver and copper
mine, of which M. Renaud made an assay, and which upon the
surface of the' ground is much richer than M. de la Motte's.
'• ' I have kept a little diary of that journey. I take the liberty
of sending it to you ; it will enable you to locate the spot where
this mine is situated. It is a most beautiful site; the mine is
easy to work and close to a magnificent country for settlers. I
am delighted with iny trip and with the success which has at-
tended it, for the assay made bj' M. Renaud was upon ore found
on the surface, and it has proved to be much better than that of
M. de la Motte's mine.'
" M. Le Guis gives an account of the manner in which these
miners smelted their ore in 1743, and it is almost precisely the
same method which was followed in the Galena up to within
three or four years before I located there in 1840. There were
then the remains of many old log furnaces throughout the
mines. It was about in 1836, I think, that the log furnaces
were supplanted by the Druminond blast furnace. The amount
of waste or scoria by the old log method of smelting was very
great. This waste was in a great measure avoided by the
blast furnace, of which the inventor was Robert A. Drummond,
of Jo Daviess County, the uncle of the Hon. Willis Druminond,
of Iowa, late commissioner of the general land office at Wash-
ington.
" The following is the description of the log furnace one
hundred and thirty-seven years ago:
" 'They cut down two or three big trees and divide them in
logs five feet long; then they dig a small basin in the ground
nnd pile three or four of these logs on top of each other over
this basin; then they cover it with the same wood, and put
three more logs, shorter than the first, on top, and one at each
end crosswnys. This makes a kind of a box, in which they put
the mineral ; then they pile as much wood as they can on top
and around it. When this is done, they set fire to it from
under; the logs burn up and partly melt the mineral. They
are sometimes obliged to repent the same operation three times
in order to extract all the matter. This matter, falling into
the basin, forms a lump, which they afterwards melt over again
into bars weighing from sixty to eighty pounds, in order to
facilitate the transportation to Kaskaskia. This is done with
horses, who are quite vigorous in the country. One horse
carries generally four or five of these bars. It is worthy of
remark, gentlemen, that in spite of the bad system these men
have to work, there has been taken out of the La Motte mine
two thousand five hundred of these bars in 1741, two thousand
two hundred and twenty-eight in 1742, and these men work
only four or five months in the year at most."
1250
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Capt. Pittman, writing, in 1770, of Ste. Genevieve,
says, " A lead-mine about fifteen leagues distant sup-
plies the whole country with shot." Many curious
facts in regard to these Potosi lead-mines are to be
found incorporated in different parts of this work,
and we do not need to reproduce them in the present '
chapter.
Lead soon became, next to peltries, the most im- j
portant and valuable export of the country, and, like j
pelts, it served in lieu of a currency. It was not, I
however, until St. Louis began to control the com- j
merce of the surrounding regions that much lead came
there. Before that it was nearly all shipped from
Ste. Genevieve. John Arthur, in 1811, offering to
sell a large line of cheap goods, gives notice that he
will take in pay furs, hides, whiskey, country-made
sugar, and beeswax, but says nothing about lead.
However, it was offered for sale by Wflliam Clark,
then Indian agent, afterwards Governor, in the fol-
lowing miscellaneous assortment :
" For sale by William Clark, the following articles, viz. : 113
pounds beaver, 103 otter-skins, 327 raccoon-skin?, 6 pechon, 20
muskrats and minks, 25 gray squirrels, 10 painted buffalo-
skins, dressed, 53 plain buffalo-skins, dressed, 436 deer-skins,
24 dressed -deer-skins, 1276 pounds lead, 400 pounds gunpow-
der, 70 pounds nails, 130 beaver traps, 1 box of glass, 10 x 12,
2 horse-pistols, 1 fusee, 2 rifles, 70 pounds tobacco in carrots,
14 hanks of worsted, assorted, 80 shawls, 4 pieces Irish linen,
2000 yards calico."
Among the largest dealers in this sort of merchan-
dise in the fur-trading days of St. Louis, was Joseph
A. Sire, one of the associates of Chouteau & Sarpy's
fur company.
Joseph A. Sire was born at La Rochelle, France,
Feb. 19, 1799, and left home when fifteen years of age
to seek his fortune in the New World. His father, a
teacher of languages, had died, and his mother, a
woman of fine intelligence, encouraged him in his de-
termination to emigrate to America, in the belief that
the chances of success were greater there than in her
own country, then distracted by the daring schemes
and restless ambition of Napoleon Bonaparte. At
this time Europe was one vast camp, still heaving
from the struggle between Napoleon and the allied
powers to determine whether that great adventurer's
ambitious dream of the solidarity of nations should be
realized. Mr. Sire's mother, in view of the unsettled
condition of the country, overcame the natural im-
pulses which prompted her to keep her son at her
side, and urged upon him the advisability of seeking
a distant and more promising field of usefulness. Mr.
Sire, who fully appreciated her wisdom and maternal
courage, always maintained for her the deepest filial
reverence and love, and contributed most generously
of his fortune as long as she lived to minister to her
comfort and happiness.
The voyage to America might well have dismayed
one much older than the adventurous lad, for in those
days the facilities of travel did not exist which now
enable one to make the circuit of the world in less
time and with far less trouble and danger than were
then required to perform the journey between St.
Louis and New York. No steamships traversed the
ocean with almost the regularity of ferry-boats ; the
sailing-vessel was the only means of transportation,
and even the sailing-vessel had not acquired the
swiftness and regularity of movement attained by
modern ships. Often beating about for days in view
of a haven, awaiting a favorable wind, and frequently
driven out to sea by an off-shore storm, it seldom per-
formed a voyage of any length without encountering
many hardships and delays. On land the method* of
locomotion were similarly cumbrous and unreliable.
The canal-boat, with its crowded, ill-ventilated " be-
tween-decks," and the stage-coach were practically the
only resources of the traveler. Young Sire, however,
endured the hardships of this novel experience with
that courage and fortitude which continued to char-
acterize him throughout his career, — a career un-
dimmed up to the hour of his death by a single dis-
honorable act.
Arrived at Philadelphia, he sought the advice and
assistance of Vital M. Garesche, then in business in
that city as one of the firm of Garesche & Rasazies,
but who subsequently removed with bis family to St.
Louis, where he became an influential member of the
City Council and president of the Board of Public
Schools. Mr. Garesche's parents had been residents
of La Rochelle, and he extended a cordial welcome to
the young Frenchman, who brought letters of intro-
duction to him, and gave him employment. His in-
dustry, integrity, and thorough reliability soon created
a most favorable impression, and he continued to en-
joy the confidence of the firm of which Mr. Garesche
was the senior partner until, in 1826, he determined
to go West. Upon his arrival in St. Louis, whither
he directed his steps, he was promptly admitted to the
houses of the best families of Creoles, to whom he
was commended by valued correspondents, and ob-
tained a situation as clerk with Sylvestre Labadie.
St. Louis at that time was but little changed from
what it was when seen by Washington Irving, — " a
motley population, composed of the original colonists,
the keen traders of the Atlantic, backwoodsmen of
Kentucky and Tennessee, the Indians and the half-
breeds, together with a singular aquatic race that had
grown up from the navigators of the river, the boat-
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1251
men of the Mississippi, who possessed habits, man-
ners, almost a language peculiarly their own and
strongly technical." Such a community, with the dis-
sipation ever incidental to frontier life, offered strong
temptations to a young man, an entire stranger, de-
void of means and deprived of the associations of
home and kindred, yet the energy and pure character
of Mr. Sire bore him safely through the ordeal. To
quote the words of one who met him just after his
arrival, he was then about twenty-five, stout in form,
florid in complexion, of commanding but not extra-
ordinary stature, very affable in his manner, and
earnest and energetic in his ways. Mr. Labadie, his
employer, was a Creole gentleman who had married
a Miss Gratiot, and he and his wife by their own
worth, as well as relationship to the Chouteaus, the
Prattes, the Papins, the Bertholds, and the Soulards,
ranked among the very first people of St. Louis. Mr.
Labadie was the owner of a grist-mill, to which was
attached the first saw-mill ever established west of the
Mississippi River. It was located on the bluff near
the foot of Ashley Street, rude and simple though
serviceable in its machinery, its motive-power being
an elevated circular tread-plane worked by oxen.
There was no metal connected with the machinery,
just as the " Vide Poche" carts, now unknown, but
then the only vehicle, had not a particle of metal,
even for the harness of the ponies by which they were
drawn. Mr. Sire became clerk of this establishment,
but by his amiability and excellent deportment ingra-
tiated himself in the favor of his employers, and in
the following year married the only child of Mr. and
Mrs. Labadie, a lady of sweet disposition and culti-
vated and engaging manners. The union was a happy
one while it lasted, but of short duration, for within
two years his wife and their only child died.
Having become associated in the fur trade with
Pierre Chouteau and John B. Sarpy, owners of the
American Fur Company, with whom he was con-
nected by his marriage, he took charge of their an-
nual expedition to the upper country, as the region in
the vicinity of the head-waters of the Missouri was
then denominated, — a wild, unbroken waste, the home
of fierce and warlike tribes, the counterpart of which
is still to be found in the dark and bloody ground of
portions of Texas and New Mexico, where the
Apaches wage a desperate but futile struggle against
the advance of civilization. The company erected
at different points throughout this district stockade
forts for protection against the ruthless warriors of
the plains. The expedition would always leave in the
spring, with a cargo of trinkets, blankets, tobacco, guns,
and ammunition, and would remain at the forts, bar-
tering with the Indians, until the opening of navigation
in the following year enabled them to descend with
their boats to St. Louis to dispose of their product
and to replenish their stock. The navigation of the
Missouri, with its swift, turbid current, its snags, and
its shifting channels, was fraught with danger, aside
from the fact that the voyagers were necessarily always
on the alert against the wily Indians.
Within the fort peril also lurked, and sleepless vig-
ilance was maintained lest some hostile band should
invade its precincts and murder every white man.
These forts were oases in the trackless wilderness, far
more isolated than those of the general government
at the present day. The latter are united by tele-
graph, have regular mails, and are always within sup-
porting distance of each other, but the trading-post
had no other communication with the outer world
than by the courrier du bois, who traveled from one
fort to the other, or perhaps was sent to the settlement
thousands of miles away with dispatches. These
courriers were white men who had lived so long among
the Indians that, like them, they had acquired their
skill in guiding themselves through trackless wilder-
nesses by night by the light of the stars, and by day
by the bark of trees. Six years of Mr. Sire's life were
passed in these distant forts, yet on his return 'to St.
Louis, so little had he been spoiled by his contact with
barbarism, that he was welcomed in the most exclusive
circles. After this Mr. Sire settled down in the office
of the company at St. Louis, to guide and organize
the expeditions he had formerly commanded, an occu-
pation in which he was still engaged at the time of
his death, July 15, 1854. His business-like and meth-
odical habits, fortified by his personal experience,
proved of great importance and value to his associates,
and contributed materially to the development of their
business. All three have now passed away, each leav-
ing a fortune honestly earned, which is the best evi-
dence of their thrift and foresight.
In 1852, Mr. Sire was married for the second time,
the lady of his choice being Mrs. Rebecca W. Chou-
teau, widow of one who belonged to a family honored
then, as now, not only as of historic interest in respect
to St. Louis, but of great public importance, having
ever shown itself ready to embark capital in enter-
prises which were likely to promote the development
of St. Louis. Mrs. Sire is still living, a woman of
marked characteristics, beloved, not for herself alone,
but also for her feminine virtues of true sympathy
and charity.
Although a consistent and earnest Democrat, Mr.
Sire had no taste for politics nor any aspirations for
public office. He was frequently requested to become
1252
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
a candidate, but invariably declined. He was a man
of warm and affectionate temperament, generous yet
prudent, unobtrusive in dress and manners, a public-
spirited citizen, and an ardent and loyal friend. A
notable illustration of the latter fact was afforded in
the devoted affection he ever entertained for his first
employer, Mr. Garesche, who also possessed great kind-
ness of heart. Between the two there always existed
an attachment which time could not diminish nor ab-
sence impair, and when Mr. Garesche, with his family,
reached St. Louis in 1839 the intimacy was renewed.
Upon the death of Mr. Garesche, April 4, 1844, Mr.
Sire became the protector of his children, and one to
whom they never appealed in vain. Generous in his
instincts, constant in his friendships, honorable in all
his transactions, genial in his intercourse with his
fellow-men, the friendless boy-adventurer died the
wealthy merchant and lamented citizen, leaving be-
hind him a record without stain or blemish.
In 1854 the statistics of the lead product were as
follows :
STATISTICS OF
THE LEAD
TRADE OF THE UPPER MIS-
SISSIPPI.
Year- Produced.
Equal to
Pouuds.
PricelOOO Price 100
Pounds Pounds
Mineral. Lead.
Value at
Galena.
1842..
.. 447,909
31,353,630
$12.85
$2.24
$702.321.31
1843..
. 659,261
39,148.270
12.60
2.34
91(5,069.51
1844..
. 624,672
43,727,040
16.88
2.80
1.224.357.12
1845..
. 778,498
64,494,860
17*7
2.96
1, til 3,047. 88
1846..
. 732,403
51,268,210
17.33
2.89
1,481.651.26
1847..
. 775J.6J6
64,085,920
19.16
3.17
1,714,523.(>8
1848..
. 681,969
47,737,8:JO
19.82
3.24
1,546,705.69
1849..
. 628,934
44,025,380
22.18
3.67
l,6to,73144
1850..
568,589
39,801,230
24.10
4.20
1,671,651.66
1851..
. 474,115
33,188,050
25.61
4.08
I,3o4,i i6244
185;:..
. 408,628
28,603,960
25.87
4.12
1,178,483.05
1853....
. 425,814
29,8(16,980
34.41
6.50
1,639,383.90
Total... 7,103,448
497,241,360
16,(>57,9b8.94
SHIPMENTS OF LKAD/rom the upper mines during the season of 1853, from
March 21«f to December 1st.
Ports from whence Shipped.
Shipped via the River.
Pigs.
Pounds.
Value.
»
tl 8 543 !
! 2.208.010
$1,226,340.55
43.K&2 3.0H9K40
168.830.20
23,086
l,61li,020
88.881.10
14,186
993,020
54,616.10
Buena Vista.
2,676
187,320
10,352.61)
Shipped via the lake
23,471
1,642,970
90,363.35
Total 425,814 29,806,980 $1,639,383.90
The receipts at St. Louis aggregated 441,889 pigs
in 1854, against 409,314 in 1853. Of this 5315
came from the Missouri, and the balance from the
upper and lower Mississippi. The Galena table gives
the quantity shipped per river at 402,343; deduct
from this the Missouri receipts, and the balance, it is
fair to suppose, came from the lower mines, say 34,231
pigs. A pig of lead has the average weight of eighty
pounds.
Hon. John Hogan, in one of his lucid pamphlets
about the past, present, and future of St. Louis, always
in his thoughts, had the following in regard to the
city's lead business :
"Some sixteen months ago one establishment commenced the
making of lead pipe and sheet-lead here. They, like all similar
untried experiments, had to feel their way along. The machi-
nery was costly; workmen at first difficult to be obtained: the
field of sale preoccupied by those longer engaged, more expe-
rienced, possessed of ample capital.
" But these young men possessed the energy, the probity,
felt the field was vast, and were content with small profits on
large sales.
" They pushed their battle to the gate, and now what is the
result? — they supply with these articles the entire valley of the
Minsissippi. South they include the trade of New Orleans ; east,
all the region to Pittsburgh ; north, the whole region of the up-
per lakes. Within the last twelve months they have manufac-
tured of lead pipe alone over two million pounds. This has
been shipped in immense casks and on large reels to supply the
demands of the great West and South ; while of sheet-lead they
have made one million two hundred and fifty thousand pounds
in the same period, besides bar-lead.
"Now, these articles were not included in our exports of 1851,
before presented, for the works were not in existence then, and
these figures are now given to show that St. Louis is a suitable
place for manufactures, and also what may be done by industry
and intelligence.
" In the said government returns no mention is made of shot,
although that article was then manufactured here, but, like
everything else, has grown considerably in that period.
"There is but one 'shot-tower' here, but it is fully qualified
to supply the vast extent of country dependent on us, or which
our skill or ability may bring within the reach of our openitions.
The region supplied from here with shot embraces nearly all the
valley of the Mississippi.
"I deem the operations of this concern to be important, and
was anxious to furnish in this place some indication of its ex-
tent, which I am enabled to do by the kind courtesy of Capt.
Simonds, one of the enterprising proprietors.
"I take an aggregate statement, furnished me by him, of its
business during the five months commencing January 1st and
ending June 1, 1854, as made up from their books, viz. :
Total amount of shot of all sizes manufac-
tured and sold during said five months,
79,775 bags, or 1,994,375 pounds.
Bar-lead for same period, 1714 kegs, or 428,460 "
Total shot and lead in five months 2,422,835 "
"During that period of five months the works were run but
one hundred and four days, thus the amount of pig-lead con-
sumed each day averages twenty-three thousand two hundred
and forty pounds."
The manufacture of shot near St. Louis dates
back to 1809, when it was announced in the Mis-
souri Gazette of March 1st that " at Herculaneum
a shot manufactory is now erecting by an active and
enterprising citizen of our Territory ; the situation is
peculiarly adapted for the purpose, having a natural
tower, or rather stupendous rock, forming a precipice
of about one hundred and sixty feet, having the lead-
mines in the neighborhood, and one of the finest har-
bors for vessels. We presume the proprietor will be
enabled to supply the Atlantic States on such terms
as will defeat competition." The proprietor referred
to was J. Macklot, who on the 16th of November,
1809, " commenced casting shot equal to the best
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1253
English patent." In 1810, also at Herculaneum, "a
new and flourishing little town on the Joachim, about
thirty miles from this (St. Louis) place," Mr. Austen
erected a shot-tower, and then Herculaneum " boasted
of two towers capable of supplying the Union with
shot of all sizes." l
The shot-tower of Ferdinand Kennett was opened
in February, 1847. The tower was built by Messrs.
Kayser & Carlisle, and was thirty-one feet in di-
ameter at the base, seventeen feet at the top, and
one hundred and seventy-five feet high. Previous to
the erection of this tower, Mr. Kennett had been en-
gaged in the same business, having a tower on Elm
Street, which tumbled down, wounding several persons.
In 1858, Mr. Kennett's shot-tower passed into the
hands of an incorporated company, since which time
it has been regarded as a most successful enterprise.
During the war the shot-tower company suffered se-
verely in a pecuniary sense, much of its work being
declared contraband.
The tower is one hundred and eighty-six feet in
height, twenty-one feet above the tallest steeple in the
city. At the base it is thirty-one feet in diameter,
at the pinnacle seventeen feet. It is built of hard
burnt brick, cemented, and is regarded as thoroughly
substantial in every particular. The wall at the base
is four feet through ; at the summit of the tower it is
twenty-two inches.
In 1850 the capital invested was forty thousand
dollars, employing ten hands, with an annual product
of six thousand dollars.
KECEIPTS AND EXPORTS OF LEAD, IN PIGS OP
80 POUNDS EACH.
Year. Keceipts. Exports.
1882 1,107.395 687,219
1881 925,406 625,L'i',t>
1880 7154. 8S7 45)5, o:;r,
1871) SI 7,5514 408,12:5
~ 704, 307 .C':;, '.Hit
1877 7510,028 47:!.28l
1876 605,557 40-1,300
1875 579,202 3L'i .
1^74 479,448 21S,538
1873 356,037 216,040
1 The manufacture and sale of powder were also established
in St. Louis at an early date. On the 15th of October, 1814,
William Sullivan published the following advertisement :
" Owners of powder, take notice that I, the subscriber, have
rented the powder magazine from its proprietor, and that from
the date of the present advertisement I will charge twenty-five
cents per month for storage on every keg, provided it does not
contain more than one hundred pounds, and on every keg or
barrel that contains more than one hundred pounds to pay at
the rate of one dollar per hundred."
Maj. James Barry commenced the manufacture of powder
in the neighborhood of St. Louis in 1823 (ItejmWi'cnn, March
5,1823), and in 1833 "Maj. Philips1 Eagle Powder-Mills had
just been put in operation" (Republican, July 9, 1833).
The latter mills were soon after destroyed by an explosion.
80
Year. Keccipts.
1872 285,709
1871 229,961
1870 237,03'J
1869 228,303
1868 185,823
1867 144,555
1866 149,584
1865 116,635
1864 93,035
1863 79,823
1862 95,800
Exports.
62,862
50,660
62,674
57,281
40,358
18,674
13,553
Of the receipts during 1881, 300,000 pigs (equal
to 24,000,000 pounds) were received for conversion
and manufacture. In the conversion of lead to car-
bonate the metal of Missouri is peculiarly easy and
profitable to work, yielding one hundred pounds of
ceruse for every hundred pounds of metal, besides a
proportion of red lead and litharge made from the
refuse. This manufacture, moreover, produces lin-
seed-oil, cotton-seed- and castor-oil, and oil-cake for
exportation and fattening stock, and it encourages
the manufacture of vitriol. Thus one industry, by
utilizing a product which is among the donations of
nature to St. Louis, provides employment for capital
and labor in a dozen other industries which grow out
of or are allied to it. The control of almost inex-
haustible supplies of cheap lead by St. Louis makes
it one of the leading manufacturing centres in the
country for paints.
White Lead and Oils. — The manufacture of white
lead, and of its kindred interest paints, and oils is
most extensively carried on in St. Louis. The ma-
terials required by this large trade are collected almost
entirely within the State of Missouri, while the ad-
joining States also afford a large supply, enabling its
indefinite extension. The manufacture of white lead
(carbonate of lead) was inaugurated in St. Louis in
the year 1837 by Drs. Hoffman and Reed in a very
primitive manner. From a very small beginning, -say
one hundred tons per annum, the manufacture of that
pigment has kept pace with the growth of the city
and surrounding country, until it now ranks as one
among the important branches of its manufacturing
industries. The annual production *and consumption
of white lead throughout the entire country is com-
puted to be from sixty-five to seventy thousand tons.
Of this amount there is manufactured west of the
Allegheny Mountains say forty thousand tons, of
which St. Louis manufacturers produce at least forty
per cent., thus giving to St. Louis a larger pro-
duction of that article than any other city in the
Union. There are at present in successful operation
in St. Louis four of the best appointed and equipped
factories in the country, with a capacity sufficient to
supply the white-lead demand of the entire Missis-
sippi valley for many years to come.
1254
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
The Collier White Lead and Oil Company is one
of the largest to be found anywhere in the United
States. It was founded by Dr. Reed, and went into
operation in the year 1837. It is located on the
north side of Clark Avenue, beginning at Ninth
Street on the east and extending nearly to Eleventh
Street. In 1 842 it passed into the hands of H. T.
Blow and Joseph Charless. It has three separate
departments, — the factory, the cooper shop, and the
corroding stacks. All of these are on a large scale
and provided with every facility for manufacturing
cheaply and extensively. In 1850 the present company
became proprietors, under the presidency of Henry T.
Blow. The annual productions are four thousand
tons of white lead ground in oil, two hundred thou-
sand pounds of red lead, two hundred thousand pounds
of litharge, one hundred thousand gallons of linseed-
oil, and one hundred thousand gallons of castor-oil.
It is not too much to say that among the men
whose sagacity grasped and whose energy fulfilled the
conditions of the prosperity of St. Louis, none oc-
cupied a higher rank or contributed by his individ-
ual success more largely to the general welfare than
the eminent and honored merchant, George Collier,
after whom the Collier White-Lead Works are named.
George Collier, younger son of Peter and Catherine
Collier, was born on the 17th of March, 179G, on
his father's homestead in Worcester County, Md.
His lather, who died while he was yet a child, besides
carrying on with success the farm upon which he re-
sided, was largely engaged in the Atlantic coasting
trade, and at his death, which occurred before 1810,
left what was in those days a handsome property to
his family. His mother was a woman of great force
of character, revered as well as loved by all who
knew her. After her husband's death she continued
to reside at the homestead in Maryland until both
her sons, John and George, arrived at manhood, giv-
ing to each of them the best education for mercantile
pursuits which that part of the country at that time
afforded, and for this purpose sending them to Mr.
Wylie's academy in Philadelphia, then of the highest
repute.
About the year 1816, John Collier, who had just
arrived at manhood, came to Missouri, then still a
Territory, and settled at first in St. Charles, where he
began business as a merchant. His success was such
that before long he opened a branch house in St.
Louis, which within a few years became the principal
establishment. During this time George Collier was
completing his education in Philadelphia, where he
formed friendships subsequently of great service to
him in his business career.
About the year 1818, having completed his educa-
tion, George Collier joined his brother in Missouri
and engaged with him in business, before long becom-
ing his partner. According to the custom of those
times, their business was of a general nature, includ-
ing an assortment of the staple articles most in demand
among those who traded with St. Louis. It was at
first carried on at retail, but soon expanded into a
wholesale business, and extended rapidly throughout
the settled portions of Missouri and Illinois.
In 1821 the partnership was dissolved by the death
of the elder brother, who had already made his mark
as a business man of ability and energy, as well as of
high personal character. The younger continued the
business alone for several years.
About the year 1825, his business continuing to in-
crease, Mr. Collier took into partnership with him Peter
Powell, like himself a native of Maryland, and who
had been for several years in his employ. The firm
of Collier & Powell, thus formed, continued to carry
on a general merchandise business until the year
1830, when Mr. Collier retired from the firm, having
acquired what was for those days a considerable for-
tune.
From this time he entered upon pursuits charac-
teristic at once of his energy and his far-sighted views
as a business man. Realizing that the river trade of
St. Louis, north, south, east, and west, was to be the
secret of her prosperity, he began to invest his means
largely in the building of steamboats. But a few
years had passed since the first steamer came up from
New Orleans to St. Louis (1817), making the weary
voyage in twenty-seven days, but demonstrating by
the fact of making it that the days of the " broad-
horn," the flat-boat, and the keel-boat were at an end.
Pittsburgh had become the navy-yard of Western com-
merce, at which then and for years afterwards the
greatest facilities for such work existed.
It has been said that the faculty of judging men
and selecting fit agents for important enterprises is
characteristic of high ability. The method pursued
by Mr. Collier in entering upon this new field demon-
strated his possession of that faculty. It was his
habit, year after year, to select men already experi-
enced in the river navigation and to send them to
Pittsburgh to make contracts for the building of steam-
ers which they were to command, and in which he
often gave them an interest. Instructing them as to
the character and purposes of the vessel, he furnished
them with credits sufficient to meet whatever cost
might be incurred, and stationed them at Pittsburgh
in active superintendence of the work while it pro-
gressed, thus securing the most watchful personal
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1255
supervision and assistance from men at once compe-
tent for their duties and whose interests coincided with
his own. In this way during the twelve or fourteen
years following he became largely interested in steam-
boats, constantly building new ones of size and ca-
pacity suited to the trade either of the upper or the
lower Mississippi or the Missouri Rivers, according
to their destination. It was one of his maxims to
hold no property which brought no return ; and in
respect of steamboats it was observed that he rarely
held one longer than was necessary to establish its
character in the trade, selling those which did not
prove profitable in order to cut off further loss, while
those which earned a good name he often sold when
at their highest repute, thus realizing their highest
value and escaping further risks. The limits of this
sketch forbid more than a cursory mention of this
part of his mercantile history. Suffice it to say that
during the years in question he was the owner of a
large number of steamers plying on all the waters
communicating with St. Louis, and most of which
had been built under his directions, often having
afloat at one time eight or ten large vessels. The men
to whose fidelity, ability, and skill he intrusted the
management of these large interests rarely disap-
pointed him. Sharing with him the profits of these
ventures, some of them thus laid the foundations of
their own success. Such men were Sullivan Blood,
afterwards president of the Boatmen's Savings Insti-
tution, long a highly-respected citizen of St. Louis ;
John Simonds, afterwards of the banking-house of
Luca's & Simonds ; and N. J. Eaton, who, after re-
signing a commission in the United States army, had
come to St. Louis, and whose executive ability was
early recognized by Mr. Collier, more than one of
whose boats he commanded. To these names, long
and well known in St. Louis, might be added others,
notably that of Rufus J. Lackland, afterwards one of
its most prominent and successful merchants, now
(188J) president of the Boatmen's Savings- Bank and
the St. Louis Gas-Light Company, and who is himself
authority for the statement that to his early acquaint-
ance and connection with Mr. Collier, and to the as-
sistance rendered him, unsought, by the latter in his
early business life, his subsequent success is largely
due.
An important element in these enterprises was the
high reputation for probity, as well as for large re-
sources and exemplary business habits, which Mr.
Collier had established not only in St. Louis, but
throughout all parts of the country where the busi-
ness men of that city were known. It was prover-
bial that his credit was practically unlimited, and
that whoever he sent to Pittsburgh with au-
thority and credit for building a steamboat, or north-
ward to purchase lead, or to New Orleans for the pur-
chase of return cargoes of groceries on his boat, or to
Philadelphia, then the financial centre of the United
States, was sufficiently backed by George Collier's
name.
It goes without saying that the navigation of the
Western rivers was attended in those early days with
not less, perhaps with greater risks and dangers than
now. But so constant was the good fortune, and so
high the reputation of his steamers, that George Col-
lier's "luck" became proverbial. Nor is it any dis-
paragement to others to claim for him the first rank
among those whose far-sighted energy and bold and
successful management built up the vast river trade of
St. Louis, along whose Levee, before 1860, often lay
at one time a fleet of nearly two hundred magnificent
steamers, busily loading and unloading side by side
the rich and varied products of every zone.
During these years, however, the steamboat inter-
est was by no means the only one which engaged his
attention. The rich deposits of lead at and near Ga-
lena, 111., as well as those to the southward in Mis-
souri, were at that time the great source of supply for
that metal. Partly as an independent investment, and
paitly by way of utilizing his steamboat property, Mr.
Collier engaged largely in the purchase and shipment
of lead, especially from the north, forming for that
purpose a business connection with the house of
Thomas Fassit in Philadelphia, in which direction, as
well as via New Orleans, great quantities of lead were
shipped. Besides purchasing lead from others, he
became a large owner in the Galena mines, and the
metal from those regions at that time was the chief
source of supply, not only for the white-lead factories
in Pennsylvania and other Eastern States, but was
also shipped in large quantities to France and other
parts of Europe. This traffic in lead, since distrib-
uted over regions farther west, formed for many years,
as we have seen, an important part of the trade of St.
Louis, and to its development no man in that city
contributed more actively or more sagaciously than
George Collier.
Operations so large as these, and requiring the con-
stant use of so much capital and credit, naturally
suggested to his active mind the combination with
them of a banking business. About 1835-36 he
formed a partnership with William G. Pettus, whose
wife was the sister of Mr. Collier's first wife. For
several years thereafter the firm of Collier & Pettus
conducted a large business in the way of banking and
exchange, deriving an independent source of profit
1256
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
from the dealings in Eastern exchange resulting from
the shipments of lead, already mentioned, as well as
from large collections which rapidly flowed into their
hands from Mr. Collier's Eastern acquaintances, who
sold to the merchants of St. Louis their general sup-
plies.
In still another direction the interests already men-
tioned were utilized. Some of the steamers wholly
or in part owned by Mr. Collier were in the Southern
river trade, and were constantly engaged in carrying
to New Orleans lead shipped by him and his associates,
as well as other staple articles, including flour, in the
manufacture of which at St. Charles he was early in-
terested. The proceeds of such cargoes were invested
under his direction in profitable return cargoes of
heavy groceries, sugar, coffee, salt, and molasses, for
which New Orleans was up to the outbreak of the
civil war the principal point of supply to St. Louis
and thence to the fur West and Northwest.
In 1840 the banking firm of Collier & Pettus was
dissolved by Mr. Collier's retirement therefrom,
though Mr. Pettus for some time longer continued
the business. In 1842 Mr. Collier formed the firm
of Collier & Morrison, taking into partnership his
brother-in-law, the late William M. Morrison, then a
young man, for whom this introduction to business
life also proved the first step in a highly successful
mercantile career. The business of this firm was
chiefly commission, but they also dealt largely in
lead, for which during so many years St. Louis was
the great entrepot of the West.
In 1840, Mr. Collier, whose health was never
robust and had become delicate, determined to with-
draw from active business, and gradually sold out all
his interest in steamboats. In 1847 he retired from
the firm of Collier & Morrison, which was succeeded
by William M. Morrison & Co., the new partners
being Kufus J. Lackland and Alfred Chadwick,
whose office during the remainder of his life Mr. Col-
lier made his headquarters, and to whose very success-
ful career his advice and assistance largely contrib-
uted. From this time he gradually withdrew from
business cares other than the management of his val-
uable landed estate and other investments in the city
of St. Louis.
It is possible in the brief space at command only
to allude to other features of a business life whose
thirty years of activity included and so largely in-
fluenced the early commercial history and subsequent
growth of his adopted city.
His calm and sagacious judgment, united with
singularly clear and quick prcceptions, both as to men
and as to the contingencies of business, peculiarly
qualified him for financial success, and for many years
before his death Mr. Collier was by common consent
regarded as the highest financial authority in St. Louis,
and was often consulted as such by those in whose
affairs he was not personally interested. For several
years prior to its failure in 1837 he was one of the
directors in the Branch Bank of the United States at
St. Louis. In February, 1837, the Bank of the State
of Missouri was chartered, in which the State was a
large stockholder, appointing a majority of the direc-
tors. In December, 1840, Mr. Collier was elected
one of the directors who represented the private
stockholders, and continued to fill that position for
six years, having been twice re-elected, but declined
a third re-election in 1846.
By an act approved Jan. 12, 1831, was incorpo-
rated the first insurance company in St. Louis, under
the name of the Missouri Insurance Company, the
name of George Collier heading the list of incorpora-
tors, and for many years of its successful career he
was one of its most important members. It was
characteristic, however, both of his self-reliance and
his customary good fortune — if the result of wise and
watchful management is to be called good fortune —
that he rarely insured his own property at all, though
he not unfrequently underwrote risks for others as a
private person.
As already stated, the shipment of lead from St.
Louis southward and eastward was a very important
part of its early commerce. Part of the lead thus
shipped was for many years returned to the West in
the shape of white lead from Eastern factories, but
between 1837 and 1850 the manufacture of white
lead and of oil from the castor-bean was established
in St. Louis. The well-known firm of Charless &
Blow were among the pioneers of this industry. lu
1850 their factory was destroyed by fire, and the
heavy loss thus sustained threatened the business with
ruin. But it was re-established by the incorporation,
in September, 1851, of the Collier White Lead and
Oil Company, to the capital of which Mr. Collier was
the largest single contributor, the active management
remaining in the hands of the Hon. Henry T. Blow;
The prosperous career of this important industry has
more than verified the anticipations of those who,
like Mr. Collier, believed that the future prosperity of
St. Louis would depend largely upon her manufactures.
In 1845 was held at Memphis the first Inter-State
River and Harbor Convention, an assemblage made
famous by the presidency of John C. Calhoun. It
was Mr. Calhoun himself who — in reference to the
question of constitutional power on the part of the
Federal government to make such improvements —
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1257
there first applied to the great rivers of the West a
designation which instantly became famous, that of
" inland seas." It was more than a picturesque
phrase : it was an argument in a word, it was the
solution of a grave constitutional question. At this
convention the commercial interests of St. Louis were
represented by a delegation of twenty-five of her most
prominent citizens, of whom George Collier was one.
He was also a member of the first board of direc-
tors of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, having been one
of those who first met for the purpose of organizing
and procuring its incorporation.
In February, 1851, the Mercantile Library Hall
Association of St. Louis was incorporated by special
act for the express purpose of erecting, and soon after
did erect, for the use of the St. Louis Mercantile Li-
brary Association, the large building at the southwest
corner of Fifth and Locust Streets, still occupied by the
latter. In this public enterprise Mr. Collier took great
interest, not only subscribing liberally, but giving still
more important advice and assistance in planning and
prosecuting the work.
He was for many years a trustee of the Second
Presbyterian Church, of which the Rev. Dr. William
A. Potts was the eminent and beloved pastor.
It is not within the purpose of this sketch, even
did its limits permit, to dwell upon the personal qual-
ities which not only commanded the highest respect
and confidence of his associates and of the community
at large, but won the tender affection of those who
knew him best. Always gentle and courteous in man-
ner and of few words, his demeanor even under
trying circumstances was singularly calm and self-
possessed, while his conduct indicated great prompt-
ness and decision of character. His accurate judg-
ment of men has already been mentioned. To this
was united a cordial and sympathetic interest in young
men who proved themselves worthy of confidence,
which in many instances, long held in grateful re-
membrance, showed itself by timely and generous aid
in money and credit. No trait of his was recalled more
warmly by those from whom these reminiscences
have been obtained than the frequent and liberal as-
sistance afforded by him, often unsought, to those
whose character was his only security.
Mr. Collier's political affiliations were always with
the Whig party. If he had ever indulged any aspi-
rations for public life, the uniform and overwhelming
preponderance in Missouri of the Democratic party
would have rendered them hopeless. He was always
averse, however, to notoriety of any sort, and uni-
formly declined or avoided even the temptation to
leave the quiet walks of private life.
Early in 1852 his health, which had long been del-
icate, began to fail steadily, and a lingering illness
terminated in his death at his house in St. Louis on
the 18th of July, 1852, at the comparatively early
age of fifty-six.
Mr. Collier was twice married. His first wife,
Miss Frangoise E. Morrison, whom he married ou
Jan. 1, 182G, at St. Charles, Mo., died Aug. 30,
1835, leaving a daughter and an infant son. In 1838
he married Miss Sarah A. Bell, eldest daughter of
the late William Bell, of Pittsburgh, Pa., who still
survives him. Of this marriage five sons and one
daughter survived him. Both daughters are still liv-
ing in St. Louis. The elder in 1857 became the wife
of Henry Hitchcock, a leading member of the St.
Louis bar. The younger in I860 married Ethan A.
Hitchcock, then a partner iu the American house of
Olyphant & Co. in China, where he. continued to
reside till his retirement from that firm in 1872.
Since 1875 he has resided in St. Louis, holding high
positions of business trust.
Five sons of Mr. Collier attained manhood, only
two of whom now survive. One of these, William
B. Collier, is a resident of California. The other,
Maurice Dwight Collier, was admitted to the bar in
St. Louis in 18G9, and has since pursued his profes-
sion with diligence and promise of success. During
part of this time he was a diligent and influential
member of the City Council, and in 1876 was elected
a member of the board of freeholders, thirteen in
number, who framed the present city charter of St.
Louis.
The works of the St. Louis Lead and Oil Company
were erected in the spring of 1865, and are located on
North Second Street at the corner of Cass Avenue. In
addition to the manufacture of white lead, the company
gives a large share of attention to producing litharge, red
lead, linseed-oil, castor-oil, and cotton-seed oil. The
works consume annually the enormous amount of one
thousand tons of pig-lead, in addition to fifty thousand
bushels of castor-beans, one hundred thousand bushels of
flaxsecd, and forty-five thousand bushels of cotton-seed.
The works of the company alone cost nearly two hun-
dred thousand dollars, and have a frontage of nearly
six hundred feet on Second Street. They have eigh-
teen stacks, holding each five thousand pots and forty
thousand pounds of metal. As many as eighty-five
men are given employment at these works, to whom
the company pay about sixty thousand dollars annually.
The Southern White Lead and Color Company
erected its works in the fall of 1865. They are situ-
ated at the corner of Main and Lombard Streets. The
company devotes its attention almost wholly to the
1238
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
production of white lead, and its brands, like those
of all other St. Louis works, have already gained an
enviable reputation, especially throughout the Southern
and Southwestern States. Its lot has a frontage of
two hundred and fifteen feet on Main Street and one
hundred feet on Lombard Street. The works have
twenty stacks of a capacity of five thousand pots each,
ten pounds of lead to a pot. The consumption of pig-
lead is twelve hundred tons yearly, the supply being
obtained from Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, and also
Germany. The product of the Granby mines in Mis-
souri is as highly esteemed as that of any other State
in this country or of Europe, but good metal is not
always to be had in large enough quantities at home,
and hence the company is compelled to go abroad.
Iron. — " Here is the centre of the world's trade, here
is the future metropolis of the world's empire, in the
favored child of the mighty valley of the Mississippi,
the City of the Iron Crotm." l This declaration ceases
to be hyperbole when St. Louis is regarded as the centre
of that iron region " where they have enough ore (iron)
to run one hundred furnaces for one thousand years."
With Iron Mountain, Pilot Knob, Shepherd Moun-
tain, Simmons' Mountain, and thousands of other
deposits to glut the forges of the future, St. Louis
cannot fail to become the grandest iron work-shop in
the world. " Concentrated in a limited area, sur-
rounded on all sides by the grandest agricultural dis-
trict of the globe, with unlimited supplies of coal,
with timber and water-power unsurpassed upon the
continent, with a genial climate and healthy homes
for the operatives, and their food cheaply produced
almost at their doors, with the world for a market,
and transportation facilities for reaching its most dis-
tant point, it is not difEcuk to see a prosperous future
for a section so happily situated and so richly en-
dowed," and even exaggeration seems impossible in
forecasting the future prospects of a city which is
the centre and the commercial and manufacturing me-
tropolis of a country so favored with natural advan-
tages.
As early as September, 1814, D. Stewart, on Main
Street, adjoining the store of T. Hunt & Co. and
opposite the dwelling of William C. Carr, " manu-
factured all kinds of cut nails, brads, sprigs," and
sold them at the following prices : 6d., 7d., 8(7., 10c/.,
12<?., and 2(W. at twenty cents per pound ; 4d. at
twenty-five cents per pound. He sold the best quan-
tity of bar-iron at fourteen cents per pound, or twelve
and a half cents by the ton. The establishment of iron
1 Address by Charles P. Johnson, of St. Louis, before the
State Immigration Convention, April 13, 1880.
foundries in St. Louis, it is believed, antedates the
mining of the ores, and may be regarded as having
been begun in 1817, when Lewis Newell landed in
the then thriving village and commenced the business
' of blacksmithing, giving special attention to the mak-
ing of edge tools. His fame soon spread abroad as a
great axe-maker. At this time St. Louis was an im-
portant centre of the fur trade of the West ; the de-
mand for wolf-traps, beaver-traps, and squaw-axes was
very considerable, and Newell soon made a specialty
of the manufacture of these implements, the produc-
tion of a good quality of which brought him at once
wealth and a wider fame. About that time, too, the
old French cart began to be superseded by the Yan-
kee wagon, all the cast-iron hub-boxes for which had
to be brought from Pittsburgh, as indeed all other
iron castings. Then it was that the idea of founding
first entered the brain of the first St. Louis founder.
Newell saw that if he could make the hub-boxes he
could make a wagon out and out, thus saving a heavy
expense in their manufacture and adding greater facil-
ity to their production, an improvement much to be
desired by the farmers and settlers around St. Louis.
Newell racked his brain for a plan to overcome the in-
convenience of having to import wagon-boxes. He
was not a practical iron founder, but his genius and in-
domitable courage made up for the want. Having
completed a pattern, he went to work with a common
blacksmith's forge to make wagon-boxes, and melted
his iron and moulded them with perfect success. This
was the first melting of iron west of the Mississippi
River. For four years Newell proceeded with this
slow process to turn out boxes for the wagons he
made.
In October, 1828, Samuel Gaty arrived in St.
Louis, in company with John A. Morton, Jr., and a
young Welshman named Richards. When they ar-
rived in St. Louis there was no foundry in the city.
There was, however, a frame building which parties
from Cincinnati had erected with the intention of
starting a foundry, but not being able to work the
coal, had abandoned the project. In this building,
near Second and Cherry Streets, Gaty and his friends
started a small foundry ; but the partnership (for
which Gaty furnished the cash capital) was not for-
tunate, and in a few months Gaty and Morton were in-
duced to sell out to Col. Martin Thomas, who subse-
quently leased the works to Peter McQueen, of New
York. Gaty was out of work for a while, for McQueen
had a poor idea of Western mechanics, and preferred
(as he said) skilled men from the East, yet on two
occasions Gaty showed his aptness and skill in a re-
markable way. McQueen was asked to make a new
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1259
shaft for the steamer " Jubilee." He said his men
could make the pattern and mould one, but, having
been used only to a cupola, could not well melt the
iron in an air-furnace. Gaty, however, undertook the
job of melting the iron, and got a fine casting. But
it was then found that there was not a geared lathe
in the city to turn the shaft with. Gaty was again
appealed to, and with two cog-wheels he very soon
rigged up sufficient power to turn the shaft by hand.
In the spring of 1830, Scott & Rule, then the
largest merchants in St. Louis, and also among the
largest property-holders, proposed building a foun-
dry for Lewis Newell, they to hold the concern in
their name, Newell having failed in business and
being at the time insolvent. After completing his
agreement with Scott & Rule, Newell wrote to Samuel
Gaty, who had gone to Louisville, Ky., to return to
St. Louis and enter into business with him. Gaty
accepted, and in November, 1830, came back to St.
Louis, and superintended the building of the foundry,
the money for which was furnished by Scott & Rule.
A site for the foundry was selected on the west side
of Main Street, between Cherry and Morgan, and
during the winter Gaty prepared the foundation for
the intended building, and in the spring he, with his
own hands, dug up the fire-clay for the bricks for the
furnace, moulded them himself, and built the furnace,
which was finished in the spring of 1831. On July
4th he took the first heat, and the first castings were
for Capt. John C. Swon, of the steamer " Carroll-
ton," and were of excellent quality. Gaty & Newell
worked the furnace for a while with great success,
but it was destined to a short life, for in the win-
ter of 1831-32, Scott & Rule became involved, and
made an assignment to James Woods, of Pittsburgh.
This swept everything from Gaty & Newell. But
young Gaty, undismayed by misfortune, and with a
determination that could not fail of any reasonable ,
undertaking, rented the foundry from Woods and
went to work ; and from that time fortune smiled on
him, as it always does on brave, industrious men who
are determined to succeed. Newell had an interest in
the concern. The business prospered and the foun-
dry was increased in capacity, making all kinds of
engines and machinery.
In 1832, Felix Coonce became a partner in the
foundry, and the firm was known as Gaty, Coonce &
Co. In 1838, Newell sold his interest to Capt. Beltz-
hoover, and in 1840, Beltzhoover sold again to A. H.
Glasby. In 1841, Coonce sold his interest to John
S. McCune, who came from Pike County, Mo.,
where he had just sold out a mill and country store,
which he bought with money the proceeds of the sale
of a vein of lead ore that he had recently struck at
Galena. The firm was then styled Gaty, McCune
&Co.
In 1849, Gerard B. Allen was admitted to the
firm, which then became Gaty, McCune & Co. Later,
James Collins, William H. Stone, and Amos Howe
were admitted, and this firm continued until July.
1862, when it dissolved, and Gaty and McCune retired
from the foundry business.
In all these changes Mr. Gaty, although surrounded
by very capable men, was at the head of the estab-
lishment and was its controlling aiind. He started
with a little air-furnace of four tons' capacity, and
presided over the development of a business which in
a few years grew to enormous proportions, the foun-
dry being in its day one of the most extensive manu-
facturing establishments of its class in the whole val-
ley of the Mississippi, and occupying a whole square,
bounded by Main, Second, Cherry, and Morgan
Streets. Much of this block of land Mr. Gaty still
owns, and it is covered with large and costly build-
ings.
After the retirement of Mr. Gaty in 1862, Jame's
Collins, who had been connected with the establish-
ment since 1833, with the exception of a brief retire-
ment in 1860, became one of the principal proprietors
and manager of the works.
Mr. Collins had been employed in the capacity of
foreman and superintendent until 1853, when he
bought the remaining interest of Mr. Glasby, and
the success that attended this foundry is in no small
measure the result of Mr. Collins' unwearying labors
in its superintendence.
James Collins was so thoroughly identified with
the iron interests of St. Louis that a brief sketch of
his career will not be out of place. He was born in
Canada West in the year 1818, and at nine years of
age was left an orphan, without friends, means, or
education. He was apprenticed to the firm of Sheldon
& Dutcher, iron founders, of Toronto, where he soon
mastered the business of founding and engine-build-
ing. At the age of sixteen he came to the United
States, and soon after started a small foundry in Buf-
falo for Judge Williamson, and superintended it for
about four months, when he was taken with the
Wrestern fever, came to St. Louis in 1833, and com-
menced work for Gaty, Coonce & Co. in their foun-
dry, with which firm he was identified for twenty-
eight years, in 1853 (as stated) becoming a part
owner. Under this partnership the foundry was run
until 1860, when Mr. Collins retired, and in July,
1 862, the copartnership of the firm expired by limi-
tation, when its affairs were wound up and the fixtures
1260
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
and machinery sold, Mr. Collins becoming one of the
chief purchasers, eventually putting the machinery,
patterns, etc., into the Broadway Foundry, with which
he afterwards became connected.
In 1837, Hudson E. Bridge arrived in St. Louis,
and in company with Messrs. Hale and Samuel S.
Rayburn began the manufacture of plows. Mr. Hale
dying soon after, the business was continued by Bridge
& Rayburn, and the department of stoves and hollow-
ware was added. In a short time French Rayburn,
a younger brother of Samuel S. Rayburn, came to Sc.
Louis and was admitted into partnership with Bridge
& Rayburn, which caused a marked increase in their
business.
French Rayburn was born in Montgomery County,
Va., Jan. 5, 1815. His ancestors, who were of Scot-
tish origin, settled in the north of Ireland several
centuries ago. His grandfather on the paternal side
emigrated from Ireland and settled in Virginia in the
latter part of the seventeenth century. James Ray-
burn, the father of French Rayburn, was a prominent
citizen of Montgomery County. He was for many
years judge of Probate Court, was sheriff of the
county, and held other positions of public trust. He
died in December, 1814, some two or three weeks
before the birth of "his son French. His wife, Nancy
Watterson (iiee Shanklin), at the time of her second
marriage was mother by her first husband of one
child, William S. Watterson, who was the father of
Harvey M. Watterson, who represented Tennessee
for many years in the lower house of Congress, and
the grandfather of the brilliant Henry Watterson, of
the Louisville Courier-Journal. She died in the
month of July, 1835, venerable in years and the
mother of twelve children, only one of whom, the
youngest, French Rayburn, is still living. Mr. Ray-
burn acquired the best education the times afforded
in the excellent schools of Bedford County, Tenn.
His business life began at Nashville, Tenn., under
the care and direction of his brother Samuel, who
was of the firm of Mitchell & Rayburn, and after the
dissolution of that firm, and when he was seventeen
years of age, Robert and James Woods (who were
near relatives), of the firm of James Woods & Co.,
took him into their house, and manifested a father's
interest in him. They were engaged in the banking
business at Nashville, and also owned and operated
the extensive Cumberland Iron-Works, under the
firm-name of Joseph Woods & Co. In 1833 they
opened an iron house in St. Louis for the sale of
the products of their iron-works, and placed Samuel
S. Rayburn, an elder brother of French Rayburn, in
charge. French, however, won their esteem and con-
fidence to such an extent that in 1834 they sent him
to St. Louis and associated him with his brother in
the management of the iron house.
Samuel S. Rayburn was one of the most prominent
and successful business men of St. Louis. He was a
director for many years, vice-president, and during the
absence of its president, John B. Smith, in Europe
acting president of the famous old State Bank of
Missouri, of which Robert A. Barnes was afterwards
president. He founded the house of Bridge, Ray-
burn & Co. (associating with him Hudson E. Bridge
and Titus Hale), for the manufacturing of stoves, etc.
He died in Bedford County, Tenn., in 1849. His
daughter Victoria, an only child, was reared and edu-
cated by Mr. and Mrs. French Rayburn, and was
married to Lieut. George R. Bissell, a son of the late
Capt. Lewis Bissell, of St. Louis, who now resides in
Oakland, Cal.
French Rayburn married in May, 1841, Catherine,
eldest daughter of Samuel and Margaret (iiee Beltz-
hoovcr) Stacker. Samuel Stacker was born in Penn-
sylvania, near Philadelphia, and was of German par-
entage. He removed to Pittsburgh, where he married
Miss Margaret Beltzhoovcr, whose parents, also of
German extraction, belonged to one of the prominent
families of Pennsylvania. He built the first bridge
over the Cumberland River at Nashville, and after-
wards, in connection with his brother John, erected
and operated the Lafayette Furnace, on the Cum-
berland River, in which business he amassed a fortune.
He and his brother sold their furnace property in
1834, and purchased of Joseph Woods & Co. an in-
terest in the Cumberland Iron-Works, near Fort Don-
elson, the firm becoming Woods, Stacker & Co.
Samuel Stacker had entire charge of the rolling-mill
and furnaces, and by his practical and careful manage-
ment brought the works to a higher state of efficiency
and prosperity than they had ever attained before.
He died Dec. 28, 1859, at the close of a successful
and honorable life, and lies buried beside his wife at
old Lafayette Furnace, Tenn.
In 1842, Mr. Rayburn retired from the management
of the iron house in St. Louis, and in the following
year moved to the farm where he now resides, which
he had purchased in 1842. He has resided continu-
ously on this farm, with the exception of two years
(from 1845 to 1847), during which he built the
Stacker Company Furnace, on the Cumberland River,
Tennessee, and manufactured pig-iron.
Mr. Rayburn had four children, — Samuel S., born
Dec. 14, 1842; Cora Rebecca, born Dec. 10, 1844;
Mary Elsie, born Oct. 30, 1854 ; and Catherine French,
born Aug. 17, 1860. Cora died Dec. 30, 1859, at
7
UH'
!HE
u*w
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
12G1
the age of fifteen, and Mary Elsie Jan. 7, 1869, aged
fourteen. Their loss, just as they were budding into
beautiful womanhood, was a severe blow to their
parents. Mrs. Rayburn died April 26, 1881, after a
lingering illness of over a year, and is buried in the
family lot in Bellefontaine Cemetery. Her character
was both strong and gentle, and her retired disposi-
tion made her home life remarkable for wifely and
motherly virtues. In society she exhibited the cul-
ture of a refined lady and the virtues of a Christian
woman.
Mr. Rayburn has always been a pronounced Dem-
ocrat, but never a politician, only once consenting to
hold elective office, when, in 1858, he served as a
member of the Missouri Legislature, which was nota-
ble for its frequent adjournments and extra sessions,
during the incumbency of Governor Robert Stewart.
He held the position of chairman of two committees,
— Banks and Corporations and Committee on Ac-
counts. During the war he was elected a director of
the State Bank, which position he declined.
For twenty-five years he. has been a member of the
Southern Methodist Church of Bellefontaine, holding
many positions of trust, and contributing liberally
towards its maintenance.
He is sixty- eight years of age, and a fine repre-
sentative of the pioneers to whose honor and keeping
was confided the destiny of St. Louis City and County.
In 1837 all manufactures of iron were brought
from the Ohio River. Hudson E. Bridge, however,
conceived that the cost might be lessened by hav-
ing the plates manufactured on the Tennessee River
and put together in his own shop, and this was
the first innovation. But this did not satisfy him.
With only the experience in iron manufacture ac-
quired in Springfield, he determined to make the
plates in St. Louis, and in 1838 a little foundry
was established in connection with his store. Old
stove dealers warned the young man, then only
twenty-eight years of age, of his folly in endeavoring
to compete with the older manufactures of Cincinnati,
and of the failure that must inevitably follow. But
Mr. Bridge soon found that by, careful economy the
cost of manufacture was less than the cost of bringing
from the East. At this time he was his own fore-
man and salesman by day, and his own book-keeper
at night, and though of very humble pretensions in
comparison with the establishment of to-day, the
foundation was thus laid of the Empire Stove-Works,
which was destined to become one of the largest and
best-known manufacturing enterprises of the Missis-
sippi valley.
In the year 1842, Mr. Bridge associated with him
his younger brother, Harrison Bridge, and the firm
of Bridge & Brother was established. His brother's
death in 1850 left him again alone for several years.
In 1857, John H. Beach, who had been for several
years connected with the house, was admitted as an
associate, and the firm of Bridge, Beach & Co. has
continued to the present time.
The foundry of Hudson E. and Harrison Bridge
was located in the northern part of the city, but in
1847 it was removed to the corner of Main and Al-
mond Streets.
About the time of the establishment of the stove-
works of Hudson E. Bridge, Philip Kingsland re-
moved to St. Louis, and in 1844 built the Phoenix
Foundry and Machine-Shop at the corner of Second
and Cherry Streets, for the manufacture of cooking-,
coal-, and parlor-stoves, tin-plate, etc. From this small
beginning has grown one of the largest manufacturing
establishments in the United States.
Philip Kingsland, now the head of the great Kings-
land & Ferguson Manufacturing Company, was born
at Pittsburgh, Pa., March 31, 1809. His father was
a well-known manufacturer in the iron business, and
conducted the largest establishment there. Philip
was sent to the village school, for Pittsburgh then was
not much more than a village, and at the age of fif-
teen the boy's education, such as it was, was com-
pleted. His father then placed him in his shop, where
he learned the business, beginning at the very bottom.
Mr. Kingsland says he was " put through" the trade
without being shown any favor as the son of the pro-
prietor, but, on the contrary, was treated with the
utmost strictness. The discipline, if harsh, was very
useful, and so well did the boy profit by it that
at eighteen he had the whole charge of the shop,
embracing the supervision of over one hundred
and fifty men. Although a mere stripling, he man-
aged affairs so well that he was continued as superin-
tendent for several years. Meanwhile he had visited
St. Louis two or three times, and finally, in 1835, no
longer able to resist his pioneer spirit, he removed to
St. Louis and built a large iron foundry and machine-
shop on Broadway, which he managed for several
years. The first firm was Kingsland, Liihner &
Cuddy, but this partnership was of brief duration,
Mr. Cuddy withdrawing arid Kingsland & Lithner
continuing for perhaps twenty years. Their business
grew to immense proportions, and became one of the
most prominent and important industries of St. Louis.
At last Kingsland & Lithner sold their establishment,
good will, etc., and soon after the works burned down.
Mr. Kiugsland next engaged in the manufacture of
agricultural implements at the corner of Second and
1262
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Cherry Streets. The firm was Kingslands & Fer-
guson, the partners being himself, his brother George
(now dead), and David K. Ferguson. Here, too,
signal prosperity rewarded his efforts.
Mr. Kingsland finally withdrew from the active
management of these works, and removed to Caron-
delet in 1861), where he organized the Kingsland
Iron-Works, being president of the company, and
built the two blast furnaces which now comprise a
part of the famous Vulcan Steel-Works. These were
put into successful operation, but a change of man-
agement occurring, Mr. Kingsland returned to St.
Louis in 1871 or 1872, and resumed his place as a
member of the firm of Kingsland & Ferguson. He
subsequently effected a reorganization of the concern
under the title of the Kingsland & Ferguson Manu-
facturing Company, under which name the establish-
ment is still known, its present officers being Philip
Kingsland, president; D. K. Ferguson, vice-president ;
Elliot Douglas, secretary ; L. D. Kingsland (a nephew
of Mr. Kingsland), treasurer.
Nearly fifty years have elapsed since Philip Kings-
land arrived in St. Louis and established himself in
business, and they have proved to be years of steady
and astonishing success. It is gratifying to be able
to state that Mr. Kingsland's prosperity is the result
of watchful devotion to business, and of honest and
straightforward dealings. Half a century spent in a
career in which there is no flaw or stain is something
certainly to be proud of, and Mr. Kingsland may not
only enjoy the abundant fruits of a business wisely
planned and honestly conducted, but may be happy
in the consciousness that his integrity has earned him
a high place in the regard of the community. He is
now at the head of one of the largest manufactories
in the West. It occupies nearly a whole block in
North St. Louis, embraces expensive buildings, com-
plete and costly machinery, immense stocks, etc., and
requires the use of vast capital and the employment
of hundreds of hands, — a monument of no ordinary
character to the energy, ability, and skill of its founder.
In 184G, John T. Dowdall started the Washington
Foundry, on Second Street, between Morgan and
Green. The firm was at one time styled Dowdall,
Carr & Co., and afterwards Dowdall, Page & Co.
In 1846, Palm & Robinson started the pipe foundry
on Soulard and Second Streets, and in 1852, it is said,
constructed the first locomotive ever made in the West,
but, unfortunately for St. Louis, William Palm was
too honest to compete with the foundries of the East,
and the construction of locomotives was not encouraged
here. It is conceded though that Mr. Palm built a
good, serviceable locomotive.
In 1846 the Garrison Brothers started the Eagle
Foundry, on Main Street, between Carr and Biddle,
conducted it several years, and sold it to Renfrew &
Crozier. Mr. Renfrew died in 1861, and the es-
tablishment passed into the hands of the surviving
partner, Alexander Crozier.
The extensive works of Buck & Wright were es-
tablished in 1849, but did not commence manufac-
turing until April or May, 1850, when they began to
operate with thirty-five men, moulders, laborers, etc.,
included. Their operations were then confined to a
small establishment, but they gradually increased
their facilities and capacities, by the extension and
enlargement of the area of their works, until they
covered an entire block and gave employment to
one hundred and thirty men, comprising sixty-six
moulders and sixty-four other mechanics and laborers.
To this firm, it is said, belongs the credit of inventing
and making glass doors to their Buck cook-stoves, of
which they also claim to be the inventors. It was
the leading cook-stove manufactured at their estab-
lishment, and attained a wide-spread popularity.
They also made twenty-nine other kinds of cook-
stoves, the leading wood-stove being the " Brilliant,"
of which alone they made fifteen different varieties,
and of the " Peerless" nine different varieties. Their
leading coal cook-stove was the " Paragon," of which
they manufactured thirteen different varieties, and of
other stoves they made twenty-five different varieties.
In 1849, Giles F. Filley started the Excelsior
Stove-Works. A writer, speaking of the works in
1869, says, —
"These works, now ranking among the first in the country,
were commenced in the early part of the year 1849, and the
manufacture of stoves commenced in September of that year.
For four years the business was confined to a small establish-
ment, and necessarily compelled to meet many perplexing diffi-
culties; but in 1853 the increase of the business was so great
that an addition and extension of the shops became necessary,
and a moulding-room, eighty by one hundred and twenty, and
a four-story warehouse were erected, much to the surprise of
many people, who thought it a rash and foolish venture, arguing
that it was impossible to make stove manufacturing a successful
or profitable business in St. Louis. But time and experience,
the great arbiters of all earthly affairs, have clearly demon-
strated the fact that it was not a rash venture, but a most suc-
cessful financial enterprise, and one which has done as much to
develop the practical importance of St. Louis as a manufactur-
ing point as any other enterprise ever undertaken. And now,
instead of being confined to narrow quarters, it extends over an
area of 37,000 square feet, gives employment to 255 operatives
in its various departments, and involves a weekly cash outlay
of $4916, or, reckoning a month at four and one-third weeks,
$21,303 a month, or $255,636 annually, and is perhaps among
the largest, if not itself the largest, in the United States. It
now melts from 27 to 30 tons of iron per day, or a weekly ag-
gregate of 175 tons. But just here it will be proper to remark
that only about two-thirds of the iron melted is turned out in
ILLINOIS.
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1263
perfect castings. The other third results in scraps or 'grates,'
to use moulders' parlance, and is remelted and recast from day
to day. It is estimated that since starting in September, 1849,
up to Nov. 1, 1869, it has consumed a little over 50,000 tons of
iron. From the time the foundry commenced operations in
1849 to Jan. 1, 1850, there were made 644 stoves of all kinds.
In 1852, the first year of the run of the Charter Oak stove, its
leading cooking-stove, their manufactures amounted to 12,680,
of which 2619 were Charter Oak?, and as the popularity of these
stoves increased so increased their manufacture of them, and
the whole may be summed up in the following tabular statement
to the present time. It will be noticed, however, that in 1857,
when there was a financial panic, and during the war, there was
a slight falling off in this as in all other kinds of manufactures :
ni » i Charter
"\ear. Total. Oaks
1849 644 '..
1850 5,977
1851 10,906
1852 12,608 2,019
1853 14,850 4,785
1854 18,441 6,643
1855 25,305 11,141
1856 29,387 12,548
1857 28,385 10,804
1S58 18,718 6,595
1859 22,764 7,144
I860 21,599 7,366
1861 10,334 3,183
1862 16,422 4,795
1863 18,231 5,546
1864 15,666 5,556
1865 23,488 8,066
1866 24,258 9,445
1867 18,245 11,548
1868 31,507 13,347
1869, 11 months ending Nov. 30. 33,334 16,864
411,141 147,995
On hand Dec. 1 5,776 1,565
Total production 416,917 149,560
"During the years 1864-66, while the government law im-
posing a tax of three dollars per ton on meHed iron remained
in force, the Excelsior Manufactory paid a yearly average of
the one-twcnty-second part of all revenue derived from that
source, as follows :
"In 1864 1.17i parts.
In 1865 1.18 "
In 1866 1.28 "
" Until the present year nearly all the iron used at the Excel-
sior Works was brought from points outside of the State, — Ohio,
Pennsylvania, and Tennessee, — but the establishment of fur-
naces in our own State and city has worked a very desirable
change, as it tends to keep all the outlays for iron, except for
the Scotch pig, nt home among our own people. This outlay
for iron was no inconsiderable item, as last year the works of
which we write paid out over eighty thousand dollars to the
iron manufacturers of Ohio alone, to say nothing of the amount
paid to the manufacturers in other localities. This year they
have not purchased or used a single ton of American iron pro-
duced outside of Missouri, and after giving it a fair test, pro-
nounced it superior to any other iron ever used for stove manu-
facturing purposes. The only foreign purchases are of Scotch
iron, which, as heretofore remarked, is of a softer, more fluid
nature, and when mixed with the Missouri iron, which is very
strong and, to use a foundryman's words, 'does not run sharp
enough to bring out the nice designs and ornaments,' obtains
the quality desired.
"The stoves manufactured at the Excelsior Works find a
market in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and other adjoining
States, in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, New Mexico,
Colorado, Montana, Utah, and wherever else St. Louis commerce
extends.
"From the 1st of January to the 30th of November of the
present year their sales of stoves and the necessary materials to
put on the fixtures reached within a small fraction of $1,250,-
000, while it is supposed that in the five stove foundries in
operation in St. Louis there is invested no less than $1,500,000.
" The power that drives the machinery to carry on the manu-
facturing department of the Excelsior Works is supplied by an
engine of eighty-five horse-power, with sixteen and a half inch
cylinder of four-feet stroke. The machinery which it propels
may Le enumerated as follows : Two cylinder-blowers, one burr
millstone, one sand-mill, three coal-mills, seven drills, one iron-
turning lathe, one wood-turning lathe, three circular saws, one
planing-machine, ten cleaning mills, seven emery-wheels, two
hoisting-machines, and four grindstones. Betides this it fur-
nishes the power for moving the iron cars used for hauling coal
and iron up to the cupola. There are two furnaces, the blast
for which is carried from the cylinder-blower, one of them an
eightcen-inch pipe three hundred feet long, and the other one
a sixteen and a half inch pipe two hundred and forty feet long.
" We have stated that the Excelsior Stove-Works give employ-
ment to two hundred and fifty-five persons, and on further in-
quiry we learn that these two hundred and fifty-five employes
are classified and paid an average of weekly wages as follows :
Total to
« Class. No. Wages. Each Class.
Draughtsman 1 $24.00 $24.00
Pattern-makers 3 18.00 54.00
Flask-makers 4 18.00 72.00
Iron pattern fitters 4 17.00 68.00
Moulders 112 22.00 2464.00
Mounters 38 15.00 570.00
Cleaners 18 14.00 252.00
Blacksmiths 4 15.00 60.00
Engineers 1 22.00 22.00
Laborers, teamsters, etc 54 14.00 756.00
Clerks 13 30.00 390.00
Superintendents 3 60.00 180.00
Total 255
Total weekly expense for labor $4916.00"
The start of Giles F. Fillcy was made in rather a
small way, the employes numbering twenty-five moul-
ders and about twenty men in other departments.
These works have been extended and enlarged from
time to time until they now (1883) employ two hun-
dred and thirty moulders and about three hundred
and twenty men in other departments, five hundred
and fifty in all at the works proper, which cover two
large blocks in North St. Louis. In 1865 the works
were incorporated into what is known as the " Ex-
celsior Manufacturing Company," and the business
now includes the furnishing of tinners' supplies as
well as the making of stoves, and the whole number
of employes is about six hundred and fifty.
The Missouri Stove- Works were established in
1865, but did not fairly commence business until
January, 1866. During the four years succeeding
their manufactures made the following exhibit :
1866
1867
2,380
3,850
1868 6,400
1869 7,500
Total 20,130
1264
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
or 5032 annually. The Missouri Stove Foundry is
now located on Second Street, northeast corner of
Palm.
The Western Stove Manufacturing Company was
organized and a charter obtained in 1868, and manu-
facturing operations commenced in October of that
year. The stock was owned and the labor principally
performed by mechanics and laborers. It combined
the manufacture of iron railings and castings for agri-
cultural implements with that of stoves. The works
are still in successful operation.
In this sketch of the St. Louis stove manufacturing
interest, and its extent we have dealt altogether with
the leading establishments, but from them sufficient in-
formation has been obtained to show the importance
and magnitude of the business as well as its influence
upon the commercial interests and population of the
city. The amount of capital invested in this one
branch of trade exceeds $1,650,000. In 1882 there
were nine establishments engaged in this branch of
manufacture, employing 1555 hands, whose products
were valued at 82,695,000.
The first bar of iron made out of pig-metal in Mis-
souri was made on Cedar Creek (Washington County)
in May, 1825, and the first blooms were made in 1832.
Though ore was abundant and easily smelted, the great
expense of transportation in a new and thinly-settled
country soon induced the abandonment of the enter-
prise ; and Dr. Litton states that " the next blast fur-
nace was probably erected in 1828, by Mr. Massey,
in Crawford, which has been in successful operation
up to the present time." *
In 1850, Messrs. James Harrison & Co. purchased
from Capt. James Bissell a large tract of land in the
northern section of the city, a short distance above
Bremen, and began the erection of an extensive roll-
ing-mill and nail-factory. The building was about
two hundred and thirty-four feet long and one hun-
dred and thirty feet wide.
James Harrison, one of the pioneers in the devel-
opment of the iron trade of St. Louis, was born iu
Bourbon County, Ky., in October, 1803, and was the
son of John Harrison, a farmer of that region. John
Harrison's family came to this country from the
north of Ireland at an early day, and his wife was of
English lineage. Mr. and Mrs. Harrison had ten
children, James being the second of several sons, all
of whom became wealthy. Capt. William M. Har-
rison is now one of the most successful merchants and
bankers of Texas.
James Harrison spent his early years on a farm,
1 Franz Mayer was the first to cast bells in St. Louis, in 1851.
and enjoyed such moderate school advantages as his
section afforded. In 1822 he removed to Missouri
and settled in Fayette, Howard Co., where for several
years he engaged successfully in mercantile pursuits
with James Glasgow. He early showed uncommon
aptitude for business. Among his successful ventures
of this period was the shipping of stock to St. Louis,
and several times he went with a flat-boat of stock
from St. Louis to Xew Orleans. In 1830 he married
Maria Louisa, daughter of Joel Prewitt, of Howard
County, Mo., and sister of Mrs. William N. Switzer
and Dr. Prewitt, of St. Louis. This excellent lady
died in St. Louis in 1847.
During 1831 and 1832 he visited Chihuahua,
Mexico, for trading purposes, and led a busy and
stirring life, not unfraught with personal danger. On
one occasion his party was pursued, and eleven out
of the thirteen were caught and scalped.
From 1833 to 1840 he was a merchant in Arkansas,
and conducted business in several towns simultane-
ously, meeting with the most flattering success. He
was still in partnership with Mr. Glasgow, under the
style of Glasgow & Harrison.
In 1840 he removed to St. Louis, which city he
henceforth made his home. He had " prospected"
over a large portion of Missouri, and the immense
mineral wealth of the State was earlier and better
known to him than to most others. His knowledge
on this subject convinced him that the development
of these treasures would inure immensely to the ad-
vantage of St.. Louis, and would prove a source of
fortune to the individuals who engaged therein. He
therefore formed connections with men of great wealth
and business capacity, and began active operations in
this new field. In 1845 he became a partner in the
firm of Choutcau, Harrison & Vallo, a house which
eventually took the very highest rank in the business
circles of the West, and contributed largely not only
to establish the iron interests of St. Louis, but also to
enhance the general reputation of its entire manufac-
turing and mercantile community.
The immense wealth of the Iron Mountain had for
generations excited the cupidity of men, but it was
reserved for Mr. Harrison to develop its treasures.
In 1843 he became a third-owner of the Iron Moun-
tain property, and in 1845 organized the " Iron Moun-
tain Company," consisting of James Harrison, Pierre
Chouteau, Jr., and F. Valle, of St. Louis ; C. C. Zeig-
ler and John Scott, of Ste. Genevieve ; F. Pratt, of
Fredcricktown ; and August Belmont, S. Ward, and
Charles Mersch, of New York. The development of
this industry was attended by numerous and costly
experiments, but eventually the unwearying faith and
UNWt
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1265
energy of Mr. Harrison and his associates overcame
every obstacle, and their business has grown until
they have come to be reckoned among the largest
producers of iron in the world.
James Harrison was a stanch defender of home
interests, and gave a ready car to every enterprise
that promised to be of public utility. He was an
earnest friend of railroads, and* not long after the
formation of the company to work the Iron Mountain '
property inspired the organization of the Iron Moun-
tain Railroad Company, and was one of its directing
minds for several years. He was a director in the
Missouri Pacific, and when that road was bought
from the State he was one of the principal parties
who negotiated the seven-million- dollar loan.
In all these large transactions there never attached
the slightest suspicion to Mr. Harrison's name, and
such was the confidence placed in his honor and judg-
ment that he readily secured the co-operation of the
most eminent men of the city in his. undertakings-
On the other hand, he was always ready to assist
others in their meritorious projects. He possessed a
rare knowledge of men, as was evinced by the con-
spicuous success of most of those whom he chose as
partners, friends, associates, and even employes, — men
of great talent and unsullied honesty, who became
noted in his enterprises for largeness of views, fer-
tility of resources, and persevering energy.
Mr. Harrison toiled not for wealth alone, but also
for the great and noble object of assisting to build up
the city and State. He was a man of large heart and
generous impulses, and the welfare of his employes
engaged much of his time and attention. He caused
to be built a handsome church for his tenants at Iron
Mountain, and established schools for their benefit.
An open-handed citizen, he figured in various chari-
table and other undertakings for the public good, such
as the organization of the Bellefontaine Cemetery
Association, etc., and seemed to realize fully that he
was responsible to God and society for a good use
of his riches.
In person Mr. Harrison was tall and stately, and
his manner was grave and dignified, never tolerating
a rude familiarity, but courteously inviting to known
friends or those who had legitimate claims upon his
attention. His habits were remarkably temperate,
and enabled him to labor with unflagging industry
under burdens which would have broken others com-
pletely down. The most conspicuous trait of his
character was a " marvelous serenity under misfor-
tune and absence of elation in periods of special
prosperity."
Mr. Harrison died on the 3d of August, 1870,
after but two or three days' illrress. His sudden
decease shocked the community, and was mourned
as a public affliction. He did not die before his time,
and had lived to see many of his predictions regarding
St. Louis more than fulfilled. He saw his favorite
city double her population within the last decade of
his life, while the increase was thirtyfold during his
citizenship. As an observant man, he must have been
conscious that some share of this wonderful progress
was due to his labors.
Well has it been said of him, " The imperishable
evidences of his labors and enterprises are stamped in
unmistakable characters upon works more enduring
than bronze or marble, and the ability with which
he grappled the great commercial and manufacturing
problems of his adopted State adds a lustre to a name
that Missourians will always be proud to honor."
Edwin H., son of James Harrison, was born in
1836 in the town of Washington, Hempstead County,
Ark., where his father was then conducting one of
several mercantile establishments located at widely
separated points in that State. In 1840, as we have
seen, James Harrison sold out his Arkansas enterprises
and removed to St. Louis with his family, of which
Edwin, the subject of this sketch, was the first born.
In 1846, Edwin was sent to Ste. Genevieve, Mo.,
to a French school, in order that he might be better
prepared for the training that was to follow. The
next year, at the suggestion of Father De Smet, he
was sent to the Jesuit College of Notre Dame de la
Paix, at Namur, Belgium, where he remained until
1851, acquiring a good education and as thorough a
knowledge of French as could be obtained by daily
and uninterrupted practice.
Upon returning to St. Louis in 1851, young Har-
rison spent a part of the two succeeding years at
Wyman's school, and in 1853 entered the Lawrence
Scientific School, a department of Harvard Univer-
sity, Cambridge, Mass. Here for the first two years
he made a specialty of mechanics and engineering,
in which branches he graduated in 18.^5. Mean-
while he had attended the lectures of Professor
Asa Gray on botany, and of the great Agassiz on
zoology and geology. To use his own expression,
he was " infatuated" with Agassiz, and after obtain-
ing his diploma as engineer he went into Agassiz's
laboratory as a special student, remaining for one and
a half years. Of his intercourse with that wonder-
ful man he never speaks except with emotion. One
of his summer vacations was spent with Agassiz
about Eastport, Me., and Grand Menan Island, study-
ing the beauties and unraveling the mysteries of ma-
rine animal nature.
1266
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
One of the interesting reminiscences of his student
life with Agassiz may not improperly be given here.
It was in the summer of 1855 or 1856, while spend-
ing his vacation at the private laboratory which was
attached to Agassiz's summer residence at Nuhant,
that one day, after dinner, the professor appeared in
the laboratory, holding a letter in his hand which he
had just received, and exhibiting evidence of some
pleasurable excitement in his countenance. The letter
was an autograph note from Louis Napoleon, which,
beginning with "You are a Frenchman," tendered
him the chair of paleontology in the Jardin des
Plantes, the highest scientific position in the gift of
France ; also a seat in the French Senate. It was a
pardonable pride which lit up his countenance, but
he did not hesitate a moment to reject such extra-
ordinary honors, and his reply was immediately trans-
mitted to the emperor. He declined the offer in
such terms as were due to so distinguished a patron of
science, and begged to assure the emperor that while
it was true his ancestors were Frenchmen, he was a
native of Switzarland, and still remained a citizen of
that republic, and that he had come to America to
spend the remainder of his days, pursuant to a reso-
lution immutably decided on years before.
During some months in 1859, Mr. Harrison was en-
gaged under the State geologist, Professor Swallow, in
the geological survey of Missouri, and in 1871 he was
appointed by Governor B. Gratz Brown a member
of the board of managers of the Missouri Geological
Survey, and continued to be reappointed and to hold
the office until the end of the survey, under the in-
cumbency of Governor Hardin.
From 1860 to 1862, Mr. Harrison lived in New
Mexico as a Santa Fe merchant. Since 18G5 he has
been the president of various manufacturing and
mining companies and other institutions, including
the Iron Mountain Company, Lacledc liolling-Mills
(Chouteau, Harrison & Valle Iron Company), St.
Louis Smelting and Refining Company, the Manu-
facturers' and Miners' Association, Mercantile Library
Association, St. Luke's Hospital Association, Mis-
souri Historical Society, and others. He is also a
director and actively interested in the Carbondale Coal
and Coke Company and its associated lines of railroad
in Southern Illinois, in the Harrison Wire-Works,
the St. Louis Fair Association, and the Hope and
Granite Mining Companies, whose valuable mines arc
located in Montana.
In 1867, before the founding of the city of Lcad-
ville, he, in the interest of the St. Louis Smelting
and Refining Company, visited the famous California
Gulch (on which the city is now located), and de-
termined to erect smelting- works there. This con-
clusion becoming known produced a rush of fortune-
hunters, who located around the site he had selected
for the furnaces, and before the Harrison Reduction-
Works (whose erection he superintended in person)
were completed, which was during the summer of that
year, a population of several thousand adventurous
souls had concentrated and named the town Lcad-
viile, because of the extensive discoveries of lead-bear-
ing silver ores made in the neighborhood.
Mr. Harrison was made a Freemason in Monte-
zuma Lodge, Santa Fe, in 1861. He is now a mem-
ber of the Benevolent Order of Elks, and of the St.
Louis Legion of Honor. He has been a member of
the American Association for the Advancement of
Science, and of the St. Louis Academy of Sciences
for twenty-five years, and is also a member of the
American Association of Mining Engineers, and other
societies of that character, and various club?.
Having enjoyed educational advantages of large ex-
tent and variety, it is proper to add that Mr. Harri-
son has proved one of the most intelligent and public-
spirited citizens of St. Louis. Most of his enter-
prises have involved the employment of large bodies
of men, and have embraced the solution of some in-
teresting problems of transportation, particularly during
the early days of Lcadville. In this direciion he has
done much to advance the interests of this city, and
has assisted others in doing much. Philanthropic
and educational enterprises have found him a sympa-
thetic and generous patron. For some years he has
been a director of Washington University ; and in
1878-79, his attention having been called to the de-
sirability of incorporating the manual feature in edu-
cation, he is said to have built and given to the uni-
versity the building now occupied by the " Manual
Training-School," and has been intrusted with the
chairmanship of the board of managers! of the school.
Mr. Harrison was married Nov. 13, 1873, to Miss
Laura E. Sterne, of Glasgow, Mo. Two children,
James and Louise, make up the family.
Mr. Harrison is a gentleman of tall physique and
affable manners, and of a benevolent and enterprising
disposition. He is unassuming and undemonstrative
in his daily life, and is a modest recipient of the honors
bestowed upon him so freely by his fellow-citizens.
In social life he is esteemed by a very large circle of
friends, who have learned to appreciate and esteem
the sterling qualities which have caused him not only
to be loved at his own fireside, but also admired and
respected among his business associates as one of the
most worthy citizens of St. Louis.
The Republican of Feb. 19, 1845, announced that
U*r •>
o.
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1267
" the company who now own this important mass of
iron ore (Iron Mountain) have commenced operations
in the erection of furnaces, and will in the course of
the present year be fully under way," and on the 30th
of October, 1846, the same paper added that " th.e
first shipment of pig-iron from the Iron Mountain
Company's works in this State, about four and a half
tons, was received here Wednesday per steamer ' Mcn-
dota.' It was taken by Messrs. Gaty, McCune &
Glasby, at whose foundry its quality will be tested.
The works now in progress will, when fully completed,
as we are informed, run from sixteen to twenty tons
of pig-iron per day, and the supply of ore is inex-
haustible."
On the 14th of the following November it was
stated that " on Wednesday some pig-iron from the
Iron Mountain in this State was for the second time
tested, and that very thoroughly, at the fuundry of
Messrs. Kingsland & Lithner, of this city. It was
found to be very malleable and easily filed, and was
pronounced equal in all respects to the best Tennessee
iron."
In 1853 the total consumption of coal was put
down at two million eight hundred and thirty-seven
thousand eight hundred and eighteen bushels, — one
hundred and thirteen thousand five hundred tons, —
of which only twelve thousand tons was used in the
iron manufacture. But Mr. Hogan, writing at this
time, was strenuously urging his fellow-citizens to
press forward the iron industry and make the profit
out of it which other communities were reaping the
benefit of with resources not near so great.
" Xo country in the world," he showed, " of the same extent
has so abundant and accessible supply of iron as Missouri. . . .
" I say that our State and city should have the most extensive
iron manufactures in the United States, and as evidence thereof
it is only necessary to instance some of the vast formations of
this metal in our State. And first of these formations I notice
the Iron Mountain, situated in St. Francis County, about
eighty miles south of St. Louis. This is one of the most won-
derful metalliferous formations in the world, and, with the other
vast bodies in its immediate vicinity, is worthy of the investi-
gation of all lovers of science, all students of nature. The ore
of the Iron Mountain covers an area of some five hundred
acres, and is in the centre of a possession of twenty thousand
arpens belonging to the same parties. It rises to a height of
some two hundred and sixty feet above the general level of the
country, and is estimated to contain above the surface over two
hundred million tons of ore. Here is an object for laborers that
is capable of supplying the demands even of English furnaces
for generations without going below the general surface of the
country. The ore is found in lumps from the size of pebbles of
a few ounces to those of two or three hundred pounds in weight,
and is gathered from the surface from base to summit to the
extent of thousands of tons without any difficulty. The ore
of this mountain, and, indeed, of those contiguous, is known as
the specular oxide, and usually yields some sixty-eight to seventy
per cent, of pure iron, ani it is so free from injurious substances
as to present no obstacle to working it directly into blooms.
The metal is so excellent that much of it, and also that from
the Pilot Knob, is now used by the manufacturers on the Ohio
for mixing with the ores found there, and is especially esteemed
for making nails. There are now in operation at the mountain
two blast furnace?, producing from one hundred to one hundred
and twenty tons per month; a third one is building, and will
soon be working, estimated to be capable of making sixty to
seventy tons per week, which, when all completed, will produce
from seven thousand to seven thousand five hundred tons of
metal annually.
" These furnaces, as also the mountain and its complement of
timber land, belong to Messrs. Chouteau, Harrison & Valle, the
owners also of the extensive rolling-mill in the upper part of
the cit}-. They do not contemplate the erection of any more
furnaces at the mountain, but they expect to have in the south-
ern part of the city both furnaces and forges on the completion
of the Iron Mountain Railroad, and will bring up the ore,
where they can have an abundant supply of coal with which to
manufacture it. The amount of ore above the surface would
seem to preclude the necessity of looking any deeper, nor, in-
deed, except as a matter of geological investigation, will it
probably ever be necessary; yet the enterprising proprietors
have been making some experiments in order to test the nature
of the foundation on which their superstructure stands. * And
as- the public may have some curiosity on this subject, and with
a view of exemplifying the greatness of our mineral wealth, I
have obtained the result of the borings made by their order
alongside the base of the mountain. The shaft has already
been sunk to the depth of one hundred and forty-four feet. In that
distance they have fifteen feet of clay and ore, thirty feet of
white sandstone, thirty-three feet of blue porphyry, and fifty-
three feet of pure iron ore, in which they are still at work.
How much thicker this vein is, of course, can only be known in
the progressive investigation, but this is sufficient; the balance
of the distance is composed of narrow layers of rock and gravel.
Thus we see partly what is lelow the surface to the depth of only
one hundred and forty-four feet ; and this bed of iron ore would
itself be immensely valuable, even if there was none above.
" Next to the ' Iron Mountain,' and only some six or eight
miles farther from St. Louis, is another very remarkable forma-
tion known as the ' Pilot Knob,' which is also of iron. The
Knob covers about the same area as the Mountain, but is more
elevated; it is conical, and rises some seven hundred feet above
the general surface, and is visible for many miles in every di-
rection.
" The Pilot Knob is the property of Mr. Lewis V. Bogy and
others, incorporated as the ' Madison Iron-Mining Company.'
They own some twenty-five thousand acres of land, including
the Knob, the Shepherd Mountain, and some eight other valu-
able iron deposits, all in the same vicinity in Madison County,
some eighty-five or ninety miles south of St. Louis, on the line
of the Iron Mountain Railroad.
" These several deposits, although in the immediate vicinity
of each other, materially differ in their characteristics, and
produce iron adapted to various purposes, and each of them
dissimilar in some particulars from the metal at the Iron Moun-
tain, so that very good quality of iron may be easily produced
in Missouri by such admixtures as may be found desirable.
" The Madison Company have now at work four steam-en-
gines; one of these is used to operate a saw-mill, the others are
connected with the iron-works. They have now in operation
one blast furnace, and are building another on a more extended
saale. When this is completed they will make some twenty
tons of metal per day. They have also a forge working eight
fires, and making blooms direct from the ore, about twenty-five
12G3
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
tons per week, and also making some bar-iron. The ore is
quarried out of the side of the hill some three hundred feet
above the surface, and now presents the remarkable appear- ;
ance of an iron wall, some fifty feet high by about two hundred
feet long, and the ore of same richness rises as high as the top, j
and doubtless sinks deep beneath the foundation of the Knob.''
Professor Swallow. State geologist of Missouri, says
of the iron-fields of this State that
"if Missouri will work up her iron and coal she may become
as powerful and rich :is England. She has more territory and
better soil, more and better iron, and quite as much coal.
" People who work iron partake of its strong and hardy
nature. They move the world and shape its destinies. The re-
gion tributary to St. Louis has far more of the very best varieties
of iron ore than can be found available for any other locality
in the known world, and the facilities for working these vast
deposits are unsurpassed. The country is well watered, timber
is abundant, and all is surrounded by inexhaustible coal-beds.
These facts alone will make St. Louis the great iron mart of the
country."
In commenting upon the various ores and oxides
of this metal accessible to Missouri, he says of the
specular oxide of iron that it is one of the most
abundant and valuable ores in the State. Iron Moun-
tain is the largest mass observed. It is two hundred
feet high and covers an area of five hundred acres,
and is made up almost entirely of this ore in its
purest form. The quantity above the surface of the
valley is estimated at two hundred million tons. But
this is only a fraction of the ore here, as it descends
to unknown depths, and every foot of the descent will
yield some three million tons. Veins of this ore cut
the porphyry at the shut-in, the location of the first
iron furnace erected in this region. Fine beds of
this ore were also found at the Buford ore-bed at the
Big Bogy Mountains, at Russell Mountain, at the
James Iron-Works, and other localities in Phclps
County, and in sections two, three, ten, and eleven of
township thirty-five, range four, west in Dent County,
on the Southwest Pacific Railroad, and in several
other localities in that county. There are several
important deposits in Crawford, Phclps, and Pulaski
Counties.
The silicious specular oxide exists in vast quantity
and very pure in Pilot Knob, intcrstratified with
slates and porphyry. The Shepherd Mountain
abounds in magnetic and itp<;-uJiir n.dde. Pilot Knob
and Iron Mountain, it is estimated, could furnish a
million tons of manufactured iron per annum for two
hundred years, all suitable for casting, for Catalan
blooms, and Bessemer steel.
Bog iron abounds in the swamps of Southeast
Missouri.
Hematite ores are generally distributed .over the
southern part of the State, enough to supply many
generations.
Spathic ore, very pure, is found in numerous large
beds among the tertiary deposits.
Adjoining States possess large iron deposits imme-
diately available for the industries of St. Louis.
But the most extensive iron-bed yet observed is
on the Missouri River, cropping out in the bluffs on
both banks of the river for a distance of more than
twenty-five miles. These beds are on the river, and
many million tons could be mined and put on boats
for less than one dollar per ton, and the expense of.
carrying to St. Louis down stream would be very
small.
Other localities might be mentioned, but we have
shown the position of enough of the various varieties
of iron ore to supply any possible demand of any
possible manufacturing city for the next thousand
years, and all is so located as to be tributary to St.
Louis.
"The simple fact that such quantities of iron ore do exist,"
says Professor Swallow, "so near, and in places so accessible,
will compel this young and vigorous city to become >lte iron,
mart. The iron furnaces at Iron Mountain, Pilot Knob, Iron-
dale, Moselle AArorks, James Works, St. Louis, and Carondelet,
fifteen in all, with a capacity of one hundred and thirty thou-
sand tons, and two rolling-mills with a capacity of forty thou-
sand tons, and the numerous foundries and machine-shops, are
the growth of a few years, a mere beginning of the great work
of utilizing our iron ores. These will increase in a rapid ratio
until a hundred furnaces pour forth the molten metal, a score
of mills roll it into rails and bars and plate?, and a hundred
foundries mould it into the ten thousand shapes and forms de-
manded by human industry. Then shall we see the millenium
of iron men, and our people be prepared to appreciate the value
of our iron-beds."
This was written in 1870, since which date the pre-
diction has in part been realized.
One of the most active and energetic spirits in the
development of the Iron Mountain property was the
late distinguished merchant and valued citizen Jules
Valle. Mr. Valle was the grandson of Col. Jean
Baptiste Valle, Sr., the last Spanish and French com-
mandant of the port of Ste. Genevieve, in Upper Louis-
iana, and was the son of John B. Valle, Jr., of the
firm of Mcnard & Valle, the oldest house in the Mis-
sissippi valley. He was born in Ste. Genevieve, Mo.,
Jan. 15, 1819, and graduated in 1840 or 1841 at the
Catholic Theological Seminary called the " Barrens,"
located near Perryville, Mo. Shortly afterwards he
was, despite his youth, appointed superintendent of
Valle" s mines, in St. Francois County, Mo., which
position he filled about two years. He then became
associated with his uncle, Felix Janis, in the dry-
goods business at Ste. Genevieve, the firm bearing the
name of Janis & Valle, successors to the old house of
Mcnard & Valle. On the 17th of January, 1843, he
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1269
was married to Miss Isabella Sargent, of Ste. Gene-
vieve. In 1852, having become one of the owners
of the Iron Mountain Company, he removed to St.
Louis to take the position of secretary of the com-
pany, and shortly afterwards was elected vice-president.
He was also a partner in the firm of Chouteau, Har-
rison & ValK'1. and at the death of James Harrison in
1870 became president of the Iron Mountain and
Chouteau, Harrison & Valle Companies. He also
originated the scheme for the organization of what
became the Vulcan Steel- Works, in Carondelet. When
he became connected with the Iron Mountain Com-
pany the annual product was only three thousand tons
of iron, and when he died it was three hundred and
fifty thousand tons. As one of the pioneers in develop-
ing the mineral resources of the Iron Mountain region,
he performed inestimable services to Southeastern Mis-
souri, and his labors naturally tended to the immediate
advantage of St. Louis, in whose prosperity he took a
deep interest, as was shown on numerous occasions
when her interests seemed at stake. He was a direc-
tor in the Mechanics' Bank and the St. Louis Mutual
Insurance Company.
Mr. Valle was a gentleman of generous impulses
and social disposition. He died March 3, 1872,
leaving a wife and seven children.
In 1856, Henry Cobb1 estimated the yearly pro-
ducts of the iron manufactures of St. Louis as aver-
aging $5,000,000, and stated that there were thirty
iron-works in St. Louis ; that the five oldest works, viz. :
Mississippi Foundry of Gaty, McCune & Co., Broad-
way Foundry of Kingsland & Cuddy, Eagle Foundry of
Clark, Renfrew & Co., Empire Stove- Works of Bridge
& Brother, and Excelsior Stove- Works of Giles F.
Filley, together employed 870 men, and paid for
wages $450,000 ; that the value of their products was
$1,900,000, and that the thirty iron-works of St. Louis
employed 2266 men, and paid wages amounting to
$1,000,000.
Notwithstanding the vast coal and iron deposits
contiguous to the city of St. Louis, the development
of the iron interest is of comparatively recent date.
The great difficulty that impeded the iron furnace
business was in the character of the coal. The his-
tory of the Carondelet Furnace will illustrate the em-
barrassments and disappointments which attended the
smeltiug business. This furnace was erected in 1864,
near the first station in Carondelet. When finished
it was leased in November, 1864, to A. M. Brown, of
Pennsylvania, who ran it for three months, using a
coal got out at Dry Hill, St. Louis Co. The iron
1 Western Journal and Civilian, vol. xv. p. 202.
81
produced was poor and meagre in quantity ; the enter-
prise did not pay and was abandoned, and the furnace
lay idle till some time in 1866, when it was leased by
J. H. McKernan, of Indianapolis, who commenced
running it with a coal taken up at a place called Bra-
zil, in Indiana. It was operated for six months with
indifferent success by McKernan, and in January,
1867, Mr. Lilly, of Pennsylvania, bought an interest,
and the furnace was kept going by them till July,
1868. Then Lilly sold out to T. A. McNair and Wil-
liam Speer, who took hold of it with an energy that
showed a determination to work out the problem of
its capacity to make iron. McNair caused several
changes to be made in the furnace, which, although
Mr. McNair was not what would be termed " an iron
man," turned out to be very valuable improvements
to the furnace, increasing its yield and the quality of
the iron produced.
The year 1868, when Mr. McNair took charge of
the furnace, was the year in which the Board of Trade
of St. Louis aided in developing the Illinois coal from
near Springfield, in Sangamon County, to Big Muddy,
in Jackson County, by furnishing nine thousand dol-
lars to secure an experiment in the manufacture of
iron at the furnace in Carondelet, " which experiment
has resulted in complete success and given a new im-
pulse to the iron business of Missouri, and has already
directed additional hundreds of thousands of dollars
to the investment in furnaces and iron-works in Jef-
ferson and St. Louis Counties." 2
Prior to the experiments on Big Muddy coal the
mining of iron had reached important figures.
Up to 1850 the total production of pig-metal in the
State was estimated to have been nearly 40,000 tons,
and the amount of iron mined about 100,000 tons.
From 1850 to 1860 the amount of pig-metal is es-
timated to have been 110,000 tons, and the amount
of ore mined to have been about 310,000 tons. From
1860, and including 1869, the amount of pig-metal
made was about 210,000 tons, and the amount of ore
mined 615,000 tons (more than double the amount of
the previous decade), of which about 300,000 tons were
shipped out of the State, principally to the Ohio River,
the yield and strength of fibre rendering it desirable
to mix with the ores " raised" in Pennsylvania. In
two years of the last decade — 1870-71 — the amount
of pig-metal produced was about 150,000 tons, or
only 60,000 tons less than in the whole of the pre-
vious decade, and the amount of ore mined about
550,000 tons (only 75,000 tons less than the entire
product of the preceding ten years), of which about
3 Industrial Interests of Missouri, by Henry Cobb, 1870.
1270
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
290,000 tons were shipped outside of the State, the j
shipments including lots to Indiana and Tennessee, as
well as to the Ohio River, one small consignment
having even gone to Scotland.
Considerable additions were made in 1869-70 to
the iron-works in South St. Louis, and the Lewis Iron-
Works were completed, as well as the South St. Louis
Works. The different establishments in operation in
1870, with their capacities, were:
The Kingsland Works, 2 furnaces ; capacity, 68 !
tons per day.
The Lewis Iron Company, 2 furnaces ; capacity, 68
tons per day.
The South St. Louis Company, 2 furnaces ; capacity,
68 tons per day.
The Carondelet Iron Company, 1 furnace ; capacity,
16 tons per day.
The amount of metal produced was about twenty-
eight thousand tons, of which one-half was sold in St.
Louis, and the balance taken at Chicago, Evansville,
and other points.
Establishments embraced under the head of ma-
chine-shops and foundries are not only numerous but
do a large business, and the operations of 1882 were
on the whole quite successful. The manufacture of
heavy machinery is increasing greatly, and the work
turned out here is as fine and satisfactory as that of
any city in the country. Most of the powerful snag-
machines now being made use of by the United States
government in removing obstructions from Western
rivers were built in this city, as well as the vessels on
which they are operated. The heavy cotton-com-
pressing machinery used here and all through the
South is the product of St. Louis shops, as well as
cotton-seed oil and hydraulic presses. Much of the
machinery of the Crystal Plate-Glass Company's works
was made in St. Louis. The finest engines, and in
fact every variety of iron products, are turned out.
All of the leading shops also operate foundries of their
own. As yet the manufacture of mining machinery
is in its infancy at this point, and, in view of the fact
that St. Louis is so well situated for supplying the
camps, there is a good opening here for capitalists who
may wish to invest money in mining-machinery works.
Immense quantities of this machinery are sold here,
but the dealers buy elsewhere. The number of ma-
chine-shops and foundries in St. Louis in 1882 was
27 ; number of hands employed, 2067 ; capital in-
vested, $994,000 ; value of product, $3,855,000.
About 1849, Joseph W. Branch purchased the St.
Louis Saw-Works from the firm of Messrs. Childs,
Pratt & Co., by whom that branch of saw manufac-
turing had been recently introduced in St. Louis, and
in 1853 he finally settled in the city, where he has
lived continuously for a period of thirty years. His
firm was originally organized under the style of
Branch, Crookes & Frost, but on Mr. Frost's retire-
ment in 1857 the business remained in the hands of
Mr. Branch and his brother-in-law, Joseph Crookes,
under the firm-name of Branch, Crookes & Co. This
latter name it has continued to bear, notwithstanding
the fact that Mr. Branch in 1872 purchased the
interest of Mr. Crookes, and has been sole proprietor
ever since that time. From the moderate beginning
which prudence required to be made, the special in-
dustry in which Mr. Branch engaged has been steadily
developed until it has attained to very large propor-
tions, and the acknowledged excellence of its manu-
factures has won for the firm an enviable reputation
throughout the country.
Joseph W. Branch was born in that portion of
Yorkshire, England, described in the first chapter of
" Ivanhoe." His birthplace, Rotherham (to use the
language of Sir Walter Scott), lies " in that pleasant
district of Merry England which is watered by the
River Don, where existed in ancient times a large
forest, covering the greater part of the beautiful hills
and valleys which lie between Sheffield and the pleasant
town of Doncaster. The remains of this extensive
wood are still to be seen at the noble seats of Went-
worth, of Wharncliffe Park, and around Rotherham.
Here haunted of yore the fabulous Dragon of Wantley ;
here were fought many of the most desperate battles
during the civil wars of the Roses ; and here also
flourished in ancient times those bands of gallant out-
laws whose deeds have been rendered so popular in
English song."
Born of the purest stock of the old Saxon Frank-
lins, Mr. Branch inherited the qualities of his race in
singular distinctness, as the spirit of adventure in his
earlier years, and the energy, tenacity, and indomit-
able steadiness of his maturer life have proved ; but
the best successes which he has achieved are partly
due to a circumstance which seemed at first to be a
great misfortune. In his early childhood he gave no
promise of the robust physical development which he
subsequently reached ; indeed, he was so delicate in
health that he was deprived of the privileges of school
education, and thus it happened that an accomplished
mother was his only teacher. From her he learned
the elements of a thorough English education, and the
abundant legends and ballad stories of the North
country in which they lived. From her also he
learned the infinitely more important lessons of honor,
veracity, fidelity, and simple but practical religion by
which his life has been directed.
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1271
Mr. Branch's father had established a manufactory
in Rotherhana, and the delicate child naturally became
interested in mechanical pursuits. While yet a mere
lad he was permitted to enter the counting-house of
the Globe Works, at Sheffield, rather as an experi-
ment than with any serious expectation of his learn-
ing the business ; but from that time he began to out-
grow the feebleness of his childhood, and speedily
exhibited so uncommon a capacity for affairs that
when he was only seventeen years of age he was in
actual charge of several departments of the large and
intricate business of the Globe Works. In 1844,
when he was only eighteen, he received a striking
proof of the confidence of his employers. They had
a large trade with America, which they had con-
ducted through their American correspondents, until
the volume of their business in this country had re-
quired them to establish a branch house and a factory
in New York City. These were already in existence,
but they were not working satisfactorily, and. young
Branch was sent to take charge of them. Unfortu-
nately, however, he found them in the hands of men
who were greatly his seniors, and who were not dis-
posed to carry out the views of so young a chief, and
after two years, failing to secure the co-operation to
which he was entitled, the lad resigned his position.
Then began the adventurous part of Mr. Branch's
life. By advice of his father, he spent several years
in traveling through various parts of the United
States, and in 1848 made quite a remarkable journey
through Mexico, which might readily furnish material
for a writer of romance. That country was in a fear-
fully disturbed condition when Mr. Branch, who was
then only twenty-two years of age, undertook to ex-
plore it. He organized a company of sixteen resolute
men, and with this small force, well mounted and well
armed, rode from Vera Cruz to Mazatlan, on the Pa-
cific ; thence he went to San Francisco, and spent the
greater part of 1849 in that city and in occasional
visits to the mines which had been opened in California.
Returning to the East in 1849, Mr. Branch engaged
in business in St. Louis, as heretofore stated.
In view of his own success in business and his
standing in the community, it was impossible that
Mr. Branch should escape a multiplicity of duties, in
which his labor and influence were needed by his
friends and fellow-citizens. Hence, besides the im-
portant positions of president of the Illinois and St.
Louis Railroad and of the Madison County Ferry
Company, and vice-president of the Mechanics' Bank,
which he now occupies, he has been called upon to
hold many trusts, and to fill many positions of the
greatest importance and responsibility. Nothing,
however, has been permitted to interfere with his de-
votion to the interests of the innumerable benevolent
institutions and enterprises to which he has given his
aid, with hand, purse, and influence, to an extent
which is hardly credible. Nothing which had any
claim to his support as a man or citizen has been re-
fused the best service he could render it. As presi-
dent of the St. George's Society, he has lent timely
aid to hundreds of poor emigrants ; to the various
orders of the Masonic fraternity he has rendered
yeoman's service ; to St. Luke's Hospital he has been
munificent in gifts and earnest in every form of sup-
port, and in the co-operative societies which have for
their object the relief of the widows and orphans of
their members he has worked with all the enthu-
siasm and tireless energy of his nature.
At a time when the society known as the Knights
of Honor was comparatively weak in the State of
Missouri, Mr. Branch threw himself into it with
results that were at once apparent. He was for two
years called to preside over it as its chief officer in
the State of Missouri, and its progress while under
his administration was such as to astonish its most
sanguine adherents. In the St. Louis Legion of
Honor, which is an order of similar plan and purpose
to the Knights of Honor, he holds an influential po-
sition ; and in all the charities of St. George's Church,
of which he is the senior warden, Mr. Branch is
looked to as a hearty sympathizer, an earnest worker,
and a munificent contributor. It is an open secret
that when the new and beautiful edifice of St. George's
had been advertised some years ago for sale by the
sheriff to pay a heavy debt of the parish, amounting
to some sixty thousand dollars, more than half the
sum required was contributed by two individuals, one
| of whom was Edwin Harrison, and the other was
Mr. Branch. Grace Church is also under obligations
to him for gifts amounting to thousands of dollars.
In his religious views Mr. Branch is an Episcopalian
of the old-fashioned High Church sort, with a strong
leaning towards the Broad Church school. His re-
ligion, however, is of a practical rather than a theo-
retical kind. As the senior warden of his parish, he
is the valued adviser of his rector, in the council of
the diocese he exerts a great influence, and in every
diocesan enterprise he is one of those to whom his
bishop looks for strong and wise co-operation.
In his political views Mr. Branch's position is
thoroughly independent. During the civil war he
felt it to be his duty to give an unequivocal and un-
divided support to the Union cause, but he could
never bring himself to regard the Southern people in
the light of enemies. In the miseries which the war
1272
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
occasioned his " charity recognized no uniform," and
when the flag of the Confederacy was furled, one of
his first thoughts was to send relief to suffering dis-
tricts of the conquered South. Owing to his course
in this respect, in a border State and in a more than
semi-Southern city, Mr. Branch's pronounced Union-
ism never caused the least breach between him and
his Southern neighbors. Since the war he has been
repeatedly urged by representative men of both politi-
cal parties to permit them to nominate him for high
public office, but to these solicitations he has steadily
refused to listen. He is content, and has good reason
to be content, with the private station which he has
made for himself, and in which, while still in the full
vigor of manhood, he enjoys the comforts of an ample
fortune and the blessings which attend a well-regu-
lated life.
It would hardly be right to close this sketch, for
which the materials have been gathered from many
sources, without referring to Mr. Branch's exception-
ally happy domestic life. It was in 1857 that he
contracted a marriage, from which the element of ro-
mance was not absent, with Annie Clark, second
daughter of Matthew Clark, of Cusworth, Yorkshire,
England. Mr. Clark was a gentleman farmer of
ancient family, farming his own land as well as land
rented from one of his neighbors. His estate was not
far from Rotherham, where Mr. Branch was born,
and was quite near to " the pleasant town of Don-
caster," where some of Mr. Branch's relatives resided.
An attachment, of which the young people were hardly
conscious at the time, for Miss Clark was then a very
young girl at school, was followed several years later
by a correspondence, which at length led to their
marriage. Mr. Branch's most partial friends consider
it no derogation from his merits to say that the noblest
and most generous features of his honorable life have
had their inspiration at the fireside of a happy home.
In her own sphere Mrs. Branch is as well known for
her charities and personal service to good works of all
sorts as her husband is in his. Their family con-
sists of three sons and four daughters. Their oldest son,
Joseph Clark Branch, has reached his majority, and is
actively engaged in the business of his father's firm.
According to the census of 1870, the mining indus-
try of St. Louis County showed the following statistics:
Hands.
Capital.
Wages.
Material.
Products.
401
20
47
28
734
146
1564
31,007,143
20,0(K)
142.857
37,1)00
880,000
95,000
2,762,500
$330,000
21,000
30,000
18,600
700,000
120,:iOO
1,174,194
8826,750
26,760
237,250
28,710
813,000
445.U20
1,416,775
81,455,000
60,000
294,000
79,600
1,945,000
669,050
2,937,950
" anchor-sand chains
" nail* and spikes....
" railing, wrought...
In 1880, St. Louis City received 1,800,000 tons of
coal, four and one-half times as much as the county
consumed in 1870; the receipts of iron ore were
173,307 tons; of pig-iron, 116,240 tons. The num-
ber of establishments in the iron industry was 41 ;
number of hands, 4444 ; capital, $8,733,500 ; wages,
$1,751,107; material, $4,744,630 ; product, $8,101,-
915. The future value of this industry may be in-
ferred from the following facts : St. Louis has aa
much capital in the iron manufacture as Philadel-
phia, thirty-three per cent, more than Chicago, and
double as much as Cleveland, while the profits at all
three of these cities were nearly double those at St.
Louis, showing that the latter city is chiefly working
to expand and develop a great industry and not to
realize an immediate large profit upon it. Ex-Mayor
Overstolz, in his address before the State Immigra-
tion Convention in April, 1880, thus spoke of the
growth and the prospect of this industry, —
" That the inexhaustible deposits of iron ore in the State of
Missouri, and the abundance of our coal supply should have led
to extensive furnaces, rolling-mills, foundries, and iron- and
steel-works of all kinds in the city of St. Louis is not surprising.
An immense industry has been developed within a period of
ten or fifteen years, and notwithstanding the general depression
of the iron trade during the last few years, it is to-day one of
our most important departments of manufacture. The iron-
business includes so many branches, viz. : the manufacture of
pig-iron and its conversion into bar-iron, to steel, to castings,
and the making of articles of iron, such as engines, machinery,,
stoves, etc., all made from the original pig-iron or bars, that it
is difficult, in the absence of official statistics, to calculate the
amount invested in the industry. The result of inquiries in-
stituted by myself into the operation of the trade seems to
show that the amount of capital at present invested in the busi-
ness in this city is nearly $8,700,000, and the value of produc-
tion, in view of the recent advance in prices, about $11,745,-
000. This includes boiler-making, furnaces, rolling-mills,,
machine-shops, mill machinery, nuts and bolts, wire and wire-
goods, etc., and I have no doubt the aggregate stated is below
the real volume of the trade. The present revival in iron-
manufacture and profitable prices will soon greatly increase the
business in this city, owing to our favorable situation for sup-
plying all parts of the city and our boundless supplies of or*
and coal. This one industry in itself possesses wonderful pos-
sibilities of development and of increasing our municipal
wealth, because it is one that must expand with the increasing
population and settlement of the country. It is a business
that rests upon the basis of a great staple article of human
use, one that is absolutely necessary in every step of commercial
progress, and this unquestioned truth renders its extension in
this city a matter of certainty. Within a distance of less than
one hundred miles, and connected by railroads, exists abun-
dance of the best kind of ore ; on all sides of us and within a
radius of thirty miles arc immeasurable coal deposits, and these
facts, in connection with the capital and the manufacturing
and shipping facilities by river and rail available here, make it
evident that the future extension of the trade must be felt most
immediately and powerfully at St. Louis."
The charcoal-iron furnaces in 1874 were as follows :
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1273
Furnaces.
Capital.
Pilot Knob $1,000,000
Iron Mountain 1,000,000
Irondale.
Marainec ..
Scotia ,
Moselle
<3 asconu.de.
300,000
300,000
250,000
250,000
Capacity.
Tons.
12,000
12,000
7,000
6,000
7.000
6,000
Total $3,100,000 50,000
STOVE-COAL AND COKE FURNACES.
Capital.
Vulcan $250,000
Missouri 250,000
South St. Louis 250,000
Carondelet 150,000
Capacity.
Tons.
25,000
25,000
25,000
8,000
$900,000 110,000
ROLLING-MILLS.
Capital.
Lnclede $500,000
Vulcan 200,000
Capacity.
Tons.
10,000
40,000
$700,000 50,000
The annual value of the products of these works
was about $7,300,000.
According to the reports made to the Merchants'
Exchange, the receipts of pig-iron at St. Louis from
all sources during 1882 amounted to 105,432 tons.
From the most reliable information obtainable the pro-
duction of pig-iron in the furnaces of the city during
the year, and not included in the above, was 114,930
tons, or a total of 220,362 tons. The shipments for
the year were 53,951 tons, leaving about 166,411
tons for local consumption, supposing the stocks on
hand at the close of 1881 and 1882 were equal. The
following statement shows the consumption of pig-
iron in the different iron-melting establishments in
the city last year, the information having been ob-
tained from the several proprietors :
Tons.
Six stove-works 13,300
Three agricultural implement works 4,200
One steel rail works 84,000
Three cur-wheel works 13,000
Four rolling-mills 18,300
One gas- and water-pipe works 12,000
Six machinery building foundries • 10,350
Four architectural iron works. 1,875
Eight miscellaneous works 6,800
Total, thirty-six establishments 163,825
The blast furnaces which are operated by St. Louis
capital are not all located in the city, but as the busi-
ness is all or chiefly done here, and so much of the
product comes to this market, they can, by rights, be
classed as St. Louis enterprises. There are eight
stacks of coke- and coal-blast furnaces in Missouri, and
four stacks of charcoal furnaces. Of the former, all
are located in this city and Carondelet, and there are
two stacks of the Meier Furnace near East Caron-
delet, in Illinois, immediately opposite the city. The
St. Louis Ore- and Steel-Works at Carondelet are
mammoth concerns, and in the same surburban town
are located the works of the South St. Louis Iron
Company. The Missouri Furnaces, the South St.
Louis Furnaces, and the Meier Furnaces are all oper-
ated by the Missouri Furnace Company. The Mid-
land Furnace, in Crawford County ; the Nova Scotia
Furnace, in Dent County ; the Pilot Knob Furnace,
in Iron County ; and the Sligo Furnace, in Dent
County, are all operated by St. Louis companies.
They all produce Bessemer pig, the most of which is
converted into steel in St. Louis.
To recapitulate : Bituminous coal or coke furnaces,
ten stacks ; annual capacity, 224,000 net tons. Char-
coal furnaces, four stacks ; annual capacity, 57,500
net tons. Total number of furnaces, fourteen stacks ;
total annual capacity, 281,500 net tons. Total pro-
duct for 1882: coke-iron, 114,930 tons; charcoal-
iron, 45.123 tons.
Number of furnaces 14
Number of hands employed 1,400
Capital invested $1,775,000
Value of product (average S25 per ton) $4,001,325
There are six rolling-mills and steel-works in St.
Louis. The Vulcan was built in 1872 as an iron-mill,
but was changed to steel-works in 1876. During
1882 the Vulcan consumed 100,000 tons of pig-iron,
producing 90,000 tons of steel rails. The other works
include the Granite Iron-Rolling Mills, the Laclede
Rolling-Mills, the Helmbacher Forge and Rolling-
Mills, the St. Louis Steam Forge and Iron- Works,
and the St. Louis Bolt- and Iron- Works. In addition
to these, the Harrison Steel Company are erecting
mammoth steel-works at Harrison, 111., which will be
included in the industries of St. Louis as the capital
is supplied. From the best estimates the number
of hands employed by the seven mills last year was
3475 ; capital invested, $5,825,000 ; value of product,
$10,730,000.
The following statistics show the development of
the iron and kindred trades from 1877 to 1881, in-
clusive :
Iron and Steel.
Tons.
Receipts in 1881 56,231
" 1880 50,720
" 1879 48,419
1878
" 1877 34,64«
Receipts in 1881....
" 1880....
1879....
" 1878....
" 1877....
Nails.
Kegs. Keg*.
534,227 shipments 548,494
601,795 " 486,396
575,538 " 487,157
510,590
499,518
1274
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Receipts in 1881.
" 1880.
" 1879.
" 1878.
" 1877.
Receipts in 1881.
" 1880.
" 1879.
" 1878.
" 1877.
Iron Ores.
Tons. Tons.
... 173,307 shipments 105,901
... 316,200 " 94,458
... 211,879 " 87,148
... 115,886 " 52,229
Pig-Iron.
Tons. Tons.
... 116.440 shipments 75,230
... 83,132 " 95,570
... 70,876 " 85,148
... 46,094 '
Railroad Iron.
Receipts in 1881.
" 1880.
" 1879.
32,751
Tons.
99,347
45,135
40,993
Owing to the great diversity of iron manufactures it
is impossible to give the exact figures of this vast in-
dustry in St. Louis, but a general idea of its magnitude
may be obtained from the statement that in the man-
ufacture of iron and steel castings, bolts, nuts, washers,
rivets, and wrought railing thirty-seven firms are en-
gaged, which have a capital invested, in buildings,
grounds, machinery, etc., of over $8,000,000, and
provide employment for 4370 persons. The business
transacted annually amounts in value to $8,424,000,
and the wages to $1,900,251. Besides the above,
four firms are engaged in the manufacture of architec-
tural and ornamental iron-work, employing forty-four
hands, and transacting a business of over $80, 000 per
annum, and there are a number of firms engaged in
the sale of iron and steel products, whose transactions
are estimated at over $6,000,000 per annum.
Few people in St. Louis have an adequate idea of
the magnitude of the railroad interests which have
centred at this point within the past twenty years,
and of the immensity of those kindred interests which
depend upon the development of this kind of trans-
portation. When a new road is built, everybody knows
that it must be ironed with rails from some mill,
but few are aware that a vast amount of other mate-
rial besides iron or steel rails enters into the con-
struction of a railroad, or that when built it takes a
great variety of costly things to fit up the engines,
equip its cars, and keep them running ; yet such is
the case, and now the business of furnishing railway
supplies is one of the leading ones of the country.
It follows that, as St. Louis is a great railway centre,
the business here is very great ; and yet many read-
ers of this work will no doubt be surprised to learn
that one of the largest concerns of this kind in the
world is located here, that of M. M. Buck & Co.
Myron M. Buck, the founder of this colossal estab-
lishment, was born in Manchester, N. Y. He came
of a well-known and influential family. His grand-
father was one of the pioneers in that region, being
a member of the " Holland Land Purchase," a com-
pany which bought the whole of Western New York,
a section aptly denominated the " Garden of the
State," where their descendants still live, enjoying
in wealth and elegant comfort the results of the
labors of their far-seeing and sagacious ancestors.
The grandfather settled at Canandaigua Lake, and
here his son succeeded him, and became owner of a
cotton- and woolen-mill, which he managed success-
fully, and here M. M. Buck was born and reared.
In the practical atmosphere of a mill-owner's life he
gained, it may be supposed, the practical bias which
has distinguished his career and has made it so suc-
cessful.
Young Buck received a common-school education,
but the school privileges of that period were very
meagre, and he soon exhausted them. At the age
of eighteen he left his father's house to make a
living for himself. After visiting several towns in
Western New York, and paying a visit to Toronto
and other Canadian places, he drifted to New York
City, where he was employed in a manufacturing
establishment, but soon determined to go into busi-
ness for himself, and in pursuance of that object went
West. He spent three years in Chicago, and in 1858
removed to St. Louis, where he opened a modest
establishment for the manufacture of car trimmings,
etc. He labored amid many and great disadvantages,
such as want of capital and influential friends, but,
undismayed, he plodded steadily along, honestly and
faithfully giving his business his personal attention,
and pushing it in every quarter, until he soon ob-
tained a recognized footing, and was enabled to es-
tablish a depot for the sale of all kinds of railway
supplies. This was the pioneer establishment of the
kind in the Mississippi valley, and only the second
one in the West. It has not only been the first in
point of time, but it has been foremost, also, in the
magnitude, variety, and boldness of its operations,
and it is stated that it is the largest house but one
in this field in the country.
The headquarters of the railway supply house of
M. M. Buck & Co. are at 209 and 211 North Third
Street, St. Louis, where it occupies two six-story
buildings, each embracing an area of thirty-five by
one hundred and fifty-six feet. It uses, also, two
other large buildings for manufacturing and storage
purposes. In the manufacture and handling of goods
about two hundred hands are employed, and it sup-
plies most of the leading Eastern houses with articles
of its own make, while, on the other hand, it is the
UNN
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1275
sole Western representative of some of the most ex-
tensive manufacturing establishments in this country.
More than one hundred railways are its constant
customers, and its operations cover literally the
whole western hemisphere, from Canada to South
America.
Mr. Buck attributes this marvelous success solely
to his close and careful attention to business, which i
has been of a character and magnitude to engross his
time, and he has declined numerous solicitations to |
engage in other enterprises and to permit the use of his
name as a candidate. But in matters affecting the
0
progress and prosperity of St. Louis he has always
been wide awake and public-spirited, and has ever
been found one of the most generous supporters of
worthy public enterprises. In church affairs and in
social circles, as among his business associates, he en-
joys the esteem of all who know him, and is regarded
as one of the representative men of St. Louis.
The number of establishments engaged in the busi-
ness of furnishing railroad supplies in St. Louis in
1882 was 11; number of hands employed, 1560;
capital invested, $981,000 ; value of products,
$1,925,000.
The trade in stoves, tinware, and house-furnishing
goods has long given St. Louis especial prominence
throughout the Western and Southern States. In
1881 there were nine firms engaged in the wholesale
trade, with a business aggregating five million five
hundred thousand dollars per annum, and ninety-five
firms engaged in the retail trade.
The saws produced in St. Louis have a very high
reputation ; in fact, there are none enjoying a higher
one. Most of the mammoth saw-mills in the Wis-
consin pineries and other portions of the Northwest
are provided with St. Louis saws, and the same may
be said of the South and Southwest ; and it is claimed
that St. Louis would not stand at the head of cities
possessing the largest number of saw-mills, as she
does, if it were not for the excellence of the cutting
tools used. There are few wood-working establish-
ments west of the Mississippi River that do not use
St. Louis made saws. In connection with the manu-
facture of saws these establishments also make all of
the machinery, both iron- and wood-work, for saw-
mills, and complete outfits are furnished, including
boilers, engines, etc., ready to put the saws at work
cutting lumber. There are but two establishments in
the city that manufacture saws, but there are several
that manufacture saw-mill outfits. The number of
establishments last year was five ; number of hands em-
ployed, 175; capital invested, $350,000; value of
product, $500,000.
There are half a dozen or more concerns in the
city which make boilers exclusively, and the business
of 1 882 was much better than it was even during the
previous year. The excellence of the work done in
the boiler-works of St. Louis has established a good
trade, and employment is given to nearly five hundred
hands at good wages. There is no part of the Western
country where St. Louis boilers are not in use, and
there is no river or navigable stream in the West
where the steamboats are not driven by power gen-
erated in St. Louis made boilers. These boilers are
also used in thousands of industrial establishments in
all parts of the country, in breweries, mills, coal-
mines, sugar refineries, factories, etc. The year's
operations showed that there were eight boiler- facto-
ries running ; number of hands employed, 435 ; capi-
tal invested, $140,000; value of product, $565,000.
There are seven establishments in the city engaged
in the manufacture of agricultural implements, giv-
ing employment to four hundred and seventy-five
hands last year, and producing articles that are well
known all over the country, besides reflecting the
greatest credit on the manufacturers. St. Louis
manufactures more agricultural implements than
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, or Cleveland, and owing to
the vast territory to be supplied in future from this
market and the splendid facilities afforded here, this
industry is destined to become a great one. The
number of establishments operated in 1882 was five;
capital invested, $420,000; value of product, $700,000.
The volume of business done in those establishments
in St. Louis making a specialty of manufacturing ar-
chitectural and ornamental iron-work has been gratify-
ingly large, though, considering the possibilities of the
trade, it would seem that it ought to have been larger.
The erection of more than five million dollars' worth
of buildings in the city during 1882 of itself should
have called for very large quantities of architectural
and ornamental iron-work, and there is a large extent
of country tributary to St. Louis, to which other large
quantities might have been supplied. Number of es-
tablishments in the city last year, seven ; number of
hands employed, 315 ; capital invested, $250,000 ;
value of product, $435,000.
Hardware. — There is no line of business in St.
Louis in which more enterprise is displayed than
in the hardware trade. The men engaged in it
are energetic and possessed of ample capital, and as
a result their business extends east as far as Ohio,
north as far as Minnesota, west as far as the Pa-
cific coast, and south as far as the Gulf of Mexico.
No class of business men have done so much, per-
haps, in exploring new territory and in widening the
1276
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
field of St. Louis trade. It would astonish one to
look into the order-books of some of the St. Louis
hardware establishments. He would see that St.
Louis supplies hardware to over one-half the territory
embraced in the United States and Territories, and
that her houses send goods to Indiana, Illinois, Ken-
tucky, Tennessee, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, Min-
nesota, Kansas, Arkansas, Dakota, Wyoming, Oregon,
Utah, Indian Territory, Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana,
Alabama, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California,
Oregon, and Washington Territory. There is a single
been a wonderful increase in the last few years.
While the mineral trade does not as yet amount to
as much as the other two mentioned, it is most im-
portant and is rapidly increasing.
The agricultural region, the cotton region, and the
mining region contiguous to St. Louis are each capable
of supporting a great city, so that with them all St.
Louis is secure. If the cotton fails the grain may
not, but if both fail the mineral remains. It is
hardly possible, however, that any misfortune will
ever occur to deprive St. Louis of the benefits of more
rruuH
I! J 111
SIMMONS HARDWARE COMPANY.
Corner of Washington Avenue and Ninth Street.
house in St. Louis that sells half the sporting goods •
sold in Oregon, and about all that is sold in Nevada, j
With such a wide territory.and so diversified, it is not •
surprising that the hardware trade of St. Louis should
be in a most prosperous condition.
St. Louis trade, in general, is not dependent upon
any single section of country, and there are tributary
to St. Louis a vast agricultural region, a vast cotton
region, and a vast mineral region. Attention has
already been called to the grain trade and the cotton
trade, and it has been shown that in both there has
than one of these sources of trade at a time. There
is no line of business that derives greater or more
substantial advantages from this happy combination of
resources than the hardware trade. It supplies the
agriculturist, the cotton-planter, and the miner, and
hence it may be set down as a practical certainty that
the enterprising hardware men of St. Louis will be
amply rewarded in the future. With the above facts
in view it is not surprising that St. Louis should be
the best hardware market in the United States. It
is not meant by this that it is the largest, for New
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1277
York and Boston are not to be ignored, but St. Louis
is a better market to purchase in than New York or
Boston. The St. Louis houses carry more varied
stocks than they do in either of the above cities, and
hence the jobbing trade is better represented. It is
more difficult for a dealer to obtain a stock of hard-
ware in New York than in St. Louis, for the reason
that the New York houses confine themselves largely
to special lines of goods, while the houses in St. Louis
carry full lines of all the varieties of goods that come
under the head of hardware. It is no uncommon
thing for a merchant from Texas to go to New York
to lay in a stock and come back to St. Louis to pur-
chase his hardware, nor is it unusual for a merchant
from Kansas or Nebraska to go to Chicago to get a
stock of goods and send to St. Louis for his hard-
ware. There is at least one house in St. Louis that
has received numbers of orders of that kind. But
this is not only the most convenient hardware market
in the United States, it is also the cheapest. Six
houses in St. Louis do an immense business and have
an abundance of capital, and a single establishment
sells more nails l than any other two houses in Amer-
ica. This is because it has the capital with which to
make cash purchases. For the amount of business
done, the hardware men of St. Louis use more capital
than any other class.
There has been but one failure in the hardware
trade of St. Louis in a quarter of a century, and that
was long before the war. Some of the larger estab-
lishments occupy an astonishing area of store-room ;
indeed, two of the principal houses alone utilize over
four acres of flooring each, in display of their wares.
Including importers, jobbers, two manufacturers, deal-
ers in the heavier class of goods only, and the numer-
ous retailers, there are upwards of sixty houses en-
gaged in the various branches of the hardware trade
in St. Louis, although there may have been small
dealers in this line prior to that time. Henry Shaw,
of Shaw's Garden fame, is believed to have been the
first dealer in this ware exclusively. His establish-
ment on Main Street, fifty years ago, had for rivals
only general stores incidentally carrying some hard-
ware. The trade has now so increased as to justify
the carrying of stocks valued at fifteen million dol-
lars. Fourteen establishments employed, in 1882,
1140 hands ; capital invested, $550,000 ; value of pro-
duct, $1,296,000.
One of the earliest hardware merchants of St. Louis
was James C. Sutton. Mr. Sutton removed to St.
1 Sept. 3, 1814, D. Stewart advertised his cut- and wrought-
nail factory in Block 4.
Louis in 1819 from New Jersey, having followed the
tide of Western emigration which set in towards Mis-
souri- about that period, and settling in Missouri, was
identified for many years with its pioneer history and
progress. Mr. Sutton, soon after his arrival, erected
a blacksmith-shop on the northwest corner of Second
and Spruce Streets, and, in company with his brother
Joseph, carried on the business many years. The
old frame shop has long since disappeared, and the
site was occupied in recent years by Haase's grocery,
No. 323 Second Street.
There was at that time not much competition ex-
isting in the business, there being one other smith's
shop on the corner of Main and Olive, carried on by
Charles Basroe. The city was then bounded on the
west by Third Street, all beyond being fields and
ponds. It was not until about 1824 that, through
the persistent efforts of the Suttons, iron tires on
wagons came into general use, and not until ten years
later that carts, which before had not a particle of
iron about the whole framework, were ironed, and
partook of other improvements in their make-up.
Plows, which up to this period were made of the roots
of trees, also changed their form by the substitution
of iron points and shares.
Mr. Sutton introduced a greatly-improved plow,
which became widely known as the " Sutton Plow,"
and which was used for many years by farmers in
breaking up prairie and bottom lands. Of course
this plow, which was an immense improvement on
the wooden machines in previous use, has long since
been superseded by others of improved patents. Mr.
Sutton's shop, about the year 1820, occupied a loca-
tion nearly in the business centre of the city. On
Main Street, east side, about the third house north
from Spruce Street, there was still standing in 1877
the old two-story frame building occupied in 1820 by
Mr. Sutton as his dwelling-house. The front was
once painted white and the sides red, but the white
had disappeared, and a few blotches of the red re-
mained. In 1835 he moved out to the " League
Square" on the Manchester road, where he set up his
blacksmith-shop, and bought a farm from Mr. Gratiot,
which under his management became one of the
finest in the county.
Mr. Sutton married Ann Wells, whose parents
lived in the Gravois settlement, and survived her about
two years. He died July 19, 1877, leaving five sons
and four daughters.
The Simmons Hardware Company, which is one
of the most extensive corporations of its kind in the
West, was established by E. C. Simmons, who has
long been a prominent member of the hardware trade
1278
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
of St. Louis. Edward Campbell Simmons was born
in Frederick County, Md., Sept. 21, 1839, and in j
1845, when Edward was seven years of age, his father '
removed from Maryland, where he had pursued the j
occupation of a merchant, to St. Louis. In 1856
young Simmons entered the hardware establishment '
of Child, Pratt & Co. in a minor capacity, at a salary
of twelve dollars and fifty cents per month. After
remaining with the firm for three years he obtained
a position as clerk in the house of Wilson, Leavering
& Waters, at a salary of fifty dollars per month. \
Three years later he was admitted to the firm as
junior partner, and at the end of six months, Mr.
Leavering having died, the name of the firm was
changed to Waters, Simmons & Co. It continued •
thus through nine years of great prosperity until |
Jan. 1, 1872, when Mr. Waters retired, and Mr.
Simmons associated with him J. W. Morton, and the
firm became E. C. Simmons & Co. Two years later
a corporation was formed under the name and style
of the Simmons Hardware Company, which purchased
the interests of Simmons & Co., and has since con-
ducted the business with signal energy and success.
As president of the company, Mr. Simmons is still
the controlling mind of the vast concern, and to the
liberality, promptness, sagacity, and untiring energy
of his business methods is chiefly due the uninter-
rupted prosperity which it has enjoyed. In 1866
Mr. Simmons was married to Miss Carrie Welsh.
Augustus F. Shapleigh, founder and head of the
great hardware house of the A. F. Shapleigh &
Cantwell Hardware Company, was born in Ports-
mouth, N. H., Jan. 9, 1810, of a family who trace
their lineage to English stock that settled in Maine
in 1663-65, and who during the early history of
the country held many important trusts under the
British crown. Mr. Shapleigh's father was a well-
known seafaring man of that region, the owner and
captain of the ship " Granville," who was lost, together
with the vessel and a valuable cargo, off Rye Beach.
This disaster left his wife and five children in much
reduced circumstances financially, but the noble spirit
and energy of Mrs. Shapleigh enabled her to raise her
children comfortably and give them such education as
was common in those days.
When a mere lad of fourteen years of age, Augustus
entered a hardware store in the town of Portsmouth,
N. H., and worked there about one year, from day-
light until dark, for fifty dollars a year, and boarded
himself.
The associations of Portsmouth, situated so near
the ocean, were largely connected with the sea, and
most of the young men at some time or other natur-
ally desired to embark in a sailor's life. Young Shap-
leigh was not an exception to the rule, and leaving
the hardware store, he shipped as a light hand before
the mast, and made several European voyages, which
consumed three years of his time. Then, at the
earnest solicitation of his mother and sisters, he was
induced to leave the sea and re-enter the store in
which he first served.
An important clerkship having been offered him
by the old and well-established hardware house of
Rogers Brothers & Co., in Philadelphia, he concluded
to accept it, and remained with that firm many
years, obtaining therein a junior partner's interest
and a promising start in business. Desiring to en-
large their operations, the firm determined to open a
branch establishment in the West, and St. Louis was
selected for the venture. Mr. Shapleigh was sent
there to superintend it, and arriving in 1843, opened
the hardware establishment under the firm-name of
Rogers, Shapleigh & Co. Eventually Mr. Rogers,
who was the capitalist of the concern, died, and Mr.
Shapleigh formed a connection with Thomas D. Day,
under the firm-name of Shapleigh, Day & Co. This
partnership continued for sixteen years, or until 1863,
when Mr. Day retired, and the house was known as
A. F. Shapleigh & Co., which continued until July,
1880, when the concern was changed and incorporated
under the name of the A. F. Shapleigh & Cantwell
Hardware Company, the owners and officers therein
being A. F. Shapleigh, president ; John Cantwell,
vice-president ; Francis Shapleigh, second vice-presi-
dent ; and Alfred Lee, secretary and treasurer.
The history of the house has been one of steady
and continuous growth, a result due mainly to the
personal labors of Mr. Shapleigh himself. From a
small and modest start in 1843, it now occupies
arched and connected floors from Nos. 414 to 422
North Main Street, extending from Main to Com-
mercial Street, seven stories high, and heavily stocked
with merchandise pertaining to their business, such
as cutlery, guns, building material, chains, anvils*
mining machinery, etc.
It is well to note here the wonderful progress
made in the manufacture of hardware on this side of
the Atlantic during the past forty years. When Mr.
Shapleigh first commenced business in St. Louis, ninety
per cent, of the stock was imported from England
and Germany via New Orleans. At the present time
exactly the reverse is the case : ninety per cent, of all
general hardware sold is manufactured in our own
country, and a large amount of heavy iron and other
goods is made in St. Louis of a superior quality and
at less cost than from other sources.
*s
\Hi
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1279
Mr. Shapleigh has never held political office, being a
man of business, and regarding his business as worthy
of his entire attention. Still he has figured some-
what prominently in other enterprises besides his own,
having been a director for many years in some of the
leading banking and insurance companies of the city,
in which capacity his judgment has been highly prized,
and his name has lent additional strength to the com-
panies in which he is interested.
In 1838, while at Philadelphia, Mr. Shapleigh mar-
ried Miss Elizabeth Ann Umstead ; eight children
were the fruit of this marriage, six of whom are living,
five sons and one daughter (now Mrs. J. W. Boyd).
The sons are all thriving young men of character and
good business capacity, and John is a promising
physician of St. Louis.
Mr. Shapleigh was brought up amid Unitarian in-
fluences, but is not a member of any church. He,
however, gives liberally to religious enterprises, and
regards churches as the bond that holds society to-
gether. Every enterprise calculated to advance the
interests of the city has received his hearty support.
Personally, Mr. Shapleigh is a quiet and unassum-
ing man, being content to pursue his business with-
out ostentation, and leaving others to plunge into the
mad vortex of speculation. Now, toward the close of
a career that is remarkable for its uniform success, he
derives a just pride from the fact that his prosperity
has been won by close attention and strict adherence
to sound principles of business. His house has passed
through years of war and panics, and yet his estab-
lishment has pursued the even tenor of its way, un-
shaken by any of those agitations. Mr. Shapleigh
makes the honorable boast that during all this period
he never asked an extension, and never let a just bill be
presented a second time for payment. It is gratify-
ing to note that such punctilious regard for their obli-
gations has brought Mr. Shapleigh and his associates
an ample reward, and that their house is generally
recognized as being one of the most substantial in the
Mississippi valley.
Another leading hardware merchant in St. Louis
is George A. Rubelmann. He was born in Tut-
tlingen, Wiirtemberg, Feb. 27, 1841. In 1847 the
family came to America, settling at Muscatine, Iowa.
In 1854 the family was dispersed, and George A.,
who was next to the youngest of the children, was
taken by his father to St. Louis with a view of
putting him in a hardware store. The boy, it ap-
pears, had cherished a desire to engage in that busi-
ness ever since he was ten years old, and his subse-
quent success fully justified his predilection.
His father placed him in a small hardware store
kept by William Siever, at what is now 1907 Broad-
way. His salary the first year was four dollars a
month and board. Mr. Siever was not successful, and
in 1857 the store was turned over to Adolphus Meier
& Co., who were the largest creditors. Rubelmann,
although but a boy of seventeen, was solicited by
Meier & Co. to take charge of the store ; and at the
same time he received the offer from a hardware
house at Leaven worth, Kan., of a situation at one
thousand dollars a year. He consummated a bargain
with Meier & Co., and managed the store until 1860,
when, with his brother John G., he purchased the
business for six thousand five hundred dollars, giving
notes for the entire amount. In those days sales
were universally made on six months' time, and the
brothers followed the general custom ; but the war
came on, and on July 1, 1861, the young firm found
nearly all their accounts worthless, their balance-sheet
showing fifteen hundred dollars on the wrong side.
They had but three creditors, from each of whom
they procured time on their liabilities. Thencefor-
ward they managed so well as to be able, Jan. 1, 1863,
to pay all claims up to that date, including December's
bills,
Subsequently they devoted their attention specially
to cabinet hardware, and after a hard struggle built
up a large and flourishing business.
In 1875, George A. Rubelmann sold out to John
G. Rubelmann and opened a small store at 627 North
Sixth Street ; but business developed so rapidly that
in 1877 he doubled the size of the store, and in 1879
the increase of trade compelled him to remove to a
large three-story building at 821 North Sixth Street.
These quarters also soon proved inadequate, and he
began the erection of a large four-story store at 907
and 909 North Sixth Street.
The boy who at seventeen years of age was placed
in charge of a store and who could command a salary
of one thousand dollars a year is now at the head of
one of the largest establishments in his line of trade
in the West, and at the age of forty-one, in the prime
of a careful and well-ordered life, enjoys a handsome
and growing competence. Mr. Rubelmann, who started
in life with none of the advantage of station and little
of the teaching of the schools, is literally the architect
of his own fortunes. His education was mainly ac-
quired by study after the day's work was done. On.
March 14, 1865, he married Miss Sarah A. Guthrier
an estimable young lady of St. Louis.
In 1879, Mr. Rubelmann was instrumental in in-
ducing the furniture manufacturers of St. Louis to
organize for mutual protection, and the St. Louis Furni-
ture Exchange was established. He was not a furni-
1280
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
ture man himself, but dealt in furniture hardware, and
the readiness with which the furniture men acted upon
his suggestions to form a union demonstrates his in-
fluence among his business associates and the respect
entertained for his judgment.
Mr. Rubelmann's life has been that of a quiet,
modest citizen, thoroughly devoted to business, and
enjoying the utmost respect and esteem of all who
have come to know him intimately.
Blacksmithing. — There were three blacksmiths in
St. Louis at the time of the transfer from the Spanish
to the United States authorities, — "Delosier, who re-
sided in Main Street, near Morgan ; Rencontre, who
lived in Main, near Carr ; and Valois, who resided in
Main, near Elm, and did the work for the govern-
ment." 1 In February, 1811, James Baird had a
blacksmith-shop in J. B. Becquet's old shop on South
Main Street, Block 36, but removed, November 30th,
to John Coon's old house on Third Street, Block 80.
On Nov. 6, 1812, George Casner removed his black-
smith-shop to " the large shop lately occupied by
Beard," and on Nov. 12, 1814, James Barlow adver-
tised his blacksmith-shop as located in Beard's large
shop on Third Street. In December, 1819, George
Casner's new livery-stable and blacksmith-shop were
located on the east side of Sixth Street, adjoining
Mount's carriage-shop.
The number of blacksmithing establishments in
St. Louis in 1881 was 168, giving employment to 400
hands, who received wages amounting to $200, 000.
The capital employed was $250,000, and the business
transacted annually amounted to $700,000.
Manufactures of Fire-Brick, Glassware, Pot-
tery, China, etc. — The soils of Missouri supply nearly
all the mineral constituents of the various pigments.
Zinc is produced in great quantities, tin likewise, and
there is an abundance, far beyond any probable demand,
of ochres, barytes, uranium, manganese, cobalt, red
chalk, china clay, and terra di siena. The sulphuret of
zinc is abundant in Southwest Missouri, cobalt exists
in quantity at Mine la Motte and other places, perox-
ide of manganese in Ste. Genevieve, large beds of
purple shales in the coal measures, making an admir-
able cheap pigment for outside work, beds of red and
yellow ochre exist on the Missouri River, sulphate of
baryta is found in large quantities in a very pure white
form, and with the ferruginous clays forms the best
possible ground for mixture with lead and zinc in the
composition of shaded pigments which are at once
both cheap and durable. The manufacture of paints
in St. Louis, by the tenth census, employs 13 estab-
1 Edwards' Great West, p. 288.
lishments and 608 hands, and a capital of $1,688,350.
The wages paid amount to $250,532, and the value
of material used is $2,196,480.
Fire-clay rivaling the best deposits of Europe is
found within four miles of the St. Louis court-house.
The bed is fifteen feet thick, and very extensive. An
analysis shows the following elements :
Silica 53.94
Alumina, with some peroxide of iron 33.73
Lime 1.17
Magnesia a trace
Water.... 10.94
Total 99.78
Fire-brick made of this clay is capable of resisting
very high temperatures. The excellence of the ma-
terial recommends it for retorts, alembics, crucibles,
and furnaces. The kilns of this manufacture ought
to be far more numerous.
Formerly fire-rock was brought from remote States
for the bloomeries at Ironton. This fire-rock, im-
ported at a very heavy expense, seldom lasted more
than five months. But a few years ago a geological
examination discovered a superior quality in the im-
mediate vicinity of Ironton. This fire-rock is very
refractory, and often resists the heat of the furnaces
for seventeen months.
Adepts consider the plastic clay which is found at
Commerce fully equal to that of Devonshire. It is as
fine and almost as white as flour. The best potter's
clay and kaolin exist in quantities that preclude the
idea of exhaustion. All that Missouri needs to be-
come famous for its crockery and queensware is skill-
ful labor from the potteries of Europe. The materials
and capital for the manufacture of earthenware and
porcelain are abundant ; art alone is requisite.
Near Ste. Genevieve there is a bank of saccha-
roidal sand which is twenty feet in height and miles
in extent. The mass is inexhaustible. Two analyses
give the following result :
Silica 98.81 99.02
Lime 0.92 0.98
The sand is very friable and nearly as white as
snow. It is not oxidized or discolored by heat, and
the glass made from it is clear and unstained. One
firm in St. Louis has annually exported more than
three thousand five hundred tons of this sand to the
glass manufactories of Wheeling, Steubenville, and
Pittsburgh.
A large portion of the silica used in the glass-fac-
tories of Pittsburgh is carried from Missouri. Instead
of incurring the expense of two transportations and
paying to distant establishments the cost of produc-
tion, local factories ought to meet all the domestic
wants and supply the markets of the West.
01
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1281
In evidence that the industries built upon such
natural products are not neglected or misunderstood
in St. Louis, the tenth census returns among the city's
manufactures :
Bricks.— Establishments, 45 ; capital, $727,250 ;
hands, 1235 ; wages, $307,581 ; materials, $196,588 ;
products, $700,942.
Glass. — Establishments, 5 ; capital, $280,000 ;
hands, 615 ; wages, $261,098 ; materials, $238,996 ;
products, $597,277.
Lime. — Establishments, 4 ; capital, $64,500 ;
hands, 49; wages, $13,800; materials, $32,925;
products, $63,200.
Marble- and Stone- Work. — Establishments, 56 ;
capital, $237,825 ; hands, 725 ; wages, $237,207 ;
materials, 245,707 ; products, $707,721.
Stone and Earthenware. — Establishments, 5 ; capi-
tal, $34,500 ; hands, 58; wages, $16,090 ; materials,
$19,985; products, $46,430.
GLASS-WORKS. — The mineral resources for manu-
facturing possessed By St. Louis have long had their
superiority recognized and admitted. They only
waited for transportation and capital to develop them.
The iron-beds of Pilot Knob and Iron Mountain,
for instance, have been familiar to every school-boy
who studied his geography for the past two genera-
tions, and some of the other valuable products have
been known in similar ways quite as long.
In 1854, Hon. John Hogan, in his excellent and
suggestive " Thoughts about St. Louis," insisted that
the city must become a centre for the manufacture of
glass, for the reason that it possessed every product
and material necessary to that manufacture in its
cheapest and purest form. In his own words, —
"The purest and whitest sand, for the manufacture of flint
glass, is found in inexhaustible quantities but a short distance
from the city, on the Mississippi River, both above and below.
Here is the best lead market, both for the mines of Illinois and
Missouri, and by the extension of our railroads to the West ami
South this latter supply is to bo immensely increased, while pot
and pearl ash can be obtained either from the Ohio, the lakes,
or the upper Mississippi, from the asheries of Iowa and Wis-
consin. These are the principal elements of the manufacture
of glass, but there is still one most important matter in the ex-
pense of the establishment, viz., the pots in which the metal is
melted, and which, as they are subjected to a most intense and
long-continued heat, require to be made of the very best, of
a peculiar clay, which the best establishments have to obtain
from Europe. But it would almost seem as if nature intended
St. Louis for her great glass-work shop : not only is the sand
here, and the lead and the ashes easily obtained, but she has un-
derlaid a section of St. Louis County with the very best clay of
which to make the pots, equal, I am assured, to the very best
European clay, and generally superior to any heretofore found
in the United States, for this purpose.
" Like many other valuable discoveries, this was accidentally
ie in digging a well on the farm of Charles Semple, Esq.,
on the Natural Bridge plank-road, some four miles from St.
Louis. And while it is so accessible to our city, it is also inex-
haustible. Messrs. Scully & Co. have already subjected it to
the severest tests ; they have had pots made of it which have
been in use constantly for the last six months, and they have
proved themselves by the trial : they are found to be as durable
as those made of the best imported clay. The single article of
coal is the only thing in which the upper Ohio has any advan-
tage of us, but this is being rapidly overcome; our railroads
penetrating, as they all do, vast coal-beds will soon equalize this,
and furnish ample supplies at fair rates for carrying on our
numerous manufactories."
In fact, Mr. Hogan, in this last sentence, refers to
one of the very few instances in which St. Louis did
not know or failed to appreciate her own resources and
their extent.
As early as 1846, James B. Eads, of bridge and
jetty fame, Mr. Nelson, of the Union Iron-Works at
Carondelet, and Col. Case, formerly of the Broadway
line of omnibuses, associated themselves together for
the purpose of establishing a glass manufactory in St.
Louis. The enterprise at that time, as all other new
enterprises always are, was looked upon with a good
deal of doubt and misgiving as to its success, it being
regarded more in the light of an experimental adven-
ture than of a promising enterprise. In this instance
the unfavorable anticipations were realized ; the ex-
penses and outlays attending the enterprise were
much greater than its projectors anticipated, and
Messrs. Nelson and Case soon withdrew from the
firm, leaving Mr. Eads to manage its affairs. With
an energy and spirit undaunted by the discourage-
ments that presented themselves, Mr. Eads prose-
cuted the business until he involved himself in a
heavy pecuniary responsibility, and was compelled to
abandon the undertaking. Subsequently, however,
by enterprise in other directions, he liquidated every
dollar of the indebtedness he had incurred in at-
tempting to establish and develop this branch of
manufacturing in St. Louis. The enterprise was
known as the flint-glass works. On the failure of
Mr. Eads, the works passed into the hands of Messrs.
Hale and Seil, who transformed them into green-glass
works, and by that firm they were conducted for
some years. After passing through different hands
and different stages of litigation, it being supposed
that Col. Case had some claim upon the works, an
arrangement was made by which James Holmes and
Dr. Taylor, in 1853 or 1854, succeeded to Case's in-
terest, and re-started them as flint-glass works. This
firm was attended by the same bad fortune as its
predecessors, and finally sold them to Dr. George W.
Scully. Dr. Scully was possessed of large means and
good credit, and sunk in the enterprise about eighty-
five thousand dollars cash, and made debts to the ex-
1282
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
tent of over one hundred thousand dollars. On his
failure the enterprise was continued by his principal
creditors, under the name of the St. Louis Glass Com-
pany. Bonested & Co. ran the works as green-glass
and flint-glass works up to 1860 and 1861, when they
leased the establishment to Joseph Bagot and J. K.
Cummings, who conducted it altogether as flint-glass
works.
The ground on which the works were built had
never been owned by any of the different firms, but
was leased of the Chambers, Christy, and Wright es-
tates, but in 1864, Messrs. Bagot and Cummings
bought the ground and works at partition sale by the
sheriff. The back rents and taxes on the works and
ground not having been paid up for several years, the
whole concern was involved in debt. They then
bought all the movable property from the parties in-
terested, and became sole owners in fee-simple of the
entire establishment.
From this time better fortune attended the enter-
prise, and Messrs. Bagot and Cummings continued
together in the prosecution of the business until the
death of Mr. Bagot in May, 1868. Mr. Cummings
then gave bond in the Probate Court in the sum of
forty thousand dollars, and as surviving partner of the
firm of Bagot & Cummings has continued the busi-
ness successfully on his individual responsibility up to
the present time. This, in brief, is a history of the
glass manufactory now conducted and known as the
St. Louis Glass- Works, at the corner of Broadway and
Monroe Streets, and to John K. Cummings is due the
honor of having established the first successful glass
manufactory in St. Louis.
Mr. Cummings was born in Coleraine, County Lon-
donderry, Ireland, and was raised in Belfast. His
mother died when he was thirteen, and his father a
year later. The boy had received the rudiments of
an education in the schools of the neighborhood, but
when left an orphan was obliged to provide for him-
self, and led a varying and rather precarious life. He
was apprenticed to a tailor, but soon gave that up ;
worked in Edinburgh, Scotland, in a soda-water fac-
tory ; acted as clerk in a grocery store ; and worked in
a wall-paper factory and in a ginger-ale factory in Bel-
fast, but remained in none of these occupations long,
or with any particular encouragement. His career
was that of thousands of homeless and friendless
boys. There seems to have been nobody to recognize
his capabilities, or to offer him the cheering hand
and give him the helpful word.
In 1854 he emigrated to America, landing at New
Orleans and passing up the river to St. Louis. He
first obtained a situation in one of the packing-houses
of the Ameses, and remained there about a year. He
then secured a situation in the factory of the St. Louis
Glass- Works, and remained there many years, entering
as an apprentice to the glass-cutting trade, which he
soon left to learn the glass-mould making trade. His
employer, however, thought it best to transfer him
from the " bench" to positions of greater responsi-
bility, showing the estimation in which he was held,
and allowing him to obtain a thorough knowledge of
the business, such as could hardly have been acquired
in any other way.
When, on the breaking out of the war, President
Lincoln made the first call for troops, Mr. Cummings
enlisted as a private soldier. He had served in the
" Sarsfield Guards," and had marched to the Kansas
border on the Southwestern expedition under Gen.
Frost, when he thought his State was threatened, but
had soon resigned on realizing that it was the Union
of the States which was threatened by the South. He
joined the Fifth Regiment United States Reserve Corps
as a private, but the colonel (Stifel) soon appointed
him adjutant and instructor, or drill-master. This
command participated in the early military operations
along the Missouri River, joining Gen. Lyon imme-
diately after the battle of Boonville, assisted in the
construction of the works about Lexington, patroled
the river, and had several engagements with the
enemy. Subsequently Mr. Cummings was appointed
lieutenant-colonel of the Twentieth Enrolled Missouri
Militia by Governor Gamble.
Notwithstanding the history of glass-making in St.
Louis had been that of an unbroken line of disastrous
failures, as has been shown, Mr. Cummings, ever since
his first experience in the business, although merely
a subordinate, entertained a firm belief that the in-
dustry could be made to pay, and in 1861 formed a
partnership with Joseph Bagot, leased the St. Louis
Glass- Works from the receiver (afterwards buying
them at sheriff's sale), and resumed business at the
old place, where a few years previously the friendless
boy had worked his way up from his position of an
apprentice.
Mr. Bagot was a practical man from the East. He
had managed the works some years before, and was
experienced and careful. He took charge of the
manufacturing department, and in addition to the cus-
tomary duties of the position made the vats with his
own hands. Mr. Cummings managed the books and
financial part of the business, attended to buying and
selling, and spent no inconsiderable part of his time
going about town and drumming up trade. Such
energy as he and Bagot exhibited could not fail of its
reward ; and while they had great difficulties to sur-
.••ny..rsi I...,,,*
VJN'V
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1283
mount, it soon became apparent that they had mastered
the secret and were on the road to success. The busi-
ness grew apace, and when Mr. Bagot died in 1868
the value of the establishment was rated at thirty-five
.thousand dollars, and it was one of the recognized
institutions of the city. The joint capital of the two
upon starting was less than two thousand dollars.
Mr. Cummings then became sole proprietor, and as
such has since remained in charge of the works,
which have grown from the scanty two thousand dol-
lars' capital of 1861 to a capital of one hundred thou-
sand dollars in 1882, with yearly sales of from seventy-
five thousand dollars to one hundred and twenty
: thousand dollars, and employing one hundred and
twenty hands, with a pay-roll of forty thousand dollars
; annually.
To John K. Cummings, therefore, unquestionably
belongs the honor . of having demonstrated the fact
that the manufacture of glass could be made profitable
in St. Louis. It was he who showed that the raw
material found near St. Louis in limitless quantities
was second to none in the world, and put upon a sure
footing an industry that perhaps above any other de-
mands skillful and careful management.
Mr. Cummings is a man of liberal and unselfish
views, and there has been no jealous hoarding of his
secret. His experiences in his business have been
at the disposal of any who chose to avail themselves
of them, and he has cheerfully offered advice and
given pecuniary assistance to others who have been
desirous of starting new works. So, also, he has
been a foremost advocate of every measure that has
promised to benefit St. Louis, and has been a liberal
supporter even when the financial results were not
promising. Among the numerous enterprises which
he has assisted are the Illinois and St. Louis Railroad
and Coal Company, Cahokia Ferry Company, Grain
Association, St. Louis French Window-Glass Com-
pany, Merchants' Exchange, Butchers' and Drovers'
Bank, etc. For many years he has been a leading
member of the Citizens' Committee, whose efforts in
behalf of municipal and legislative reform have re-
sulted in so much permanent good to St. Louis.
Mr. Cummings' excellent business qualities, sound
judgment, and exceptional skill have won the re-
spect of all who have come in contact with him, but
he also possesses engaging personal qualities that
have obtained for him the affection of all who know
him intimately. He is especially beloved by his em-
ployes, and is an open-handed dispenser of charity.
In private life he is the quiet and unassuming gen-
tleman.
About 1850, Messrs. Henry T. Blow, Barksdale,
and others commenced in St. Louis the manufacture
of window-glass. Their works were erected on the
Barksdale grounds, due west of the arsenal, and ad-
joining the Concordia Park, and in them was made
the best window-glass ever manufactured in the United
States. The works, however, were short-lived, and
the public-spirited citizens who started them soon
lost all their investments. Their failure was in part
owing to the incompetency of the workmen they had
of necessity to bring from the glass-works of Pitts-
burgh, Pa., and other glass-manufacturing points.
About the year 1854-55 these works were leased by
James Wallace and associates and converted into
flint-glass works. They afterwards formed a joint-
stock company under the name of the Missouri Glass
Company, the stock being mostly held by such pub-
lic-spirited citizens as James H. Lucas, Col. John
O'Fallon, Archibald Gamble, and Edward Bredell,
who was all the time president of the company.
Edward Dailey was secretary, and James W. Wal-
lace factory superintendent and manager. This
company carried on an extensive but unprofitable
business, and, about 1859-60, suspended operations
entirely. The company, for a part of the time,
manufactured green glassware as well as flint. After
this suspension the works remained idle up to
1863, when they were leased by James W. Wallace
& Brother. Shortly afterward a gentleman named
Gate, with some capital, succeeded to the business,
and associated with him a gentleman named La-
salle, from some one of the numerous glass-works in
the New England States, and the firm became Gate,
Lasalle & Co. In a short time Mr. Gate sold his
interest to a man named Barry, and the firm became
Barry, Lasalle & Co., who continued the business
until their means were exhausted and they were com-
pelled to suspend operations. They were public-
spirited, energetic men, but had to yield to the ap-
parent fatality that attended all the glass-works at-
tempted in the city, and in about 1865 or 1866 the
works were sold to the St. Louis Plow Manufacturing
Company, composed of Messrs. Barnum, Markham,
and others, who dismantled the works, selling part of
the. material to Messrs. Bagot & Cummings, but the
greater bulk to Messrs. Ford & Co., who were starting
glass-works at New Albany, Ind., and to which place
it was removed, occupying nearly an entire steamboat
with its bulk.
The Western Glass- Works were started as a green-
glass bottle manufactory, on the corner of Emmet
and Columbus Streets, in South St. Louis, and were
commenced in 1855 or 1856, by Messrs. Lewis
and Harcum, and other practical glass-blowers from
1284
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Pittsburgh. After the establishment had been con-
tinued a short time under the management of Harcum
& Co., Felix Bobe and Emil Marks joined the firm,
and subsequently Justus Snyder. These parties met
with the same poor success that attended all their
predecessors, and the works were sold to J. B. Good-
hue, who carried them on with some degree of success
until he took them down and removed them to the
hill north of Yaeger's Garden. Shortly afterwards
he failed, and leased them to a party of glass-blowers
from Pittsburgh, and the works soon after burned
down. Mr. Goodhue for some time had a small con-
cern on the ground, in which he tried to demonstrate
the feasibility of a new style of glass furnace, on
which he had obtained letters patent. There was
also another small establishment started by William
Gillender, once a manager for Dr. G. W. Scully, of
the St. Louis Works. This establishment was lo-
cated in an old saw-mill at the foot of Jefferson
Street, but meeting with poor success, it was disman-
tled and torn down a short time after its erection.
Still another establishment was commenced at the
corner of Chambers and Main Streets, by Messrs.
Pickup, Collins & Walter, practical glass-makers, in
1865 or 1866. A limited degree of success attended
this firm for a few months, when they sold out to
Messrs. Bagot & Cummings, who removed the works
to the establishment conducted by them.
The Mississippi Glass Company, of which George
D. Humphreys is the principal proprietor, has works
on Angelica Street near Second. The chief products
are green glassware, such as pickle-jars, fruit-jars,
sauce-bottles, etc., the demand for which is very large
in the city. The company have enlarged the works
to enable them to meet the demands for the wares
which are produced. There are about one hundred
and twenty persons employed in the establishment.
The sand used comes from Franklin, and the soda
ash is imported from England. The lead used is
obtained in St. Louis. This company does not at-
tempt to make clear glassware. The demand for
the products of the factory is very large. It was es-
tablished about 1872.
The Union Glass Manufactory, Nicholas Schaeffer
president, located on the corner of Anna and De
Kalb Streets, is a French establishment ; that is to
say, the superintendent, foreman, and workmen are all
French, and the products of the factory are equal in j
every respect to the best French wares. The window
glass manufactured at this establishment is equal to
that made anywhere. This company is doing a large
business, receiving orders from distant places. The
works have only been in operation about ten years,
and have been successful from the beginning. Em-
ployment is afforded for several hundred persons in
consequence of the erection of these works, and some
hundreds of thousands of dollars are annually added
to the wealth of the city.
The most important enterprise of the kind in the
West, perhaps in America, is the Crystal City Plate-
Glass Works at Platin Rock, about thirty miles south
of St. Louis. This is an enterprise of great magni-
tude, requiring an outlay of several hundred thousand
dollars to complete the works alone. They were
finished in 1875, by their then principal owner, Eben
Ward, of Detroit, Mich. Experiments made with
the sand of Platin show that it has all the requisite
qualities for a plate-glass element, and all the ma-
terials necessary except soda are obtainable in St.
Louis. The Crystal City Works have attracted the
attention of glass-makers not only in this country but
in Europe also.
FIRE-BRICK AND POTTERY. — Tradition places the
discovery of fire-clay at a period far antedating the
incorporation of St. Louis, and the existence of vast
beds of fire-clay, underlying almost the entire city
and surrounding country, has always been popularly
believed. The first record we have of the manufac-
ture of pottery in St. Louis is dated April 20, 1816.
At this time George W. Ferguson gave notice through
the columns of the Missouri Gazette " that he has
commenced the manufacture of earthenware in St.
Louis," and " pledges himself that it shall be as du-
rable as any brought on here, and sold on more mod-
erate terms." He also informed the public that he
kept on hand " a large assortment of vessels of every
description," which he sold " by wholesale or retail."
We have no means of ascertaining whether this
new enterprise succeeded at this early period in St.
Louis, but in the next year, on August 23d, " Chris-
tian Smith, near Mr. Neal's tin and copper manufac-
tory, on the street leading from Matthew Kerr's store
to Shope's tavern, informed the citizens of St. Louis
and surrounding counties that he had on hand, and
would always " be supplied from his kiln, the best
milk-pots, dishes, crocks," etc.
The successful manufacture of fire-brick and pot-
tery in St. Louis is perhaps due to the French com-
munity that, thirty-five years ago and more, peopled
Cheltenham, now a thriving suburban manufacturing
settlement. The discovery and development of these
fire-clay mines were reserved, however, for the period
immediately prior to the civil war.
After the cessation of strife the interest rapidly
developed until now there are six very large estab-
lishments in the suburbs, with extensive commercial
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1285
connections, and the manufacturers and dealers number
twelve, representing large capital and a considerable ex-
port demand. Drain and other tiling, gas retorts,
blast-furnace and cupola linings, fire-brick, Bessemer
tuyeres, and other articles form the chief manufac-
turing product of these establishments, one of which
also supplies the glass manufactories extensively with
"Jwashed clay," or purified clay. Indeed, St. Louis
supplies America with this through a Pittsburgh
house.
In the spring of 1873, however, the fact that a pe-
culiar character of fire-clay could be so burned as to be
utilized for street pavements was discovered by George
Sattler, the owner of some mining property on the
Columbia Bottom road, ten miles north of the bridge,
but still within the city limits. For some years his
assertion was ridiculed, but ultimately, encouraged by
President Flad, of the Board of Public Improvements,
Professors Smith and Potter, of Washington Univer-
sity, William Glasgow, Jr., and other experts, some
experiments were made under official authority, and
pavements of this material were laid where street
traffic was heaviest. This has resulted in the estab-
lishment of a company by a hundred leading capital-
ists, and the whole extent of the mine — sixty-three
acres of river bluffs — is to be utilized in the produc-
tion of this new pavement material, which after long
use shows wear scarcely more than granite, and is
much cheaper. The development of this new in-
dustry upon so extensive a scale will add largely to
the fire-clay interest of St. Louis.
The larger working potteries of St. Louis number
six in all, and their ware is everywhere accorded the
character of artistic form and substantial manufacture.
This interest, too, has very largely developed from its
comparatively insignificant beginning as such in
1834. At that time moulds and vessels were of very
primitive design, and workmanship scarcely rivaling
in finish the efforts of the mound-builders. Indeed,
some of the discoveries of work of this character at-
tributed to this early race excel in form and finish the
samples represented as the product of the manufac-
turers of half a century ago. The export of St.
Louis manufactured pottery is constantly on the in-
crease.
CHINA, QUEENSWARE, ETC. — There are over
twenty houses in St. Louis engaged in the wholesale
china, glass, and queensware trade, and the total sales in
1881 amounted to two million seven hundred and ninety
thousand dollars. The importations of china during the
same year aggregated in value two hundred thousand
dollars. . Among the most active and enterprising
men in this line of business in St. Louis is Henry
82
Westermann. Mr. Westermann was born near the
historic town of Minden, Prussia, July 2, 1832. His
family was in very moderate circumstances, and in
1839 his father came to America to better his condi-
tion, and settled in St. Louis. In 1842 his family
followed him, and Henry attended the school of the
Lutheran Church, and later Munday's Academy, an
institute of some repute in those days. When he had
acquired sufficient knowledge of English and his age
permitted, he worked during the daytime and spent
the evenings in study. The needs of the family ren-
dered it desirable that he should labor at an early age,
and about 1845 he was employed to set up type in
the St. Louis Type Foundry, then operated by Ladew
& Co., at Locust and Second Streets, continuing, how-
ever, to attend school whenever opportunity per-
mitted. He was next employed at Barnuni's Hotel,
located at Third and Vine Streets, which was then
the largest hotel in the city. Barnum & Moreland
were the proprietors, and among those connected with
the establishment was the well-known Josiah Fogg.
Young Westermann worked here in several capacities
for a year or two, and was finally made assistant bar-
keeper.
In 1849 he obtained a position in the crockery
establishment of R. H. Miller & Co., on Main Street
near Pine, beginning as a store-boy and working his
1286
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
way up to the position of salesman. He was apt at
learning the business, and being a German, was very
useful in the firm's dealings with customers of that
nationality.
Having saved a little money he, at the age of twenty
or twenty-one, established a retail grocery store on
Biddle Street, between Ninth and Tenth, but soon re-
turned to the crockery business, and was employed
for a few years by the firm of Heinecke & Estell.
Then, in February, 1855, he opened for himself a re-
tail queensware and china store on Franklin Avenue
near Sixth Street. In the latter part of that year a
fire, originating in a neighboring building, destroyed
his establishment, and in January, 1856, he resumed
the same business on Franklin Avenue near Fourth
Street, where he prospered to such an extent that he
was enabled to establish an additional store on Broad-
way. In 1857 he admitted E. F. W. Meier as a
partner, who assumed charge of the Broadway store,
while Mr. Westermann managed the Franklin Avenue
concern. In the following year (1858) the Broadway
store was removed to Main Street, where the firm of
Westermann & Meier transacted business for twenty-
three years. The Franklin Avenue store was even-
tually sold, and the firm concentrated their energies
on the Main Street establishment, and built up a j
business probably second to none in their line in St.
Louis. Meanwhile the firm had become interested in
a branch establishment at 500 North Main Street,
and when, in July, 1880, the partnership was dis-
solved, Mr. Westermann retained the latter business,
and continued to manage it under the style of Henry
Westermann & Co. until Jan. 1, 1883, when he re-
moved to the large and commodious building at 608
Washington Avenue, opposite the Lindell Hotel, the
whole of which he occupies. The firm is a heavy im-
porter of earthenware, china and glassware, etc., most
of its invoices coming by way of New Orleans up the
great river route, and its trade extends to the West,
Northwest, South, and Southwest. It is now the
oldest wholesale china, glass, and queensware house
in St. Louis, and has maintained its leading position
through several panics, owing, no doubt, to the emi-
nent conservatism and integrity of its founder, Henry
Westermann.
On the 8th of January, 1857, Mr. Westermann
married Caroline Augusta Wenkel, a German lady of
St. Louis, who has proved herself a useful assistant
in the domestic sphere. Several children have blessed
the union, of whom William H. and Alfred Oscar
are associated with their father in business, for which
they have displayed a special aptitude. From child-
hood Mr. Westermann has been a member of the
Lutheran Church, and for many years has been trustee
of the church of that denomination at Sixteenth and
Morgan Streets. He also served as treasurer of the
congregation while the present edifice was being built.
Mr. Westermann is a member of no secret or other
societies, regarding home and church as sufficient to
satisfy the reasonable aspirations of any man. In
every relation of life he is the unobtrusive and es-
teemed citizen, and enjoys the unbounded respect of
all who know him.
BRICK- AND TILE-WORKS. — The first bricklayer
who regularly followed his vocation in St. Louis is
said to have been John Lee. Pierre Berthold, Sr.,
says Edwards' " Great West,"1 " saw him in Marietta,
in Ohio, and persuaded him to accompany him to St.
Louis and carry on his business. Lee consented, and
the first brick house that was erected was of the brick
he manufactured. The house was built on Main
Street, between Chestnut and Market Streets, and was
built for Berthold & Chouteau. There have been
many disputes concerning who owned the first brick
house in St. Louis, and as we have given much at-
tention to the matter, we are prepared to give authen-
tic information. Christian Wilt owned the second,
Judge Carr the third, Manuel Lisa the fourth, and
John Smith the fifth. Mr. John Lee, the first brick-
layer who came to St. Louis, for some years had a
monopoly in his business. He raised a large family,
and some of his grandchildren have intermarried
with some of the princely merchants of St. Louis."
On the 12th of October, 1811, Samuel Bridge adver-
tised that he would " sell very low a quantity of
brick, viz., at three dollars per thousand as they came
to hand, or six dollars if picked," which might be
seen " at the margin of the creek at the south end of
the town." For further particulars persons were re-
ferred to Mr. Charless, who was authorized to sell.
April 17, 1818, John Dobbs and Samuel I. Carman
announced that they had entered into partnership in
the bricklaying business, and were " ready to make
contracts for the building of houses in a workmanlike
manner and of the best material that St. Louis af-
fords." On the 4th of September of this year the
Missouri Gazette, speaking of the building operations
in the town, remarked, —
" A gentleman informs us that before the winter
sets in there will be near 3,000,000 of brick laid in
this town since the 1st of April last, and he believes,
from a general acquaintance with the citizens, that
double that quantity would be laid this season if ma-
terials and workmen could be obtained on moderate
1 Pages 593-94.
TKADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1287
terms. Common laborers are much wanted ; none can
be had for less than $1.50 per day for the season
through. A few laborers from the eastward have
been enabled to secure to themselves 160 acres of
land each by their labor this season."1
In 1830 " numerous brick-yards had been estab-
lished in the lower part of the city, and brick build-
ings had become the fashion of the day."2 In 1881
the business had grown to such proportions that forty-
five establishments were engaged in the manufacture
of fire-brick, building brick, and tile, giving employ-
ment to over one thousand men and boys, and trans-
acting a business of over seven hundred thousand
dollars.
Coal. — With the exception of Pittsburgh, there is
no large city in the country which has better facili-
ties for procuring cheap coal than St. Louis. The
coal measures of Missouri and Illinois, from which
the city draws part of her supply, are extensive and
peculiarly rich.3
Those of Missouri outcrop from the mouth of the
Des Moines to the Indian Territory, while those of
Illinois underlie nearly the whole State. From these
sources as well as from Pittsburgh comes the immense
quantity of coal annually consumed in the city.4
In the early days of the city's history the inhabi-
tants of St. Louis did not know or failed to appreciate
their own resources and their extent. The coal-fields
accessible to the city were underestimated and dis-
guised. For many years it was thought that their
products were not suited to the manufacture of iron,
and metal, and coal also, were brought from Pitts-
burgh and Johnstown, and iron from Lake Michigan,
to supply the foundries and forges of the city. All
this has been changed. Not that the extent and value
1 In November, 1817, the wages paid and the cost of living
were set down as follows :
" Bricklayers, masons, and carpenters, per day, $3.00; mak-
ing common shoes (each), everything found, $1.00; all other
mechanical labor in proportion ; white laborers $1.50 per day;
negro laborers from $18 to $25 per month ; female slaves hire
out at from s.J to $15 per month; house-rent from $10 to $100
per month ; beef from 4 to 8 cents per pound ; pork, same ; veal
from 8 to 10 cents per pound ; mutton, same; butter 25 to 37J
cents per pound; fowls 25 cents per piece; flour $10 per barrel ;
corn meal $1 per bushel ; Orleans clayed sugar from 33 to 37i
cents per pound; loaf sugar 62i cents per pound; coffee 50
cents per pound ; all the necessaries of life in the same propor-
tion."
* Edwards' Great West, p. 340.
8 On the 27th of September, 1817, Charles Busron advertised
that he would "give twenty-five cents per bushel for as much
as one thousand bushels of stone coal."
* In 1846 a joint-stock company, with a capital of ten thou-
sand dollars, was started in St. Louis for increasing the supply
of coal.
of the coal and iron deposits were not known, but their
cheapness and adaptability to one another were not
understood, and thus there was a retardation of devel-
opment. The value of the coal convenient to St. Louis
and the extent of the deposits have been greatly en-
hanced during the past few years by further explo-
rations. In 1855, Professor Swallow estimated the
good available coal of Missouri at 134,000,000,000
tons. He now finds his estimate very far within the
mark. Professor Hitchcock, in 1870-71, estimated
the coal measures of Missouri at 27,000 square miles,
Kansas 17,000 square miles, Arkansas 12,000 square
miles, 2000 feet thick, twenty beds from six inches to
six feet in thickness. The Illinois basin has 51,700
square miles, from 600 to 2500 feet thick, ten beds,
aggregate thickness thirty-five feet. The Indian Ter-
ritory basin is 13,600 square miles, and the Texas
basin 104,600 square miles.
The coal-mines of Missouri are usually easily
worked, and require no deep shafts or expensive ma-
chinery for hoisting or drainage. They underlie the
greater portion of the finest agricultural sections, not
only of the State, but of as productive a region as is
on the continent. Coal of good quality can be pur-
chased at the mines so cheaply that even where far-
mers have timber in abundance near at hand they
prefer to burn coal rather than cut and haul wood a
short distance. The coal area covers considerably
more than one-half of the State, and active and syste-
matic mining has opened the beds in more than a
thousand places along the railroads and near the
towns. There need never be any fear of a scarcity
of fuel in Missouri, and the condition of the farmer
here may in this respect be considered blessed far
above that of those located in many portions of the
Northwest and farther West, where buffalo chips,
cornstalks, and twisted hay are all they can afford to
temper the cold of more rigorous winters than are
ever experienced near St. Louis.
According to the census of 1870, the following were
the statistics of the coal industry of St. Louis at that
time: 9 establishments; 1183 hands; $1,790,000
capital ; $904,000 wages ; $302,180 materials ; 444,-
642 tons of products, valued at $1,473,000, equal to
$3.31 per ton. The receipts of coal in 1881 aggre-
gated 44,720,175 bushels, and of coke 12,860,700
bushels.
Drugs and Chemicals. — The establishment of the
drug business as distinct from the practice of medi-
cine dates back to an early period in the history of
St. Louis. Originally the only "apothecary-shop"
known to the frontier settlements was the saddle-bags
of the traveling practitioner, but in January, 1812,
1288
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Farrar & Charless conducted a drug-store " adjoining
the printing-office," and on the 18th of the month an-
nounced that they would have " a fresh supply in the
spring." 1
Prior to this Dr. B. Gr. Farrar's card had appeared
in the Gazette (May 24, 1809), announcing that he
might be found at Robidoux's house on Second Street,
and in the same issue of the paper it was stated that
Dr. Saugrain had the first vaccine matter used in St.
Louis. On the 10th of May, 1812, Farrar & Char-
less gave notice that they had dissolved partnership,
Mr. Charless continuing alone at the old stand, and
on the 18th of July following it was announced that
Dr. B. Farrar had established a drug store below Major
Christy's tavern, next to Daugin's silversmith-shop.
During the same month (July 26th) appeared the
professional card of Dr. R. Simpson, whose office was
located on Second Street, " adjoining Manuel Lisa."
Dr. Simpson also engaged in the drug business, and
about this time there is frequent mention of " Simp-
son's store." Oct. 1, 1812, Drs. Farrar and Walker
associated themselves in the practice of medicine and
established a drug store, which on the 10th of April,
1813, was removed to Mrs. Chouteau's house, " oppo-
site Lisa's new brick." September llth of the same
year Dr. Simpson removed his drug store to the for-
mer stand of Farrar & Walker, Block 5, and Sept.
16, 1815, Farrar & Walker " removed their medicine-
shop to Main Street, opposite R. Paul's," Block 30.
On the 1st of October, 1815, it was announced
that Simpson & Quarles had formed a copartnership
for conducting the drug and medicine business " in
Simpson's old stand," and on the 4th of January
that they had removed to Block 36. June 19, 1818,
notice was given that Dr. A. Nelson had purchased
the drug business of Simpson & Quarles, and Feb.
10, 1819, that Nelson & Hoffman had established a
drug store " in Simpson's new brick, opposite the
1 " Patent medicines" would seetn to have formed an im-
portant part of the druggist's stock even at that day, for on the
31st of August, 1808, we find the following curious advertise-
ment in the Missouri Gazette :
" Aaron Elliot & Son offer for sale at Ste. Genevieve a num-
ber of patent medicines, among which are Church's Cough
Drops, Turlington's Balsam of Life, Bateman's Drops, British
Oil, Steer's Opodeldoc, Hill's Balsam of Honey, Godfrey's
Cordial, essence of peppermint, Lee's New London Bilious
Pills, by the gross or less quantity, Anderson's Pills, Hooper's
Female Pills, Liquid True Blue, Maccaboy and Cephalick
snuff, chemical fire-boxes, one of the best inventions in the
world for travelers ; also stationery, blank books of various
sizes, children's spelling-books, common writing and letter
paper, Dutch quills, sealing-wax, wafers, a few steel spring
truffles, thumb lancets, spring lancet?, gum lancets, green
goggles, etc."
post-office." At the same time (February 10th) Tuttle
& Teller were conducting the drug and medicine busi-
ness at the " new brick at the lower end of Main
Street, below the Collet double-brick." April 7,
1819, the removal was announced of Renshaw &
Hoffman to " next door north, lately Dent & Rearick,
large warehouse in rear," and on the 21st of the same
month the removal of the drug and medicine store of
Nelson & Hoffman to the " late stand of Renshaw
& Hoffman."
The pioneer house in the wholesale drug trade was
that of Joseph Charless & Son, which afterwards
became Charless & Blow. Their business expanded
to large proportions, and in course of time a number of
firms established themselves in the trade, which is now
one of the most important industries in St. Louis.
In 1881 there were fifteen firms engaged in the man-
ufacture of drugs and chemicals, with a capital of
$969,000 invested, giving employment to three hun-
dred hands, to whom they paid annually $124,000 in
wages, and transacting a business of $1,200,000.
During the same year there were seven wholesale drug-
gists in St. Louis, and their combined sales aggregated
nearly 87,000,000. There were also two hundred and
eight retail druggists, whose sales amounted to between
$9,000,000 and $10,000,000.
One of the best-known firms engaged in the whole-
sale drug business west of the Mississippi is that of
Richardson & Co., the senior member of which is
James Richardson, a sketch of whom will be found
elsewhere in this work in the history of the Public
School Library.
Of the druggists of St. Louis, none is more widely
or more favorably known than Jacob Spencer Merrell.
Mr. Merrell was born at Westmoreland, Oneida Co.,
N. Y., Feb. 5, 1827. His father, Jacob Merrell, was
a direct descendant of the Jacob Merrell who came
from England to New England with the original
Hartford colony. His mother (the father's second
wife), Sylvia Spencer, was also of English extraction,
and was a descendant of an early New England family.
Being the eldest son, Jacob S. was required from
his earliest recollection to assist on the farm during
the summer, but in winter was sent to the district
school. In early boyhood he manifested the habits
of industry and economy that have since characterized
his life, and have given him a front rank among the
merchants and manufacturers of the West.
In the spring of 1842, when but fifteen years old,
young Merrell concluded that a farm of one hundred
acres, with a large family to share its products, did
not afford a sufficiently promising field for his labors,
yet he freely recognized the claims of his father upon
~
^V
«NW*
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1289
him, and not wishing to deprive him of services that
legally and properly belonged to him, he " bought his
time" of his father for one hundred and fifty dollars,
and the clothes he then had for thirty dollars more.
Of this amount he paid sixty dollars in cash, the
fruits of his own economy and industry.
His first employment after consummating this
arrangement was driving upon the Erie Canal, his
wages being nine dollars per month. When the canal
closed in the fall, he returned home and worked for
his board during the winter, enjoying for the last time
the only school advantages he ever received.
In the following April he obtained employment in
a country store at Oneida Lake, but in July his em-
ployer failed, and he again returned home and worked
for his father during haying and harvesting, after
which he started with ten dollars in his pocket, worked
his passage on the Erie Canal to Buffalo, and from
thence took deck passage to Toledo, where, having
failed to obtain employment that had been promised
him, he engaged to cut cordwood in the oak forests
at a point where for many years past the Toledo High
School has been located.
During the following spring he went to Lexington,
Ky., where he was employed by his uncle in the
grocery business, at ten dollars per month. This oc-
cupation, however, did not satisfy his restless energies,
and in the following January he hired a horse and
went into the mountains of Kentucky to buy furs.
For several months he traversed the head-waters of
the Kentucky, Cumberland, and Licking Rivers. In
May, while in Cincinnati, whither he had gone to
market his furs, he noticed an advertisement of a little
drug-mill on " Western Row" for sale or for rent.
He purchased the establishment, chiefly on credit,
and at the age of eighteen commenced his business
career.
In spite of many difficulties the enterprise pros-
pered under his vigorous and judicious management,
and five years later, as we learn from a volume enti-
tled " Sketches and Statistics of Cincinnati," he em-
ployed ten hands, had a thirty horse-power engine,
and manufactured thirty thousand dollars' worth of
goods yearly, with a business rapidly growing and
certain ultimately of becoming one of extensive op-
erations.
In 1848, Mr. Merrell returned to his native place,
and on the 20th of September was married to Kate
Jeannette Kellogg, daughter of Deacon Warren Kel-
logg, of Westmoreland. The success which has ever
attended Mr. Merrell must in no small degree be at-
tributed to the assistance of his faithful wife.
Early in 1853, Mr. Merrell concluded that St. Louis
offered a more promising field for his business than
Cincinnati, and having purchased property on St.
Charles Street, between Fifth and Sixth Streets, he
sold his Cincinnati business, and on the same day es-
tablished himself in St. Louis.
The progress of his business has been uninter-
rupted to the present day, except in 1857, when by
a disastrous fire he lost twenty-eight thousand dol-
lars, his insurance being only four thousand dollars.
Though the oldest wholesale druggist in St. Louis, he
has never failed in business and has never compro-
mised with his creditors. Upon the occasion of the
loss by fire, some friendly creditors urged him to make
a settlement at fifty cents on the dollar, but he stead-
fastly refused, preferring to make the attempt to pay
in full, in which he succeeded.
The employment of his spare time in reading, added
to a quick perception, a retentive memory, and care-
fully-acquired habits of practical thought, have enabled
Mr. Merrell to greatly remedy the want of early educa-
tion, and have secured him a fund of knowledge such
as few business men possess. He is not only a mer-
chant, but is a pharmaceutist, a chemist, and a physi-
cian, and his knowledge of these sciences has enabled
him to devise many new remedies previously unknown,
but now deemed almost indispensable by the medical
profession. His knowledge of medicine has induced
many to seek his advice, and for many years he has
had quite an extensive office practice among friends
and others, many of whom had failed to obtain relief
from regular practitioners. To multitudes of such he
has rendered gratuitous service.
Dr. Merrell is the president and one of the founders
of the American Medical College, in St. Louis.
Though an active member of the Whig and Repub-
lican parties, he has always refused remunerative offices
until the spring of 1881, when he was induced to
accept the nomination for treasurer of the city of St.
Louis, and was elected for a term of four years by a
handsome majority.
During the war his active and outspoken devotion
to the Union raised about him bitter enemies and
steadfast friends, but, unheeding praise or blame, he
quietly pursued the course he had marked out for
himself and labored zealously in the work of recruit-
ing soldiers for the front.
Dr. Merrell has always taken an active part in re-
ligious matters, and ever since his arrival in St. Louis
has been a member of the First Congregational Church
(Rev. Dr. Post's), and for ten years past the president
of its board of trustees.
As the owner of a number of farms in the " Ameri-
can Bottom," he has done much to improve that sec-
1290
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
tion, and particularly by putting in operation the
drainage laws of Illinois. He is a director in the St.
Louis Stoneware Company.
Dr. Merrell is emphatically a " self-made man,"
whose success has been won by steadfastness of pur-
pose, honorable dealing, untiring industry, and careful
economy. Beneath an exterior which a casual ob-
server might deem cold and unsympathetic is a warm
and cordial nature. His sympathies are manifested
by deeds rather than words, and he gives freely to
every deserving charity, public and private.
The farmer lad who " bought his time" of his
father and began life as a canal-boy is now a promi-
nent citizen of St. Louis, rich and respected by all.
Such a career speaks volumes for Dr. Merrell's strength
of character, sound judgment, and indomitable energy
and industry.
Within the comparatively brief period of fifteen j
years has been achieved one of the most noteworthy
successes, from a business point of view, which even
the aggressive and enterprising mercantile world of
St. Louis can exhibit, in the establishment of the
wholesale drug firm of Meyer Brothers & Co. Chris-
tian F. G. Meyer, the head of the house, was born at'
Haldern, Westphalia, Dec. 9, 1830. His family was
in moderate circumstances, being engaged in sheep-
raising and bee-culture. His father died when he was
four years old, and his mother when he was sixteen.
After the latter occurrence he emigrated with his
brother, J. F. W. Meyer (six years his senior), to
America, the objective-point being Fort Wayne, Ind.,
near which place a relative resided. They sailed from
Bremen in September, 1847, and the ocean trip con-
sumed seven weeks. From New Orleans, where they
landed, to Fort Wayne was a long and tedious journey,
being performed by steamboat, canal-boat, and on
foot, and it was not until February, 1848, that the
Meyers reached Fort Wayne.
Young Meyer, realizing that a knowledge of Eng-
lish was essential to success in this country, attended
a private school for the purpose of learning the lan-
guage, but his means being limited he was obliged to
leave school and make his own way in the world.
During the same year (1848) he entered Reed's drug
store at Fort Wayne as an apprentice. His progress
was rapid, and by close attention to his duties during
the day, and by employing his nights in studies per-
taining to the business, he soon won the confidence of
his employer. In the following year the cholera was
prevalent, and owing either to the sickness of the
proprietor and clerks or their absence from town, he
was left in sole charge of the store for several weeks,
and in this arduous crisis acquitted himself with great
skill and credit. In August, 1852, having saved four
hundred or five hundred dollars, he, in company with
an acquaintance, opened a retail drug store in the
same place. The venture proved very successful.
What Mr. Meyer is accustomed to call the most
fortunate event of his life occurred in July, 1854, —
his marriage with Miss Fran'ces F. Schmidt, a lady
who some years previous had come to this country
from Alsace, then a French province. To this alli-
ance Mr. Meyer attributes a great share of his suc-
cess in life, she having proved a helpmeet for him in
every sense of the word. Their domestic relations
have been of the happiest character, and their union
has been blessed with nine children, — seven boys and
two girls, — of whom eight are living.
Meanwhile the business at Fort Wayne continued
to prosper, and with increasing success and confi-
dence Mr. Meyer became imbued with the desire
to conduct operations on a larger scale. Accordingly
he visited St. Louis in May, 1865, and made arrange-
ments to establish a wholesale business. In Septem-
ber he purchased the stock of J. Mathews & Sons,
then in business at the corner of Second and Locust
Streets. The stock amounted to about seventy thou-
sand dollars, but although considered quite large in
those days, when nearly everything was about one
hundred per cent, more costly than at present, it
would now be comparatively small.
The rapid shrinkage in values which set in after
the war subjected all who were then in business to a
severe ordeal, and many succumbed, but by assiduous
labor and extraordinarily good management the firm
was enabled to weather the storm, and its present stand-
ing is a proud monument to Mr. Meyer's early labors.
Mr. Meyer is a prominent member of the German
Lutheran Church, and at present is one of the, trus-
tees of the Concordia Theological Seminary (Lu-
theran), on Jefferson Avenue, as also of the congre-
gation where he worships.
While necessarily devoting the greater portion
his time to his extensive business, he has yet been
able to indulge to some extent a taste for literature.
At Fort Wayne, besides attending to his drug busi-
ness, he for some time owned and edited a paper,
and since then has written more or less for the press.
He has also traveled much in this country and abroad,
principally on account of his health, which on several
occasions has been impaired by overwork.
Although Mr. Meyer's associations outside of his
business have been chiefly with Germans, he speaks
the English language with the ease and fluency of his
mother-tongue. He has also acquired a fair knowled<
of French.
' '
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1291
Mr. Meyer has been uniformly successful in busi-
ness. The building he first occupied, at the corner
of Second and Locust Streets, soon proved too con-
tracted for his rapidly increasing trade, and accord-
ingly in January, 1867, the house removed to the
building Nos. 6 and 8 North Second Street, occupying
the four floors and the cellar. A few years later addi-
tional space was demanded, and Nos. 10 and 12 were
added, and about four years since the cry for " more
room" forced them to occupy the adjoining structure,
Nos. 14 and 16. This gave them the entire building,
one hundred and eight feet front by one hundred and
fifty feet deep, four stories high, in addition to the cel-
lars, in all nearly two acres of floor space. They also
have an extensive store in Kansas City, the largest
drug establishment west of St. Louis, while they still
maintain the one in Fort Wayne, which is in reality
the parent house. C. F. Gr. Meyer is the controlling
mind in the firm, which, perhaps, conducts the largest
jobbing drug business in the world, the annual sales
amounting to millions of dollars.
Oils.— In 1843, Dr. Hoffman exhibited in St.
Louis a sample of steam-refined lard-oil, manufactured
at his establishment on Market Street, corner of
Thirteenth, which was " as pure and clear as the best
sperm, and burns as brightly." The oil was manu-
factured from " inferior qualities of lard," and fur-
nished to purchasers " at very low prices." The ,
chandlers and lard-oil factories in St. Louis num-
bered in 1850 ten factories, with invested capital of
ninety-nine thousand three hundred dollars, employing
two hundred and twenty-six hands, and producing
annually four hundred and ninety-eight thousand nine
hundred and fifty dollars.
In 1857 the Patent Press Oil- Works, Latourette,
Wyman & Grant, proprietors, were erected for the ;
manufacture of oil from flaxseed, castor-beans, and cot-
ton-seed. The great scarcity of the two former led the
proprietors to turn their attention to cotton-seed, upon !
which they had experimented successfully. Though ,
originally designed for the exclusive manufacture of
linseed- and castor-oil, these works were early em- i
ployed in making cotton-seed oil, which was found so
far profitable as to induce the proprietors to push their
efforts in that direction. The proprietors were among
the first parties in the world who succeeded in making I
oil from cotton-seed so as to make it pay. After ex-
perimenting with thirty thousand bushels of the seed, ,
they found so fine a margin in it as to induce them to
extend their operations.
The oil was shipped to New Orleans, to the East,
and Europe, and the cake was found to be highly
valuable as food for cattle.
In 1877 the business of manufacturing cotton-seed
oil was further extended by the opening of " The
Future City Oil-Works," J. J. Powers, proprietor, at
607 South Levee, where buildings occupying the
whole block had been secured, and power, presses,
and sieves, with cleaning apparatus, erected. The
capital invested (one hundred thousand dollars) has
been increased, and the yearly value of the products
amounts to more than three hundred thousand dollars,
the factory employing one hundred and fifty hands,
and manufacturing five thousand barrels of oil and five
thousand tons of cake. A ready market is found in
Europe, where the oil is manipulated into salad- and
olive-oil.
The receipts of petroleum at St. Louis during the
years from 1877 to 1881 were:
Years.
Receipts.
1QQ, f 106.023 barrels.
181 | MOO tanks.
f 68,928 barrels.
80 1 1,320 tanks.
,a,.Q ( 62,707 barrels.
18'a { 897 tanks.
,Q>7Q ] 61,651 barrels.
1878 { 842 tanks.
1877 109,053 barrels.
Lard-oil was made by three firms in 1881, who
employed twenty-five hands, whose wages were thirteen
thousand one hundred dollars annually. They trans-
acted a yearly business of five hundred and fifty
thousand dollars, and the capital invested was ninety-
six thousand two hundred dollars.
Dry-Goods. — The dry-goods trade of St. Louis has
gradually expanded from the humble transactions of
1808 until at this writing the city offers a market to
buyers surpassed by none in the country for variety,
extent, and cheapness.1
On the 23d of July, 1808, the following announce-
ment was made in the Missouri Gazette :
1 " It must not be understood by the reader that a merchant
at that time approximated at all in his business relations to the
merchant of to-day. A place occupying but a few feet square
would contain all of their goods; and, indeed, during the period
of the first growth of St. Louis a merchant kept all of his goods
in a chest or box, which was opened whenever a purchaser
would appear. Sugar, coffee, gunpowder, blankets, paint,
spices, salt, knives, hatchets, guns, kitchen-ware, hunting-shirts,
and every variety of coarse dry-goods were stored together.
" Owing to the tediousness of navigation, the prices de-
manded for all articles of importation were enormous. Sugar
and coffee were each two dollars per pound, and everything else
in proportion. Tea was almost unknown until the advent of
the United States government. Articles now regarded as in-
dispensable to human existence, and occupying a low position
in the scale of human comfort, were then esteemed the greatest
luxuries, and so expensive as to be enjoyed only on state occa-
sions, and then with parsimony." — Edwards' Great West, p.
289.
1292
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
" I will sell to the highest bidder for cash, on Tuesday, the
3d of August next, at ten o'clock A.M., at the house of Mrs.
Labadie, in the town of St. Louis, an invoice of goods amount-
ing to between seven and eight hundred dollars, viz. : Best
Cognac brandy, that has been more than three years in cedar
at this town ; dry-goods, consisting of cloths, strouds, chintzes,
calicoes, muslins, Irish linen ; saddlery, chewing tobacco, etc.,
and a large quantity of well-assorted castings and hardware.
"As the sole object of the sale is to raise the aforesaid sum
of money, the goods must be sold, fetch what they will; there-
fore great bargains will be given.
"JERE. CONNOR, Auctioneer."
Wilkinson & Price were transacting business Au-
gust 2d at Papin's old store. September 14th, St.
Louis furnishes the first big advertisement to the
Gazette, viz. : " Hunt & Hankinson have received, in
addition to their former stock, and are now opening a
general assortment of merchandise, which they will
sell at the most reduced prices for cash, viz. : Tin and
hardware, medicines, stationery, saddlery of all kinds,
wrought nails, cut do. of all sizes, men's hats, women's
do., wool do., boots and shoes, ladies sprig'd kid and
morocco shoes, plain do., Jefferson do., children's do.,
Lisbon wine, claret do., Cognac brandy, Imperial tea,
Young Hyson do., Hyson skin do., loaf sugar, lump
do., Muscovado do., coffee, chocolate, mustard, box
raisins, best Spanish cigars, dry-goods." etc.
Jacob Philipson announced in the Gazette of Nov.
9, 1808, that he was "opening at his new store,
opposite post-office, a seasonable supply of dry-goods
and a general assortment of groceries, among which
are blankets, shoes, madder, and turkey red, linseed-
oil, tanners' do., fresh teas, coffee, chocolate, and sugar,
shad, mackerel, a few German and English Bibles,
Testaments, hymn-books, etc., all of which he intends
selling for cash at reasonable prices."
As indicated by the advertisements given above, the
dry-goods store of the olden time was a variety-shop,
such, for instance, as that of " Z. Mussina, just arrived
from Philadelphia via Pittsburgh, with a large assort-
ment of dry-goods, groceries, queensware, ironmongery,
tin-ware, paints," which he offered " for sale at the old
stand of Madame Labadie (lately occupied by A. C.
Dunn) and opposite to Mr. Jacob Philipson." About
this time also H. Austin & Co., of Ste. Genevieve,
have a displayed advertisement. They offer to sell
" brown, drab, and mixed broadcloths at from $2 to
$6 per yard; 1000 yards of calicoes from 50 to 75
cents per yard; cotton laces from $1.25 to $2.50;
best green coffee at 62J cents per pound; loaf and
lump sugar at 50 cents per pound. Goods purchased
in New York for cash, and will be sold as low as any
in the Territory for cash, or lead at $6 per 100 pounds,
delivered at Ste. Genevieve or Herculaneum."
The following advertisements indicate the character
of the trade and give the names of the merchants who
conducted it during this year (1809) :
April 26. — " Falconer & Comegys have just received and offer
for sale at reasonable prices, at St. Louis and Ste. Genevieve,
merchandise suitable for the approaching season."
May 24. — " For sale, 300 yards fine country linen, 1400 yards
tow linen, 1500 pounds nails, 2000 gallons old whiskey, also a
quantity of white rope. The above-mentioned articles will be
sold by the quantity for cash, as low as first cost and carriage
from Lexington, Ky., to this place. Those who wish to pur-
chase will please call at the house formerly occupied by Mr. P.
Leduc, opposite Alexander McNair's. GEORGE DALE."
July 26. — " The subscriber has opened in the store formerly
occupied by Messrs. Hunt & Hankinson an assortment of dry-
goods, groceries, and hardware, which he is determined to sell
at reasonable terms. MATTHEW KERR."
September 13. — " Merchant tailor. Bernard Lalende, lately
arrived from Bordeaux, takes the liberty to inform the public
that he intends to follow the tailoring business in all its branches.
He also takes this method of informing the ladies and gentle-
men that he will sell at his shop cloth and other stuff, handker-
chiefs, thread, wine, coffee, and Imperial tea, also an assortment
of the best fiddle-strings."
September 13. — "P. Berthold and Paul, lately arrived from
Baltimore and Philadelphia, offer for sale a very elegant assort-
ment of dry-goods and groceries at very moderate prices for
cash. They keep their store at Mr. Valois', Main Street."
December 21. — Bernard Pratte and John P. Cabanne an-
nounced that they had fresh goods on hand at " Pratte's old
corner, Main and Market Streets."
December 26. — " William Shannon is now opening at the
house of Francis Benoit a complete assortment of goods suitable
to the present and approaching season."
During this year (June 7th) the dissolution of the firm of
Hunt & Hankinson (Wilson P. Hunt and John Hankinson) was
announced, and Henry M. Shreve & Co. (Fergus Moorehead)
advertised a stock of goods next to Robidoux's residence, Block
6. On the 27th of September, Jacob Philipson announced the
removal of his store to next above Gratiot's; and Falconer &
Comegys advertised their store "in Labadie' store-house."
In 1810 the Gazette contained the following an-
nouncements :
January llth. — "Just received an assortment of dry-goods
and groceries, for sale at reasonable terms, also a keel-boat
seventy feet in length. SAMUEL PERRY."
February 20th. — " F. Menard has the honor of informing the
public that he is now opening, at the house of Mr. Pierre Chou-
teau, the following articles, which he will sell at wholesale or
retail on very low terms : Sugar per one hundred pounds, $20 ;
coffee per one hundred pounds, $40; Marseilles soap, dry-goods,
Russia sheeting, brown linen, blankets, French brandy, ruin,
claret, etc."
April 19th. — "George Pescay, just from Philadelphia, with
fresh goods, opened in the house of the late Mr. Robidoux."
April 23d. — " H. M. Shreve and Fergus Moorhead's store in
Robidoux's log store, in block No. 6."
April 26th. — " Thomas Hickey, tailor and ladies' habit-
maker, has commenced business on the Public Square, nearly
opposite Col. Chouteau's."
April 26th.—" H. M. Shreve & Co. have brought from Phil-
adelphia and opened at St. Louis a complete and general as-
sortment of dry-goods, groceries, hardware, china, and queens-
ware, iron, steel, castings, and stationery, at the most reduced
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1293
prices. They have opened at Ste. Genevieve an assortment of
the above-mentioned goods, which shall be sold at reduced
profit."
April 26th. — "Wood & Dunn have just arrived from Phil-
adelphia, and have opened in St. Louis a general assortment of
dry-goods suitable to the season, also groceries, queens and
hardware, etc. They have also opened in Ste. Genevieve an
assortment of dry-goods, groceries, hardware, etc."
May 10th. — " J. G. Comegys it Co. just returned from Phila-
delphia with a large stock of fresh( goods, opposite Charles
Gratiot.''
July 12th. — " Patrick Lee, auctioneer, broker, and commis-
sion merchant, informs the public that his store near the post-
office is well provided with dry-goods and groceries, which he
will sell at a moderate price. He has commenced the business
of a broker and auctioneer in the town of St. Louis, and will
execute with the greatest punctuality the orders of such persons
as may address themselves to him in that line."
September 20th. — " Horace Austin is opening at the old stand ;
of Messrs. Falconer & Comegys a handsome assortment of dry- '
goods."
About this time the terms of sale wore barter and exchange
rather than cash. When "a heap of whiskey and peach
brandy" were offered by Frederick Yeiger (1811) for "beef ;
hides," with the remark, "no credit, as he can't write," it is !
not surprising that "Joseph Bouju, clock- and watch-maker, !
silversmith and jeweler." should offer for sale "cherry bounce, j
ratifia de Grenoble, whiskey, a gig and harness, with his keel-
boat and apparatus."
On Jan. 12, 1811, Jacob Philipson offered his goods "low to
close out."
February 14th, Moses Scott advertised his store, "next above
Baird's shop," and on May 22d McKnight & Brady informed I
the public that they had on hand a large stock of fresh goods j
opposite the residence of Gen. William Clark (Papin's old
store).
Christian Wilt, from Philadelphia, advertised his goods July
25th, in Mussina's stand, and Depestre, De Mun & Co. an-
nounced September llth that they were just from Philadelphia
and Baltimore with an assortment of new goods.
In May, 1812, it was announced that McXair, Thompson
A Co. had just opened a handsome assortment of merchandise
from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in Madame Robidoux's house
(Block 5), and that J. F. Laveille, just from New Orleans, had
opened a new store in Madame Chouteau's house (Block 33).
On the Oth of June the dissolution of the firm of Berthold ,t
Paul was announced, and on the 17th of September the closing
out of the business of Depestre & De Mun. On October 10th it
was stated that Smith, Von Phul & Co., of Lexington, Ky., had
dissolved, and that Smith & Von Phul would continue ; and on
November 6th that Veuve Pescay and Michael Tesson had dis-
solved the partnership existing since February, 1811, and that
M. Tesson would continue alone.
During 1813 the following advertisements among others ap-
peared :
January !)th. — '• To the Ladies. Shawls, line muslins, bon-
nets, lacss, etc., for sale at a moderate price. M. TESSON."
June 19th. — " Berthold & Chouteau have on sale a general
assortment of dry-goods, groceries, hardware and crockery, etc."
November 13th. — " McKnight & Brady have just received
from Baltimore an additional supply of woolens; will be sold
for cash at their store on Main Street, opposite Governor
Clark's."
On the 31st of December, 1814, McKnight & Brady gave
notice that they had sold their stock and desired their accounts
settled up.
Peter Lindell & Co. announced Nov. 26, 1814, that they
would close their business on the 1st of Januar}', 1815.
About the close of the war of 1812, say in 1816,
there was quite an influx of men of business and
capital to St. Louis. Some who, doubtless, during
the war had studied its advantages decided that it
was equally adapted for trade in peace, and the close
of the war having given a great impetus to settlement
in Illinois and Missouri, all these new settlements,
as well as the old ones, began to look more and
more to St. Louis as their place of obtaining sup-
plies. Among those who came here at or about
that time as merchants or engaging in mercantile
pursuits were Col. John O'Fallon, Peter and Jesse
Lindell, and Henry Von Phul. Others came after
them, among them George Collier and James Clem-
ens, Jr. Among the other merchants of St. Louis
about this time were Thomas and John Crom-
well, Charles W. Hunter, Isaac Bennett, Theodore
Hunt, James Kennedy, Smith & Spicer, Thomas
Hanly, Rene Paul & Co. (" new goods from Phila-
delphia and Baltimore in his new store-house," Block
4), John B. Herpin & Son (" new store from Phila-
delphia in Patrick Lee's former stand," Block 37),
Stephen R. Wiggins, Patrick M. Dillon (at the house
of Maj. P. Chouteau, Main Street, Block 28), John
Little, Porter, Glasgow & Nivin, Maddock & Duval,
and Charles Wahrendorff, who advertised German
goods at Perkins & Drip's store, opposite the post-
office. One of the leading business men and influen-
tial citizens of St. Louis about this time was Thomas
Forsyth, who was a prominent figure in the early
history of Illinois and Missouri. His father, Wil-
liam Forsyth, was a native of Aberdeen, Scotland,
who came to America in 1757. After a short stay
in Philadelphia he went to Canada, and was wounded
in the battle of Quebec, where both Wolfe and Mont-
calm fell. He married in Canada and settled in De-
troit (then a British town), where, Dec. 5, 1771,
Thomas Forsyth was born. The boy received a plain
but practical education, which qualified him for both
the public and private business in which he after-
wards engaged.
In 1793, Thomas Forsyth left Detroit, in company
with his half-brother, John Kenzie, the founder of
Chicago, and for several years engaged in trade with
the Illinois Indians. In one of his Eastern trips he
met and married a lady named De Maillot, of Hagers-
town, Md., and in 1809 settled at Peoria, 111. During
the subsequent Indian troubles he exercised a great
influence over the savages, especially the Pottawato-
mies, years of dealing with them having given him
a perfect knowledge of their language and disposition.
1294
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
To the Governors of both Missouri and Illinois he
repeatedly conveyed intimations of threatened hostili-
ties, and while he could not always avert war, he was
able to do much to mitigate its horrors.
In recognition of his services he was appointed
Indian agent at Peoria, with full power to act in case
of an emergency, but the appointment was kept secret
lest he should lose his influence over the tribes. After
the massacre at the site of Chicago, in August, 1812,
Mr. Forsyth, at the risk of his life, went directly to
the Indians and secured the ransom of some of their
captives. This was a most dangerous service, for had
the Indians been aware of the fact that he was a
government agent, he would no doubt have been
burnt at the stake. It required the utmost sagacity
and the greatest tact and skill to conduct these ne-
gotiations so as to retain the confidence of suspicious
Indians ; but his uniform kindness towards them and,
above all, his unvarying candor and truthfulness in
dealing with them gave him great influence and caused
them to trust him implicitly. More than once his
life was imperiled by the machinations of enemies
who sought to compass his death at the hands of the
savages, but his tact and good fortune always enabled
him to escape.
Mr. Forsyth acted as agent for the Illinois In-
dians during the war, and when peace was declared
he was intrusted with a still more responsible duty, —
that of agent for the Sac and Fox Indians. He
made treaties with these nations, which were always
ratified by the government, and was charged with the
distribution of large sums of money and great amounts
of merchandise, which duty he performed with the j
strictest honesty and with marked ability. He re-
tained this agency for many years, and it is thought
that had he continued to hold the office the Black
Hawk war would not have occurred.
He finally removed to St. Louis, and resided in the
little village for several years, at the same time per-
forming the duties of Indian agent and visiting
Peoria as often as was necessary. He bought eight
hundred acres of land owned by Jean Marie Papin
(the progenitor of the Papin family), and forming
a large part of what is now Forest Park, where he re-
sided for the rest of his life, dying in 1832.
Nature bestowed upon Thomas Forsyth a sound
and well-balanced mind in a sound and athletic body.
He was a gifted talker and a most pleasant and enter-
taining companion. Benevolence and kindness of
heart were his' predominant traits. He occupied a
prominent position in the community, as was due to
one who had performed important public services.
His private life was amiable and blameless, and he
died universally esteemed and regretted. He left
four children, — John, who died at the age of twenty-
one, while studying medicine with Dr. Farrar ;
Thomas, who was a rover, and died away from home ;
Mary, who married a French gentleman named Bouis
and died within a year thereafter ; and Robert, who
was born in 1808 and died Nov. 1, 1872.
Robert Forsyth was a farmer, leading a quiet life
of ease on his estate in St. Louis County, and was a
respected citizen. He married Miss Anna M. Culver,
of Pensacola, Fla., and left three children, all of
whom are yet living, — William Forsyth, a resident of
Kirkwood, near St. Louis ; Mary, who married Dr.
G. H. Morrill, and lives in St. Louis; and Laura,
who married E. M. Tesson.
On Oct. 18, 1817, it was announced that Ber-
thold & Chouteau's partnership had expired, and that
A. P. Chouteau, De Mun, and John B. Sarpy would
open there. November 29th it was stated that
" Thomas Estes' one hundred thousand dollar" stock
of goods had just been opened " in the store lately
occupied by R. Collet, lower end." December 6th
notice was given of " Gabriel and Rene" Paul's large
stock opening in R. Paul's stone house, North Main
Street." Sanguinet & Bright advertised their store,
December 13th, on Block 6, nearly opposite the post-
office, and Bernard Pratte gave notice, December
13th, of his removal to his new brick house between
Clemens' and Smith's stores. About this time Thomas
McGuire & Co. transacted business " opposite Gover-
nor Clark's, lately M. Scott."
On the 23d of January, 1818, James Brand an-
nounced " a new stock from Philadelphia in the house
formerly Sergt. Hall's printing-office ;" on the 30th it
was stated that " Thomas Estes has removed to the
house formerly Peebles' tavern and since S. R. Wig-
gins' store ;" February 13th, L. W. Boggs and Thomas
Hanly gave notice that they had dissolved partnership,
Boggs having purchased Hanly's interest. March 12th,
Renshaw & Hoffman gave notice that they were just
from Baltimore, " with all new goods, at the store for-
merly Collet & Daily's ;" May 1st, J. Macklot & Co.
advertised their goods in the store " lately M. Scott's,
opposite the Indian office ;" June 12th, Thomas P.
Williams & Co., in the store recently occupied by
Perkins & Drips ; July 1st, Renshaw & Hoffman
" removed to the centre frame store of the three re-
cently put up by F. Dent, on Smith's lot, opposite
Von Phul & Co., 'Sign of the Plow;'" July 24th,
James Clemens & Co., third door above the market on
Main Street (Smith's store) ; July 31st, Samuel R.
Ober, large stock new goods next below Collet &
Daily, Block 37 ; August 19th, William Prout & Son,
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1295
" new goods just opened in Clark's old Indian office,
opposite Porter, Glasgow & Nivin ;" September 4th,
Edward Tracy, just from New York, with new goods
at the store of Dent & Rearick ; September 4th,
Jonathan Guest "has just opened his new goods in
Maj. Douglass' new brick house," Elm Street; Sep-
tember llth, Charles Wahrendorff & Co. "removed
to next below the new banking-house, opposite to
James Clemens' ;" September 25th, Jonathan Guest
removed to Pratte's warehouse, at the lower corner of
Market Street; December 1st, Thomas Hanly re-
moved " to his new brick on the river ;" December 4th,
Rene and Gabriel Paul dissolved partnership, R. Paul
retiring; December llth, Gabriel Paul advertised an
" auction and commission house, in R. Paul's stone
house."
About 1819 business began to be classified, and
there were separate dealers in groceries, in dry-goods,
in hardware, although many houses still continued to
deal in mixed merchandise ; but Scott & Rule (Capt.
Scott and William K. Rule) established a house in
St. Louis almost exclusively for the sale of groceries,
chiefly brought from New Orleans. Then there were
Shackford & Ranney, then Gay & Estes, doing each a
large business in the grocery line; James Clemens,
John Smith, the Powels, Warburton, and several
others almost exclusively dealers in dry-goods. On
the 15th of January of this year James and George
H. Kennerly advertised their business as being con-
ducted in Clark's brick house, Block 10 ; January
22d, Dent & Rearick, Main Street, opposite H. Von
Phul & Co., Block 33; February 3d, Chouteau &
Sarpy removed to the store between Moses Scott and !
the old Indian council-house; February 10th, Chris- i
tian and Andrew Wilt's new firm was advertised, and
on the same day G. Paul's auction-room, " in his new
brick house, opposite the theatre. Main Street," Block
11 ; April 7th, Renshaw & Hoffman "have removed
next door north, lately Dent & Rearick, large warehouse
in the rear;" April 28th, Charles W. Hunter "has re-
moved from M. Kerr's old stand diagonally opposite his
former place;" June 2d, Michael and Francis Tes-
son, copartnership ; June 9th. partnership of Thomas
Collet and Michael Daily dissolved, and a copartner-
ship formed between Michael Daily and Madame
Pescay ; June 23d, Joseph Wiggins " removed to No.
2 in Chouteau's new brick row, nearly opposite Bank
of Missouri ;" June 30th, Julius de Mun, " new
stock in M. Lisa's new house, opposite the Enquirer
office ;" July 24th, David W. Tuttle removed to No.
3 in Chouteau's new brick row, nearly opposite the
Bank of Missouri ; August 4th, James Timon & Son,
new store next above Riddick's auction-house, late
Low & Trask; August llth, David E. Cuyler "has
a lot of goods for sale in Mr. Dillon's new brick store,
opposite the Farmers' and Mechanics' Hotel ;" De-
cember 8th, Theodore Papin and Joseph Amoreaux
" have purchased the stock of Macklot & Co., and will
continue the business in Gratiot's stone store;" De-
cember 23d, Charles Billon removed to his new estab-
lishment, North Main, at the corner opposite the old
Gratiot residence; December 29th, Thomas Estes re-
moved to No. 2 of Col. A. Chouteau's new brick row,
South Main Street.
In 1820 the following firms advertised: January
5th, Castillo & Gilhuly, store in Moses Scott's
former stand, South Main Street; January 19th,
Joseph Hertzog, from Philadelphia, "will continue
the business of C. & A. Wilt at the same place ;" Jan-
uary 26th, William H. Savage; March 8th, Gilhuly
& Cummins' store, in McKnight & Brady's brick
house, north of the corner store ; March 29th,
Hastings & Simpson's store, South Main Street, in
Collet's brick building ; Samuel R. Ober, next below
Hastings & Simpson ; April 8th, Joseph and Francis
Robidoux removed their store from old stand to
Papin's brick house, Block 32 ; April 10th, " Charles
Wahrendorff' & ,Co. have dissolved;" April 19th,
John Shackford & Co., third in Chouteau's brick
row ; May 3d, the new firm of Tracy & Wahrendorff
formed " in old sland ;" May 30th, Nathaniel D.
Payne's new store, North Main Street, in Auguste P.
Chouteau's new brick house ; August 9th, George
Burchmore, new goods; August 17th, Paul & In-
gram, from Philadelphia, dry-goods, etc., in No. 1 in
Auguste Chouteau's new brick row, Block 7 ; August
23d, Giles and John Samuel, merchants, in R. Paul's
stone corner house, North Main Street.
From this mixed beginning the dry-goods trade of
St. Louis sprang, just as the present magnificent city
rose from the humble abodes which preceded the
palaces and warehouses that now attract the admira-
tion of every visitor.
The well-known wholesale and retail dry-goods
house of William Barr & Co. was established in 1849,
the original location being at the corner of Third and
Market Streets ; but after a few months the estab-
lishment was removed to the corner of Fourth and
Olive Streets, where it remained until 1857. In that
year the firm removed to a building which was after-
wards enlarged until it occupied the entire block
bounded by Third, Fourth, Vine, and St. Charles
Streets. The present quarters of the firm, which is
known as the William Barr Dry-Goods Company,
and composed of William Barr, Charles H. Berking,
and Joseph Franklin, are a handsome and imposing
1296
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
structure located on Sixth Street, extending from
Olive to Locust.
The failure of the Illinois banks in 1842, the low
price of produce, and the stagnation of business in
the West contributed to bring on a crisis in St.
Louis. Many business men found themselves, after
years of toil, left without a dollar ; and the most for-
tunate were content if, by the sacrifice of all their
past profits in trade, they could preserve their credit,
and be prepared to commence business anew when
the storm passed over It required some two years to
relieve the country of its embarrassments, to restore
taken place in various firms, some lost their books by
the great fire of 1849, and others again declined
giving any statement, although assured that it should
bg strictly confidential."
The statements of the business of six dry-goods
houses were obtained, which sum up as follows :
Sales in 1845 $1,119,057.20
" 1853 4,074,782.01
Increase in eight years $2,955,724.81
There were over twenty wholesale dry-goods houses,
besides those situated near the North Market and o
WILLIAM BARR DRY-GOODS COMPANY,
Corner Sixth, Olive, and Locust Streets.
confidence and give a healthy tone to trade, especi-
ally in a city like St. Louis, where men had to rely
mainly upon their own capital, being limited to one
bank, with a capital of only six hundred thousand
dollars.
From 1845 business maintained a steady and
healthy growth, and " we have endeavored," says a
local journal, ': to gather some statistics illustrative of
this fact. We have found difficulty in attaining our
object, which was to give the business of the same
houses in 1845 and 1853. Some of our business
men have died, others have retired, changes have
Carondelct Avenue, nearly the same number, that
transacted a large jobbing and retail business.
The above statement embraced two of the largest
houses, and it also embraced two that were considered
among the small houses in amount of business.
Another long-established firm in the dry -goods trade
is that of Samuel C. Davis & Co., whose name is one
of the business landmarks of St. Louis. The founder
of the house, Samuel C. Davis, first came to St.
Louis from Brookline, Mass., and began business in a
little store at Market and Commercial Streets, then
the business centre of the town. His partner was
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1297
J. R. Standford. In addition to the dry-goods busi-
ness the firm conducted a flourishing trade in boots
and shoes and groceries. Mr. Standford finally re-
tired, and John Tilden and Eben Richards were ad-
mitted into partnership. In 1849 the house escaped
the great fire, and in 1857 the business was removed
to Nos. 8 and 10 North Main Street. In 1867, Mr.
Tilden and Mr. Richards retired, and the house was
then composed of Samuel C. Davis, Andrew W.
Sproule, and John T. Davis, who still remain the
partners in the firm. In 1872 the grocery depart-
ment, and in 1873 the shoe department, both of
which had been removed to No. 12 Main Street,
the reception and delivery of goods. The basement
extends under the sidewalk of the streets, and is
lighted by thick glass set in iron-work overhead.
The building is amply provided with conveniences for
the prompt and speedy handling of goods, and the
establishment is altogether one of the most complete,
as it is one of the most extensive, in the West.
About 1850 the leading dry -goods house of St.
Louis was that of Rutherford & Day. Franklin O.
Day, the junior member of the firm, and afterwards
one of the most prominent merchants of the city, was
born in Burlington, Vt.. Oct. 31, 1816, both of his
parents being natives of that State. His ancestor,
SAMUEL C. DAVIS & COMPANY,
Washington Avenue and Fifth Street.
were sold, and the house thenceforward restricted
itself to the dry-goods trade. In August, 1871, was
commenced the erection of the present magnificent
building at the northwest corner of Fifth Street
and Washington Avenue, which was completed and
occupied in March, 1873. This structure, which is
in the Italian style of architecture, and of spacious
and imposing appearance, has a frontal of one hun-
dred and seventy-five feet on Fifth Street by one hun-
dred and twenty-five feet on Washington Avenue, and
contains, including the basement, six floors. In the
rear of the immense building there is a broad, paved
area, left open to insure sufficient light and to facilitate
Robert Day, came to America from England with
his wife. Mary, in 1634. It is a family tradition that
the Days originally came from Wales, the name'having
been Dee, but in time it came to be written Daye or
Day, to agree with the pronunciation.
Mr. Day received a common-school education, but
at a very early age evinced a desire to obtain a knowl-
edge of business in order that he might earn his own
livelihood, and when a mere boy was employed in his
father's dry-goods house. At the age of seventeen
he left home and went to New York, where he ob-
tained a situation in the same business. Two years
later (when nineteen) his father's sudden death called
1298
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
him home, and being the eldest son he settled his
father's estate, and proved himself already to possess
excellent business qualifications.
At the age of twenty-two he formed a partnership
for the sale of dry-goods at Northfield, Vt. The
business does not appear to have been a very large or
paying one, for in three years he abandoned it and
removed to St. Louis with only two hundred dollars.
It is believed that this money was the fruit of his own
industry and thrift, for he appears to have always
taken care of himself after leaving home, and there
is no record of his having received anything from his
father's estate.
Upon arriving at St. Louis Cin 1842 or 1843) he
was employed by T. S. Rutherford in the wholesale
dry-goods business, and so distinguished himself for
efficiency that about January, 1845, he was admitted
as a partner by Mr. Rutherford, the firm being T. S.
Rutherford & Co. Four years later a second partner-
ship was formed under the title of Rutherford & Day.
Mr. Rutherford, who is still living (1882), continues
to speak in the highest terms of the qualities shown
by Mr. Day thus early in his business career.
During the latter years of his partnership with
Mr. Rutherford the California excitement prevailed
throughout the West, and St. Louis was the starting-
point of numerous expeditions overland. A favorite
speculation which brought fortunes to many was the
shipping of live-stock across the plains to the Western
El Dorado. After dissolving his partnership with
Mr. Rutherford, Mr. Day engaged in a venture of
this kind, accompanying a herd to California in 1853,
but was too late to reap the expected profits, although
the scheme was far from being a failure. His part-
ner in the speculation was Mortimer Kennett, and
the wearisome overland journey consumed six months.
In 1854, Mr. Day returned to St. Louis, and in the
following year established himself in the wholesale
liquor business with Charles Derby, the firm being
Derby & Day. This enterprise, like everything un-
dertaken by Mr. Day, prospered, and from quite a
moderate beginning grew to be one of the largest in-
terests of the kind in the city, its name being a syn-
onym for careful, judicious management and honorable
dealing. Mr. Day continued in this business until
his death, Feb. 16, 1882. For some years he had
been in declining health, but up to within a week of
his death was able to visit the office and keep himself
informed as to the general condition of affairs.
The leading characteristics of Mr. Day's business
life were the exercise of unusual tact and foresight
and the avoidance of all hazardous enterprises. As a
result of his steady application to business he amassed
a fortune, at one time very large, consisting of val-
uable real estate in various portions of the city.
Its value afterwards shrank somewhat, but he still
left his family an estate estimated at perhaps half a
million. He was a public-spirited property-owner,
and but a short time before his death erected several
very handsome five-story buildings on Locust Street,
near the Equitable building, corner of Sixth Street.
On the 2d of October, 1849, Mr. Day married La-
vinia M. Aull, who was born in Lexington, Mo. At
his death he left a wife and four children, three sons
and a daughter, the latter married to J. R. Truesdale,
formerly of Pittsburgh, Pa., and now a leading busi-
ness man of St. Louis. Of the sons, Frank P. Day
and Lawrence W. Day were associated with their
father in the establishment, and have practically suc-
ceeded to the management, in which capacity they
have shown the possession of excellent business quali-
fications.
Mr. Day was associated in many important public
enterprises, such as the St. Louis Bridge, the Mer-
chants' Exchange, etc., and was a director in the
Merchants' National Bank, the Franklin Savings-
Bank, and the Boatmen's Insurance Company.
In one respect Mr. Day will long be held in grate-
ful remembrance by all lovers of the beautiful. He
was a man of fine taste, and was among the first in St.
Louis to exhibit the desire to collect works of art.
Among the famous pictures which he owned from time
to time was " Paying the Rent," by Erskine Nicol,
which took the second prize at the Paris Exposition
of 1867. Mr. Day paid ten thousand dollars for this
picture, and subsequently sold it to William H. Van-
derbilt, whose gallery it adorns. Mr. Day also ex-
tended hearty encouragement to the establishment of
art societies, etc.
Mr. Day was not a member of any church, but at-
tended the Holy Communion (Episcopal), to which
members of his family belonged. He was one of the
most liberal contributors in the parish, and had a high
appreciation of the worth of religion in matters of
every-day life.
Among the business men of St. Louis who have
been prominent within the past thirty or forty years
few achieved a more substantial and meritorious suc-
cess than did Mr. Day, and among those who have
passed away none were more generally or deeply re-
gretted than he. Many have lived and died who made
a much more pretentious figure, but none possessed in
richer store the essentials of true manhood, as exem-
plified both in business and in private life. Franklin
0. Day and the class to which he belonged were
worthy successors to the remarkable men who founded
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1299
St. Louis and set upon it the seal and signature of
future greatness.
One of Mr. Day's most active and successful con-
temporaries in building up the dry-goods trade of St.
Louis was Daniel W. Bell. Mr. Bell was born Feb.
27, 1831, at Salisbury, Md., and was the oldest son of
Henry Bell, for many years a leading wholesale mer-
chant of Lexington, Ky. Daniel W. Bell received
his business training in the wholesale and retail store
of his father in Lexington, and his scholastic edu-
cation was obtained at Transylvania University. He
began as salesman, but developing great commercial
ability, he was after a few years admitted as a partner.
He had a thorough knowledge of the trade, and was
favorably known for his industry and integrity.
In 185*7, Henry Bell & Son opened a wholesale
dry-goods house in St. Louis, the management of the
business being intrusted entirely to D. W. Bell,
under whose personal supervision the house grew to
be one of the most important west of the Alleghenies.
At the beginning of the war it was merged into that
of Henry Bell & Son, and continued until 1875, when
Henry Bell withdrew from the business, which was
carried on by D. W. Bell, who died Sept. 4, 1877.
Another house which has contributed immensely to
the development of the dry-goods trade of St. Louis
is that of Scruggs, Vandervoort & Barney, the mem-
bers being Richard M. Scruggs, Charles E. Barney,
Gustavus A. Scruggs, and William L. Vandervoort.
The firm has long been one of the commercial insti-
tutions of the city, and occupies a fine warehouse,
421 to 425 North Fourth Street.
Richard M. Scruggs was born in Bedford County,
Va., Feb. 10, 1822, of a well-known and prominent
family. The only educational advantages he enjoyed
were obtained at the " old field school," taught, as
was common in those days, for a few months in the
year by the most competent person living in the
neighborhood. At the age of fifteen he entered a
dry-goods store at Lynchburg, Va., where he remained
for eight years. He was repeatedly promoted until
he became the confidential clerk and book-keeper of
the concern, which was the leading one of its class in
the place. One of the partners having sold his in-
terest, Mr. Scruggs accompanied him to Richmond,
Va., where he held the same confidential position in
his establishment for two years. He then started out
to seek a new field in the South. He intended to
settle at New Orleans, but passing through Hunts-
ville, Ala., the beauty of the place and the attractions
of its society induced him to remain there, and he
entered the branch office of a large New Orleans
cotton house as confidential clerk.
In May, 1849, he visited St. Louis, where he de-
termined to settle, and in March, 1850, became a
resident of the city, engaging in the retail dry-goods
business in the firm of McClelland, Scruggs & Co.
From modest beginnings the business grew rapidly,
and the firm ultimately became one of the leading
houses of its class in St. Louis. In 1860, Mr. Scruggs
withdrew from the establishment, which passed into
the hands of W. L. Vandervoort & Co., and in 1861
he assisted in organizing the wholesale dry-goods firm
of McClelland, Pye & Co. In 1862, however, the
derangements occasioned by the war rendered the dis-
continuance of the enterprise advisable. In 1865 he
re-entered the retail business, the firm being Vander-
voort, McClelland & Co. In 1868, Mr. McClelland
retired, and the present firm of Scruggs, Vandervoort
& Barney was organized, Mr. Barney having been
a valued employe of the establishment since 1860,
and for several years junior partner in the com-
pany.
The career of the house of Scruggs, Vandervoort
& Barney has been characterized by an uninterrupted
and generally increasing prosperity, and it may justly
be ranked with the most prominent concerns of the kind
in the country. As head of the firm, and as mana-
ger to a certain extent, Mr. Scruggs may be held
(without detracting from the credit due to his effi-
cient partners) to have prominently contributed to
this result. His characteristics as a business man
are unswerving integrity, careful attention to the
financial details of the establishment, keen perceptive
faculties, a ready and sound judgment, and a hearty
enthusiasm in all he undertakes. His energy and
aggressiveness have made him a popular and useful
citizen, and his services are constantly in demand to
push forward works of a public nature. Personally,
he is sympathetic to a high degree, and gives freely
but systematically and judiciously. Not only his
means but his time have been largely given for the
public benefit. For many years he has been a direc-
tor in the Mercantile Library, and in 1870-71 was
president of that corporation. He has long been a
member of the board of commissioners to administer
the Mullanphy Emigrant Relief Fund, and was unan-
imously elected president, serving from July, 1879,
to October, 1881. For many years also he has been
connected with the Missouri School for the Blind, and
for two years has been, and is still, president of the
board of directors. He has been often solicited to
accept offices of a political nature, but shuns pub-
licity and has invariably declined.
For several years Mr. Scruggs has been a member
of St. John's Methodist Episcopal Church (South).
1300
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Beginning his church experience somewhat late in
life, he quickly developed a remarkable fitness for re-
ligious work, and became a leader in all the church
enterprises, religious as well as material. For seven
years he has been superintendent of the church Sun-
day-school, and in this capacity has been remarkably
successful. For about four years he has also been
superintendent of the afternoon Sunday-school of the
Page Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a
trustee and steward in St. John's Church, and as a
of the representative houses of the Mississippi valley.
J. H. Wear associated with him John W. Hickman,
under the firm-name of Wear & Hickman, in the
wholesale fancy dry -goods business in 1863. The
original location was at the corner of Main and
Chestnut Streets, where they remained until 1865,
when they removed to 319 North Main Street, In
1867, Mr. Hickman withdrew, and the firm-name
was changed to J. H. Wear & Co. His quarters
having become too circumscribed for the business,
J. H. WEAR, BOOGHER & CO.. HRY-CiOODS.
Sixth and St. Clmrles Streets.
member of the official board has sought to infuse into
church management as much of business-like principles
and methods as possible. His counsels in church
matters are always large-hearted and generous, and
he infuses as much life and spirit, into his religious
undertakings as he does into his secular concerns.
Though zealous in the cause of Methodism, Mr.
Scruggs is free from narrow sectarianism, and gladly
extends a hand to those of other denominations as
co-workers in religious effort.
The firm of J. H. Wear, Boogher & Co. is one
Mr. Wear removed in the spring of 1871 to No. 508
North Main Street. Another removal soon became
necessary, and on the 1st of January, 1875, the firm
occupied the six-story building at the corner of Fifth
Street and Washington Avenue. The'present quar-
ters are at the southwest corner of Sixth and St
Charles Streets. The firm is composed of J. H. We
and Jesse L. and John P. Boogher.
One of the earliest dry-goods merchants of St
Louis was Way man Crow. Mr. Crow removed to St
Louis from Kentucky in 1835, and opened a drj
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1301
goods jobbing-house under the firm-name of Crow
& Tevis, his associate, Terhune Tevis, residing in
Philadelphia. Then all, or nearly all, the business
was confined to the Levee (Water Street then) and
Main Street, and the new firm located themselves
temporarily at the corner of Water and Oak Streets)
(the latter now known as Cherry), removing in the
next spring to the stone house at the corner of Main
and Olive Streets, which had been the residence of
Col. Rene" Paul. Of all the merchants engaged in
business at the time the firm of Crow & Tevis began
operations, none now remain actively engaged in
trade. At that date the lines of communication be- i
tween St. Louis and the East were by river to New
Orleans, and thence by sea and by river to Pittsburgh,
and thence by wagons to Philadelphia. Sixty days
was then quick time between New York and St. Louis,
and purchases of goods for the spring sates of March
and April were made in the preceding September;
those for the fall sales were made in June and July,
and the arrivals of boats from New Orleans and Pitts-
burgh with the season's stock of goods for the dif-
ferent merchants of the town formed marked events.
The communication with the interior was even less
convenient, and sales were made always upon six
months' time, with an indefinite period for collec-
tion. Commencing thus with a business of less than
one hundred thousand dollars, Mr. Crow has remained
at the head of the firm, 'increasing its business to
millions of dollars per annum, and passing through
all the financial revulsions that have marked the his-
tory of the West, in some of which as high as thirty
per cent, interest was paid for the use of money that
was even then obtainable only upon pledges of per-
sonal property, and not once did his house suspend or
fail to meet all obligations promptly at the date of
maturity. In 1837 the firm removed to a three-story
brick house on the west side of Main Street, at the
corner of Locust, belonging to Gen. Ashley, and in
1839 or 1840 to the O'Fallon block, nearly opposite
that location. In this last building the firm continued
in business until burned out by the fire of 1849,
changing its style from Crow & Tevis to that of Crow,
Tevis & McCreery, and afterwards, upon the retire-
ment of Mr. Tevis, to that of Crow, McCreery &
Barksdale. Up to this time the house had met and
successfully passed through two panics, and when
their stock of goods was destroyed by the " great
fire," the members of the firm instead of faltering, as
others of their associates did, were only spurred to
greater enterprise. In the fall of 1849, Mr. Crow
built a fine four-story brick warehouse at No. 216
Main Street, to which the business was removed.
83
Shortly after that date Mr. Barksdale retired to
engage in the banking business, and the firm-name
was changed to that of Crow, McCreery & Co. P.
R. McCreery died in November, 1861, and George
D. Appleton retired in the succeeding year. The
members of the firm then were Wayman Crow, Wm.
H. Hargadine, Hugh McKittrick, David D. Walker,
and Francis Ely.
In 1871 the firm removed to the new Chouteau
buildings, 523 North Main Street (near Washington
Avenue), and occupied a handsome warehouse twenty-
eight feet front by one hundred and forty feet deep,
employing four stories for the storage of goods. The
building was provided with all the modern appliances
for transacting business with facility, including two
elevators, one for the passage of customers from
floor to floor, and the other for raising and lowering
goods.
A newspaper, in its notice of the removal, remarked
at the time, " The contrast between the small building
on Water and Oak Streets, where the firm first began
business, and the palatial house now occupied by
them is scarcely less than that between the St. Louis
of 1835 and the St. Louis of 1871, and not more
marked than the changes that have been made in the
mode and extent of business, the character of and
terms upon which sales are made, and the facilities for
handling and time of transit of goods from the for-
eign and domestic looms to the warehouse here and
their distribution to interior merchants. The sales of
one hundred thousand dollars per annum have in-
creased to two million dollars, while credits have
shrunk from six months to thirty and sixty days, with
collections as prompt now as they then were dilatory.
The country merchants visited the city once in six
months, and the business of the year was crowded into
two periods of thirty days each, and dullness inter-
vened for four or five months, while now each day
brings its quota of purchasers, and upon any day in
the winter as much business is done, relatively to the
trade of the year, as was then transacted in the three
months of December, January, and February. Then
the population of the Mississippi valley was confined
to a narrow belt skirting the river and its tributaries,
and the whistle of the locomotive was an unknown
sound. Now, with increased population in all the
great States of the valley, and with new regions daily
being opened up to our commerce, Mr. Crow seems
in his energy and enterprise to emulate his youth and
still strive to place St. Louis in the front rank of com-
mercial cities."
The present firm, under the style of Crow, Harga-
dine & Co., is composed of Wayman Crow, William
1302
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
A. Hargadine, Hugh McKittrick, and Edward J.
Glasgow, Jr. The warehouse, a handsome and im-
posing structure, is situated at the southeast corner of
Eighth Street and Washington Avenue.
The great firm of Dodd, Brown & Co. was estab-
lished in January, 1866, by Samuel M. Dodd and
James G. Brown, who located on the corner of Main
and Locust Streets, in a four-story building twenty-
five feet by one hundred and twenty feet, and filled it
with what was then considered a very large stock.
Their sales during the first year aggregated one mil-
lion two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, giving
who commenced the dry-goods business at No. 418
Franklin Avenue, with a cash capital of two thou-
sand three hundred dollars. From this small begin-
ning they have gradually built up one of the largest
dry-goods houses in the country, and having made no
less than six large additions to the original building,
now occupy an imposing structure at the southeast
corner of Fifth Street and Franklin Avenue.
In addition to the above there are a large number
of flourishing dry-goods firms in St. Louis, and the
trade is of vast proportions. The amount of capital
employed in the business was estimated by Joseph
DODD. BROWN & CO.,
Corner Fifth and St. ChiirK's Streets.
them a front rank in the trade. The firm continued
business at the original store until 1869, when it re-
moved to 217 North Main Street. In 1871 it erected
the present warehouse at the northeast corner of Fifth
and St. Charles Streets. It is an immense building,
five stories in height with a basement, covering about
sixty thousand square feet, and provided with all the
conveniences necessary to facilitate the vast business
of the firm. The house as at present constituted is
composed of Samuel M. and Marcus D. Dodd, James
G. Brown, and Hamilton Daughaday.
The firm of D. Crawford & Co. was established in
1866 by Dugald Crawford and Alexander Russell,
Franklin, of the William Barr Dry-Goods Company,
in 1880, at §10,000,000, and the amount of business
annually at 835,000,000. From 1870 to 1880 the
trade had doubled in the aggregate.
In 1881 twelve exclusively wholesale and importing
houses were engaged in the trade, besides seven dry-
goods commission houses and one wholesale and retail
house, making a total of twentv houses encashed in
m
wholesaling dry- goods. The business transacted during
the year amounted in value to over $28,000,000. In
addition to the wholesale houses there were 207 retail
establishments in St. Louis.
Closely allied with the dry-goods trade are the
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1303
• wholesale fancy goods and notions and the wholesale
millinery and straw goods trades. In the fancy goods
and notions trade twenty-four wholesale houses were
engaged in 1881, their business annually amounting
to about $8,000,000. The number of wholesale and
retail houses engaged in the same trade, in addition
to the twenty-four houses referred to, was 183.
In the wholesale millinery and straw goods business
eleven large concerns were engaged, with a business
amounting to more than three million dollars per
annum, besides which there were eighty-eight mil-
linery firms.
The extensive carpet and curtain house of John
Kennard & Sons, long eminent in enterprise and busi- i
ness standing, is the oldest house in the special line !
of goods dealt in in the whole West, and the largest
house in its trade west of New York. It has occu- I
pied the same locality for twenty-seven years, during j
which time its business connections and volume of |
trade have steadily and continually increased, and its i
reputation for taste and judgment, like its commercial j
standing and mercantile repute, has never ceased to
rise higher and higher.
The founder of this house, John Kennard, even
before he came to St. Louis, had made himself known
both in the East and the West as one of the most
energetic and enterprising men of business of his
day. His knowledge of goods and of the trade was
remarkably extensive ; his reputation in the East as a
buyer was only excelled by his standing in the West
as a salesman and judge of the market. He had the
closest and most intimate familiarity with the pro-
cesses of manufacture and the tendencies and drift of
custom ; one glance at a fabric enabled him to dis-
cover at once how and of what it was made, and what
were its prospects to please the taste or satisfy the
notions of customers.
John Kennard was a Marylander by birth, and de-
scended of ancient and honorable stock, English in
ancestry, on both the male and female sides of the
house. His father, John Kennard, was the grandson
of the Kennard (John also) who immigrated from
England in the early part of the eighteenth century.
John Kennard of the existing firm is th& fifth John
Kennard, son of John, the fifth in direct line from
the settler in " Old Kent." John Kennard the first
patented an estate of considerable proportions in
Kent County, Md., the property being about Worton.
Some of his descendants still hold land in that neigh-
borhood and about Rock Hall. John the second, un-
like several other of his father's children, who settled
elsewhere in the peninsula of Maryland and Delaware
(one went to Philadelphia, another to South Carolina
and made a fortune), remained at the paternal home-
stead, his by right of birth as the oldest born, and
here his son, John the third, was born March 28,
1778. John, the third, when he grew up left the
home place and settled in Talbot County, where,
Jan. 15, 1807, he married Mary Spencer. John
Kennard the third was a man of remarkable and
stately presence, and his manners had something of
the grand air. He lived in different parts of Mary-
land and the West, dying eventually in Lexington,
Ky., on Jan. 8, 1840. His wife, Mary Spencer, who
survived to the age of eighty-seven years, a hale and
hearty nonagenarian, was a daughter of Hon. Perry
Spencer, one of the most considerable men of his day
and section, a ship-builder of prominence when the
ship-yards of the Chesapeake were famous all over the
world, a leading politician and representative, and
three times in immediate succession (1800-8) elector
for his State on the Presidential ticket. His home-
stead, " Spencer Hall," on Miles River, had been con-
tinuously in the family from the arrival of the founder
of the family, James Spencer, in 1670.
John Kennard the fourth, the subject of this
sketch, son of John the third and Mary Spencer, was
born in the town of Easton, Talbot Co., Md., Aug.
14, 1801). His parents had other children, — Perry
S. Kennard, of St. Louis ; Robert 0., of Vicksburg ;
Mary, married to Dr. Newman, of St. Louis ; and
Elizabeth, wife of Whittington King, of Lexington,
Ky.
A few years after the birth of John Kennard fourth
his parents removed to Baltimore and took up their
residence in that city. • Mr. Kennard, Sr., had nearly
impoverished himself by undertaking the guardian-
ship of his father's minor children and acting the part
of a father to them, and he was consequently not able
to give his son John any great educational advantages.
Indeed, he received but little schooling, and it was
only by giving the same assiduous attention to books,
reading, and study which he applied to business that
the young man was able to repair the defects of so
meagre an academic training as had beeu at his com-
mand. He was still only a lad when he entered the
wholesale dry-goods house of Thomas Mummey (after-
wards Mummey & Meredith, Mummey, Meredith &
Spencer, and Meredith & Spencer), one of the largest
establishments in Baltimore, and having control espe-
cially of an extensive Western and Southern trade.
Here Mr. Kennard was able to learn the rudiments
of commerce and merchandise under exceptionally
favorable auspices, and he made such good use of his
opportunities that he speedily became known as one
of the best young business men in the city, and in a
1304
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
few years had such confidence in his own energy and
capacity as to go into business for himself. In 1832
the Asiatic cholera desolated Baltimore, and in a few
days Mr. Mummey, his wife, his brother and his wife
were all borne to the grave, none of them surviving
more than a few hours' illness. It was in this first
encounter with the dreaded pestilence in its most fatal
form (for then no one knew anything about the dis-
ease and its treatment) that Mr. Kennard acquired
that familiar knowledge of nursing in epidemics and
of the way to combat diseases of the kind which he
afterwards put to such exemplary and heroic use
during the visits of the cholera plague to Lexington
and St. Louis. In the former city his services iu
these seasons of affliction will not soon be forgotten,
though most of the generation in which they were
rendered has already passed away. In 1833, Wednes-
day evening, August 21st, by Rev. Eli Henkle, pastor
of St. John's Methodist Protestant Church, Baltimore,
Mr. Kennard was married to Rebecca Owings Mum-
mey, daughter of his former employer, lately deceased.
Mrs. Kennard's family was good old Maryland
stock all round. There are no better people in
ancient Baltimore County than those who bear the
names of Cockey, Deye, and Owings. Thomas
Mummey's grandfather was Joshua, son of Richard
Owings, an extensive owner of mill-seats ; his grand-
mother was Mary Cockey, daughter of John and
Eliza Cockey. The names of Cockey, Deye, Owings,
and their kinsfolk the Gists are familiar enough all
through the West, where they were pioneers ; but
before that they were pioneers also in Maryland.
Joshua Owings was one of the members of the first
vestry of the first Episcopal Church in Maryland west
of Baltimore, and in his house (it is still standing,
though greatly altered) the first Methodist converts
in Maryland assembled, and Asbury preached his
first sermons. Mary Cockey (Owings) was born
Dec. 10, 1716, and died Feb. 6, 1768, the mother
of ten children. One of these children, Marcella,
born July 5, 1748, married Thomas Worthington,
and lived to be ninety-six years old. Another, Re-
becca, born Jan. 27, 1751, was married to Samuel
Mummey, and died Dec. 24, 1806.
Samuel Mummey (it has been conjectured that the
name was originally Munnings, but it is undoubtedly
the same name now so familiar in Washington
County, Md., as Mumma, and the original of which,
Mumme, meaning " masker," " nmminer," is of very
frequent occurrence in and around Bremen) was one
of three brothers who came when very young from
Germany and settled in Baltimore County, — trades-
men, with no fortune but their craft and their indus-
try. The other two brothers were John and Chris-
topher. John married Margaretta Beam, one of a
milling family, and Christopher, after doing service
in the army of Washington during the Revolution,
went 'West and settled in Kentucky.
Samuel Mummey and Rebecca, his wife, were the
parents of six children, of whom Thomas, the eldest,
was born Oct. 26, 1774, in Baltimore County. He
had but scant schooling, but was a well-read man
before he died. He came to Baltimore very early to
seek his fortune, his estate at that time consisting
chiefly of a new suit of clothes and seven or eight
silver dollars, the products of the sale of the skins
of rabbits caught in his traps during the winter.
Ten years later he was in business for himself, and
pushing his way toward that fortune with a most
untiring energy. His associates on Market Street
habitually called him par excellence " the minute-
man." On July 13, 1797, Thomas Mummey was
married to Catharine Fishburne, of Frederick County,
Md., born May 14, 1778, the daughter of Philip
Fishburne and Elizabeth, his wife. Philip Fish-
burne was English by birth, a man of studious turn,'
with a bent for astronomy. He had been educated
in Germany with the intention of becoming a clergy-
man. This plan had been abandoned and emigration
to America substituted for it; but the studious man
still retained his piety and his fondness for the ven-
erable old tomes, vellum-bound quartos, and pig-skin
folios which were in his library. He was a member
of the Committee of Safety in Frederick County
during the Revolutionary war, and was greatly es-
teemed.
Thomas and Catharine Mummey had thirteen chil-
dren, of whom Rebecca, the wife of John Kennard,
was the eighth. " Sister" Mummey, as all her con-
temporaries used to call her, was in every way a most
beautiful character, lovely in her person, flawless in
her soul, and brilliant of mind, — a woman whom all
looked up to, and to whom leadership was natural.
Sister Mummey's house was the resort of the whole
Methodist Conference ; Sister Mummey's " class"
and prayer-meeting and missionary society were the
most esteemed of all their kind in the community.
The " sainted woman" was what the Catholic ladies
and priests who encountered her in her errands of
charity and of consolation used to call her. Sister
Mummey had energy to match her zeal and decision
to balance the sweet serenity of her character. She
led the secession in 1829 out of which the Methodist
Protestant Church grew, and once, when her husband's
business became involved through indorsing for others,
she went into business herself, and not only supported
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1305
the family, but always had a thousand dollars or so to
lend her husband to take up a note maturing at an ill
time. As for Thomas Mummey, the minute-man, it
is enough to say that he was worthy to be husband
of this Sister Catharine, the sainted woman. He lost
two or three fortunes by the default of those whom
he helped in business, yet when he died in 1832 each
of his children got a clean little fortune out of his
estate. He was a man of aifairs, helpful and public-
spirited ; was a defender of Baltimore at the battle of
North Point, member of the City Council, director in
the State Penitentiary, and prominent in fire compa-
nies, insurance companies, and banks.
Not long after his marriage with Rebecca Mummey,
John Kennard went to the West in search of a busi-
ness location. He had determined to cross the Alle-
ghenies into the West and plant himself at some place
where he might grow up with the country. He landed
at St. Louis the day of the dedication of the Cathedral,
and visited Cincinnati and other places, but without
coming to a decision. After an experiment with Madi-
son, Ind., Mr. Kennard at length established himself in
the " Athens of the West," Lexington, Ky., the heart
and pride of the Blue Grass region. Here John and
his father went into the dry- goods business, but the old
gentleman only lived to 1840, and his son established
other business connections. It was a bad time for
business in the West, after the terrible panic, collapse,
and depression of 1837, when that section, the centre
of the gigantic land speculations, suffered most, because
all values were locked up in land, and sunk together in
the common vortex of one universal depreciation. Mr.
Kennard had a young and growing family, and there
were a good many people besides, more or less help-
less themselves, whom it was the instinctive need of
his heart, rather than the demand of reason or prac-
tical judgment, to help on and prop up somehow,
though he made himself their staff. But he had the
energy, the vitality, the industry of a dozen men.
Nothing could keep such a man down. He could not
fetter himself so tightly that his own forces were unable
to break the bonds. And he had much to give away,
because he was so simple in his habits, knowing noth-
ing beyond the pale of his church, his family, and his
business. Not many years before his death he told
the writer of this that he could not recollect that
in all his life he had spent five dollars altogether
upon himself. A more unselfish man never lived,
nor a better and more devoted husband and father,
nor a more consistent, humble-minded Christian, nor
a better man of business.
In business Mr. Kennard conjoined to a consum-
mate tact and a delicate and perfectly educated taste
a fiery energy in action, the closest scrutiny and super-
vision in management, and a knowledge and intimate
familiarity with all the details which could not be sur-
passed. He knew every part of every department
himself, and looked after it himself. His quickness
and dispatch were almost marvelous, and in every
case they rested upon a perfect and thorough ac-
quaintance with his subject in all its bearings.
After Mr. Kennard had established himself at last
in the carpet trade in Lexington, had taken his sons
in with him, and thoroughly grasped the business and
all its possibilities, he found that the field in Lexing-
ton was too small for such a trade as he sought for
J. Kennard & Sons. The town was rich, but it was
old, conservative, off the line of travel. The maxi-
mum of sales was easy to reach, but it was not easy
for one to get above and beyond that ; in fact, it could
not be transcended. Mr. Kennard made up his mind.
He wanted to build up a large business, which, put in
the hands of his sons, trained in his methods and
brought up under his eye, might be expanded by them
to indefinitely great proportions. He removed to St.
Louis, established himself there, on Fourth Street, in
the carpet and curtain trade in 1857, and that is the
beginning of the present house.
With such a foundation the house might be ex-
pected to prosper, and so it did from the very first.
Mr. Kennard was always successful in St. Louis ; he
made money rapidly from the start, and might have
accumulated largely. But he had set out in life with
the determination never to be worth more than fifty
thousand dollars, and when his earnings rose above
that self-imposed limit he quietly gave the surplus
away.
Mr. Kennard died Nov. 18, 1872, aged sixty-three
years, the cause of his death being typhoid pneu-
monia. A shaft marks the place of his interment in
Bellefontaine Cemetery. His widow survives him.
Mr. and Mrs. Kennard were the parents of eight
children. Of these, three are living, — Mary Rebecca,
John, and Samuel M., comprising the existing firm of
J. Kennard & Sons.
The house and the business are a hundredfold
larger in every way than the J. Kennard & Sons of
Lexington in 1857, yet it is conducted upon identi-
cally the same principles, and owes its success, its
prosperity, and its capacity for safe and unchecked
expansion to the fact that it has retained the methods
and the groundwork of the elder John Kennard. His
insight, tact, discrimination, good taste, prompt meth-
ods, close scrutiny, square and upright dealings, and
safe and sound financiering are part of the capital and
the stock in trade of the house to-day. It is not only
1306
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
as a reminiscence, but as a symbol also that the firm
and the sign remain to-day as originally constituted,
John Kennard & Sons. He is still, in spirit, influence,
and example, the head of the house he established.
The late William Henry Haggerty was at one time
among the largest retail dry-goods merchants of the
city. Mr. Haggerty was born in County Cork, Ire-
land, Sept. 6, 1829, of parents who were widely
known and highly respected. His mother having
been left a widow and thrown upon her own resources,
engaged in mercantile business, in which she achieved
remarkable success. Her sons inherited her talents
for trade, and when William Henry left Ireland for
America, being then but eighteen years old, he found
employment in a large dry-goods house, successfully
conducted by three brothers, in New Orleans.
Young Haggerty spent some five years in that
business and then removed to St. Louis, having just
two dollars and fifteen cents in his pocket when he
landed. He went to the house of Murdoch & Dick-
son (yet well remembered), explained his condition
and the plan he had formed to go into business,
showed the two dollars and fifteen cents, and asked
for a little credit. Murdoch scrutinized the young
man, and remarking that he " seemed like a nice, honest
Irishman," granted the request, and young Haggerty
started out with a lot of whips which he peddled
about town. He soon returned and paid the little in-
debtedness, a matter of but two or three dollars.
From this transaction there resulted a friendship that
lasted until Mr. Murdoch's death, many years later.
Having saved money enough to buy a horse and
wagon, his next venture was to purchase a stock of
tea, which he sold by the pound to the French cot-
tagers on the G-ravois road and other parts of the town
far from retail stores. In this also he succeeded, and
soon realized a sum sufficient to justify the thought
of marriage and of engaging regularly in business.
In 1854 he returned to New Orleans, and was
married to Anna M. Boylan, daughter of Commodore
Boylan, who was interested in a steamship line from
New Orleans to Liverpool.
During the same year he embarked in the retail
dry-goods trade, and prospered to such an extent that
he ventured to open a more pretentious business in
what was then known as the " red store," on Seventh
Street, opposite the Centre Market, between Spruce
and Poplar Streets. Many of the oldest families in the
city were his customers, and he made money rapidly.
He was ever on the alert for advantageous bargains,
and made a practice of frequenting auction sales of
fire and bankrupt stocks, and while he bought boldly,
his judgment was seldom at fault, and he soon came
to be regarded as one of the best business men in the
city in that particular line.
In 1862 he disposed of his retail business and en-
gaged in the wholesale jobbing trade on Main Street.
Then for some years he conducted a wholesale auction
house, and finally once more engaged in the jobbing
business. In January, 1880, he admitted his son
Thomas J. as partner, and placed the business in his
charge. He next became a member of the auction
i firm of Haggerty & Dewes, and finally, having been
incapacitated for work by an accident, he merged his
jobbing business into a stock company under the cor-
porate name of Haggerty & Son Auction Goods Com-
pany, in which shape the business was being conducted
when he died, March 11, 1882, leaving a handsome
fortune to his widow and a family of nine children.
Mr. Haggerty was a zealous member of the Catholic
Church, and for sixteen years of St. John's parish.
His life was marked by many deeds of unostentatious
charity, and he was deeply interested in all the benevo-
lent enterprises of the church, especially those in-
volving the care of orphans. He was also a member
of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, and was one of
the five charter members of the Knights of St. Pat-
rick. In all these relations he shunned publicity, but
his advice was always sought, and generally proved
judicious.
When a boy Mr. Haggerty enjoyed but scanty
• school privileges, and it is said that, realizing his
deficiencies, he used to spend his evenings, after the
; day's hard work was over, in the store at New Orleans,
! under the direction of one of the older brothers, in
learning to write, " cipher," and keep books. From
this point onward his success was steady and uniform,
and in his particular line of business he deserves to be
; classed among the representative men of St. Louis.
Silk. — The Morus multicaulis fever reached Mis-
souri in 1838-39, and forthwith spread like a prairie
on fire. " The theory was a beautiful one : one acre
planted in mulberry-trees would feed worms sufficient
to produce thousands of dollars of silk, — wealth could
not be garnered sooner from a Potosi mine."1 In the
Republican of March 7, 1839, " the stockholders in
the Missouri Silk Company" were advised that, —
" The undersigned, being the persons named in the act in-
corporating the Missouri Silk Company to call a meeting of the
members of said association for the acceptance of and organiza-
tion under said act, do hereby give notice that a meeting will
be held on Monday evening, March 18, 1839, at 7 P.M.
" William C. Anderson, John J. Anderson, Andrew J.
Davis, Charles P. Billon, Joseph Settinius, N. Pas-
chall, H. Perrin."
Edwards' Great West.
mis.
I HE
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1307
The visions of home-made silk, however, were
rapidly dissipated, and the Missouri Silk Company
quietly accepted the inevitable and " closed its little
being without light.''
Clothing, Hats, Caps, and Furs. — The manufac-
ture and sale of ready-made clothing is one of the
leading industries of St. Louis,1 the business also
embracing hosiery, gloves, handkerchiefs, neck-wear,
etc. Sixteen firms were engaged in the wholesale
clothing trade in 1881, the business aggregating four
million dollars. The number of wholesale and retail
firms was seventy-six. In the wholesale hat, cap, and
fur trade seven firms, besides thirty-eight retail firms,
were engaged, the business aggregating two million
five hundred thousand dollars.
P. AV. HUMPHREY & CO.,
Northeast corner Fifth and Pine Streets.
One of the prominent clothing firms is that of F. W.
Humphrey & Co. (F. W. Humphrey and Henry S.
1 Aug. 17, 1808, was published in the Missouri Gazette the
advertisement of William Harris, hatter. August 24th, Calvin
Burns, tailor, announced that lie wanted two or three journey-
Ferguson), who occupy a building at the northeast
corner of Fifth and Pine Streets.
Edward Martin, one of the leading manufacturers
of clothing and prominent business men of St. Louis,
was born June 9, 1830, in Parish Fintona, County
Tyrone, Ireland, where his father and uncle owned
freehold estates and were considered wealthy. Ed-
ward was employed upon his father's farm until 1852,
when, desiring to better his condition, he relinquished
his claim as oldest son to the paternal estate and came
to the United States, settling in Cincinnati, where he
found employment in the dry-goods house of James &
John Slevin. In this occupation he succeeded finely,
exhibiting superior business qualifications. His habits
of economy enabled him to save some money, and in
1858 he was prepared to establish himself in business.
He engaged in the manufacture and sale of clothing
by wholesale, and soon built up a large and substantial
business, and the house, although not claimed to be
the largest in Cincinnati, was recognized as one of the
most flourishing there. It employed at one time
three hundred hands, and its yearly sales were not far
from half a million dollars. Its trade was largely
with the West and South, and desiring to be nearer
the actual field of its operations, Mr. Martin, in 1867,
established a branch house in St. Louis, and placed it
in charge of his two brothers, Claude and John
Martin. In 1873, Mr. Martin consolidated the two
housse and removed to St. Louis, where he has since
resided.
Under the name and style of Edward Martin &
Co., his clothing establishment is known to the trade
as well as to the general public as one of the solid in-
stitutions of the city. Its yearly transactions amount
to hundreds of thousands of dollars, and it employs a
large number of hands. If it is not in the very front
rank of houses in its special line of trade, it is through
no lack of ability on the part of Mr. Martin ; but he
is accustomed to say that he is making money fast
enough and does not want to burden himself with the
care of a large business. As a clothing manufacturer,
Mr. Martin has been uniformly successful. He has
never met with any mishaps, and has always been able
to pay his obligations as they matured. The same
men. Sept. 6, 1809, Bernard Lalande, merchant tailor from
Bordeaux, advertised the latest Paris and London fashions. In
July, 1817, Doun & McDaniel, tailors, were practicing their
trade "on Main Street, opposite R. Paul." March 6, 1818, J.
II. Boyer, " tailor from Europe," notified the public that he
might be found at P. Chouteau's. Feb. 3, 1819, Joseph White
& Co., hatters, had a store " below Hull's grocery." April 8, 1820,
MeKenna & Co., tailors from New York, announced that they
had established themselves "in Mrs. Vincent's new frame, next
to her residence, Main Street."
1308
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
reason that has induced him to keep his business
within moderate limits has prevented him from going
outside to indulge in speculation. His only venture,
therefore, outside of his business has been a little
" deal" in real estate, and he owns a few pieces of
valuable property in some of the choicest business
quarters of St. Louis. Mr. Martin, in other words,
is a quiet, observant business man, and his career
shows that signal success may be won from small be-
ginnings, simply by careful, close, and honest dealings,
a thrifty attention to details, and an avoidance of specu-
lation.
The Provision Trade. — No interest in St. Louis
has developed more largely in recent years than the
provision trade in all its branches. The live-stock
interest, taken as a whole, places St. Louis in the
second rank of all American cities, and this satisfac-
tory showing is largely contributed to by the packers
and other dealers, whose business since 1861 has been
dignified as a special interest.
As early as 1832 there appears to have been meat-
packing, purely for local consumption, in St. Louis,
but of course in a small way, scarcely larger in extent,
perhaps, than the more primitive practice of a decade
earlier of drying meat in the sun.
The number of hogs packed in St. Louis in 1843-
44 was above 16,000 head; 1844-45, 13,000 head;
1845-46, 31,000 head ; and 1846-47, to January
6th, 20,053 head.
In 1861 the local product first began to assume
proportions capable of comparison with the importa-
tions, and for a few years thereafter the demand for
supplies to fill the calls of the commissary department
of the United States army greatly enhanced the value
of the product and improved the trade.
RECEIPTS AND SHIPMENTS OF HOG PRODUCT AT ST. LOUIS.
Year.
Receipts for Twenty-one Years.
Pork. Ham and Meats.
flnrreJs.
Pounds.
Lard.
Pounds.
1882
78,502
92,217,813
18,480,610
1881
17,692
77,736,968
16,526,606
1880
13,658
77,376,418
8,248,208
1879
32,113
92,983,380
8,415,176
1878
52,200
58,611,064
7,019,741
1877
45,482
48,203,972
7,087,001
1876
45,632
50,290,716
6,067,325
1875
46,547
51,556,146
6,732,320
1874
55,453
52,104,380
6,877,560
1873
57,476
50,071,760
8,981,820
1872
60,207
63,434,860
11,288,890
1871
88,442
57,804,350
10,093,460
1870
77,398
44,494,770
6,215,150
1869
78,236
47,225,140
7,778,410
1868
85,127
46,753,360
5,941,650
1867
92,071
47,623,450
7,229,670
1866
56,740
31,278,150
5,004,870
1865
66,822
34,781,570
6,391,030
1864
71,559
45,291,770
9,057,250
1863
34,256
49,387,870
9,501,930
1862
51,187
40,340,850
11,592,940
Shipments for
Year. Pork.
Barrels.
1882 inn. 139
Eighteen Years
Ham and Meats.
Pounds.
140,785,135
139.012,260
146,362,997
159,398,870
125,602.088
119,955,382
106,803,076
105,809,598
133,486.380
184,392,770
147,141,960
123,665,060
77,501,130
75,755,450
58,228,270
70,095,130
49,897,050
64.910.870
Lard.
Pound*.
39,829,146
43,449,768
38,004,829
38,925,903
40,452,505
34,725,726
29,292,879
24,145,176
27,112.270
37,156,811)
33,943,860
30,750,470
15,507,840
13,322,900
12,945,490
14,318,210
7,462,230
9.569.830
1881...
71,826
1880...
79,416
1879...
1878...
1877...
89,385
112,375
108,768
1876...
86,141
1875...
95,503
1874..
90 343
1873...
105,876
1872...
114,329
1871...
131 7.32
1870...
115 236
1869...
120,002
1868...
130 268
1867...
138,226
1866...
92,595
1865...
.. 109.702
PACKING AT ST. LOUIS FOR TWENTY-ONE SEASONS.
Seasons.
1881 82
Number
Hogs.
. . 31fi 379
Average
Weight.
253 97 gross
Average
yield Lnrd,
all kinds.
35 13
Average
cost per 100
Ibs. Gross.
621
1880-81
.. 474 159
250 86 "
35 56
4 62
1879-80
.... 577 793
258 18 "
3608
405
1878-79
... 6^9,261
264 "
4045
283
1877-78
.. 5119 540
270 "
38 20
396
1876-77
.... 414 747
255 "
32 55
570
1875-76
... 329,895
268 47 "
36 56
717
1874-75
.. 469 246
240 "
30
700
1873-74
... 463 793
261 53 "
3418
1872-73
... 638 000
260 "
34 .')0
1871 "2
. 419032
263 15 "
35 17
1870-71
... 30-i 600
216 net.
1869-70
.... 241 316
190 50 "
1868-69
.... 231 937
189 27 "
1867 68
237 160
193 91 "
1866-67
.... 183543
222 34 "
1865-66
.... 123,335
208.91 "
1864-65
.... 191 890
178 50 "
1863-64
... 244600
179 "
1862-63
.... 178,750
207 "
1861-62....,
. 89.093
224.50 "
PACKING AT ST. LOUIS FOR TWELVE MONTHS.
Hogs.
March 1 to March 1, 1881-82 556,379
" " 1880-81 884,159
" " 1879-80 927,793
" " 1878-79 771,261
It is, of course, understood that the packing season
includes less than a calendar year.
There are thirty-five packing firms in St. Louis,
some of them very extensive and of national reputa-
tion in the trade for their large product and the ex-
cellence of their wares. St. Louis cured hams of
favorite brands and canned beef of the St. Louis
Beef-Canning Company have an extensive foreign as
well as American reputation. Indeed, the export
trade in this line has in recent years grown to mam-
moth proportions.
The provision trade of St. Louis in all its ramifica-
tions probably represents, including buildings, public
and private, a capital of $12,000,000, and an annual
product in excess of that amount in value. It is
therefore a very large interest, both in its home and
foreign character.
The sources of supply during 1880 and 1881 were:
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1309
POEK.
HAMS.
MEATS.
LARD.
1880.
1881.
1880.
1881.
1880.
1881.
1880.
1881.
Enst
Bblt.
1,754
6,677
48
5,179
Jtblt.
1,934
13,354
272
2,132
Lbt.
2,069,664 .
457,561
54,664
358,985
Lbt.
3,823,719
554.028
77,378
929,613
Lbt.
39,340,985
12,406,590
177,033
22,510,936
Lbs.
48,585,196
11,414,606
160,782
12,191,646
Lbi.
5,511,495
989,178
306,887
1,440,648
L6».
12,311,541
2,117,293
260,582
1,837,190
East and Northeast..
North
Total
13,658
17,692
2,940,874
5,384,738
74,435,544
72,352,230
8,248,208
16,526,606
The exports during the same period, and the direction of the same, were:
PORK.
HAMS.
MEATS.
LARD.
1880.
1881.
1880.
1881.
1880.
1881.
1880.
1881.
Northward
Bblt.
76,077
3,032
74
233
Bblt.
68,943
505
2,134
244
Lbt.
9,594,793
12,006,449
2,064,105
113,915
Lbt.
8,730,855
6,795,426
1,683,374
136,765
Lbs.
102,582,677
18,797,356
1,013,115
190,587
Lbt.
96,081,872
24,375,452
1,162,759
45,757
Lbs.
23,557,013
13,977,911
358,890
111,015
Lbs.
25,144,585
17,255,650
887,061
162,472
Eastward
Westward
Southward
Total
79,416
71,826
23,779,262
17,346,420
122,583,735
121,665,840
38,004,829
43,449,768
The growing popularity of American side-meat and
hams in Europe largely accounts for this change in
method of foreign shipments to the bulk form, and a
similar change of form is proportionately true of beef,
for while only 9000 barrels and tierces were shipped,
the enormous quantity of 4,037,164 pounds of canned
beef was sent abroad from this market in 1881.
Charles W. Knapp, in his able paper on " St. Louis :
Past, Present, and Future," read before the " Round
Table" as late as Oct. 14, 1882, presents the follow-
ing review of her produce, provision, and live-stock
trades :
"We can see as a general fact that a large majority of the
8050 purely mercantile concerns in St. Louis conduct some
species of retail or merchandise jobbing business, but there is
no sort of statistical information respecting these departments of
trade; so we can only survey intelligently the operations of the
limited class who conduct the produce, provision, and live-stock
trades, of which the exchanges compile full and interesting re-
ports. These are, however, not alone the direct sources of
great wealth, but largely the mainspring of all other trade, and
it is the first striking evidence of the commercial importance
of St. Louis that the value of the produce, provisions, and live-
stock handled here is exceeded in no other city in the world ex-
cept Chicago. I estimate the value of the commodities of this
kind which St. Louis handled in 1881, including lumber, as
$200,000,000, while the secretary of the Chicago Board of
Trade puts down $300,000,000 for that city, and the superin-
tendent of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce $130,000,000
for that city. Exhibit No. 7 will show you the receipts of all
important products of the farm, forest, and mine at both Chicago
and St. Louis.
EXHIBIT No. 7 — RECEIPTS OP THE CALENDAR YEAR 1881.
Chicago.
St. Louis.
Flour
bbls.
Grost.
4,816,239
14,824,990
78,393,315
24.861,538
1 ,363,552
6,695,358
21,668,575
Net.
956,457
11,884,256
61,464,899
14,451,494
'837,779
4,244,892
4,304,056
Gross.
I,(i20,996
13,243,571
21,259,310
6,295,050
469,769
2,411,723
7,294,482
Wheat
Oats
bush.
Rye
bush.
Total
146,807,328
97,187,377
50,871,805
465,332
22,042
503,862
1,672,153
334,426
54,547
17,692
72,352,230
43,449,768
98,097
1,378,759
1 85,763
8,247,401
20.079,814
Il,l!i8,272
434,043,094
56,578,785
173,307
116,240
925,406
1,800,000
Cotton
I III 1 OH
bhds
Cattle
Hogs
head.
1,498,550
6,474,844
493,624
12,906
52,298
138,787,745
61,403,1)71
57,452
2,386,105
1541,054
66,270,785
77,803,155
45,343,995
1,878,922,000
863,915,000
298,247
324,106
17,545
2,000,000
Pork
bbls.
Meat
Ibs
Ibs
Hay
Potatoes
Malt
bush.
Butter
Ibs.
Hides
Wool
Ibs.
"•-•"-"
Lumber
feet.
Pig-iron
Coal
tons.
" I direct your attention especially to the difference between
the gross and net receipts of Chicago, for in the usual state-
ments of Chicago's trade the gross receipts are given in utter
disregard of the fact that they include everything that passes
through Chicago, as well as what stops at that city and is
handled there, although Chicago has no more interest in this
through movement than any ordinary railway station on the
lines of transit. Its Board of Trade reports give the through
movement of grain, so it is feasible to make out the net receipts,
1310
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
as I have done, but of everything else the gross receipts alone are
attainable, although thirty-four per cent, of the gross receipts of
grain being through movement, the proportion in other lines
must also be considerable. At St. Louis, on the other hand,
there is practically no through movement, except of cotton, so
that if the net receipts of that commodity be made the basis of
calculation, the fair method of comparison with Chicago is with
the net figures of that city as far as obtainable. Now look at
the exhibit and you will see that in the produce trade, at least,
St. Louis makes no mean showing beside Chicago.
" It has, doubtless, not struck you, however, that St. Louis
led Chicago in 1881 as a produce market, but if you will figure
on the value of the receipts at each city, — I mean the produce
actually handled, — you will find that the aggregate value of
what came to St. Louis exceeded what was handled at Chicago
nearly three and a half million dollars. Exhibit No. 8 will
make this plain to you and recall one of the most important re-
sults St. Louis owes to its natural advantages of situation, that
it is eligibly located for handling largely the products of both
the Northern and Southern States, so that its receipts of cotton
and tobacco more than overbalance the greater receipts of grain
at Chicago.
EXHIBIT No. 8 — MONEY VALUE OP PRODUCE RECEIPTS, 1881.
Chicago. St. Louis.
Flour $4,780,285 $9,412,800
Wheat 13,669,903 15,230,106
Corn 30,732,449 10,629,655
Oats 5,780,597 2,527,020
Rye 837,779 469,769
Barley 4,244,893 2,411,723
Cotton 20,000,000
Tobacco 3,000,000
Hay 1,000,000 1,600,000
Potatoes 1,900,000 1,100,000
Total $62,945,886 $66,381,073"
Retail Butchers. — Necessarily in a city of the size
of St. Louis the home consumption of meats is large
and the dealers numerous. The butchers number
nearly eight hundred, and there are fifteen market-
houses, the largest being the Union, on the block
between Fifth, Sixth, Christy Avenue, and Morgan
Streets.
One of the earliest butchers in St. Louis was Ben-
jamin Estill, who on the 17th of September, 1814,
published the following advertisement :
" The subscriber respectfully informs the citizens of St. Louis
that he will commence the butchering business on Monday next.
With deference he requests the heads of families and masters of
shops to meet him on that morning at market-house and par-
take of his first essay, as a free will offered at the commence-
ment of his business.
" The farmers who make St. Louis a market for their beef are
invited to call on the subscriber at the Sign of the Cross-Keys, at
the south end of St. Louis, and make positive contracts for their
cattle, as the subscriber wishes to destroy the prevailing idea
of advantages being taken of them in bringing their beef to this
market. Those who will favor him with their custom shall
always have their money on the delivery of their beef.
" BENJAMIN ESTILL."
Public markets are, however, less popular than
formerly, and most of the butchers have their own
shops, a majority belonging to the Meat Shopmen's
Association, organized in 1879 to protect the dealers
against excessive license fees. In this they have suc-
ceeded, after much litigation carried to the court of
last resort in the State.
A Butchers' Association, however, was formed as
early as 1859.
" The butchers of St. Louis to the number of about eighty,"
says a contemporary account, "held a meeting yesterday after-
noon [Aug. 25, 1859], at Washington Hall, for the purpose of
forming an association ' for the more effectual protection of their
interests.' If we understand the case clearly, the association is
designed to make arrangements by which the butchers will be
able themselves to render the tallow and tan the hides which
they now sell to the dealers in those articles.
" On motion, Capt. James C. Denny was called to the chair,
and C. L. Kraft appointed secretary. The following preamble
and resolutions were offered and unanimously adopted :
" WHEREAS, The butchers of St. Louis, for their mutual benefit,
the further advancement of their own interests, and to put a
stop to unfair oppression, have seen fit to form themselves into
an association;
" Resolved, That we form ourselves into an association to be
known as the Butchers' Rendering Association of St. Louis.
" Resolved, That a finance committee be appointed, whose
duty it shall be to wait upon the butchers and collect whatever
installments shall be adjudged necessary.
" Resolved, That a committee of ways and means be appointed
to ascertain the most practical way of commencing operations.
" The following financial committee was then appointed : An-
drew Hochmuth, Hampton Woodruff, George Hughes, Daniel
Frewoyd, Robert Dickey, Edward Heitzberg, Vincent & Block,
Eckert Gotschamer, John Krutse, J. Stuart, Christ. Zimmer,
George Sehrader, N. Christian, T. McNamara, Charles Zoller, F.
Hague, John Shall, Capt. Denny.
On motion, a building committee of six was appointed as
follows: William Mulhall, Thomas Kidney, James Cooney, H.
Springer, J. McNamara, Sebastian Winters." 1
1 In 1861 there was considerable dissatisfaction among tt
butchers of St. Louis owing to the existence of unlicensed shoj:
for the sale of meat, and on the 26th of December a mass-meet
ing of the butchers was held at the Wedge House to take actio
in the premises.
"On motion of James Denny, W. Hohenschild was called
the chair, and William Grant appointed secretary. The follo\
ing preamble and resolutions were unanimously adopted:
"WHERKAS, the butchers of St. Louis, lessees of stalls it
the different public markets of the city, are heavily taxed
the city for said stalls to carry on a legitimate business ; at
whereas, unlicensed meat-shops for the sale of fresh meat, cor
trary to law, are in full operation and being opened in differer
parts of the city, directly interfering with our business in tl:
markets ; and whereas, it is an undeniable fact that the butcher
in the different markets do more than any other class of men
alleviate the wants of the poor of the city and the different in-
stitutions for the support of the needy and oppressed; and
whereas, the municipal authorities are opposed to such shop
being opened or allowed; therefore,
" Resolved, That we would respectfully request the Board
Public Commissioners, in consideration of the above facts,
order the chief of police to cause all such persons selling frost
meats contrary to law to be arrested and punished accordingly
"Resolved, That a committee of three from each market
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1311
Cattle Trade, Live-Stock Yards, etc.— The geo-
graphical as well as commercial position of St. Louis
makes her the natural receiving and distributing
point for cattle, sheep, and hogs from Texas, Ar-
kansas, Illinois, Iowa, Colorado, Nebraska, and Kan-
sas. About 1848 the packing of beef and pork had
already grown to be an important industry, and as
many as thirteen establishments were engaged in the
business in St. Louis and vicinity. From the 1st of
November, 1848, to Jan. 31, 1849, the number of
beeves packed by the firms of William Risley & Son,
G. & C. Bayha, John Sigerson, Joseph J. Bates, and
Henry Ames & Co. was 2148. In 1870 the Texas
cattle trade began to seek a market in St. Louis, the
receipts of cattle for that year showing a gain of
77,857 head, mostly credited to Texan cattle. In
1871 the receipts of Texan cattle amounted to
87,210 head. The total receipts and shipments of
cattle at St. Louis during the seven years from 1865
to 1871 were:
Year. Receipts. Shipments.
1871 199,427 129,827
]870 201,422 129,748
1869 124,565 59,867
1868 115,352 37,277
1867 74,146 26,799
1866 103,259 24,462
1865 94,307 46,712
RECEIPTS AND SHIPMENTS OF SHEEP FOR SEVEN YEARS.
Year. Receipts. Shipments.
11871 118,864 38,465
1870 94,477 11,649
1869 96,626 12,416
1868 79,315 6,415
1867 62,974 19,022
1866 64,647 15,194
1865 52,133 8,680
Prior to 1873, the natural advantages offered by
St. Louis for this trade not being availed of, Chicago
appointed to confer with the butchers of their respective markets,
composed of the following gentlemen :
"Christian Vol/, Francis Mulhall, and John J. Puller, from
Museum Market.
•'Mr. Benson and Mr. Meisinger, from Gamble Market.
" Henry Springer, Win. Mulhall, and Thomas O'Connor, from
North Market.
" Hampton Woodruff, Augustus Berkley, Henry Weisel, and
; resident, from Centre Market,
r. Block, Augustus Meisebach, Henry Kurmann, and
George Lambrech, from South Market.
" Matthew O'Connor, Conrad Schnurr, and John Reeder, from
City Market.
" Charles Schuchmann, Abraham Mack, and Timothy Clancy,
from Carr Market.
" Eckhart Gottschammer and Philip Schuchmann, from
Biddle Market.
"John Schole and John Keller, from Sturgeon Market.
" Robert Dickey, William Grant, and John Burnett, from
Lucas Market.
igust Geeser and Win. Reifeis, from Soulard Market.
rilliam Murphy and Henry Pfeiffer, from Washington
let."
derived nearly all Jhe benefit of the cattle trade of
these States. It was in that year that a few Eastern
gentlemen who thoroughly realized the great possibili-
ties of the situation formed the St. Louis National
Stock-Yards Company and established the St. Louis
National Stock- Yards. This was no ordinary venture ;
the amount of money required was very large, and
the opposition from the interest of other cities that
would be antagonized had to be met with sufficient
power to overcome it. All this was accomplished,
and to-day St. Louis possesses the largest and most
complete and perfect live-stock yards in the United
States. At the same time the city secured an interest
that distributes many millions of dollars every year
among her manufacturers and merchants.
The original stockholders of the National Company
were Wm. H. Vanderbilt, Horace F. Clark, Augustus
Schell, James H. Banker, A. Boody, A. B. Baylis,
Samuel F. Barger, Allerton, Dutcher & Moore, T. C.
Eastman, Alexander M. White, Isaac H. Knox, John
L. Macaulay, John B. Bowman, and Levi Parsons, of
the Land Grant and Trust Company. Most of the
stockholders were New York capitalists. The termi-
nal facilities thus acquired for handling cattle con-
signed to the St. Louis market are extensive, and
include all the appliances of yardage, tracks, ex-
changes, pens, hotel accommodation for stockmen,
and other conveniences now demanded by this rapidly
growing interest.
The tract of land of which the stock-yards proper
form a part was purchased by the St. Louis National
Stock- Yards Company on the 1st of March, 1871,
from John B. Bowman and J. L. Griswold, of East
St. Louis. This tract, containing four hundred acres,
is situated on both sides of the Cahokia Creek, about
one mile north of the city of East St. Louis, in St.
Clair County, 111. On the east the track of the St.
Louis, Vandalia and Terre Haute Railway affords
communication, while the tract is bisected near its
western limits by the track of the Toledo, Wabash
and Western Railway. Between these two roads
there is a connecting link which passes through the
paved and improved yards, thus giving superior ad-
vantages for the reception and shipment of stock. An
addition to the original purchase was made subse-
quently by a negotiation with E. Matthews for a tract
of two hundred and fifty-two acres. The price paid
for the first four hundred acres purchased was $145,-
000. The purchase from Mr. Matthews cost the
company $50,000. The National Stock-Yards Com-
pany is therefore the owner of six hundred and fifty-
two acres of land, for which it paid $195,000.
The original capital of the incorporated company
1312
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
was one million dollars, but the charter confers the
special privilege of increasing the capital stock as
circumstances may demand.
This important enterprise was originated by the great
New York and Chicago stock firm of Allerton, Dutcher
& Moore, who are entitled to the credit of having suc-
cessfully enlisted the attention of moneyed men and
brought about a combination of some of the greatest
capitalists of the nation to carry forward the great
work. That these yards were located in Illinois in-
stead of Missouri is due solely to the fact that the
company found it impossible to purchase at any rea-
sonable price a suitable tract of sufficient extent
equally convenient to business on the Missouri side.
Though situated in Illinois, the National Stock- Yards
are essentially a St. Louis institution. The ground
having been secured, work was at once commenced.
A. M. Allerton, a gentleman of tact and energy, gave
his personal attention to the work. About one hun-
dred and fifty acres of the four-hundred-acre tract
were surveyed, and the work of grading commenced.
This was a vast undertaking, as mounds were to be
leveled down and ponds filled up, but an immense
amount of work was performed in a very short time.
The whole ground was bisected by sewers placed six
feet below the surface. Water-pipes were laid, and
regular streets or avenues were laid out. All this was
done before the work of constructing sheds, barns,
and inclosures was commenced. But this work once
completed a large force of men was at once employed
in building above ground. Vast quantities of lumber
were used in this work. The posts are all of red-
cedar ; the fencing, roofs, etc., are of yellow-pine.
The offices, hotel, and exchange hall are lighted by
gas manufactured at the company's own works, and
two powerful engines supply the yards with an abun-
dance of water.
The ground was platted, with avenues running
north and south, east and west, crossing at right
angles. Those running from the south are three
hundred and ninety-two feet apart. The first one,
called Avenue A, is one hundred and ninety-six feet
from the east line of the yard. Avenue F is one
hundred and ninety-six feet from the south line.
The avenues are divided into yards or sheds for cattle.
The original plan calls for two hundred and eighty-
nine yards. These yards accommodate fifteen thou-
sand horned cattle, and outside space with good ar-
rangements for feeding and shelter is furnished for
twenty thousand more. The yards and avenues are
paved with the Belgian pavement.
On the west side of the yard, and near to the
northwest corner, the eye rests upon an immense
frame structure, painted white, which is eleven hun-
dred and twenty-two feet long and one hundred feet
wide. Extending directly through the middle of the
building, for its entire length, is a broad passageway,
on either side of which are located the hog-pens,
seventy in number, with a total capacity of holding
twenty thousand hogs.
In the centre of the immense yard for herding
stock are situated the offices of the company. The
building is in the centre of a square, which has been
laid off with avenues extending towards the cardinal
points of the compass. The structure is of brick,
two stories, besides the basement, with sleeping ac-
commodations for clerks, watchmen, and laborers.
The chief attraction in the neighborhood of the
St. Louis National Stock -Yards is the Allerton House,
a five-story brick structure, containing over one hun-
dred and thirty chambers, besides a dining-hall, bil-
liard-room, wide halls, a large office, and parlors and
sitting-rooms. The architectural appearance of the
building is very imposing, and it is supplied with
water and gas throughout, heated by steam, and fur-
nished with all the comfortable appendages of a first-
class hotel. Thomas Walsh was the architect, and
Milburn & Sons contractors. The cost of the build-
ing was about one hundred and twenty-five thousand
dollars. The structure is one hundred and fifty feet
front, and extends back two hundred and forty-eight
feet. A portion of the back extension is only three
stories high.
The yards were formally opened on the 20th of
November, 1873, on which occasion addresses were
delivered by Hon/S. M. Kase, Hon. E. 0. Stanard,
Mayor Bowman, of East St. Louis, N. M. Bell, of
St. Louis, Hon. John Hinchcliffe, Hon. L. H. Hite,
and Judge William G. Case.
The National Yards are located about a mile beyond
East St. Louis, in a district known in early times as
" the Great American Bottom," and have a world-
wide reputation for their completeness. Railway
magnates have fostered the interest, and Jay Gould
has become a large stockholder in the National Com-
pany.
The Union Stock- Yards at Bremen are wholly a
St. Louis enterprise, and utilize about fifty acres in
terminal facilities for the handling of cattle, hogs,
and sheep. The Venice and Madison County Ferry
chiefly transports this stock over the river from Venice,
and the delay of passing through East St. Louis is
thereby avoided. A capital of three hundred and
fifty thousand dollars is employed by this establish-
ment.
The St. Louis Union Stock- Yard Company was
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1313
organized in March, 1874, and grounds, consisting of
twenty-three and a half acres, were purchased in
April for one hundred thousand dollars. No time
was lost in pushing on the work, as the exchange was
commenced in May, and the yards and pens in June.
There are 127 hog-pens, capable of containing 25,000
hogs, and 65 cattle-pens, able to accommodate 2000
head of cattle.
There are also a number of private stock-yards in
the suburbs on both sides of the river, but the bulk of
the import and export trade necessarily gravitates
toward the public yards, where dealing is only in
large round lots or car-loads. During the last eigh-
teen years the receipts of cattle, sheep, and hogs, and
the exports of the same, have been as follows :
RECEIPTS AND SHIPMENTS
.
YEAR.
RECEIPTS.
SHIPMENTS.
Cattle.
Sheep.
Hogs.
Cattle.
Sheep.
Hogs.
1882
443,169
503,862
4:4,7-0
420,864
4ii6,2:i5
411,969
349.043
335.742
3WI,Q45
279.078
X«3,4U*
199,527
201, +'-'2
12 4,505
115,352
74,146
1H3.259
94,807
443,120
334,420
205,969
182,048
108,095
200,502
157.SU
125,679
114,913
86,4:i4
115,904
118,899
94,477
96,626
79.315
62,974
64,047
52,133
846,228
1,072,153
1,840,084
1,702,724
1,451,634
896,319
877,160
628,509
1,126,586
973,512
759,076
633,370
310,850
344,848
301,500
298,241
217,022
99,003
188,486
293,01)2
228,879
226,255
201,723
251,566
220,430
216,7(11
226,078
180,662
104,870
130,018
129,748
59,867
37,277
26,799
24,402
40,712
245,071
170,395
93,522
88,(I83
74,433
87,569
67,886
37,784
35,577
18,902
29,540
37,465
11.649
12,416
6,415
19,022
15,194
8,080
264,584
889,909
770,709
0X6,1199
528,027
314,287
232.X70
120,729
453,710
224,873
188,700
113,913
17,156
39,076
10,277
28,627
13,368
17,869
1881
18X0
1879
1878
1877
1876...'.
1875 ....
1874
1873
1872
1871
I,s70
1809.
1868
18(17
1866
1865
OF LIVE STOCK FOR 1882.
.
RECEIVED BY
RECEIPTS.
SHIPMENTS.
Cattle.
Hogs.
Sheep.
Horses
and
Mules.
Cattle.
Hogs.
Sheep.
Horses
and
Mules.
Chicago and Alton Railroad (Missouri Division)
Head.
16,892
162,683
53,057
73,145
65,427
5,108
4,858
3,324
I-.323
4,687
6,641
6,187
4,154
5,230
Head.
68,086
152,427
48,099
294.248
7,557
10,939
2,080
3.960
1,325
6,836
54,812
25,018
8,511
47,830
H>ad.
32,741
91,039
00,811
80,697
2H.947
3,329
6,940
\,»n
6,524
2,840
32,123
9,428
27,400
6,080
Head.
2,192
4,558
887
6,978
8,.s73
788
1,5>4
439
151
4,350
3.694
1,518
735
417
Head.
188
293
277
5,001
266
330
361
30
Head.
317
975
94
Head.
3,S91
5,505
038
220
40,835
16,985
85
Head.
193
1,272
310
5,274
1,239
410
3,387
908
5J606
2,363
3,354
7,745
2,777
St. Louis, Wabash and Pacific Kail mad (Western Division)
St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Kailrond
41
11
345
1,192
Mi>souri Pacific Railroad (Kansas and Texas Division)
Cairo Short Line Railroad
Louisville and Nashville Railroad
St. Louis and Cairo Railroad
101
18,087
7,134
26,875
106,548
17,285
18,749
21,727
02,580
38,594
36,338
22,573
20,028
52,380
110,720
48.697
120
Chicago and Alton Railroad
Indianapolis and St Louis Railroad
Vandalia and Terre Haute Railroad
St. Louis, WaUash and Pacific Railroad (Eastern Division)
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (East. Division)
Illinois and St. Lou is Rail road
Keokuk and St Louis Railroad
2,511
4,li70
7,874
3,604
2,761
245
2
6,875
6,233
58,170
21,201
3,(l5l
17,!I90
3,090
"2,965
4,140
10.100
13,101
C,0i9
3,092
1,101
2'.i2
8,579
632
1,189
2,263
679
590
80
55
60
276
1,732
• 1,681
95
2,797
2,619
5,941
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (North Division)
Lower Mi>siss'|)|)i River boats
482
787
Illinois River boats
Missouri River boats '.
Totals . .. .
443,169
846,228
443,120
42,718
188,486
264,584
245,071
46,255
How many million dollars annually are invested in
live-stock dealings in this market is readily calculable,
but the local consumption demand is not more readily
ascertainable than the actual exports, for the latter are
largely contingent upon the extent of the demand of
the beef-canning companies, the proportion of stock
exported alive being still comparatively inconsiderable
in this valley.
In his paper on " St. Louis : Past, Present, and
Future," Charles W. Knapp does not find the live-
stock trade as encouraging as he thinks it ought to
be.
"Though it has increased," he says, "during the last dozen
years, the comparison with Chicago was more favorable in the
matter of cattle ten years ago than to-day, while such gain
upon Chicago as has been made in the matter of hogs is more
than counterbalanced by the failure of our packers to take ad-
vantage of the increased receipts, as will be made plain by Ex-
hibit No. 32. Connected with this most unsatisfactory record
is the further fact ihnt the receipts of packed meats at St. Louis
have fallen off considerably in recent years, the receipts of bar-
reled pork in 1861 having been about eighty-four per cent,
greater than in 1881, and of mess-pork sixty per cent, greater,
while of lard we only got twelve per cent, more in 1881.
EXHIBIT NO. 32— PORK-PACKING YEAR ENDING MARCH.
Chicago. St. Louis.
1878-79 4,960,956 771,261
1879-80 4,6SO,637 987,793 ... ',".]".
.. 5,752,191 824,159 579,398 6:t2,98l 462348
.. 5,100,484 556,379 800,928 508,458 486^066
EXHIBIT NO. 32— CATTLE RECEIPTS.
Kansas
City.
Cincin-
nati.
Milwau-
kee.
1880-81
1881-82
Chicago.
1865 330,301
1870 532,964
1872 ... 684,075
1877 1,096,745
1881 1,498,550
St. Louis. St' L"'1's P"
cent, of Chicago.
94,307 28.55
263,404
411,969
503,862
38.50
37.49
33.72
1314
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
HOG RECEIPTS.
Chicago.
St. Louis.
St. Lonis per
cent, of Chicago.
1865
757,072
99,663
13.16
1870
, 1,693,158
310,850
18.36
1880 ,
, 7,059,355
1,840,684
26.22
1881...
... 6,494,844
1,672,153
25.76"
St. Louis Beef-Canning Company. — A promi- ;
nent factor in the enlargement of the provision trade
of St. Louis is the St. Louis Beef-Canning Company, j
whose base of operations is the National Stock- Yards, !
East St. Louis. This establishment — which in its
European exports has with its cooked meats super-
seded the "roast beef of Old England," according j
to a consular report — was organized in 1876, with a
capital stock of four hundred thousand dollars, and !
occupied its present packing and warehouses, covering \
four acres, in 1879. Its successive presidents have
been R. D. Hunter, H. L. Newman, Isaac H. Knox,
and G. L. Joy, the latter being the present executive,
with the following board of directors : Messrs. Knox, !
Joy, J. B. Butcher, A. M. White, T. C. Eastman, j
S. W. Allerton, and R. W. Donnell.
Beginning with packing twenty-five beeves a day, I
the company has now a capacity to handle one thou-
sand head, and employs from eight hundred to one i
thousand hands daily, according to the season. For
two years it did not intermit a single day, although it j
is unusual for packers to operate continuously through |
the year. The aggregate packing during the three j
years ending May, 1882, was two hundred and one j
thousand one hundred and thirty-seven head, about
one-half of which product was exported.
The cash value of the daily product is over fifty
thousand dollars, and the establishment is the second
largest of its kind in the world.
O
The company buys the choicest cattle at the adja-
cent National Stock-Yards, where they are cooled and j
rested before slaughtering. After this the sides of
beef are perfectly chilled by an improved process;
they are then "cut down," the ribs and loins shipped
all over the country, supplying dealers in Boston, New ;
York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, St. Louis,
and the remainder prepared for curing. The curing
cellars of the company extend under the main build- i
ings, and cover about three acres. The bulk of the j
meat is cured, cooked, and packed in cases in due
time; the hams are smoked and turned out under
the " Star of the West" brand, and the balance packed
in barrels as " rolled" and " plate beef The tin can
department — as an illustration of the magnitude of
the business — employs, in addition to numerous labor-
saving machines for stamping, soldering, etc., from one
hundred to one hundred and fifty hands, and manufac-
tures daily tin cans enough, when filled, to load from
six to ten cars, according to the size of the cans. The
company imports its own tin and manufactures its own
solder. Another interesting feature is the " fertilizing
department," which is located at some distance from
the main works, and utilizes all the refuse, converting
it into valuable fertilizers, — azotine, dried blood, bone-
meal, etc. The horns and large bones are sorted,
treated, and sold to manufacturers of buttons, combs,
fancy toilet articles, etc. This department employs
about twenty-five hands, and produces about six car-
loads of material per day. The chief business of the
company is the packing and sale of canned cooked
meats, and the correspondents of the company are in
all countries. The first operations were the packing
of corned beef, but rapid extension has been made,
until the list now comprises corned, roast, and boiled
beef, whole and compressed beef tongue, lunch tongue,
ham, ox-kidney, ox-tail, pigs' feet, and English brawn,
or head cheese. These are all packed in tins ranging
from one to twenty-eight pounds in weight, and are
ready for instant use. The company also packs a beef
or lunch sausage cooked. The goods of the company
have been exhibited and tested in the fairs of the
world, and have gathered trophies at Paris, London,
the American Institute of New York, and elsewhere.
Horse and Mule Marts. — Long antedating the
history of the army mule the patient beast " without
pride of ancestry or hope of posterity" had contrib-
uted largely to the commercial growth and importance
of St. Louis. In 1856 the firm of A. Shulerr & Co.,
predecessors of Reilly & Wolfort, commenced the es-
tablishment of sale-stables which now outrival in
number and capital employed the sales-yards of Lon-
don, and give to Broadway for many blocks a national
reputation as the location of the largest horse and
mule market in the United States, and with respect
to dealings in mules, the largest in the world. The
extent of the trade in the supply of these animals
for the Southern plantations and the Western plains,
as well as for use by local carrying companies, had
been generally known, and there was some knowledge
too of the fact that the United States government
was a large purchaser of horses and mules in this
market ; but it remained for the accredited represen-
tatives of a foreign government to demonstrate a few
years ago, and beyond cavil, that St. Louis leads the
world in the number, quality, and monetary value of
its mules. Large purchases were made here by both
combatants in the Franco-Prussian war. The British
found the Mississippi valley mule best adapted by
hardihood to service in India ; the Turks discovered
the same quality of adaptation for the Orient ; and
the French government, after purchasing here large
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1315
numbers of fine horses for its cavalry, added still
larger orders for mules for service in the Tunisian
campaign.
But while the attainable statistics show a trade of
nearly ten millions of dollars annually, it is doubtful
whether this sum really represents the actual trans-
actions in horses and mules within forty per cent.,
for the reason that the larger portion of the stock
imported from the vicinage, or within perhaps a hun-
dred miles, is driven direct to the sale-stables, and
does not therefore appear upon the tabulated returns
of the railroads and transportation companies. For
example, a compilation of the returns to the Mer-
chants' Exchange for 1881 shows the receipts of
horses and mules to have been forty-two thousand
three hundred and sixty-five, and the shipments to
exceed that number largely. The same anomaly is
exhibited in the reports of former years. Indeed, a
single one of the ten larger houses engaged in the
business shipped in 1881 upwards of half the num-
ber thus recorded, and in the first four months of
1882 the shipments exceeded seven thousand, a large ;
portion of the stock being exported to England, Scot- [
land, and the West Indies. A fact not generally
known in this connection is that fine mules bring a i
higher price than fine horses for exportation, although
the home demand keeps the prices of inferior or sec- j
ond-class animals about even. Foreign buyers will pay :
for choice mules from two hundred and fifty to three
hundred and fifty dollars a head, in round lots, and even
more, while they would expect to pay for the same grade
of horses not more than from two hundred to two
hundred and fifty dollars. The longevity and hardi-
hood of the mule is rated a third higher by foreign
purchasers. The United States government is the
most exacting of American buyers, and the French
are the most particular of the purchasers from
abroad.
The receipts and shipments of horses and mules
at St. Louis from 1874 to 1882, inclusive, were :
Tear. Receipts. Shipments.
Head. Head.
1882 42,718 46,655
1881 42,365 43,794
1880 46,011 44,416
1879 33,289 36,947
1878 27,878 30,867
1877 22,652 25,157
1876 22,271 26,301
1875 27,516 28,675
1874 27,175 30,202
Hides and Leather. — There are more domestic
hides shipped from St. Louis than from any market
in the United States, the aggregate value of the
transactions in this commodity approximating four
million dollars. The hide product is not only exten-
sively employed in the manufacture of boots and
shoes, but is necessarily an important factor in the
making of saddles, harness, belting, and a variety of
other articles of commerce. In St. Louis there is not
only a large product of hides from the cattle slaugh-
tered for local consumption, but the receipts from the
cattle-growing regions are immense, this being the
natural centre of that interest, which includes in ex-
tent of territory Illinois, Missouri, the Indian Terri-
tory, Texas, Mexico, New Mexico, Colorado, Dakota,
Montana, Utah, and Arizona. The establishment of
extensive slaughtering houses, such as that of the
Beef- Canning Company, producing 4000 hides a
week, and the butchers' yield, about the same figure,
greatly increases the product derived from imports,
which in 1881 aggregated 20,079,814 pounds. The
exports were 28,082,036 pounds, and the amount
utilized in local manufacture was nearly as krge as
both sums together, or upwards of 40,000,000 pounds.
In 1834 and earlier there were also large receipts of
bison hides from the plains, and this formed an im-
portant element in the freightage of the " overland
route ;" but of late years the extermination of the
American buffalo has been so nearly completed that
few are now received, or even desired, for bison hide
makes very inferior leather as compared with the
product of the domestic cattle.
Of the two methods of preparing hides for the St.
Louis market, the salting is preferred above drying,
although not always practicable, as nearly all the hides
coming from the Southwest and West are already cured
by drying, after the primitive manner in vogue on the
plains. Texas hides rank, in excellence of quality,
second only to those of South America.
Up to a very few years ago nearly all the hides re-
ceived in the St. Louis market were shipped hence to
Eastern tanneries, but now St. Louis boasts of several
tanners and curriers with establishments possessing
the requisites of capital and capacity and doing a
thriving business. Indeed, these already outnumber
the dealers in hides and pelts, one of them having a
capacity of over five hundred hides a week.1
The hide dealers, however, are among the most solid
and prosperous business men of St. Louis, and represent
an aggregate capital of nearly two million dollars.
In earlier times the custom — begun perhaps almost as
early as the settlement of St. Louis — of buying hides
directly from the butchers and selling to the tanners
was in vogue, but in 1864, B. H. Newell, one of the
1 " Forty dollars per ton," stated an advertisement in the
Missouri Gazette of July 2, 1814, "will be given for well-saved
shomac (sumac) at the subscriber's morocco manufactory in St.
Louis."
1316
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
largest buyers in the St. Louis market, originated the
brokerage system, by which the brokers act as agents
for the tanners, and now nearly all the business be-
tween dealers and tanners is thus conducted, and, it
is claimed, with great advantage to all parties con-
cerned. With the growth of the St. Louis saddlery
trade to pre-eminence over that of any other market
in the world, the dealings in hides and leather have
necessarily increased in proportion, and the establish-
ment of numerous boot and shoe factories has con-
tributed to swell the total dealings in leather for all
purposes to the sum of nearly ten million dollars.
The following statistics exhibit the growth of the
trade :
HIDES.
Beceipts.
Exports.
Peltries,
Receipts.
»
1874
Piece*.
184,468
165,917
161,902
112,678
120,739
103,906
150,245
146,4-21
160,470
187,591
Bundles.
106,641
83,234
56,703
31,092
37,425
17,170
16,362
11,910
6,981
7,310
Pieces.
65,976
10J.-252
110,890
116,630
55,896
66.173
81,546
85,291
lfio,580
267,119
Bundln.
247,941
158,162
92,693
62,500
132,321
81,048
47,083
45,113
22,481
Bundle*.
16,636
15,158
18,560
14,175
12,903
11,584
11,278
10,278
1873
1372
1871
1870
1869
1868
1867
1865
HIDES.
Receipts.
Exports.
Povndt.
22,135,538
20,1179,814
18,436.253
20,u4-i,7:t4
17,li9,894
20,001, 03 1
21,^11,245
19,851,947
Pound*.
2H.744.094
2K.U8X.636
24,114,529
26,719,928
21,4:59.051
26.258.1 13
29,520,487
32,457,805
1881
•
Receipts in 188
" 188
" 185
" 187
LEATHER.
1
Rolls.
J2.002
>4,398
38,386
26.804
0 . .
9
7....
Saddlery Trade. — St. Louis leads the world in
saddlery, although the fact is not known outside of
strictly commercial circles.1 The market is usually
most active, but there is no exchange or central depot
for the compilation of statistics. As an exclusive
business, saddlery and saddlery hardware date back
only to 1859, and not much was done in that line
i John Chandler <fc Co., saddle-, bridle-, and harness-makers,
Main Street, advertised their business Feb. 1, 1812, and John
Jacoby, saddler, informed his friends and the public generally,
Dec. 14, 1816, that he had removed his shop from near Lexing-
ton, Ky., to St. Louis, " where he has opened a shop on Front
Street, near Governor Clark's, and opposite T. Hunt's store."
Aug. 23, 1820, T. Grimsley and William Stark conducted the
saddlery and harness business in Jacoby's old stand, next below
Neal <t Liggett.
until 1866. Prior to that time the general stores
that abounded in St. Louis, as elsewhere throughout
the Southwest, dealt in saddlery to some degree in
connection with other wares. The territory then sup-
plied by St. Louis was very limited, but now saddlery
of St. Louis manufacture is supplied to Missouri,
Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas,
Arkansas, Kansas, Colorado, the Indian Territory,
Wyoming, Montana, Arizona, Dakota, and New
Mexico, most of which States and Territories use
this ware to so large an extent that the St. Louis
export trade in this line in 1831 aggregated in value
over three million five hundred thousand dollars.
Upwards of fifteen hundred hands are employed in
the trade here, and the wholesale firms alone number
twelve, while the retailers and the exclusively " tree"
manufacturers aggregate twenty-two more.
In 1882 the total number of establishments en-
gaged in the trade was ninety-six. It is also a re-
markable fact that the failures in this line have been
fewer than in any other trade of similar extent.
Since the war the process of manufacture has been
greatly changed by the introduction of sewing-ma-
chines and other machinery, and the speed in the
process of manufacture has so greatly increased that
at least a dozen saddles can now be turned out in the
time it formerly took to make one. Much of the
manufacturing, in so far as elm " trees" is con-
cerned, is done at the State Penitentiary at Jefferson
City, and then the appendages of leather, in various
styles of artistic finish, are added, giving to the " tree"
a neat appearance. Prices of saddlery have been
greatly reduced, so that a saddle formerly costing say
fifteen dollars can now be purchased for five dollars,
and the average price of the finest scarcely goes above
ten dollars. The facilities for manufacturing and the
large tributary territory give St. Louis great advan-
tages over other markets, and the trade is constantly
increasing in extent as well as in the reputaton which
is accorded the market for the uniform excellence of
its saddlery goods.
Boots and Shoes. — The wholesale boot and shoe
business is an important factor in the commercial
prosperity of St. Louis.2
J Among the early boot and shoe makers of St. Louis were
the following:
Young <t Bright, who dissolved partnership March 22, 1810,
the business being continued by John A. Bright.
Badgely & Stubblefield, " ladies' and gentlemen's shoe and
boot makers," who announced on the llth of April, 1811, that
they had commenced business and " would carry on the vari-
ous branches of their profession."
John Holbrook, boot and shoe maker, whose place of business
(Feb. 8, 1820) was "his new brick house, South Main Street."
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1317
Nineteen wholesale houses were engaged in the
trade in 1881, which aggregated about ten millions
of dollars. The manufacture of boots and shoes is
also carried on to a considerable extent in St. Louis,
the number of firms in 1881 being one hundred and
eighty-four, with an annual business of one million
eight hundred thousand dollars.
Of the wholesale firms engaged in- the sale of boots
and shoes the house of Hamilton, Brown & Co. is
among the most prominent. One of the founders of
this great firm, and at present the general manager of
its affairs, is Alanson D. Brown. Mr. Brown was
several years, and where he was engaged for three
years as clerk in a general merchandise store. He
then engaged in business with one of his uncles with
such success that in two years he was enabled to dis-
pose of his interest for thirteen thousand dollars. In
the spring of 1872 he removed to St. Louis,
and engaged in the wholesale boot and shoe busi-
ness with James M. Hamilton, a gentleman of
great experience in the business, who had long
been a valued employe of the well-known house
of Appleton, Noyes & Co. The firm started under
the name of Hamilton & Brown, and it is interest-
FAMOUS SHOE AND CLOTHING COMPANY,
Northwest Cor. Fifth and Morgan Streets.
born in Granville, Washington Co., N. Y., March
21, 1847. His parents are yet living, and his father,
who is a prosperous farmer of that section, has been
supervisor for several terms, although his party has
been decidedly in the minority, and is otherwise
prominent in town affairs.
Young Brown's boyhood was that of most farmer
lads, working on the farm in summer and attend-
ing the district school in winter ; he also attended
a commercial college at Rutland, Vt. In 1864 he
obtained a position as clerk in a store at Granville,
where he remained two years, and then removed to
Columbus, Miss., where two uncles had lived for
84
ing, in view of the present dimensions of the business,
to recall the circumstance that the joint capital of
the two partners was but twenty-three thousand dol-
lars, Mr. Hamilton contributing ten thousand dollars
and Mr. Brown the thirteen thousand dollars he
brought with him from Mississippi. The business grew
rapidly, and its subsequent development has been with-
out precedent and far beyond the most sanguine expec-
tations of its founders. In 1876 two additional part-
ners were admitted, William H. Carroll and E. P.
Williams, who had been salesmen in the house, and
the style of the firm became Hamilton, Brown & Co.,
which is its present designation. The house, although
1318
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
comparatively a young one, was then transacting a
business of many hundreds of thousands of dollars
annually ; but the firm resolved to attempt what their
contemporaries declared to be a dangerous experi-
ment, the selling of goods only for cash instead of
the usual four and six months' time, a method that
seemed to Hamilton, Brown & Co. to be at variance
with sound business principles, and therefore in 1877
they instituted the reform indicated, believing it not
only safer for themselves in the avoidance of bad
debts and the risks involved in the sale of goods
on credit, but equally to the advantage of their cus-
tomers in affording them better bargains for their
money. The result proved the thorough soundness
of their reasoning, for in 1877, the first year of the
experiment, the sales of the establishment were larger
than ever before, and amounted to seven hundred and
fifty thousand dollars.
The subsequent development of the business of
Hamilton, Brown & Co. has been one of the commer-
cial marvels of St. Louis. For five years past the
annual sales have not fallen below one and a half mil-
lions of dollars, and for 1880 they footed up the
princely sum of one million nine hundred and twenty-
six thousand dollars. The company occupies a six-
story building, with basement, at Washington Avenue
and Fifth Street, St. Louis, and here it conducts per-
haps the largest wholesale boot and shoe establishment
in the city. When asked regarding the secret of his
success, Mr. Brown is accustomed to say that there is
none, except constant application, a minute looking
after details, and incessant watchfulness to prevent
leakage and waste. It is no reflection upon the gentle-
men associated with him, and who have contributed
much to bring about this splendid success, to say that
as the active business manager of the firm of Ham-
ilton, Brown & Co., the brilliant reputation of the
house is largely due to Alanson D. Brown's energy,
enterprise, and assiduity.
In one of his business trips to Boston Mr. Brown
became acquainted with Miss Ella Gertrude, daughter
of Charles C. Bills, a prominent shoe manufacturer
of that city, and they were subsequently married.
Three children are the result of the union. Mr.
Brown is a member of the Third Baptist Church of
St. Louis, and endeavors to contribute his share to-
wards all the worthy enterprises, religious, charitable,
and philanthropic, that appeal for aid. He regards
it as a pleasurable duty to support, as far as he can,
all projects reasonably calculated to advance the pros-
perity of the city of his adoption, and may justly be
ranked among its most active and progressive young
business men.
Jewelry. — The manufacture and sale of jewelry,
which is now one of the important industries of St.
I Louis, was established at an early period in the his-
tory of the town. As far back as April, 1812, Jo-
seph Bouju, " clock and watchmaker, silversmith and
jeweler," in Madame Papin's house, opposite Gen.
Clark's office, advertised a variety of wares. Mr.
Bouju's establishment was not the only one in the
town, as we find that Dr. Farrar's store was adver-
tised in the same year as being situated below Maj.
Christy's tavern, next to Dangin's silversmith's shop.
In July, 1817, Charles E. Jeauneret pursued the
trade of watchmaker at P. Chouteau's house, and in
September, 1817, Israel B. Grant opened a shop next
door below Mr. Wilts' store, on Main Street, where
he manufactured silver-work and jewelry, keeping
also " a constant supply of soup, table, dessert, and
teaspoons, gold watch-chains, seals and keys, ear- and
finger-rings, bracelets, gold and silver sleeve-buttons,
thimbles, hooks and eyes, etc. Engraving and hair-
work neatly executed." During the same year Joseph
Bouju had his shop opposite the store of Mr. Wilt.
On the 13th of November, 1818, Charles Billon,
clock and watch maker and jeweler, informed " the in-
habitants of St. Louis and its vicinity that he has
commenced business in the house occupied by Mr.
Dangin, on Main Street, where he has for sale an as-
sortment of gold and silver repeaters, plain gold and
silver watches, with an assortment of jewelry, con-
sisting of fine gold chains, seals and keys, breastpins,
ear-rings, etc., which he will sell on the most ac-
commodating terms.
" N.B. — Watches of every description carefully
repaired, and engraving executed with neatness and
dispatch."
Mr. Billon had removed to St. Louis from Phila-
delphia, and his location is further described as
" Dangin's old stone house." At the same time Henry
Gulager carried on the trade of a clock and watch
maker " next to the old Indian office in Clark's stone
row." On the llth of August, 1819, Robert Logan,
clock and watch maker, advertised his establishment as
being located " in Bouju's old place," and on the 18th,
Joseph Bouju announced his removal to " his new
house" opposite Paul's auction-room. Dec. 23, 1819,
Charles Billon gave notice that he had removed to
his new establishment on North Main Street, at the
corner, opposite the old Gratiot residence.
The trade in jewelry has gone on expanding until
now St. Louis surpasses every other city in the West
as a market for this branch of business. In 1881
seventeen firms were engaged in the jewelry trade,
whose sales aggregated four million dollars per annum.
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
In the manufacture of jewelry and silver-plated ware
eight firms were engaged, employing sixty hands, and
transacting a business of two
hundred thousand dollars per
annum.
The oldest jewelry firm in
the city, and one of the old-
est in the West, is that of
the E. Jaccard Jewelry Com-
pany. It was established in
1829 by Louis Jaccard, who
emigrated to America from
Switzerland, and who was
followed by his nephew Eu-
gene in 1837. The house
of Louis Jaccard & Co., as
it was originally called, was
dissolved Dec. 31, 1848, by
the withdrawal of Louis
Jaccard, who was succeeded
by his nephew Eugene, who
in 1852 associated A. S.
Mermod with him, and in
1855 D. C. Jaccard, the firm
then becoming E. Jaccard &
Co. In 1864 the partner-
ship was dissolved, Messrs.
Mermod and D. C. Jaccard
withdrawing and establish-
ing another house. Eugene
Jaccard continued the origi-
nal business until his death,
which occurred on the 4th
of September, 1871. Mr.
Jaccard, who was fifty-seven
years old, was born in Ste.
Croix, Switzerland, and, as
previously stated, emigrated
to this country about 1834.
Commencing life in St. Louis
as a journeyman jeweler at
nine dollars a week, he
worked his way to fortune,
gaining for himself at the
same time the marked re-
spect of his fellow-citizens.
He was liberal but unosten-
tatious in his charities, a l
devout member of the Pine
Street Presbyterian Church,
in which organization he was a deacon, president of
the Missouri Loan Bank, and director in the Third
National Bank, Continental Life Insurance Company
of New York, and Excelsior Insurance Company of
St. Louis. He left a wife, but no children.
JACCARD JEWELRY COMPANY,
Northeast corner Fifth and Olive Sts.
Mr. Jaccard was succeeded in the business in 1871
by his nephew, Eugene J. Cuendet, and the firm is
now known as the E. Jaccard Jewelry Company, of
1320
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
which Mr. Cuendet is president. It occupies the
handsome building at the northeast corner of Fifth
and Olive Streets, fronting one hundred feet on Olive
Street and fifty feet on Fifth Street. It is built of
Athens marble, five stories in height, and its archi-
tecture is graceful and imposing. The cost of the
building and ground exceeded three hundred thousand
dollars. The stock comprises, in addition to the or-
dinary wares of an extensive jewelry establishment,
choice importations of pottery, porcelain, rare and
valuable gems, bronzes, gilt goods, statuary, French
clocks, etc., and the firm makes a specialty of watches
and music-boxes, which are manufactured especially
for it in Switzerland.
The firm of Mermod, Jaccard & Co. has attained
great celebrity in the jewelry trade of the West, and
transacts an extensive business. Its founder, D.
Constant Jaccard, was born in Ste. Croix, Switzerland,
Aug. 22, 1826. He received the usual instruction
at the public schools, and when eleven years old
began his apprenticeship as a jeweler, being first em-
ployed on music-boxes, and afterwards on watches,
and dividing his time between his studies and his
work at the bench. He remained with his parents
until 1845, and then attended the Normal School at
Lausanne, where he went through the three-years'
course with eighteen months' study, and graduated
first in a class of thirty-five. In order to defray his
expenses at this institution, he gave two hours' les-
sons each day, and during the vacation worked at his
bench.
After leaving school he taught one year, and then
the political disturbances in France and Switzerland
in 1847-48 induced him to accept an invitation from
Louis and Eugene Jaccard, his cousins, to come to
St. Louis and work with them.
Mr. Jaccard left Ste. Croix April 24, 1848, and
arrived in St. Louis on the 15th of July. The trip
consumed over eighty days, whereas it takes now less
than twenty days.
He went to work immediately upon his arrival, and
has resided in St. Louis ever since. During the gold
fever of 1849-51 he was often urged by friends to
go to California, and though frequently solicited to
change his business, he has remained steadfast to his
first choice, and his perseverance has been richly
rewarded.
His ancestors were French Huguenots, who fled
to Switzerland after the revocation of the Edict of
Nantes, and settled in Ste. Croix, on the very first
ground after crossing the frontier. The rest of the
family remained in Picardy, France, and spell their
name Jacquard, which seems to have been its original
form. The Ste. Croix refugees, however, adopted the
spelling Jaccard. From the Jacquard family came
the inventor of the Jacquard loom. ^
Having from a child suffered from sick headache
; and facial neuralgia, Mr. Jaccard has been prevented
from going much into society or joining social organ-
izations. His habits, therefore, have been quiet and
retired, but he has nevertheless given, unostenta-
tiously, much time and labor to works of beneficence
and trust. As treasurer of the Societe du sou par
semaine, he distributed during the war, in connection
with the Sanitary Commission, over twenty thousand
dollars to relieve the wants of persons on both sides.
In 1868 he was appointed vice-consul of Switzerland
at St. Louis, and acted alone as consul for two years,
having only lately been relieved, at his own request,
on account of ill health.
In politics, Mr. Jaccard is independent and an earn-
est advocate of civil service reform. He thinks both
parties made up of good and bad, and in voting has
always selected his candidates with a view of the real
fitness of the man for the place, and regardless of the
ticket to which he may belong.
In religion, Mr. Jaccard is a Presbyterian. He was
formerly an elder in Dr. Brooks' church, and is now
a member of Dr. Marquis' Lafayette Park Presbyte-
rian Church.
In 1855 he was married to a daughter of J. G.
Chipron, brother-in-law to Rev. Dr. Grandpierre, of
Paris, France, where Mrs. Jaccard was born. Her
family settled in Highland, 111., in 1848.
On Dec. 31, 1848, as previously stated, the house
of Louis Jaccard & Co. was dissolved, Louis selling
his half-interest to his nephew Eugene, who carried
on the business alone, under the name of E. Jaccard,
until 1852, when he took A. S. Mermod as partner,
and then in 1855, D. C. Jaccard as a third partner,
forming the firm of E. Jaccard & Co. This continued
until May 1, 1864, when the partnership was dissolved
under the following circumstances:
In 1863, Eugene Jaccard had formed a partner-
ship with the two Captains La Barge and Harkness
(under the name of La Barge, Harkness & Co.), for
the purpose of trading and steamboating on the river.
This being outside of the regular jewelry business,
produced a disagreement among the members of the
firm of E. Jaccard & Co. Mr. Mermod and D. C.
Jaccard being apprehensive that their interests would
suffer, on May 1, 1864, sold their interest to Eugene
Jaccard.
Immediately after their withdrawal Messrs. Mermod
and Jaccard purchased an establishment under Odd-
Fellows' Hall, corner of Fourth and Locust Streets,
>0P-
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1321
and taking as partner C. F. Mathey, founded, May 1,
1864, the firm of D. C. Jaccard & Co., who have
done business at this place (Odd-Fellows' Block) ever
since. The firm soon obtained a good business, and
throughout the whole of the subsequent period its
progress has been steady and uninterrupted. Even
during the period of general commercial depression,
from 1873 to 1879, the development of its business
was unchecked. In 1873 the firm added to its double
store on Fourth Street the large building on Locust
Street.
In 1873 the name of the firm was changed from
D. C, Jaccard & Co. to Mermod, Jaccard & Co.,
under Odd-Fellows' Hall, Fourth and Locust Streets.
This was done in order to prevent mistakes arising
from the similarity of the two firm-names, although
Eugene Jaccard had then been dead two years, and
D. C. Jaccard was the only one of that name per-
sonally engaged in the jewelry business in St. Louis.
Goodman King had been admitted as a partner some
years before, and contributed no small amount of
energy and activity to the establishment. When D.
C. Jaccard and his partners separated from the house
of Eugene Jaccard, they agreed to establish their
business on a definite basis, and all signed a written
agreement stipulating that they would never speculate
in anything ; they would never buy more goods than
they could pay cash for ; they would not sign any notes
or have any drafts drawn on them ; that at the end of
every month they would carefully examine the con-
dition of their affairs, in order to act intelligently in
the purchase of goods. The faithfulness with which
they adhered to these regulations was soon discovered
by manufacturers, all of whom became anxious to
deal with such a house, and consequently the very
best oifers have always been at their disposal.
Mermod, Jaccard & Co. have their own manufac-
tory for watches (particularly for ladies' watches) at
Ste. Croix, Switzerland, Mr. Jaccard's brother Justin
being at its head. His cousins are large manufac-
turers of music-boxes also at Ste. Croix.
Mermod, Jaccard & Co. have also a house in Paris.
No. 32 Faubourg Poissonniere, where Mr. V. Verse-
puy, a most expert connoisseur, watches the diamond
market for them, and selects all their clocks and ol-
jets d'art. Two of the members also visit Europe
regularly twice a year for the purchase of new arti-
cles in their line. The house has also representatives
in Vienna, Bohemia, London, Birmingham, Sheffield,
etc., and is so well known in Europe that it can buy
whatever it needs quite as well as in New York, such
is its standing among manufacturers and those who
supply it with its goods. This high reputation, it is
needless to say, it enjoys as well in the United States
and Mexico as in more distant lands.
Mr. Mermod and D. C. Jaccard have each a son,
Arthur Mermod and Eugene Jaccard, both of whom
have for some years been emplo'yed in the store, and
| will soon be ready to take up the business and carry
i it on in accordance with the principles adopted by
• their fathers when they commenced.
Type Foundries. — The first type foundry in St.
Louis was established by A. P. Ladew. Mr. Ladew
was born in Albany, N. Y., Sept. 13, 1811, and was
the son of Stephen Ladew, a prominent merchant,
and at one time private secretary of De Witt Clinton.
At the age of thirteen A. P. Ladew was placed in an
establishment to learn the trade of type-making and
stereotyping, and subsequently worked in the well-
known foundry of James Conner in New York. After
serving his apprenticeship he formed the acquaintance
of L. Johnson, of Philadelphia, a leading type founder
of that day, and under his patronage and that of
George Charles he removed to St. Louis in 1838 and
established the St. Louis Type Foundry, the firm being
George Charles & Co. In its issue of Dec. 1, 1840,
one of the St. Louis newspapers said, —
" We received yesterday a specimen of pica type
from the foundry of Mr. Charles, who is just opening
on Market Street. The specimen before us assures us
that this will prove a most valuable acquisition to the
printers of the West."
On the 1st of July, 1843, it was announced that
A. P. Ladew had become the sole proprietor of the
foundry, and on the 12th of February, 1852, A. P.
Ladew & Co. informed the public that they had estab-
lished a stereotype foundry, at which they were pre-
pared to execute all kinds of work usually performed
in such establishments. " These gentlemen," added
the paper announcing the fact, " are well known to the
people of the West as type founders, etc." In 1850
the capital invested in the type foundry was fifty-one
thousand eight hundred dollars, employing ten males
and ten females, with an annual product of one hun-
dred and fifty thousand dollars.
Subsequently the firm became known as Ladew,
Peers & Co., and its business developed to very large
proportions, the foundry supplying the demand for its
products throughout the West. Mr. Ladew was
prominently associated with various newspapers and
other business enterprises in St. Louis, and was one
of the most substantial and influential members of the
community.1 He was a director of the St. Louis
1 Mr. Ladew was twice married. His first wife was Miss Cath-
erine Leets, of Xew Jersey, and his second wife Mrs. Lizzie E.
Clark, whom he married Sept. 3, 1856.
1322
HISTOHY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Building and Savings Association, member of the City
Council, vice-president of the Commercial Insurance
Company, and a director in the Bank of St. Louis,
besides holding other positions of trust and honor.
There are now (1882) two type foundries in St.
Louis, — the St. Louis Type Foundry, conducted by a
stock company, of which William Bright is secretary,
at the northeast corner of Third and Vine Streets, and
the Central Type Foundry, 15 North Third Street.
Lumber. — With a soil so deep and such an abundant
supply of water, the forests of Missouri must needs
teem with trees and shrubs and vines useful in indus-
try or as fruit-producers ; and in fact the timber
supply of Missouri is enormous, although, as experi-
ence has taught, unhappily not inexhaustible. The
gigantic sylvan wildernesses both of Brazil and
Guiana are not protected against the indiscriminate
rapacity of man, who always seems to attack the for-
est with the ferocity of an assault upon a hereditary
enemy. In the great forests of Missouri a very wide
variety of the useful woods are represented, — oak,
hickory, maple, ash, mulberry, locust, linden, poplar,
elm, walnut, and pine for carriages, wagons, and agri-
cultural implements ; pine, linden, poplar, cotton-
wood, walnut, cypress, cedar, oak, and gum for houses
and other buildings ; walnut, poplar, linden, maple,
cherry, coffee-tree, locust, gum, mulberry, tupelo, pine,
cypress, cedar, birch, hickory, and oak for cabinet-
work ; cedar, locust, oak, hickory, mulberry, and pine
for fences ; and Osage orange, thorns, buckthorn, and
cedar for hedges. Millions of these varieties of lum-
ber are destroyed every year in opening farms, and
meanwhile the people of Missouri are importing mil-
lions in furniture and agricultural implements and
lumber for the various kinds of carpentry. There is
poor economy in importing walnut, pine, cherry, pop-
lar, birch, maple, oak, linden, and cedar manufactured
into furniture from the Ohio and its tributaries when
Missourians are destroying upon their farms more
and better lumber of the same variety every year.
In spite of all the grandeur of growth of the forests,
it has only been of recent years that the people of
St. Louis have begun to supply themselves with the
articles manufactured from the wood products of the
country, much less to produce any for export. The
absorption of industry in other channels, the scarcity
of capital and skilled labor, and the cheap goods sup-
plied by competing communities elsewhere prevented
these essentially home manufactures from establish-
ing themselves in the city upon anything like a large
scale or one commensurate with the community's needs.
The ancient French liabitans did indeed contrive
to manufacture their canoes and bateaux, their rude
charrettes, and their equally rude houses of posts from
native timber, joining their^oofs and floors, and framing
them, and making their cedar-picket inclosures with
a good deal of simple, compact skill. But they did
not admire the forest, nor choose to grapple with it ;
they got their firewood from the debris brought down
by the floods of the Mississippi and Missouri, and the
old town either bought its sawed and squared and
planed lumber or else did without. The Missouri
Gazette of March 1, 1809, has the following adver-
tisement :
"The subscriber will receive and execute orders for any quan-
tity of plank at the following prices per hundred feet, viz. :
Cherry $3.50
Walnut or ash 3.25
Oak 3.00
" To those who may forward their bills and receive their
plank at any of the landing-places at St. Louis a deduction of
twenty-five cents per hundred feet will be made.
" A quantity of the above kinds of plank is deposited for sale
at Mr. Stedman's tan-yard at the above prices.
"N.B. — Orders for plank will be received at the printing-
office and forwarded to the mill.
"THOMAS KIUKPATRICK.
"GOSHEN TOWNSHIP, INDIAN TERRITORY."
The following is probably the first notice of an at-
tempt to manufacture furniture in St. Louis. It is
from the same journal, 26th of July, 1810:
" Heslep A Taylor, Windsor and fancy chair-makers, at their
shop, adjoining Mr. J. Coons', .St. Louis, inform the public that
they have just arrived from Pennsylvania with an extensive
assortment of materials necessary for elegant and plain chairs.
They will gild, varnish, japan, and paint their work agreeable
to the fancy of those who wish to encourage the business in
this place.''
Feb. 13, 1813, we find the following:
" Philip Matile, wheelwright, carriage- and chair-maker
(from Switzerland), informs the public that he has for the last
two years carried on business in this neighborhood. He has
now established a shop six miles from St. Louis, on the road
that leads to Camp Bellefontaine.1'
In 1818, 3d of January, we read, —
" Pine boards sell here now at the enormous price of eight
dollars per hundred feet. Ash, oak, walnut, and every other
description of boards rate in the same proportion."
In the year 1819, Messrs. Laveille and Morton ar-
rived in St. Louis from Pittsburgh on flat-bottomed
boats loaded with lumber, on the tops of which were
stowed the effects of the emigrants. This is believed
to have been the first importation of Eastern lumber
into St. Louis. On their arrival they engaged as
carpenters, and subsequently became extensive build-
ing contractors. With the increase in their business
came an increased demand for lumber, and for a good
many years the principal supply was drawn from the
yellow-pine districts of the Gasconade River and its
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1323
tributaries, in what was then Gasconade County, but
now Gasconade, Texas, and a half-dozen or more other
counties. The principal mills were located on the Big
Piney, and were owned by Messrs. Fort & Lynch, |
Ormsby, Truesdale, Addison, Bates, and Joseph Wal-
ton, there being some eight or ten in all. After the
lumber was manufactured it was brought down the
Gasconade and Missouri Rivers in rafts, and it was
from this lumber that the St. Louis arsenal and Jef-
ferson Barracks were built. Every winter the builders
or dealers in lumber had to make a trip by horseback
to that district, the time occupied in going being
six days, and the route by way of Manchester, thirty
miles from St. Louis ; Union, sixty miles from Man-
chester, crossing the Burbois, and taking the Shaw-
neetown trail to Strong's, on Little Prairie, thirty miles
from Union ; then to Clayton's, forty miles from
Strong's ; then to Bradford's, on Spring Creek, thirty-
five miles from Clayton's ; and then to the mills on
Big Piney, about twenty miles from Spring Creek.
The country was sparsely settled, and the points
named the only ones where accommodation for either
man or beast could be had.
Some lumber was also brought from the neighbor-
hood of Ste. Genevieve, and poplar from the vicinity
of a stream south of the city, known as the Big Muddy,
and Cape Girardeau, and it was not until somewhere
about the years 1825-27 that Messrs. Laveille & Mor-
ton commenced making a regular business of bringing
lumber from Pittsburgh and vicinity to supply the
St. Louis market.
July 2, 1836, we find the following, showing a
rapid progress :
" Our readers are referred to an advertisement in
another column of a steam planing-machine, recently
put into operation in this city by Mr. James Kipp.
The machinery is in all respects perfect, and we un-
derstood that it was capable of turning out six hun-
dred planks per day completely finished. The whole
operation is performed with wonderful velocity."
In 1844 lumber began more regularly to be brought
from the Allegheny regions, and about the same time
St. Louis lumbermen turned their attention to the
pine regions of the upper Mississippi and the northern
lakes, the erection of mills there, and the manufacture
and shipment of lumber direct by river. During
that time, and even yet with some exceptions, the
lumber in the St. Louis market was brought in rafts
floated down by its manufacturers, or from Chicago
yards, the business all the while increasing.
For several years the larger portion of white-pine
was brought via Chicago, but the cost of transporta-
tion operated against Chicago.
The manufacture of pine lumber in St. Louis, that
has proved a fortune to some of its citizens, was par-
tially the result of a misfortune to some of the log or
lumbermen of the St. Croix region. In 1843, in
consequence of the heavy rains in the upper country
and the vast accumulation of logs in the Lake St. Croix
" boom," the " boom" gave way, and thousands of logs
escaped to the river. They were gathered up at dif-
ferent points along the Mississippi, made into rafts
and brought down to St. Louis, and some of them
sold to Daniel Page, who had a mill on the river-bank,
a short distance above what is now known as Mound
Street. On the 1st of November, 1841, Messrs.
West, Field & Vandeventer started what was known
at the time, and as long as it was conducted, as the
Pine Mill, which was confined exclusively to the saw-
ing of pine lumber. So successful was this enterprise,
and so great the demand, that the supply of logs be-
came inadequate, and they were forced to hire men
and send them to the pineries to cut logs for their
mill, so that this firm may be set down as inaugurating
that branch of business in St. Louis.
In this connection it may not be amiss to say that
among other orders they filled was one in 1849-50
for the spars, decking, etc., of the ship " Matilda,"
built at St. Louis, and designed for the St. Louis and
San Francisco trade. This was about the time of the
breaking out of the California gold fever, but before
the ship was finished Mr. French, for whom she was
building, failed, and West, Field & Vandeventer and
Gordon & Brotherton, who had a hard lumber mill,
and had furnished the oak lumber for the outside and
inside siding, ribs, etc., closed their lien, and with some
other interested parties caused her to be sold at sheriff's
sale and bid her in. After the sale they had her taken
down to New Orleans, where she was rigged out, a
cargo taken on board, and started for New York, but
on entering the gulf she sprang a leak, and was forced
to put back and go on to the dock for repairs. The
insurance on the hull and cargo did not cover the
loss, and her owners put her on the market and sold
her at a great sacrifice. She was subsequently sold
in New York for twenty-seven thousand dollars.
The firm of Schulenburg & Boeckeler in 1848 pur-
chased their first raft of pine logs, which were brought
from the Wisconsin pineries, and hence became the
second firm to commence the manufacture of pine
lumber in the city. That mill continued the manufac-
ture of native and pine lumber from that time, although
a part of the intervening time the mill was mainly run
by other parties, Schulenburg & Boeckeler retaining
an interest all the time. It finally passed under the
entire control and management of A. Boeckeler & Co.,
1324
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
and since then the bulk of its manufactures has been
of pine to fill home orders for bridge material and
other heavy work. In 1850 the firm became owners <
of the now large planing-mill on Mullanphy Street, be-
tween Tenth and Eleventh. In 1853, Schulenburg
& Boeckeler conceived the idea of establishing mills of
their own in the pineries of Minnesota, from which i
they might supply their yards direct, and the success •
that attended the enterprise has abundantly proved
its wisdom. The site selected was at the town of
Stillwater, on the St. Croix River, and in 1854 the
mills were completed and put in mofion. These mills
were propelled by steam, generated by five large boil-
ers, and the machinery driven by two good-sized en-
gines. The saws were run in " gangs," there being
three "gangs," in one of which there were twenty-eight
saws, in another one twenty-two, and in the other one
eighteen, so that the cutting of the largest log was a
matter of but small moment. Besides these gang-saws
there was one large rotary- or circular-saw, and a num-
ber of smaller circulars for manufacturing lath, shingles,
palings, etc., the whole machinery giving employment
to about one hundred and seventy-five men. From
the starting of the mills in 1854 to 1857 the most of
their manufactures were sold to different points on the j
river, only a part being brought to St. Louis, and it
was not until the summer of that year that they j
began " piling" in their yards.
The time occupied in bringing a hand-raft from
Stillwater to St. Louis varied according to the stage
of the water and the rapidity of the current, but gen- ']
erally was from twenty-five to thirty days. The man-
agement of the raft required about twenty-four men
and a pilot, each string having two oars and requiring
two oarsmen. The time necessary for a tow-boat raft
to make the trip was about twelve to fifteen days, and
required only one man to each string, besides the reg- \
ular boat's crew. Laths, shingles, and palings were
manufactured at the mills in the pineries, and brought
down on the top of the lumber-rafts, a single raft often
bringing 150,000 shingles, 300,000 laths, and 25.000 ;
palings, making in all a very valuable cargo, t and
worth, at a reasonable estimate, about $25,000.
From Michigan and Canada large numbers of logs
were, even at that early day. brought to St. Louis.
Yellow-pine from the Gasconade, poplar from South-
western Indiana, Southern Illinois, and Tennessee, and
cedar from the cedar-rifts of Tennessee were early
imported to St. Louis.
Richard Schulenburg, the senior member of the
lumber firm of Schulenburg & Boeckeler, and one of
the pioneers in the lumber trade of St. Louis, was
born in Westphalia, Prussia, in 1837. His father
was an attorney, and gave his son an education suit-
able for entering on the study of a profession, for
which he designed him. At the age of nineteen ifc
was found that his taste inclined toward industrial
and commercial pursuits, and, with the approbation
of his father, he went to Manchester, in England,
where he passed two years in the acquisition of a
knowledge of business. He then returned and passed
two years in Germany, one of which was devoted to
the discharge of his military duty.
In 1861 he came to America and located at St.
Louis. Soon after his arrival he engaged in the
lumber business in a small way, and this business he
has ever since followed. His trade steadily enlarged,
and in 1874 he became a stockholder in the Eau
Claire Lumber Company.
After the death of Nelson C. Chapman, which
occurred in that year, Mr. Schulenburg succeeded
him as vice-president and general business manager
of the company. Under his management the busi-
ness of the company in St. Louis has largely increased,
and it now reaches the amount of 65,000,000 feet of
lumber annually sold here.
Mr. Schulenburg was married in 1864 to Miss
Eliza, daughter of Frederick Schulenburg, an old
citizen of St. Louis. They have five children, three
sons and two daughters. He has devoted his entire
time and energies to his business, and has bestowed
very little attention on other matters.
It was many years before St. Louis began to supply
her own wants in the lumber and timber line, and to
manufacture the various wares of wood which occupy
so large and important a place in business and domes-
tic service. In 1850 the census statistics showed but
two planing-mills, with 35 hands and an annual pro-
duct valued at no more than $96.000. There were
55 cooper establishments, having 248 hands, and
making $288,822 of annual products ; 9 saw-mills,
with $115,000 capital, 103 hands, and $248,000
annual product ; 1 bucket-factory with 10 hands,
turning out $6000 a year; 8 carriage-makers, $56,-
000 capital, 138 hands, and $130.000 products ; 50
cabinet-makers, $72,700 capital, 195 hands, $182,800
products ; 3 plane-makers, $5300 capital, 15 hands,
$48,000 products ; 1 chair-factory, $1500 capital, 5
hands, $3500 output ; 1 basket-maker, $400 capital,
2 hands, $2160 product; 32 wagon-makers, $27,275
capital, 121 hands, $146,585 products; 1 yawl-boat
builder, $150 capital, 1 hand, $750 product ; 1 block-
and pump-maker, $8000 capital, 17 hands, $9000
product ; and 1 ship-yard, $125,000 capital, 85 hands,
$150,000 products in steamboats.
This, however, was but the beginning. As the
J
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1325
annual trade review of one of the city newspapers for
1854 puts it, —
"In many articles of manufacture, both of wood and metals,
we are dependent upon the industry, enterprise, and ingenuity
of other States for nearly the whole supply which our demand
requires ; this, too, while this section has ample stores of the
raw material, superior in texture, and capable of being procured
in the cheapest possible manner. With the most inexhaustible
quantities of iron and copper ore, we import nearly all the arti-
cles manufactured out of these metals, such as nails and cast-
ings of every description. Sand is taken from the State, to be
returned from Pittsburgh in the shape of glass. Our forests
are filled with timber suitable for the finest furniture, and we
import bureaus, sofas, chairs, bedsteads, buckets, and a hundred
other articles of like character."
The Chippewa, Black River, Wisconsin River,
Wolf River, the Green Bay district, and Southeast
Missouri were in time made tributaries to the lumber
trade of St. Louis.
The receipts of lumber at St. Louis in 1875 were :
Feet.
White-pine by river 89,217,880
" by railroad 9,464,000
Yellow-pine 21,326,850
Poplar by river 4,496,000
" by railroad , 2,149,000
Hard woods 12,474,500
Cedar 2,729,090
Pieces.
Shingles 43,574,090
Laths 15,099,000
Logs of all kinds 40,232
There were, to be sure, many factories, as shown The shipments aggregated 56,643,000 feet,
above, but they were on a small scale, and did not The receipts of lumber for the calendar year 1881
meet the city's requirements. During the year 1853, were 434,043,094 feet, nearly twelve tim.es as much
for which this journal's statistics were compiled, for as in 1853 ; shingles, 56,578,785. In carpenter-
example, there were received from other places 20,063 ing, in 1880, the business done by St. Louis was
dozen brooms, 1018 nests of baskets, 98,141 pieces j as follows: Establishments, 185; hands, 2228;
of cooper stuff, 8474 packages of furniture, 771 wages, $667,900 ($300 per capita} ; capital, $361,-
chicken-coops, 1091 saddle-trees, and about 10,000 840; material, $1,585,094 ; products, $3,005,411,—
packages of woodware, such as washboards, buckets, leaving a net profit of $716,233 (200 per cent. OD
tubs, pails, etc., besides hub-stuff and hoop-poles and capital).
blocks by railroad. The exhibit of lumber from all ! Baskets (rattan and willow-ware). — Establishments,
sources was as follows : 7; capital, $9015; hands, 14; wages, $6140; ma-
Lumber (sawed) received by the lumber merchants terials, $3960 ; products, $18,020.
O.inlf53 •.-•:•••"•••-••••:• V :"•'"'" 1*'*™>*Q Boxes (cigar).— Establishments, 6; capital, $57,-
Shingles received by the lumber merchants in 1853.. 30,462,700
Laths " " « " .. 6,947,000 550; hands, 97 ; wages, $34,100; material, $47,700;
Cedar posts " " " " " . 22,748 -, &ir\Ktinr\
products, $105,600.
During the year there were purchased by the city Boxes (packing). — Establishments, 11 ; capital,
mills the following : $40,000 ; hands, 98 ; wages, $23,601 ; material,
Logs purchased 29,63*6,808 $75,430; products, $140,400.
Lumber manufactured therefrom 2?'^'!^ Brooms and Brushes.— Establishments, 25; capi-
Laths from same 7,975,500
The plank-road stuff received by the county for roads, tal, $95,175; hands, 328; wages, $83,349; mate-
rial, $140,770 ; products, $281,280.
The above shows, in the receipt and consumption of Carriages and Wagons (materials).— Establish-
sawed lumber, 60,786,332 feet. ments, 3; capital, $126,000; hands, 203; wages,
A comparative statement of the lumber trade for $91,638; material, $134,440; products, $264,600.
1868 and 1869 makes the following exhibit: Carriages and Wagons (finishing). — Establish-
UpperMi.^ippi .!?61.. .. so/otooo ments' 39 > c^h^ ^40,050; hands, 1300; wages,
Saginaw and Canada,— Saginaw 5,ooo,6oo and Can- $447,831 ; material, $811,865 ; products, $1,614,236.
ada 2,50(1,000 7,500,000 „ / -i j j • N T? » ur i,
Chicago 3000000 ^ars (railroad, street, and repairs). — Estabhsh-
Popiur f.-om Southern Illinois and Indiana 'soojouo ments, 7 : capital, $314,200; hands, 704; wages,
Yellow-pine, Mobile and Ohio Railroad and steamer
from Vieksburg 1,500,000 $293,384 ; material, $732,460 ; products, $1,100,809.
How-pine from Potosi, Mo ^oujooo , ^^ (undertakers' goods).— Establishments, 5 ;
Total 35,000,000 capital, $30,500; hands, 33; wages, $12,530; ma-
1869- terial, $109,200 ; products, $157,396.
Upper Mississippi 20,000,000 .
Saginaw 500*000 Cooperage. — Establishments, 78; capital, $493,-
^caiV.:::::/::::::::::::r;;;:.:::;::::; ; JftSSS ;295; hands> 1217; wages> $377,056; material,
Poplar from Illinois, Indiana, and Tennessee 1^500^000 $798,262; products, $1,431,405.
Southern yellow-pine from Vicksburg, Mobile, and r, ., u A ur v. K/I '. 1 «oon
Ohio...... 1000000 Furniture. — Establishments, 54; capital, $920,-
MiHouripine ".V....V.\ZV.V.\^\V.V.\"\\V.V.'.'.' 3.'ooot'ooo 7Q2 ; hands, 1315 ;> wages, $511,915; material, $1,-
Totai .. 32,500,000 082,825; products,' $1,979,683.
1326
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Looking- Glass and Picture Frames. — Establish-
ments, 19; capital, 8323,900 ; hands, 280; wages,
$80,251 ; material, $102,825 ; products, $268,682.
Lumber (planed). — Establishments, 9 ; capital,
$272,350 ; hands, 418 ; wages, $152,609 ; material,
$502,742 ; products, $756,936.
Lumber (sawed). — Establishments, 3 ; capital,
$620,000; hands, 194; wages, $72,086; material,
$251,600; products, $412,000.
Sash (doors and blinds).— Establishments, 12;
capital, $586,195; hands, 804; wages, $275,321;
material, $669,871 ; products, $1,191,670.
Wheelwrighting. — Establishments, 52 ; capital,
$51,950; hands, 148; wages, $47,598; material,
$42,632; products, $140,121.
Wood (turned and carved). — Establishments, 18 ;
capital, $28,725 ; hands, 51 ; wages, $19,183 ; ma-
terial, $20,045 ; products, $84,207.
These statistics do not include many industries in
which .wood and lumber play a collateral or subordi-
nate part, such as models and patterns, organs and
pianos, pumps, refrigerators, roofing and roofing ma-
terial, saddlery, show cases, trunks, umbrellas and
canes, whips, billiard-tables, bridges, children's car-
riages and sleds, casks, chairs, washing-machines,
wooden-ware, agricultural implements, etc.
RECEIPTS OF LUMBER AND LOGS FOR 1881 AND 1882.
1881. 1882.
Ff.et. Feet.
White-pine lumber from upper Mississippi
River 100,454,498 162,682,830
Yellow-pine lumber from lower Mississippi
River 270,500 512,740
Ash lumber from lower Mississippi River 2,568,000 3,764,748
Poplar ' « 10,705,700 11,844,915
Oak " " " " « 1,154,000 1,903,447
Walnut lumber, half from lower Mississippi
River, ami half from Missouri River 1,781,261 2,039,680
Cottonwood lumber from upper Mississippi
River 1,500.500 2,530,000
Total receipts by river 118,434,459 185,278,370
Number. Number.
Receipts of shingles from upper Mississippi
River 34,590,785 56.835,209
Receipts of lath from upper Mississippi River.. 18,113.823 35,247,014
pickets " " " .. 870,175 1,451,748
53,674,783 93,533,748
Receipts of Logs by River.
1882, superficial feet 4,341,763
1881, " « 11,912,6:55
1880, " 8,699,192
Total Receipts of Lumber and Logs.
1881. 1882.
Feet. Feet.
Lumber by river 118,434.459 185,278,370
" railroad 30:i,696,000 251,927,000
Logs by river 11,912,631 4,341,763
Total receipts 434,043,094 441,547,133
Total Receipts of Shingles and Lath by River and Rail.
1882. 1881. 1S80.
Shingles, pieces 77,667,000 56,578,000 106,246,000
Lath, ' 35,247,000 18,523,000 41,023,000
Among the lumber merchants of St. Louis few, if
any, have enjoyed a larger measure of success and in-
fluence than William G. Clark, who for nearly fifty
years has been one of the prominent business men
of the city. Mr. Clark was born in Baltimore, Md.,
Nov. 4, 1818. His great-grandparents emigrated
from Argyleshire, Scotland, to York County, Pa., in
1750. His grandfather, Matthew Clark, was in 1802
a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature, represent-
ing the county of York. His father (who was also
named Matthew) married Miss Tempie Glenn, the
granddaughter of Maj. Robert Glenn, an officer under
Gen. Washington in the Revolutionary war. Col.
Matthew Clark (father of William G. Clark) was one
of the defenders of Baltimore in the war of 1812,
being a volunteer from the county of York. Sub-
sequently, in 1816, he removed to Baltimore to live.
Matthew Clark's mother was a sisler of Judge Hugh
Breckenridge, of Pennsylvania, one of the most dis-
tinguished men of his day.
William G. Clark was educated in the public schools
of Baltimore until he was seventeen years of age,
when he entered as clerk the dry-goods house of
John Taylor, where he remained for one year. In
1836 he accompanied Daniel Trowbridge to St. Louis,
to enter into business, and served him as clerk for a
period of three years. In 1839, Mr. Clark com-
menced business for himself as a wholesale clothing
merchant, the firm being Jones, Clark & Gill, one of
the largest establishments of its kind at that day in
the city, and still remembered by the old inhabitants
as one of the leading houses on Main Street. Al-
though success crowned his career as a wholesale
clothing merchant, he retired from the business in
1842, being convinced that the lumber business pre-
sented a wider field for the exercise of his enterprise
and ability. Accordingly he entered upon this new
occupation with an energy and industry which soon
caused him to become one of the most extensive and
successful lumber merchants in the city. Having
erected a large steam saw-mill on the river-bank in
the northern part of the city, he continued in the
lumber business until 1874, when he retired with an
ample fortune, and a reputation for integrity and up-
rightness of which any one might be proud.
Mr. Clark's sagacity and forecast as a practical
business man are seen in the investments in real estate
which he made from time to time while actively en-
gaged in other pursuits. One of these is worthy of
mention. In 1850, when as yet there was but little
business done on Fourth Street, he purchased the old
Methodist Church property on the corner of Fourth
Street and Washington Avenue, on which, in 1856, he
erected a block of substantial and handsome five-story
buildings, which he still owns, and which at the
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1327
present time occupy one of the most prominent busi-
ness centres of the city.
As a citizen, Mr. Clark has been identified with
many of the leading enterprises of the day. He was
a director of the Southern Bank, a trustee of the City
University, and a director and leading spirit in the
building of the first Lindell Hotel. During the
cholera epidemic in 1849, Mr. Clark was selected as
one of the " Committee of Safety," to which was
committed the management of sanitary affairs dur-
ing the three months in which the terrible plague
rested like a pall over the city. This " Committee of
Safety," composed of such other leading men as Hon.
Luther M. Kennett, Hon. Trusten Polk, Judge T. T.
Gantt, and A. B. Chambers, discharged the impor-
tant trust confided to it with marked fidelity, and
to its action the city is indebted for the first estab-
lishment of quarantine.
Through life Mr. Clark has been a pronounced and
active Christian man. He has long been a ruling
elder in the Pine Street (now Grand Avenue) Presby-
terian Church, and is chairman of the building com-
mittee charged with the erection of the handsome
church edifice on the corner of Grand and Wash-
ington Avenues, and is identified with other depart-
ments of church work.
Mr. Clark has been twice happily married, — first to
Miss Julia Miller, of Baltimore, Md., who bore him
six children. His second wife is Miss Mary Bell
Parks, daughter of Joseph Parks, of St. Charles,
Mo., by whom he has had four children, all of whom
are still living.
No citizen of St. Louis stands higher as a man of
sterling integrity and high-toned Christian character
than does William G. Clark.
Wood- and Willow-Ware. — Included under this
trade nomenclature is a vast range of articles and
utensils, such as buckets, casks, tubs, ladles, bread-
bowls, and other household appliances or furnishings
in wood, while willow-ware includes baskets, chairs,
and the like constructed of this light material. But
with the sale of these have become associated in the
trade cordage, rope, brooms, wrapping-paper, paper
bags, stove polish, axle grease, and, in the case of one
of the largest firms, playing cards also. Indeed, the
trade now comprises probably a greater number of
articles in daily use than any other business. Pre-
cisely when dealing in wooden-ware became separated
from the hardware trade proper, of which it may be
said to be the counterpart, cannot now be ascertained.
From the reminiscences of old inhabitants of the city,
however, it appears that the wooden-ware trade existed as
early as 1835, but it was in connection with the hard-
ware trade. As a separate industry, the branch is of
comparatively modern origin here as elsewhere. In
St. Louis, however, the wood- and willow-ware trade has
obtained the ascendency over that of any other city in
America or Europe. St. Louis, in fact, is the ruling
market, and prices for every other city on the continent
are fixed here. In the manufacture of these wares,
of themselves apparently insignificant, a capital ap-
proaching, in the aggregate, three million dollars is
utilized, and upwards of a thousand hands are em-
ployed in the conduct of a vast system of machinery.
Dealers in wood- and willow-ware transact a business
often exceeding in value two million dollars a year ;
and as to the general volume of the trade, it is officially
established that one St. Louis firm sells more annually
than the combined trade of any other four houses in
the same line in the world, and more than the aggre-
gate sales of all the houses in this line of business
west of the Alleghenies. Thus St. Louis is absolutely
beyond competition in this line, having also the largest
manufactory of this character in the world. Not
only are these goods, chiefly derived from home
manufactories, shipped to every considerable city and
town in America, but there is considerable export to
Cuba, South and Central America, and to Australia.
The great excess of shipments over imports is thus
explained, as well as in the utilization of the supply
of raw material found convenient to the market.
In the manufacture of wooden-ware proper, pine
and oak are chiefly used. One of the larger estab-
lishments supplies the West with water buckets and
the like, and there are three oakware manufactories
whose product is larger than that of any other estab-
lishment in existence. Axe handles, hoe handles,
shovel, pick, and other varieties of hard-wood han-
dles are supplied by a manufacturing company having
the largest establishment of the kind in the world.
An element entering largely into this peculiar trade
is axle grease, all of which is manufactured in St.
Louis, the product of four lubricating companies
aggregating nearly half a million dollars annually.
The paper bags entering into the wood- and willow-
ware trade are also manufactured in St. Louis, one
factory, sixty by one hundred and seventy-five feet
and five stories high, thus utilizing ten tons of paper
daily, and giving employment to over a hundred
hands, as appears from the labor commissioner's
statistics.
A still more wonderful feature of the trade, how-
ever, is the manufacture of brooms by machinery.
The only establishment of the kind in the world was
put in operation in St. Louis about the year 1876,
and it consumes or utilizes more broom-corn than all
1328
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
other broom-factories (hand) in the West. It turns
out six hundred dozen complete brooms daily, uses
seven thousand two hundred handles, and works up
six tons of the raw material. The product thus
aggregates about three hundred and fifty thousand
dollars a year, or over twelve hundred dollars each
working day. This extensive trade is constantly in-
creasing.
Furniture. — In a review of the manufactures of
St. Louis at that time, a local journal of Sept. 7,
1854, said, with reference to the furniture industry,
" There are many residents of St. Louis, probably the
majority of the inhabitants, who are not aware of the
progress and already advanced state of St. Louis manu- '
factories. The time was when we looked to Cincin-
nati and the Eastern cities for almost everything we
wanted in the line of manufactures, either because
the article we wished was not to be had here, or if it
was the Eastern manufacture could be had at a
cheaper rate. As in any other growing, struggling
city, our mechanics were not able to compete with
Eastern work, and it always requires a vast deal of
enterprise, determination, and hard labor to break up
a trade that has once been established, no matter in
what line of business. Many really enterprising
mechanics have failed in producing this result and
have become bankrupt, almost martyrs to the cause
of home manufactures." l
Prior to that date, Paris H. Mason, in 1847, asso-
ciated himself with Russell Scarrett, at 214 Wash-
ington Avenue ; Conrades & Logeman established
their business in 1853 ; Joseph Peters was making, in :
1854, a specialty of bureaus and cabinet-work; John I
H. Crane commenced the furniture business in 1855 ;
William Mitchell opened his shop in the same year,
and in 1871 the establishment was incorporated as
the " Mitchell Furniture Company," and in 1860,
Martin Lammert began business. From this year
the business rapidly increased, until now it is one of
the most important industries in St. Louis. In 1881
there were seventy-two houses engaged in the furni-
ture-trade, whose sales aggregated three million
dollars per annum.
Joseph Peters, who, as we have seen, was one of i
the early furniture manufacturers of St. Louis, was
born in Prussia, May 9, 1832. He learned the trade
of a cabinet-maker, and at the age of twenty-two, de-
siring to better his condition, emigrated to America,
settling in St. Louis in 1854. For nine years he
1 In June, 1815, J. D. Russell carried on a chair- factory " be-
tween Kerr's store and the post-office," and in April, 1818, Isaac !
Allyn conducted a similar establishment on Second Street, three
doors north of Shope.
worked at his trade, and in 1863 established a manu-
factory. Having little or no capital, he employed at
first a few hand-workers, but with hard labor and
economy the business prospered, and in the lapse of
time horse-power was introduced, and finally steam.
Mr. Peters managed the business personally and
under his own name until 1880, when the " Joseph
Peters' Furniture Company" was organized, he be-
coming its president. It is one of the largest concerns
of the kind in St. Louis, but is distinguished not so
much, perhaps, for the extent of its operations as for
the fine quality of its manufactures. Hitherto St.
Louis has been obliged to look elsewhere for its fine
furniture, but there is a prospect, under the enter-
prising lead of such men as Joseph Peters, that the
demand for elegant and expensive goods will be met
by the home manufacturer.
Distilleries. — In former years St. Louis had more
distilleries operatingin her midst, but the product of the
two remaining — the St. Louis and the Teuscher Com-
panies— is greater, according to the testimony of the
Internal Revenue Department, than that of their
more numerous predecessors. In 1854 the produc-
tion was seventeen thousand five hundred barrels, and
during the five years from 1877 to 1881 the produc-
tion, estimated on the basis of the stamp-tax paid (at
ninety cents a gallon), was, in value, as follows :
1880 $1,755,525
•1881 2,168,433
1877 $1,883,462
1878 2,101,556
1879 1,877,510
The product of 1881 aggregated upwards of twenty-
four thousand gallons, a trifling quantity as compared
with the large imports. St. Louis, however, has
ownership in several Kentucky distilleries, the prod-
uct of which is handled in the St. Louis market, and
there are also a large number of distilleries, agents,
and rectifiers doing business in St. Louis, so that the
entire movement of the whiskey interest represents
perhaps two million five hundred thousand dollars a
year.
The following table shows the condition of the
distillery business :
RECEIPTS OF HIGH-WINES.
Sbl*.
1S82 9,152
1881 7,847
1880 14,580
1879 9,835
1S78 10,497
1S77 11,083
1876 29,592
SHIPMENTS OF WHISKEY.
Bbls.
1882 104,790
1881 95,884
1880 110,582
1879 89,086
1878 86,358
1877 96,048
1876 101,841
The following is a statement of the amount of
grain used, product, of spirits, and tax paid, etc., of
the two distilleries which have operated during the
years 1880, 1881, and 1882 in this district:
c
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1329
Bushels of grain mashed and
distilled ...........................
1880.
592,430
1880.
Galls.
Spirits produced:
Bourbon 69,654
Alcohol 297,816
Gin 6,538
High-wines 213,830
Pure neutral or Cologne
spirits 1,376,820
Whiskey 77,393
Total 2,042,051
1880.
Galls.
Average yield of spirits per
bushel
1881.
688,850
1881.
Galls.
50,710
305,895
4,4^5
201,856
1,747,551
138,562
2,449,029
1881.
Galls.
3.58
1882.
555,667
1882.
Galls.
16,452
344,937
810
26,520
1,700,866
103,739
2,193,314
1882.
Galls.
398
1880.
Am
1882.
Galls.
mount of tax paid, at) «., »KrV.0on I 2,409,043 2,239,785
ninety cents per gallon. ( »M«»,1*LW Tax Tax
I $2,1 68, 138.70 $2,015,80650
1881.
Galls.
2,409,043
Alcohol exported free of tax-
Alcohol transferred to manu-
facturing warehouse to be
exported
Alcohol withdrawn for scien-
tific purposes, free of tax...
Whinkey allowed by reason
of leakage
Galls
60,253
11,170
532
1,499
Galls.
20,795
2,088
Remaining on hand in distillery warehouse
Dec. 31, 1880. Dec. 31, 1881. Dec,
Bourbon .
Alcohol
Gin
High-wines
Pure in-utrul or Cologne
spirits
Whiskey
Total
Galls.
33,934
5,072
135
1,320
16,173
4,086
Galls.
38,576
17,969
45
14,9)9
6,196
Galls.
523
31,1882.
Galls.
13,436
1,490
6,187
1,206
60,720 77,735 22,319
Galls.
Spirits rectified or compounded in the year 1880 3,493,916.32
" " " " " 1881. 3,54S,!I3.S 52
" » " " " 1882 .'. 3,249,909.57
1880. 1881. 1882.
Galls. Galls. Galls.
Total number of gallons
gauged in three years by
United States gangers 11,603,205.87 12,539,512.07 11,380,467.26
Total number of wholesale
liquor dealers' stamps is-
sued on change of package.. 29,513 31,180 29,921
Wines. — Fifteen or twenty years ago it was
thought that Missouri would become a great wine-
growing State and St. Louis a wine market of conse-
quence. These expectations have not been fully
realized, owing, in part, to the rapidly-developed
vineyard interests of California, and in part to the
preference given in St. Louis to the beer market.
But the wine-making trade is still productive, and
promises to become a very substantial manufacture
when the vine-plantings are more extensive and the
plant for fermenting and ripening the grape-juice is
larger.
Great intelligence and thought have recently been
given to grape-culture and wine-making in Missouri,
with the result of eliminating much error and many
absurdly false expectations of yield and profit, at the
same time getting the industry closer down to a busi-
ness-like basis. Missouri wines have an admitted
excellence in flavor and keeping qualities, and the soil
and climate of the State are suitable to the produc-
tion of grapes yielding a " must'' full of body and
having saccharine enough in it to prevent the acetic
fermentation. On this point Rev. Mr. Peabody, an
admitted expert, says, —
" The two important natural conditions demanded
by the grape are climate and soil. Given these two,
all the rest will eventually follow from the application
of the skilled industry of the vine-dresser. In this
portion of the valley of the Mississippi we find these
two elementary conditions, climate and soil, existing
together. That the soil and climate of Missouri and
the adjacent parts of other States, .especially those on
its eastern and western boundaries (Illinois and Kan-
sas), are eminently adapted to the growth of the
grape is a point too well established to need discus-
sion here. The fact is well known and universally
acknowledged throughout the entire district, and
perhaps, I may venture to add, throughout the
United States. Compared with other sections of the
United States (at least all those east of the Rocky
Mountains), so far as their capabilities have been
tested, our advantages for the production of wine are
certainly superior." 1
All the experiments at Hermann have been satisfac-
tory and remunerative, and there are said to be fifteen
million acres of land in Missouri suitable for vine-
yards.
In 1853 the native wine received in St. Louis was
contained in nine casks, seven barrels, and eight
boxes, — less than the product of Kaskaskia and Caho-
kia a hundred years before that. The census of 1870
returned four wine-makers and an annual product ex-
ceeding $800,000. The census of 1880 gives three
establishments, $380,000 capital, thirty-one hands,
$18,830 wages, $52,000 material, and $131,000
product. These figures are not encouraging, and yet
the grape-growing interest is not disheartened. On
the contrary, it rests confident that Missouri must
be the centre of wine-making in this country, because
it has six varieties of grapes native to the soil, and
which, unlike the California grapes, are claimed to be
phylloxera-proof.
The native wine interest has largely exceeded the
whiskey manufacture and trade in volume of late years
1 In 1848, Alexander Kayser, of St. Louis, offered three pre-
miums of one hundred dollars each for the best specimens of
Missouri wine, the vintage of three consecutive years. The
first premium was awarded in 1849 for the vintage of 1848,
the second in 1850 for the vintage of 1849. For the latter
prize there were twenty-seven samples of wine produced for
competition, but the premium was awarded to Jacob Home), of
1 Hermann, for " a wine of pure Catawba grapes."
1330
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
in St. Louis, although a much more recently-estab-
lished branch of trade. One St. Louis brand of
champagne alone exceeds in volume and value of
trade the purely spirit interest, and the growth of
the trade in Missouri, California, and other native
wines has exceeded the anticipations of those engaged
in it. The bottled wine export last year reached
nearly twenty thousand cases. The value of foreign
wines and liquors which passed through the St. Louis
custom-house in 1881 was $60,639, on which a duty
of $26,990.39 was paid. Of the forty firms engaged
in the wholesale whiskey trade in 1881, many deal in
wines and other liquors, and the sales aggregate prob-
ably over $2,000,000 per annum.
Breweries. — The period when lager-beer brewing,
which has become an industry of immense propor-
tions, was established in St. Louis is more readily
ascertainable than the precise time when brewing gen-
erally was inaugurated. The early files of the Missouri
Gazette, however, fix the date of the beginning of beer-
brewing in St. Louis in the month of May, 1810,
when that paper " congratulated" its readers
" on the acquisition of a new establishment for making porter
and strong beer. Mr. St. Vrain, of Bellefontaine," it added,
" has erected a manufactory and taken into partnership an ex-
perienced European brewer, and has commenced business in a
handsome style. The lovers of malt will now have an oppor-
tunity to foster an undertaking so much wanted in this Terri-
tory."
Subsequently the same paper published the follow-
ing advertisement :
"Table beer and porter, manufactured by St. Vrain & Habb,
at Bellefontaine, near St. Louis. Those who wish to be supplied
will please direct their orders to the brewery, or to Edward
Hempstead, Esq., St. Louis, who will always have a quantity in
his cellar ready for sale. Customers who may want a large
supply will please to give timely notice."
The following from the same source fixes the price
at which beer was sold to the early inhabitants of St.
Louis :
' "Strong and table beer, manufactured by St. Vrain A Habb,
at Bellefontaine, near St. Louis. The price of strong beer will
be ten dollars in cash or twelve in produce, five dollars in cash
for table beer or six in produce, delivered at the brewery at the
following prices :
Wheat at 62£ cents.
Barley at 50 "
Rye at62£ "
Corn at 25 "
Green hops at 10 "
" Cattle and pork at the market price will also be taken, and
three months' credit shall be given to purchasers, provided they
give an indorsed note to the satisfaction of the brewers. Those
who wish to be supplied will please direct their orders to the
brewery, or to Edward Hempstead, Esq., St. Louis."
In May, 1810, the St. Louis brewery of Jacob Philipson went
into operation, and he was " ready to sell beer at the price of eleven
dollars for the barrel and six dollars for the half-barrel, one
dollar of each to be returned to the purchaser on his redeliver-
ing within a reasonable time the empty barrel in good condition,
and bearing the stamp of the brewery." Mr. Philipson also
agreed that the above price should " be reduced whenever grain
can be obtained in this country in quantities sufficient to give
the brewery a continued employment, and whenever our farmers,
by attending to the cultivation of hops, will do away with the
necessity of procuring this article from a great distance and at
considerable expense. The brewery will keep no books, and will
deliver beer only for immediate payment. This invariable rule
is imposed on the proprietor by the necessity of his paying cash
(frequently in advance) for every ingredient and every part of
labor. Beer will be retailed at the rate of twelve and a half
cents per quart at the stores of Messrs. Sylvestre Labadie and
Michel Tesson, and at various other convenient situations in this
place, and at Ste. Genevieve a constant supply will be kept up
at the store of Jacob Philipson."
In 1826 the " new brewery" of Lynch & Co. was advertised,
and in 1827, John Mullanphy had "St. Louis ale at his brewery
in whole or half-barrels."
Descendants of the old French residents prior to
1800 speak of a fermented liquor made in St. Louis
at that early period, and of the existence of at least
one primitive place of brewing. The venerable Ezra
English manufactured a malt liquor better known as
ale than beer half a century or more ago, and upon
an extensive scale, judged by the storage capacity of
the " English Cave," not far from the present site of
Ben ton Park, and which was then used, as subse-
quently, for the storing of beer. The cave itself has
a romantic history, and while it is believed to lead to
the river, has never been thoroughly explored in its
inmost recesses, nor further than sufficient to afford
capacity for storing three thousand five hundred bar-
rels. English & McHose were the firm subsequently
engaged in the manufacture of beer in this connection.
The St. Louis Ale Brewery is the only one of that
character yet existing.
Probably the first lager-beer brewery established in
St. Louis district was put in operation in 18-41 by the
father of William J. Lemp, who succeeded to the busi-
ness, after being engaged in malting for a while, upon
the death of the elder Lemp. This brewery was in
rear of the site of the present Lemp sample-rooms, on
Walnut Street near Second. With the immigration
of German citizens familiar with brewing, the erection
of breweries and malt-houses increased in number,
until there are now twenty-three of the former and
thirteen of the latter, six independent of the brewer-
ies, and in all producing yearly about one million
bushels. Many of the brewing establishments are
very extensive, and represent an aggregate value of
over nine million dollars. St. Louis has become,
with the growth of the American taste for lager,
the third city in its production in this country, and
in excellence of the product rivals Bohemia, hitherto
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1331
conceded to be the headquarters of the best beer in wave of emigration swept over us, and we found the town inun-
r IT I dated with breweries, beer-houses, sausage-shops, Apollo gar-
j dens, Sunday concerts, Swiss cheese, and Holland herrings.
The growth of the industry, in respect to its con- j We found it almost necegsary to learn the German Ianguage
tribution of revenue to the general government, at the ! before we could ride in an omnibus or buy a pair of breeches,
rate of ninety-two and a half cents per barrel, makes and absolutely necessary to drink beer at a Sunday concert.
the official exhibit for five years : "*n nothing' perhaps' has the German influence been more
sensibly and, we will add, more beneficially felt than in the in-
1877 l«o'st?'7n • tro<*ucti°n °f beer as a common beverage. It is not only used
567'642°01 ky *ne tlermansj but it has been wellnigh universally adopted
1880 674,282.95 by the English-speaking population, and the spacious beer halls
1881 816,226.51 j and extensive gardens nightly show that the Americans are as
The following exhibit, although differing Somewhat f°nd °f the Galnbrinian "l^ « are those who have intro-
duced it. . . ."
from that collected by the State Bureau of Labor
Oi .. ,. . p , , , , j , ,. 1,1 in 1854 the Republican of September 20th said, —
Statistics, is of later date, and believed to be more
, . " St. Louis has about twenty-four breweries, and every one
comprehensive ;
j of them has stored nearly twice the quantity of ' ale' for this
Amount expended for barley, malt, and hops $2,984,807 summer that has been made in any preceding one. As we are
" 1Ceff"s 785*033 informed by one of the largest dealers of this article, the quan-
in expenses "and" repairs.'.'".' .' I,03o'l62 tity may be safely reckoned at 40,000 barrels of lager beer, and
for fuel 99,855 perhaps 20,000 barrels of common beer. By an average count,
" oats and hay 47,949 One barrel of thirty gallons gives about 300 glasses. Thus we
Taxes. United States and city , L in nnn nnn ,
" on realty employed... have about 12,000,000 glasses of lager beer, and about 6,000,000
Revenue stamps and licenses 966,140 of common beer; in all, 18,000,000 glasses of beer drank in St.
Louis from the 1st of March last up to the 17th of September,
Total $6,330.063 the time the lager beer gave out. Common beer is sold at five
Capital Permanently Employed. dollars per barrel, and lager beer at seven dollars, that is at
Capital. Hands. wholesale. This will make the amount received by the brewers
In breweries $6,000,000 3000 for lager beer $290,000, and for common $100,000 ; together, say
" bottle factories 300,000 650 $380,000. The retailers, at five cents a glass, took in $600,000
"cooperage 750,000 500 for lager beer and $300,000 for the common article. Justthink
" copper, iron, and machinery
working.. 450,000 300 of it, nearly a million of dollars ($900,000) spent in St. Louis
during one summer for beer, and that chiefly among the Ger-
Total $7,500,000 4450 : mans themselves !"
The political influence exerted by German immi- In 1810 the table beer of St. Vrain & Habb, brewed
gration has not been more potential than that exer- in St. Louis, sold at ten dollars cash, or twelve dollars
cised by the same element in modifying popular in produce, per barrel, and that of the St. Louis brew-
habits. The Republican of June 21, 1857, com- ery at about the same. In 1854 the price of com-
menting upon the influence of lager beer upon the | nion beer was five dollars per barrel, and seven dol-
habits and customs of the people of St. Louis, remarks lars for lager. In 1860 the average price of lager
that about 1840, — was eight dollars per barrel. The beer garden fol-
" When our city was in its infancy, and the German infusion lowed quicklv UPOD the general introduction of lager
had not poured in, no one spoke seriously of a German vote, and as a beverage. In 1857, Lemp's saloon is mentioned as
the papers never entertained such a subject as a German ele- " oneof the largest of the class," and " about nine o'clock
ment; no aspirant for congressional honors ever then modeled j afc nj hfc ft fect beer babej „ where ar(mnd & ^^
his opinion by the German standard or courted German favor. • . .
There was no German paper, because there were none to read °er ff tab|CS excited coteries were assembled, " quaff-
it; no beer gardens, because there were none to frequent them. ing incredible quantities of beer and Uttering almost
We do not remember having seen in those days such a thing as j impossible Successions of VOCal sounds, and boys rush-
a sausage-shop, a gasthaus, or a handlung. There was one ^ enthusiastically from the bar to the tables with
apothelce and a deutscher arzt, and, if we mistake not, the sign , .
of a hebamme swung at that period over the door somewhere in m°re glaSS6S °f beer than lfc W0uld seem withi» ^e
the region known then as Frenchtown. There was nothing that power of tW« human hands to carry."
indicated that there was a German population requiring more Since 1857 the consumption of beer has increased
than one doctor, a drug-store, and midwife. enormously. It was estimated by Henry H. Rueter,
I he only garden which had any pretensions as a place of . , _ . 1 _ J:
resort was known at that time to the very limited number of president of the United States Brewers Association,
young ladies and gentlemen who took summer-evening strolls fliat the beer production of the whole Country for
as the 'Broadway Garden,' and was, as well as we can recol- 1879 reached 10,000,000 barrels, and that of Mis-
leet, dimly lighted by variegated oil-lamps, and solely devoted to gouri 507963 barrels, which, according to the tax
ice-cream and 'mead.' The Broadway Garden went out just •111- i <-> *,
about the time that beer gardens came in. And when they did Pald' had increased to 877,663 barrels in 1881. We
come in it was tumuituously ; a sudden and almost unexpected have seen that in 1854 the Republican ascertained
1332
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
that " one barrel of thirty gallons gives about three
hundred glasses," and that then St. Louis consumed
eighteen millions of glasses in a single spring and
summer. Applying the same calculation to the pro-
duction for 1881, we find that the $816,226.51 paid
for stamps, at ninety-three cents per barrel, gives a
production of 877,663 barrels, which, at three hun-
dred glasses per barrel, would allow 263,298,900
glasses. This would give a consumption, assuming
the population to be 400,000, of 658 glasses for every
person during the year. In addition to this 1,252,344
packages of ale and beer were shipped from the city.
The following table of statistics is translated from
the Mississippi Handels-Zeitung, a German commer-
cial newspaper published in St. Louis. It exhibits
the names of the breweries existing in that city in
1860, the names of their several proprietors, and the
amount and value of the beer manufactured by each :
1 Name of Brewery and Proprietor.
Bbls.
Lager
Beer.
Bbls. Bbls.
Common of
Beer. Ale.
Arsenal, G. Steinkauler 4,000 3,000
Bavarian, Gottsclialk & Co 2,700 500
Broadway, G. G. Zi.ller & Co 1,800 3,000
Bellcfontainp, 1'enrson. Smith & Co 2,000 2,500
Busch's, Fritz, Wain wright & Co 8,500 6,500
Camp Sprinn. Joseph Uhrig & Co 9,000 5,000
City, C'lir. G. StiM 5,500 600
Excelsior, Clir. Koliler & Co 1,500 1,000
FoitunH, Bergesch, Feric & Co 700 600
Franklin, Tinker Brothers & Co 1,000 800 400
Ganibrinus, Anton Jnger 1,500 1,000
Green Tree, Joseph Schnaider & Co 4,500 3,000
German, Eckerle & Weiss 2,500 1,800
Hirkury, Conrad Elliott 500 250
Jefferson, Bnmuing & Wettekamp 2,500 2,500
Iron Mountain, Adi.lph GeUhard 3,000 2,300
Jacks' •!!,. Joseph Steulier 900 600
Lafryette, Theodore Biinkwortb. 2,700 1,800
Laclede, Ch. Stolzli 800 500
Missouri, G. Bautenstraucli 500 3<K)
New Bremen, Spangler &, Smith 2,500 2.000
National, Fred. Wagner 2,500 2,000
Oregon, Stock Brothers 3,(lOO 2,000
Pacific, Kontz & Hofmeister 2,500 1,500
Philndi'!phia, A. Dentelmoser 2,600 1,500
Phoenix, C Stachlin 9,500 6,000
Pittsburgh, Coste & Lensler 4,000 4,000
Ruck Branch, Charles Zuller 3,000 1.500
Steam, F. Boyd & Co 2,500 2,000 4000
St. Louis. E. English 3,01)0 2,000
Southern, Keitz, Schricker & Co 2,600 1,500
Solilop, L. Koch 300 200
S-hneir's, Const. Schnerr 3,500 2,600
SchiiinannX Ch. Schumann 300 200
Stnmpfg, Wild. Stumpf <t Co 4.000 2,000
Stern, Ch. Longnemare 3,600 3,500
Union, Winkelmeyer & Schiffer 10,000 6,0»K)
Wash Street, Hamm & Hoppe 3,500 3,:500
Washington, Ch. Schneider & Co 1,200 750
Western, A. Lemp 4,800 3,600
Whole number, 40.
Totnl 122,400 85,500 4400
In 1858 the whole number of barrels amounted to. 110,800 74,400 4200
Increase in the number of barrels over last year.. 11,600 11,100 200
The average price of lager beer last year was 88 per, barrel,
making a total of $979,200
85,000 liarrels common beer, at $6 per barrel 5., 000
4400 barrels of ale, at $8 per barrel 35,200
Altogether 81,523,400
" Now, reckoning the working capital of each brew-
ery represented at an average of $15,000, we get the
further sum of $600,000 invested in beer, making a
grand total of $2,1 24,400.
" It may then be taken for granted that a capital of
at least $2,000,000 is annually expended in the pro-
duction of beer in this city."
We have spoken of the people of St. Louis and their
calm composure in adversity, their steadfast assurance
that every cloud had its silver lining. We have shown
in part how capital and energy have rallied to the sup-
port of struggling industries, and how every trade,
and every encouragement to trade, has been at once
worked up to its full capacity and utmost tension.
The history of her manufactures shows how continual
this power has been of utilizing every resource ; how
the cotton trade sprung up out of Southern railroad
extensions, bringing in its train an immense expansion
of the general business in merchandise. In the same
way the manufacture of hog and beef products has
grown up about the Texas cattle trade and the live-
stock and distillery business, and the development of
the brewing business and the export of malted liquors
have sprung up from the grain trade. This brewing
business and its correlated industries of bottling and
exporting beer are, as we have shown, enormous, and
so extensive an industry as beer-brewing necessarily
requires the products of many trades and manufac-
tures to supply its wants. Boilers, engines, pumps,
ice-machines, mashing-tubs, tanks, and mills, and
other copper, iron, and brass works are necessary in
the first instance, and need repairs and renewal, thus
giving employment to hundreds of workmen.
Again, cooperage is daily required, and the extent
of the demand may be inferred from the simple state-
ment that the Missouri breweries have 267,800 pack-
ages in constant use.
They also require the services of bricklayers, ce-
ment- and asphalt-workers, wagon- and harness-makers,
bung and cork manufacturers, painters and label-
printers.
As nearly as can be ascertained, the capital invested
in the several trades and manufactures comprised in
the above enumeration over and above what would be
required were it not for the wants of the brewing
business amounts to $500,000, and making and con-
structing what the breweries require gives constant
occupation to 1000 skilled workmen.
If, then, all the facts be brought together in one
comprehensive view, it will be found that the lager-
beer brewing industry of Missouri supports 16,210
persons (without taking at all into account the retail
venders), and directly sets in motion annually, in pur-
chase and sale, over $20,000,000. It seems to be the
most important industry in the State.1
Among the brewers of St. Louis one of the most
1 Report of Bureau of Labor Statistics.
(it-
/
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1333
prominent and successful was Joseph Schnaider. Mr.
Schnaider was born at Zell am Hammersbach, Baden,
Feb. 2, 1832. At the age of fifteen he went to Ras-
tadt, where he was apprenticed to a brewer, and at the
age of eighteen removed to Strasburg, where he be-
came the foreman of a large brewery. He remained
but a short time in that position, and being desirous
of seeing more of the world, he made a tour through
France, working at his business in various places.
In 1854 he embarked for America, settling in the
city of St. Louis, where he soon became foreman of
the Philadelphia Brewery, then located on Morgan
Street. In 1856 he erected the Green Tree Brewery, j
on Second Street, associating himself with Max Feuer- '
bacher. In 1863 the firm built a new and larger !
° i
brewery on Sidney Street. In 1865, Mr. Schnaider j
sold his interest in this establishment to his partner, j
and erected a brewery on Chouteau Avenue, between
Mississippi and Armstrong Avenues. In 1865 he
established, adjacent to the brewery, a large beer
garden, which, together with the brewery, was subse-
quently enlarged until they both reached their present
dimensions.
In 1879 the Joseph Schnaider Brewing Company
was organized, mainly in order that, in case of death
(Mr. Schnaider then not enjoying good health), the '
business should continue without the disturbance or
hindrances frequently consequent upon the sudden
death of the head of a large concern. Unfortunately '
the apprehensions then entertained by him found a i
speedy realization. While seeking health in the con- |
genial climate of the Fatherland he succumbed, in Oc- ;
tober, 1881, to the ravages of an ailment of protracted ,
standing, closing his in many respects remarkable ca-
reer in the prime of his life, at the city of Heidelberg,
Germany, far away from the scenes of his earthly use- j
fulness and success. He was nursed by a loving wife j
until all human aid proved in vain and death ensued, j
and his remains were carried across the ocean to his
once happy home, from where they were interred with
honors bordering on a public demonstration. In him
St. Louis lost one of her most enterprising citizens,
and a man who, by his kind and humane impulses,
had won for himself the affection and sympathy of
his fellow-citizens and the name of public benefactor.
Mr. Schnaider was married in 1856 to Elizabeth
Sedler, and leaves seven children, three sons and four
daughters, the oldest son, Joseph M. Schnaider, being
one of the managing stockholders in the brewing
company.
Another representative brewer of St. Louis was
Eberhard Anheusej. Mr. Anheuser was born in
Germany in 1805, and came to the United States in
85
1843, locating first in Cincinnati. Two years later
he removed to St. Louis, and engaged in soap manu-
facturing with Nicholas Schaeffer and others. He
continued in this business fifteen years, and about
1860 established himself in the brewing business with
William D'Oench. Out of this alliance grew the im-
mense business subsequently carried on by Mr. An-
heuser and his son-in-law, Adolphus Busch, under
the corporate name of the Anheuser-Busch Brewing
Association. Mr. Anheuser was known far and wide
throughout the country, and in the summer of 1879,
when it was announced in the National Brewers' Con-
vention that sickness would prevent him from attend-
ing the session, a resolution of regret was unanimously
adopted. His business gave employment to many
hundred men, and made St. Louis enterprise known
in all quarters of the globe. Mr. Anheuser, who
died May 2, 1880, left five adult children, three
daughters and two sons, the daughters being Mrs.
Ulrica Busch, of Chicago ; Mrs. Adolphus Busch, of
St. Louis ; and Mrs. Peter Shoettler, of Chicago ;
and the sons William and Adolph Anheuser.
Beer Bottling. — Beer bottling has lately becomeen-
titled to recognition as a business almost distinct from
brewing. The industry is of comparatively recent
origin, but already St. Louis is the largest bottling point
in the United States, and probably in the world. The
" Budweiser" beer of C. Conrad & Co. is not only
shipped to all parts of the United States (including
the Territories), but exported to Canada, Mexico,
South America, and large quantities to Europe, Asia,
and to the Cape. Indeed, one St. Louis establish-
ment has more than a score of agents on the Conti-
nent, and boasts an annual product of nearly five
million bottles. The total bottling product of the
brewers and others engaged in this industry is 20,-
000,000 a year, and the sales in 1881 aggregated
$2,598,783. The number of hands employed is 700.
The exports during the same period aggregated
1,252,344 packages.
Ice Company. — The St. Louis Ice Company was or-
ganized in September, 1854, with a capital .of twenty -
five thousand dollars, in shares of twenty-five dollars
each, " and no one person to be allowed more than
eight shares." This, we are told, was the original
proposition, and it was thought that if this could be
done the scheme would be practicable. The gentleman
proposing it accordingly started out to see what could
be done in the way of subscriptions. The plan was
universally applauded, and in the space of six days
from the time the subscription -list was open the
whoje proposed stock of twenty-five thousand dollars
was taken.
1334
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
A meeting of stockholders was then called at the
Merchants' Exchange, on Main Street. William M.
McPheeters was called to the chair, whereupon he
stated the object of the meeting, which then pro-
ceeded to the appointment of trustees, and the follow-
ing were elected :
Asa Wilgus, Kenneth Mackenzie, William M. Mc-
Pherson, John J. Anderson, William W. Green, W.
Patrick, Edward Brooks, John McNeil, T. E. Cour-
tenay, S. Dorsheimer, John B. Carson, George Knapp,
and B. F. Stout.
The board subsequently elected Asa Wilgus presi-
dent, and B. F. Stout secretary and treasurer of the
company. At a subsequent meeting of the board a
resolution was passed to increase the capital to fifty
thousand dollars, and the books were opened for that
amount. Subscriptions were promptly made, and
forty thousand dollars was taken, leaving the amount
of ten thousand dollars to be subscribed.
The company " leased Mr. Finney's large ice-house
on Fifth Street, and also leased a lot of ground from
the public schools on the Levee, between Plum and
Cedar Streets," on which they erected a spacious
building for the purpose of storing ice.
In 1881 there were eight wholesale and thirty-
three retail ice dealers in St. Louis, and the volume
of business, both wholesale and retail, is estimated at
between four million and five million dollars.
Engraving, Photographing, etc. — Seventeen
firms were engaged in 1881 in the business of en-
graving, die-sinking, etc., in St. Louis, with a capital
of eighty thousand dollars, giving employment to sixty-
five hands, and paying wages annually amounting to
seventy-three thousand dollars. The business trans-
acted was estimated at about one hundred and fifty
thousand dollars. In wood-engraving St. Louis has
long enjoyed a special pre-eminence. In 1881 there
were three large establishments in active operation,
whose jroducts realized the sum of forty thousand
dollars, the industry employing twenty-four skilled
workmen. There are also a number of photographers,
some of whom enjoy a wide celebrity for the supe-
riority and nicety of their work. Among the latter
the well-known establishment of John A. Scholten is
specially worthy of mention. Mr. Scholten was born
in Bees, a town on the Rhine, in Prussia, and at-
tended the schools of his native place until four-
teen years old, when he emigrated with his parents
to America, settling at Hermann, Mo. Here he
remained for three years, and then removed to St.
Louis, where he spent some time in the dry-goods
store of Trueworthy Hoyt, a respected and highly
successful merchant. In 1857, however, he aban-
doned commercial pursuits and turned his attention
to his present calling, in which he soon won an exten-
sive local reputation for the correctness and artistic
beauty of the likenesses which he produced. His
success prompted him to choose a more central loca-
tion, and he removed to Fourth Street, between Olive
and Locust, and subsequently to the northwest corner
of Olive and Fifth Streets. His rooms at the latter
location were models of elegance and good taste.
In 1874 he removed to his present location, near
Olive and Tenth Streets, which he had fitted up es-
pecially for the delicate requirements of his profes-
sion. On New Year's night, 1878, his establishment
was burned, but in May, 1879, he resumed business
at the same location, in a studio erected specially for
him, and combining all the approved features of the
most celebrated Eastern galleries, modified in such par-
ticulars as Mr. Scholten's long and varied experience
had shown to be desirable. He not only built a
structure suitable in every way to his art, but pro-
cured the most costly and perfect apparatus yet in-
vented.
Mr. Scholten has applied himself to his calling
with unreserved devotion, and has been an enthusi-
astic laborer, constantly experimenting and perfecting.
Instead of being content with the accepted methods
of others, he has investigated for himself, and in so
doing has been the introducer of improvements hav-
ing a permanent value. He was the first to introduce
into St. Louis the popular carte de visite, and by lib-
eral yet judicious expenditure has contributed materi-
ally to the development of the photographic art in St.
Louis. The estimation in which he is held by lead-
ing citizens appears in the following testimonial :
"MERCHANTS' EXCHANGE OF ST. LOUIS.
" John Wahl, Prest. George H. Morgan, Sec.
"ST. Louis, May 3, 1879.
" MR. JOHN A. SCHOLTEN :
" Dear Sir, — The undersigned, president and ex-presidents
of the Merchants' Exchange, desiring to express to you their ap-
preciation of your kindness in contributing to the 'records' of
the Exchange the handsomely framed portraits of the ' presi-
dents,' have had prepared the accompanying medal, which they
beg you to accept as a token of the esteem in which you are
held by them individually, and as a recognition on the part of
the Exchange of your liberality and courtesy. They desire also
to congratulate you on the opening of your new rooms, and trust
you may receive the generous patronage which you so richly
deserve as an artist and a gentleman.
" D. P. ROWLAND. WEB M. SAM TEL.
"GEORGE BAI.V. JOHN A. SCDDDER.
"WILLIAM J. LEWIS. NATHAN COLE.
"THOMAS RICHESON. R. R. TANSEY.
" W. H. ScrDDER. E. 0. STANARD.
"Attest:
"JOHN WAHL, Prest. GEORGE H. MORGAN, Sec,"
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1335
Copper and Tin. — la 1816, John Dowling com-
menced the business of a copper and tin manufacturer
in St. Louis, in a shop " in the rear of Mr. Robidoux's
store, and near Matthew Kerr's store." Copper and
tinware were made and repaired. In 1817, Reuben
Neal " commenced the manufacturing of copper and
tinware in the house lately owned and occupied by
Mr. Joseph Brazeau, opposite Mr. Hempstead's, in
Church Street, St. Louis," where he made stills, fullers',
hatters', wash-, stew-, and tea-kettles, and copper, tin,
and sheet-iron ware of all descriptions. In 1820,
Neal & Liggett carried on a copper- and tin-shop on
South Main Street, opposite Antoine Dangin, Block
36. According to the census of 1880, the number of
manufactories engaged in the production of tin, cop-
per, and sheet-iron ware was one hundred and twenty,
but it is probable that there are over two hundred
establishments in the city where tinware is manufac-
tured. The value of the business has been estimated
at one million two hundred thousand dollars per an-
num.
Lithographers. — There were eleven firms en-
gaged in the lithographing business in 1882, and St.
Louis enjoys facilities in this respect possessed by few
other cities in the country. One of the pioneer firms
engaged in this industry is that of August Gast & Co.
Its founder, August Gast, was born in Belle, a village
in the princedom of Lippe-Detmold, Germany, March
10, 1819. He was educated at the Gymnasium at
Detmold, and with his brother Leopold learned the
trade of lithography, and worked at this business in
Germany for several years. The disturbances of 1848
prostrated business in that country, and the brothers
determined to emigrate to America. They had very
little money, their chief possession being a press and
a small lithographic outfit which belonged to Leopold.
They spent some months in New York, and about one
and a half years in Pittsburgh, and finally, in 1852,
arrived in St. Louis, and commenced business as lith-
ographers in a little shop on Fourth Street, between
Walnut and Elm Streets, where the " Southern Hotel"
now stands. They started with the small outfit above
mentioned, and the name of the firm was Leopold
Gast & Brother.
Up to that time there had been but one lithographer
in St. Louis, Julius Hutawa, who confined himself
chiefly to the production of maps. His trade was
small, and he soon went out of business, leaving Gast
& Brother in sole possession of the field.
The brothers began on a very modest scale, but
they did good work and soon began to prosper. In
I860', August Gast purchased his brother Leopold's
interest, and from 1866 to 1877 he had two partners.
In the latter year he purchased their interest also,
and admitted E. F. Wittier to this firm. Wittier
had been for some years traveling agent, and had
distinguished himself by his industry and efficiency.
In January, 1878, the firm was further enlarged by
the admission of Louis Wall. Since that time the
business has expanded rapidly, and the house now
employs four color artists, fifteen engravers, fifteen
transferors, ten steam-presses, several compositors,
and hand-press printers, bookbinders, etc., and in
May, 1882, the business of steel-engraving was added,
the whole requiring a force of about one hundred and
ten hands. It is one of the largest establishments of
the kind in the West. It has devoted itself to the
higher class of work, and enjoys a wide-spread reputa-
tion for the beauty and elegance of its manufactures.
Mr. Gast landed in St. Louis without a penny in
his pocket, and when he started in business he did
no small share of the work with his own hands.
What thirty years of industry have accomplished
may be seen by going through his mammoth estab-
lishment in St. Louis and viewing the army of work-
men employed there.
In March, 1853, Mr. Gast was married to Sophie
Von Laer, a native of Schleswig. She died in 1864,
and in November, 1865, Mr. Gast again married, his
wife being Marie Barthel, a native of Leipsic, Sax-
ony. Both are members of the Evangelical Lutheran
congregation.
Early Trade Notes. — From the advertising col-
umns of the newspapers, from pamphlets, and other
sources not directly in the line of historical data
many interesting facts are to be learned. On Aug.
24, 1808, C. Burns advertised for two or three jour-
neyman tailors, " to whom constant employment and
good wages will be given." On September 14th of
the same year F. Hinkle " wanted to hire a negro
woman, — one without children will be preferred," and
on September 17th, William "Harris, hatter, respect-
fully informed " his friends and the public in general
that he has commenced the hatting business in all its
different branches on Main Street, next door below
Dr. Saugrain's, where any person may be supplied on
the shortest notice and on moderate terms." On the
14th of the following month a house was to be rented
on application to M. P. Lcduc, and the same day
Samuel Solomon had twelve hundred gallons of good
old whiskey for sale for cash. On Jan. 11, 1801), we
find that "Joseph Coppinger proposes setting off for
New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, and Wash-
ington on the 1st of February, to return in May. He
takes this method of offering his agency to his friends
and the public, and expects reasonable compensation
1336
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
for any trust undertaken." Aaron Elliott & Son, of
Ste. Genevieve, on the 7th of June, advertised in the
St. Louis papers to the effect that " all those who
have open accounts with Aaron Elliott, or Aaron
Elliott & Son, are requested to call and close the same
prior to the 1st August, 1809. Those who neglect
this call will have their accounts to settle with an
attorney," with a postscript stating that they had
constantly on hand a complete assortment of drugs
and medicines, " which they will sell either wholesale
or retail on as good terms as can be purchased in this
country." On July 5th, Michael Dolan, " tailor
and habit-maker," Main Street, announced that he had
opened a shop at the house then occupied by Mr.
Hampton, " breeches-maker." Cornelius Burns, also
a tailor, begged leave, on November 2d, to acquaint
his friends and the public that he had commenced
business on his own account at the house formerly i
occupied by Wilson & Price. On the 16th of the
same month, Bernard Lalende made it known that
he manufactured gentlemen's coats for $4.50, and
pantaloons at $1.75, " well made and in the newest
fashion." In 1811, Norman McKenzie wanted a few
carpenters, and Robert Wash announced himself as
administrator of James A. Graham, and offered a re-
ward of $20 for a fine cloak that had been stolen. J.
Septlivres, on the 2d of June, 1812, published his
card as house and sign painter. In an advertise-
ment dated Aug. 5, 1813, we find that there " ar-
rived a few days ago from the mouth of the Columbia
River, Robert Steuart, Ramsey Crooks, Joseph Mil- .
ler, and Robert McClellan, and three hunters,'' whose
narrative would appear the following week. In 1815,
William Sullivan kept a livery-stable in St. Louis,
and his terms were ten dollars per month, with no de-
duction for any horse taken out unless he remained
out a week or more, $3 per week, 75 cents for twenty-
four hours. Auguste Chouteau advertised at private
sale, May 18, 1816, his lots lately laid out on the hill
west of town, a plot of which might be seen at the
printing-office. On the 8th of June of the same
year, John Keesacker informed the " gentlemen of
St. Louis that he has opened a barber-shop in Front
Street, near Mr. Paul's store building, and pledges
himself he will give satisfaction in his line of business.
Price of shaving per month, $1." On the 18th of
June, Mrs. Baker started the millinery business in
the brick building opposite Mr. Savage's auction-
room. In 1829 the announcement was made that
" the new bathing establishment of Mr. J. Sparks &
Co. has about thirty-five visitors, and of that number
not one has experienced an hour's sickness since the
bathing commenced ; we should, for the benefit of the '
health of the city, be glad there were more encourage-
ment, and as the season is partly over, tickets have been
reduced to one dollar the season."
Miscellaneous Trades and Industries. — In ad-
dition to the foregoing there is an immense variety of
trades and industries in St. Louis, of which it is im-
possible to give a particular account within the limits
of this work. Among the more important may be
mentioned the trade in wall-paper, carpets, etc., in
which thirty-one houses were engaged in 1881, their
business aggregating one million nine hundred thou-
sand dollars ; books and stationery, in which five
wholesale and seventy-five retail houses were employed
in 1881, the aggregate business being estimated at
six million nine hundred thousand dollars ; news
and book paper, etc., represented in 1881 by nine
wholesale dealers, transacting a business of three mil-
lion nine hundred thousand dollars ;J music aud musi-
cal instruments, transacted by eleven houses, whose
business was estimated in 1881 at one million six hun-
dred thousand dollars ; produce, seventy-nine houses,
with annual sales estimated in 1881 of two million
dollars, besides four firms engaged in the sale of seeds
of various kinds ; powder, guns, and sporting goods,
five wholesale firms, who confine their business to gun,
rifle, and blasting powder and similar goods, and three
firms who deal in guns, pistols, fishing-tackle, and
sporting goods; aggregate value of business in 1881,
six hundred thousand dollars.
In addition to the manufactures already described
there were in 1881 the following among other indus-
tries in active and successful operation : Agricultural
implements, seven firms, 500 hands employed, $900,-
000 value of annual product ; artificial feathers and
flowers, three firms, 79 hands, $150,000 annual sales ;
awnings and tents, ten firms, 250 hands employed,
$400,000 annual sales ; bags, paper, flax, hemp, and
jute, seven firms, 500 hands employed, $1,100,000
annual sales ; box manufactures, twelve firms, 250
hands employed, $400,000 annual sales ; brass foun-
dries, fourteen firms, 157 hands employed, $580,000
1 " At a meeting of the directors and stockholders of the ' Mis-
souri Paper Manufacturing Company,' held at their office, No.
46 Chestnut Street, St. Louis, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 1860, the or-
ganization of the company, under the laws of the State of Mis-
souri, was completed, and the following-named gentlemen con-
firmed as directors of the company for the first year from the
7th of July last, and the persons named in connection with the
same elected officers for the same term.
" Directors, as named in the license from the State, R. II. Hut
bell, E. Stafford, Bernard Poepping, George Spear, V. B. S.
Reber; President, Hon. Bernard Poepping; Vice-President
Thomas H. Paschall, Esq. ; Secretary, Edward Stafford, Esq."-
Misaouri Republican, Nov. 2, 1860.
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1337
annual sales; carriages and wagons, forty firms, 1100
men and boys employed, nearly $2,000,000 annual
Bales ; confectionery, three hundred dealers, value of
business $1,200,000 per annum; cooperage, eighty
establishments, 900 hands employed, $500,000 capital
invested, total annual sales $1,500,000 ; cordage and
twine, fourteen firms, 77 hands employed, $75,000
estimated value of business ; corsets, three firms,
$10,000 annual sales; cutlery and tools, four firms,
20 hands employed, $24,000 annual sales ; engraving,
die-sinking, etc., seventeen firms, 65 hands employed,
$151,000 annual sales; wood-engraving, three firms,
24 hands employed, $40,000 annual sales ; files, six
firms, 35 hands employed, $42,000 annual sales;
glass, six firms, 400 hands employed, $600,000 an-
nual sales ; glue, five firms, 30 hands employed,
$75,000 annual sales ; machinery, forty-six firms,
1600 hands employed, $2,500,000 annual sales;
marble- and stone-work, fifty-six firms, 475 hands em-
ployed, $800,000 annual sales ; mattresses and spring-
beds, nine firms, 55 hands employed, $150,000 an-
nual sales ; mineral and soda waters, ten firms, 100
hands employed, $175,000 annual sales; paints and
varnishes, total capital invested $2,000,000, 532
hands employed, 82,700,000 annual sales ; refrigera-
tors, three firms, 101 hands employed, $309,000 an-
nual sales ; roofing and roofing materials, five firms,
75 hands employed, $177,000 annual sales; show-
cases, four firms, 79 hands employed, $90,000 annual
sales ; shirts, seventeen firms, 274 women and 52 men
employed, $280,000 annual sales ; stone and earth-
enware, five firms, forty-one hands employed, $50,000
annual sales ; tin, copper, and sheet-iron, about 200
firms, with an estimated business of $1,200,000 per
annum ; vinegar, fourteen firms, 120 hands employed,
$575,000 value of annual product; wheelwrighting,
fifty-two firms, 130 hands employed, $155,000 annual
sales ; whips, four firms, annual business $20,000 ;
wire- work, 600 hands employed, $1,300,000 annual
sales.
COMPARATIVE BUSINESS IN LEADING ARTICLES AT ST. LOUIS FOR 1878, 1879, 1880, AND 1881.
ARTICLES.
1878.
1879.
1880.
1881.
Flour, amount manufactured bbls.
1,916,290
2,142,949
2,077,625
1,718,129
" handled bbls.
3,633,872
4,154,754
1 217,664
3,600,689
Wheat, total receipts ... bush.
1 1 :;''j,431
17,093 362
21,022,275
13,243,511
Corn, " " bush.
Oats, " " bush.
9,009,723
3,882,276
13,360,636
5,002,165
22,298,077
5,607,078
21,259,310
6,295,050
Rye, " " bush.
845,932
713,728
468,755
469,796
Barley, " " bush.
1,517,292
1,831,517
2,561,992
2,411,723
36,107,334
46,037,578
60,477,547
51,785,403
Cotton, receipts bales.
338,340
472,436
352,219
461,759
Hemp, " bales.
5,087
4,072
1,731
3,580
Bagging, manufactured. . .. yards.
7,500 000
8,000,000
10,000,000
10,000,000
Hay, receipts, bales of 400 Ibs ....bales.
330,981
461,979
676,268
98,097
Tobacco, receipts hhds.
25,870
20,278
18,813
22,042
Lead, receipts in pigs, 80 Ibs. average P'S8-
764,357
817,594
764,887
925.406
Hog product, total exports Ibs.
188,529,593
220,891,273
199,456,866
1 96,827, 'J'JS
Cattle, receipts head.
406,235
420,654
424,720
503,862
Sheep, " head.
168,095
182,648
205,969
334,426
Hogs, " head.
1,451,634
1,762,224
1,840,684
1,672,153
Horses and mules, receipts head.
27,878
33,953
46,011
42,365
Lumber, " feet.
Shingles, " pcs.
189,238,333
88,059,000
280,986,361
77,811,500
330,935,973
106,246,750
434,043,094
56,578,785
Lath, " pcs.
33,993.000
27,713,700
41,023,400
18,523,823
Wool, total receipts Ibs.
16,469,816
20,786,742
12,387,089
11,198,272
Hides, " " Ibs.
17,129,894
20,042,734
18,436,253
20, 079, S| I
Sugar, received Ibs.
106,836,225
107,176,052
113,627,470
109,537,015
Molasses, shipped galls.
Coffee, received bags.
1,844,260
201,080
1,684,9(50
267,533
2,164,098
303,649
4,190,290
245,239
Rice, receipts bbls.
25,600
34,213
39,399
48,661
Coal. " bush.
33,087,300
36,978,150
41,972,356
44,720,175
Nails, " . ke^s
522,399
575,538
601,795
53<t,227
Potatoes, receipts . . bush
602,675
963,047
801,422
1,378,754
Salt. " . bbls.
271,521
1M4.986
313,379
232,843
" sacks.
78,781
78,345
61,348
73.239
" bush, in bulk.
Butter Ibs
" 8,627,'056
439,788
8,961,965
333,868
8,659,133
314,720
8,247,401
[
In 1871 a carefully prepared statement by William
A. Johnson showed the increase in manufactures in
twenty of the leading articles to have been nineteen
per cent, in the capital employed, and thirty per cent,
in the value of the products.
Mr. Charles W. Knapp, from whose very able paper
on St. Louis, read before the " Round Table" in Oc-
tober, 1882, we have frequently had occasion to quote,
thus groups the manufacturing cities, according to the
census of 1860, 1870, and 1880 :
1338
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
MANUFACTURING OF LEADING CITIES IN 1860.
ClTT.
Number of
Establish-
ments.
Capital.
Average
Number of
Hands.
Wages.
•
Cost of Material.
Product.
Baltimore
1310
$3,789,757
21,821
$4,351,244
$18,068,683
$29,591,958
1050
14,527,880
19,093
6,948,839
20,254,277
37.681,808
1032
12,320,876
12,758
4,462,633
19,040,316
34,241,520
Buffalo
792
5,529,471
6,500
1,819,382
6,974,291
10,774,400
Chicago
469
5,571,025
5,593
1,992,257
8,026,670
13,555,671
Cincinnati
2084
18,983,693
30,268
8,693,830
25,887,363
46,995,062
387
2,676,963
4,455
1,333,118
4,029,015
6,973,737
368
4,137,766
3,707
1,080,095
3,743,285
6,498,593
Jersey City
279
3,345,690
3,310
1,171,857
3,479,927
6,760.241
Newark
770
13,846,605
21,800
6,517,952
15,029,087
27,927.514
New Orleans
1232
3,431,535
5,568
2,907,469
5,295,265
11,373,265
Nfiw York
4375
61,212,757
90,204
28,481.915
90,177,038
159,107,369
Philadelphia
6298
73,318,885
137,983
27,369.254
69,562,206
135,979,677
894
17,961,985
23,769
6,651,040
13,655,956
29,211,478
Pittsburgh
1191
20,531,440
20,493
6,241,520
13,020,615
26,563,679
San Francisco
229
2,284,800
1,564
1,703 672
15,037,840
19,595,356
St. Louis
1126
12,733,948
11,737
4,372,087
16,212,699
27,000,070
Washington
429
2,905,865
3,148
1,139,154
2,884,185
5,412,102
MANUFACTURING OF LEADING CITIES IN 1870.
CITY.
Number of
Establish-
ments.
Capital.
Average
Number of
Hands.
Wages.
Cost of Material.
Product.
Baltimore
2,759
$26,049,040
23,944
$10,352,078
$36,144,425
$59,219,933
2,546
47,311,906
43 550
22 748,700
50,384,305
111,380,840
Brooklyn
1,043
25,287,981
18545
9.273,994
39,899,971
60,848,673
Buffalo
1,429
13,043,790
13,274
4 946,414
15,274,440
27,446,683
1,440
39,372,276
31,105
13,045,286
60,362,188
92,518,742
Cincinnati
2,469
42,646,152
37,344
15,601,289
44,876,148
78.905,980
1,149
13,645,018
10,063
4 539 065
16,861 357
27,049,012
Detroit
1,193
14,732,160
13,989
5,375,213
15,336,359
26,217,685
333
11,718,400
5,624
3,280,526
17,229 652
24,256,017
801
11,129,291
11,589
4,464,640
10,369.556
20,364,650
828
8,109,199
8,433
3,409,172
11,609,995
18,798,122
1,198
22,606,662
22,156
11,537,270
29 255,062
52 108,958
New Orleans
911
5,751,985
5,084
2,254,554
4,556,543
9,989,288
7,624
129 952,262
129,577
63 824,049
178,696,939
332,951,520
8,184
174,016,674
137,496
58,780,130
180,325,713
322,004,517
Providence
1,303
54,485,967
37,100
15,097,233
55,147,483
85,142,032
Pitts'>ur"h
1 184
54 303 474
34,228
18 493,124
52,165 657
88,789,414
San Francisco
1,223
21,170,856
12,377
7,238,528
20,046,321
37,410,829
4,579
60,357,001
40,856
24,221,717
87,388,252
158,761,013
Washington
952
5,021,925
4,685
2,007,600
4,754,883
9,292,173
MANUFACTURING OF LEADING CITIES IN 1880.
CITY.
Number of
Establish-
ments.
Capital.
Average
Number of
Hands.
Wages.
Cost of Material.
Product.
Baltimore
3,596
$35,760 108
55,201
$14 467,825
$46,488,244
$75,621,388
3,521
32,750 134
56 813
23 715 140
77,586 607
123,366,137
Brooklyn
5,089
56,621,399
45,226
21,672,051
124,951,203
169,757,590
Buffalo
5,137
24,188,562
16,838
6,913,702
25,888,263
40,003,265
Chicago
3,479
64,177,335
77,601
33,795,486
174,244,364
214,045,007
3,231
43,278,733
41,188
18,571,687
55,939,133
94,869,105
Cleveland
1,033
18,134, 7S!>
21.499
8,377,081
30,85(1, '.177
47,352.208
Detroit
875
1J,L'02,159
15,162
5,811,426
17,143,490
28.333,580
Jersey City
555
11,329 915
10,688
4 347,034
49,320,099
50,581,141
Louisville
1,066 •
19 583 013
16,579
5,496,521
19,180,212
82,381,733
Milwaukee
821
13,811,405
19.620
6,0(15,487
26,462,740
38,955,238
1,299
i':; '.ity.iio
29,232
12,809,011
-IL','.»40,817
66,234,525
New Orleans
906
8,401,390
9,449
3,658,152
10,475,022
18,341,1106
New York
11,162
164 917,856
"17 977
93,378,806
275,097,236
448,209,2*8
Philadelphia
8,377
170 495 191
173,869
60,606,287
187,169.375
304.501,725
Providence 7
1 186
23 593 '.»:;•'
"1 :;:;i;
8 903 729
21 37(J,4ii7
39,596,653
Pittsburgh
1,071
50,976 W2
38,465
16,918,426
41. 20 1.998
76,241,884
2,860
29,417 " It!
26,072
13,595,010
t i,537.-i:;o
71,613,385
2 886
45 385 785
39 724
16 714 917
68 154,990
104 :>83,587
961
5 381 •'•'(')
711li
3 897 126
5 234 611
11 611,115
TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.
1339
CENSUS RETURNS OF ST. LOUIS PRODUCTIONS IN 1880.
MECHANICAL AND MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.
Number of Establishments.
3
I
Greatest Number of Hands Em-
ployed at any onetime during
the Year.
Average Number of
Hands Employed.
Total Amount Paid in Wages
dunug the Year.
Materials.
Products.
1
o
»
>
1
1
Females above 15 Years.
Children and Youths.
2886
$45,385,785
32,080
4702
2942
516,714,917
§68,154,990
$104,383,587
7
3
9
3
8
7
168
10
3
184
6
6
11
14
195
45
25
185
8
3
39
7
100
13
6
5
31
78
3
14
3
3
9
15
5
8
7
10
3
6
24
4
3
54
5
3
3
5
6
8
10
9
3
4
10
4
17
6
4
8
3
7
7
17
3
4
5
17
19
9
3
45
56
8
20
8434,000
3G,t .00
127,200
370,<M>0
88,250
111,700
9,1115
224,745
132,500
12,000
• 679,ii30
57,550
2l,5(K)
4»,600
186,100
719,070
727,250
95,175
361,840
350
126,000
740,050
314,200
1,361,335
140,800
230,000
30,500
307,560
493,295
3,5(K)
12,875
720
625,500
4,000
6.900
696,000
16,450
17,000
9,ci75
72,100
1-Z,200
38,900
2,067,500
17,100
31,500
920,702
280.000
11,000
13,000
34,350
48,260
17.UOO
210,150
60,400
0,000
54,li(iO
5,960,()00
236,000
2,402,.r>oo
23,400
34,000
52,000
10,300
291, BOO
69,260
123,460
54,OoO
64.500
71,500
5,325
323,900
272,350
620.HOO
888,7 H
237,8*5
21,750
26,725
600
85
259
551
110
100
14
461
278
14
1410
97
155
98
172
1215
1235
328
2228
3
203
1300
704
3612
656
119
33
569
1217
21
89
8
444
21
9
317
•20
41
20
53
25
46
712
18
47
1315
""£»
83
64
21
32
156
145
12
22
2208
178
1876
48
H4
66
18
205
50
120
17
49
1'22
18
280
418
194
1730
7-25
90
411
443
9
47
149
12
48
13
343
148
13
658
51
27
80
149
614
787
117
1098
2
189
1012
601
1191
75
90
•23
207
860
9
37
2
110
20
5
216
17
29
14
47
22
35
654
13
38
1044
395
16
29
24
20
6
111
49
22
2158
1'23
1717
34
44
55
12
180
40
M
16
33
94
18
129
880
11!)
16*4
473
50
'242
"*60
165
161
30
26
6
16
5
76
42
10
1190,179
25,450
5 1,«50
150.216
29,700
39,714
6,140
188,954
80,700
7.052
425,004
34,100
23,300
33,601
70,087
312,913
307,581
83,349
667,9iiO
150
91,0:i8
447,831
29 1,384
779.90 S
119,775
41,840
12,530
159,619
377,056
6,200
16,4-23
1,450
86,3*5
9,596
4,184
123,940
0,950
12,725
7,165
25,050
11,350
17,142
488,109
4,800
11,014
511,1115
261.098
9,450
18,01'C
13,220
9,150
7.375
51,321
42,805
3,508
12,700
610,575
00,498
1,0:55,424
20,700
17,8aO
37,600
7.868
74.139
10,595
39,101
7,250
13.WK1
51.205
8,514
80.251
152,009
72,080
735>92
237,207
24,9:14
122,636
$478.140
66.000
249,185
545,900
174,800
182,900
3,960
201,598
105,000
17,4(10
884,812
47,700
45.KOO
75,430
395,275
1.672.X43
196.588
149,770
1,585,094
900
134,440
811,805
732.400
1,895,342
238,700
391,500
109.200
774,790
798,202
12,( HID
33,250
2,410
318,156
8,450
6,700
665,305
2,650
9,420
10,750
62,500
1,370
7.870
11,900,553
11,375
54,902
1,082,825
238,1190
7,100
19,000
41,575
00,220
19,350
102,250
77,740
7,290
35,725
2,823,058
301,9:57
1,589,415
25,300
31,800
98,000
10,1)10
370,540
240,7117
299,920
14,41)1
32,9^5
83,344
4,970
102.X26
502,742
251.000
995,429
245,707
75,430
168,130
$856,430
1 47,250
388,940
807.31)5
231.500
323.500
18,020
610,909
257,087
29.200
1,0:54,594
105,600
01, MM
140,400
570,450
2,575.350
700,942
2*1,280
3,005,411
6,100
264,600
1,014,236
1,100,809
3,425.107
483.000
608.00*)
157,390
1,158,185
1,431,405
24,000
67,004
6,400
453,-295
24,400
33,400
1,160,743
23,000
43,200
30,000
120,900
21,070
34,300
13,759,0-28
30,840
123,250
1,1)79,083
597,277
27,000
40.000
73.800
107,300
40,7<K)
18«,802
177..f>31
10,2:!4
81,450
3,950,5:50
49:5,500
3,520,815
03,400
07,010
189,500
25,500
519.300
282,417
:!'.i!),!)03
39,292
G.V200
214989
<i4,714
20S,Ox2
750,930
412,000
2,221,455
707,721
135.300
390,000
'"as
6
7
217
22
44
'"57
""2
197
11
19
2
8
68
153
110
8
Boxes, wooden, packing
Bread, crackers, and other bakery products
'""s
io52
451
2
4
185
""3
171
""3
57
6
1
....„
3
51
"'12
30
4
'"21
88
1
40
"iiw
....„
28
1
2
1
3
2
Coffins, liurinl-cases, and undertakers' goods
Files
1
2
Fniit.s iinil vegetables, canned and preserved
8
11
......
1
68
220
Glass
35
4
4
Glue
23
'"82
""'i
4
Ink
110
14
20
5
7
Lamps ami reflectors
10
Leather, binned
3
7
6
17
Looking-glass and picture frames
1
2
22
22
19
8
18
10
1340
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
CENSUS RETURNS OF ST. LOUIS PRODUCTIONS IN 1880.— Continued.
MECHANICAL AND MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.
Number of Establishments.
3
"R
a
Greatest Number of Hands Em-
ployed at any one time during
the Year.
Males above 16 Years. g |"
B g
F(5
Females above 15 Years.
JLs
<§£
Children and Youths. g,i
Total Amount Paid in Wages
during the Year.
Materials.
Products .
32
10
3
8
3
7
3
13
119
24
25
3
48
61
101
9
3
5
92
12
17
4
15
6
6
120
21
201
14
4
18
3
14
17
52
4
3
8
18
80
81,243,000
87,100
11,700
60,000
10,600
21,350
96,000
1,688,350
369,945
1,383,200
86,050
48,200
55,650
115,775
2,480,060
529,850
28,700
58,700
1,370,350
586,195
122,100
23,000
718,927
4,750
34,500
418,325
1,146,200
272,925
105,500
1,400
209,025
26,500
249,650
36,250
51,950
1,260
380,000
470,500
28,725
5,458,388
1095
135
11
15
14
22
29
608
1416
326
95
167
277
368
2541
143
117
102
1477
804
454
86
310
14
58
706
1802
825
168
6
80
13
145
21
148
12
31
690
51
3268
564
89
10
10
9
19
25
522
863
198
59
58
144
239
1978
109
86
75
1143
661
52
74
253
11
31
508
763
576
156
3
48
10
115
19
110
11
30
597
42
2324
......
20
25
$269,763
39,846
6,400
5,350
6,000
' 10,398
13,050
250,532
393,932
134,696
43,130
41,999
83,753
;i26,099
1,239,299
65,900
42,950
48,000
533,442
275,321
84,416
28,499
95,561
5,925
16,090
227,546
87,085,909
48,000
1,420
8,775
5,200
8,060
505,750
2,196,480
549,654
482,235
48,950
134,200
48,191
214,958
1,249,094
701 ,570
183,300
81.900
1,382,074
669,871
127,100
11,750
1,262,701
5,565
19,985
553,208
3,950,956
312,725
205,775
1,150
62,100
35,000
296,000
13,175
42,a32
8,960
52,000
704,300
20,045
8,756,728
$8,424,064
173,000
16,400
28,250
16,600
27,200
539,000
2,570,860
l,255,-,5->
1,145,090
170.094
211,200
215,100
494,fi83
3,668,287
926,750
309,500
177,800
2,364.858
1,191,670
278,700
89,100
1,607,541
21,425
46,430
1,095,959
4,813,76'J
888,093
340,560
4,370
148,727
54,600
572,400
39,740
140,121
17,414
131,000
1,251,050
84.207
11,729,196
Musical instruments and materials, not specified
Musical instruments, organs and materials
1
1
Oil, lard
Paints
10
15
87
18
25
4
18
13
6
25
Photographing
Pickles, preserves, and sauces
Plumbing and gas- fitting
'175
7
117
2
15
Printing and publishing
Roofing and roofing materials
Saddlery and harness
4
"274
4
2
'"is
146
6
72
43
1
2
2
10
62
325
72
8
Shirts
Tobacco, chewing, smoking, and snuff.
402,959
265,967
73,125
1,020
20.850
8,962
69,520
9,367
47,598
4,639
18,830
277,670
19,183
1,145,190
Trunks and valises
Umbrellas and canes
Upholstering
4
6
Varnish
Vinegar
12
4
1
3
Watch and clock repairing
Whips
Wine
Wire-work
4
"326
76
2
233
Wood, turned and carved
1 The eighty establishments classed as " miscellaneous industries" are grouped in order that the business of individual establishments may
not be disclosed to the public. In this group are embraced artificial limbs; Babbitt-metal and solder; bags, other than paper; belting and hose,
leather; billiard-tables and materials; bluing; bone-, ivory-, and lamp-black ; bridges; carriages and sleds, children's; cordials and syrups; cork-
cutting; explosives and fireworks; fertilizers; flavoring extracts; furniture; chairs; furs, dressed; iron-forgings; ice, patent process; jewelry
and instrument cases; lard, refined; lead, bar, pipe, sheet, and shot; malt ; mantels, slate, marble, and marbleized; oil, animal; nil, castor; oil,
cotton-seed; oil, lubricating; paving materials; perfumery and cosmetics; photographic apparatus ; plated and Britannia ware ; regalias and society
banners and emblems; safes, doors, and vaults, fire-proof ; saws; silk and silk goods; silver*inithing; sporting goods; stamped-ware; stationery
goods; steam-fittings and heating apparatus; stereotyping and electrotyping; sugar and molasses, refined; surgical appliances; tar and turpen-
tine; telegraph and telephone apparatus; terra-cotta ware; toys and games; type-founding; upholstering materials; washing-machines and
clothes-wringers; watch-cases; window-blinds and shades; wire; wooden-ware; woolen goods.
Information derived from the United States Census
Bureau as late as December, 1882, gives the following
as the proper figures in regard to the manufactures of
St. Louis :
Number of establishments 2,922
Capital employed 850,672,885
Number of males employed above sixteen years
of age 33,948
Number of females employed above fifteen years
of age " 4,761
Number of children and youths employed 3,079
Amount paid in wages $17,713,532
" for materials 75,068,467
Value of products 113,874,875
CHAPTER XXXI.
COMMERCIAL EXCHANGES.
Chamber of Commerce and Merchants' Ex-
change.— The first movement for the formation of a
merchants' association in St. Louis was made in the
summer of 1836, and the original organization was ef-
fected at a meeting of " merchants and traders," held
at the office of the Missouri Insurance Company, on
the 15th of July in that year. Edward Tracy was
chairman, and Daniel Lamont acted as secretary.
Preliminary meetings had already been held, and the
record of the proceedings having been read, the com-
mittee appointed to draft a constitution and by-laws
COMMERCIAL EXCHANGES.
1341
reported through their chairman, George K. McGun-
negle. After the report had been read and considered
it was unanimously adopted. The meeting then pro-
ceeded to the election of officers, and the following
were chosen : President, Edward Tracy ; Vice-Presi-
dent, Henry Von Phul ; Secretary and Treasurer,
John Ford ; Annual Committee of Appeals, George
K. McGunnegle, William Glasgow, John W. Keel,
J. P. Doan, John Walsh, Daniel Lament ; Commit-
tee for the month of July, E. H. Beebe, Wayman
Crow, C. Doan, G. Erskine, W. Finuey.
The association was styled the " St. Louis Cham-
ber of Commerce," and its rules, as adopted at the
first meeting, provided for the following fees and com-
missions :
" RULE 8. The fees of arbitration under the sanction of this
Chamber shall be as follows:
For each award over $100 to $500 $7.50
" 500 to 1000 10.00
1000 to 1500 15.00
" 1500 to 2500 20.00
" " 2500..., , 25.00
rifl' of charges, etc., established by the Chamber of Com-
of the city of St. Louis, and recommended for general
adoption when no agreement exists to the contrary :
Commissions. Per cent.
On sales of merchandise or produce ............................... 5
On sales of lead ......................................................... 2J
On guarantee of sales on time ....................................... 2J
For purchasing and shipping merchandise or produce, with
funds on hand, on the aggregate cost and charges ......... 2^
For accepting drafts or indorsing notes or bills of ex-
change, without funds, produce, or bills of lading in
hand .....................................................................
For cash advances, in all cases, even with produce or bills
of lading (and interest from date) .............................
For shipping to another market produce or merchandise
upon which advances have been made ........................
For negotiating drafts or notes as drawer or indorser ........
On sale or purchase of stocks ................................. ......
On sale or purchase of boats, without guarantee ...............
For procuring freight, on the amount of freight ...............
For chartering boats ...................................................
For collecting freights or accounts .................................
For collecting delayed or litigated accounts .....................
For collecting dividends on stocks .................................
For adjusting insurance losses ......................................
For receiving and remitting moneys from which no other
remuneration is derived ............................................
For effecting insurance, when the premium amounts to forty
dollars or less .........................................................
For effecting insurance, when the premium exceeds forty
dollars on the amount of premium ..............................
On outfits and disbursements ........................................
2J
2J
" The above commissions to be exclusive of storage, brokerage,
and every other charge actually incurred. The risk of loss by
fire, unless insurance be ordered, and of robbery, theft, and
other unavoidable occurrences, if the usual care be taken to se-
cure the property, in all cases to be borne by the proprietors of
the goods.
" Interest to be charged at the rate of ten per cent, per annum
sill debts after maturity until paid.
Agency for Steamboats. Per Trip. .
Under 150 tons ........................................ $10
Over 150 and less than 300 tons .................. 20
Over 300 and less than 400 ........................ 25
Over 400 and upwards .............................. 30"
The meetings continued to be held in the office of
the Missouri Insurance Company until the member-
ship had increased to such proportions that the ac-
commodations became inadequate, whereupon the as-
sociation removed to the building occupied by the
Missouri Republican, on Main Street near Pine. In
the following winter George K. McGunnegle, one of
the leading originators, obtained from the General
Assembly of Missouri, of which he was a member, the
following act of incorporation :
"Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Mis-
souri, as folloiot :
"SECTION 1. That the persons composing the association in
the city of St. Louis styled the 'St. Louis Chamber of Com-
merce' are hereby created a body politic and corporate under
the name of the 'St. Louis Chamber of Commerce,' and by that
name may sue and be sued, implead and be impleaded, receive
and hold property and effects, real and personal, by gift, or de-
mise, or purchase, and dispose of the same by sale, lease, or
otherwise; said property so held not to exceed at any one time
the sum of twenty thousand dollars; may have a common seal,
and alter the same from time to time, and make such rules,
regulations, and by-laws as may be within the scope of their
association and not contrary to the laws of the land.
"SEC. 2. That the rules and by-laws of the said associa-
tion shall be the rules and by-laws of the corporation hereby
created until the same shall be regularly repealed or altered,
and that the present officers of said association shall be officers
of the corporation hereby created until their respective offices
shall regularly expire or be vacated.
"Approved, January 9, 1837."
In December, 1837, the following persons were the
officers :
Edward Tracy, president ; Henry Von Phul. vice-
president ; John Ford, secretary and treasurer ; Com-
mittee of Appeals, William Glasgow, John W. Reel,
T. L. Doan, Augustus Kerr, George K. McGunnegle,
George Collier; Monthly Committee on Arbitration for
December, J. M. Corse, T. D. Fontaine, Alfred Tracy,
Stephen Gore, James L. Lane.
On the 23d of December of the same year the
proprietors of the Republican announced that, —
"At the solicitation of a large number of merchants and
business men of the city, we have issued a prospectus for open-
ing an exchange and news-room, which may be seen at all the
principal book-stores, hotels, and in the hands of several gentle-
men of the city. We contemplate opening the rooms in Janu-
ary next. Our arrangements for the receipt of papers, period-
icals, magazines, etc., will not be complete by that time, but will
be perfected as soon as the speed and regularity of the mails
will admit. Our object is not revenue alone : we hope by this
to benefit the community and extend the usefulness and circula-
tion of our paper, and it now remains with the public to see
whether they are willing to sustain such an institution. The
exchange room will be opened to the public generally, and will be
furnished as is usual to furnish such apartments. The reading-
room will be supplied with all the principal newspapers of the
United States, without regard to politics, and the principal
standard literary reviews, magazines, and periodicals, properly
arranged."
1342
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
In February, 1838, the Republican added, —
" The exchange rooms will be free to the public at all times,
except when occupied by the Chamber of Commerce. The
reading-room will be open only to subscribers, or to such
persons as they may introduce, not being resident of the city,
to the transient officers of the United States and State govern-
ments, to the captains, clerks, and officers of steamboats, to the
subscribers of the Republican, not residents of the city, and
such persons as the proprietors may think proper to per-
mit. Merchants will be at liberty to introduce their clerks,
and mechanics their apprentices: keepers of hotels and board-
ing-bouses, who may become subscribers, will be permitted to
introduce their transient guests. The price has been estab-
lished at $10 for a single subscriber, $15 for a firm of two per-
sons, and $20 for a firm of three or more, payable half-yearly
in advance. No subscription will be received for less than a
year.
" We have received the following flattering notice from the
Chamber of Commerce :
"'CHAMBER OP COMMERCE,
'"Sx. Louis, Jan. 5, 1838.
" ' At a meeting of the members of the St. Louis Chamber of
Commerce, held on the 28th uU., the following resolution was
adopted and ordered to be published :
'"Resolved, That this Chamber, purporting to represent the
mercantile and trading interests of this community, cordially
recommend to the individuals composing this body to give their
hearty co-operation in carrying out the views of Messrs. Cham-
bers, Evans <fc Knapp in establishing a " Merchants' Exchange
and News-Room," and that this body also respectfully recom-
mend to their fellow-citizens generally, who are not members of
this Chamber, to lend their moral and pecuniary aid in carry-
ing the plan of the proprietors into complete effect.
" ' By order of the Chamber,
" JOHN FORD, Sec."
On the 1st of January, 1839, the annual election
of the Chamber of Commerce was held at the office
of the St. Louis Perpetual Insurance Company, and
the following officers were elected : Edward Tracy,
president ; Henry Von Phul, vice-president ; John
Ford, treasurer and secretary ; William Glasgow, John
W. Reel, T. P. Doan, Augustus Kcrr, George K.
McGunneglc, and George Collier, committee of ap-
peals; Charles P. Billon, Joseph Charless, John D.
Daggett, John H. Gay, and William Hempstead,
monthly committee on arbitration for January.
The first proposition for the erection of a Mer-
chants' Exchange building was made by a writer in
the St. Louis Bulletinof Oct. 5, 1838, who suggested
that the erection of such a building might be effected
by a union of the insurance companies. No action
seems to have been taken in the matter, although the
Republican of November 2d stated that the propo-
sition had been " favorably responded to by a majority
of those interested." The meetings of the Chamber
were held for some time in the Republican building,
and afterwards in the basement of the Unitarian
Church, at the northwest corner of Pine and Fourth
Streets. The Merchants' News-Room, in October,
1838, was situated at No. 45 Main Street, immedi-
ately under the Republican office, and it was an-
nounced (October 17th) that " for the remainder of
the season the Exchange and News-Room will be
regularly lighted from sundown until between nine
and ten o'clock." The germ of the present exchange
system was developed in the fall of this year by a
suggestion in the Evening Gazette, which was in-
dorsed in the Republican of October 23d, to the
effect that the merchants should assemble at regular
hours for the transaction of any business that they
might have with one another. " We think the idea
a good one," remarked the Republican. " If a certain
hour is established for 'Change, say twelve or one
o'clock in the day, every merchant having business to
do with another would know where and when he
could be found." The officers of the Chamber of
Commerce in February, 1839, were Edward Tracy,
president; Henry Von Phul, vice-president ; Daniel
Hough, secretary and treasurer ; William Glasgow,
George Collier, Augustus Herr, J. P. Doan, George
K. McGunnegle, John Walsh, committee of appeals ;
Committee of Arbitration for February, Charles F.
Henry, John Lee, N. E. Janney, A. Mieur, A.
Ricketson.
The subject of erecting an Exchange building was
revived in the spring of 1839, and on the 22d of
April a meeting was held at the Merchants' Exchange
and News-Room for the purpose of taking formal action
in the premises. On motion of Col. Rene Paul, the
meeting was organized by the appointment of Henry
S. Coxe as president, and William G. Pettus as sec-
retary.
The object of the meeting having been explained
by Col. Rene Paul and A. B. Chambers, the follow-
ing resolutions were submitted by Mr. Chambers, and,
after two slight amendments had been agreed to, were
unanimously adopted :
" 1. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting that an
Exchange building should be erected in this city, and that the
business of the city and its commerce require the immediate
commencement of the work.
"2. Resolred, That we approve of the plan submitted to the
consideration of this meeting of a union of the city authori-
ties, insurance companies, brokers, societies', and individuals in
the erection of this building, and earnestly commend the same
to the consideration of the mayor and City Council and of the
citizens generally.
" 3. Revolved, That a committee of persons be appointed
to prepare a report of the plan submitted, or any other plan,
with such additions and illustrations as may contribute to a
perfect understanding of the same, and that they cause the
satire to be printed, with the charter of the Exchange Company,
and submitted to the consideration of the persons, companies,
anil societies embraced in this plan, and request their early
action upon it.
COMMERCIAL EXCHANGES.
1343
" 4. Retained, That the city authorities, the insurance compa-
nies, other societies, brokers, and individuals be respectfully re-
quested to confer with the committee appointed by this meet-
ing, and signify to them their decision upon the plan which
shall be submitted.
" 5. Iteaolcefl, That whenever the committee appointed by this
meeting shall have ascertained that a sufficient amount of stock
will be taken to secure the erection and completion of the build-
ing, they shall request the commissioners named in the charter
of the Exchange Company to open the books for the stock of
the same."
On motion of John D. Daggett, the blank in the
third resolution was filled with " seven," and it was
decided that the president appoint the committee.
The president appointed the following gentlemen on
the committee, viz. : John D. Daggett, Rene Paul, Na-
thaniel Paschall, Adam B. Chambers, John B. Camden,
William Glasgow, and Edward Tracy.
In 1840, Edward Tracy, who had been president
of the Chamber from its organization, prompted by a
nice sense of mercantile honor, arising from the fact
that he was then involved in mercantile embarrass-
ments, resigned. The members declined to accept
his resignation, but Mr. Tracy having refused to
withdraw it, Henry Von Phul, who had been vice-
president from the beginning, was chosen by acclama-
tion. He declined, however, to serve, and Wayman
Crow was elected, serving from 1841 to October, 1849,
with George K. McGunnegleas vice-president. Dur-
ing Mr. Crow's term of office the secretaries were Daniel
Hough, F. L. Ridgely, and Edward Barry. In Sep-
tember, 1842, the officers were Wayman Crow, presi-
dent ; George K. McGunnegle, vice-president ; F. L.
Ridgely, secretary and treasurer ; Committee of Ap-
peals for 1842, John D. Daggett, N. E. January, H.
L. Hoffman, John Stagg, George K. Budd, William
Glasgow ; Committee of Arbitration for September,
Benjamin Clapp, C. F. Hendry, A. Kerr, J. G. Lin-
dell, and Joseph S. Pease.
The officers in May, 1844, were Wayman Crow,
president; G. K. McGunnegle, vice-president; F. L.
Ridgely, secretary and treasurer; Committee of Ap-
peals for 1844, George K. Budd, Edward Brooks,
Henry Von Phul, J. S. Thompson, John Simonds,
P. G. Camden ; Committee of Arbitration for May,
J. C. Abbott, W. G. Haun, A. Meier, Charles I. j
Tucker, Charles T. Wheeler.
The project for the erection of an Exchange build-
ing appears to have lain dormant until July, 1847, on
the 21st of which month it was announced that " two
gentlemen of the city" had purchased "the property
owned by the Baptist Society at the corner of Chest-
nut and Third Streets, with the intention of erecting
an Exchange building upon it." The ground extended
seventy feet upon Third Street and ninety upon Chest-
nut. On the 3d of January, 1848, books were opened
for subscriptions to the capital stock of a company
then about to be organized for the erection of an
Exchange, and on the 20th of May following the
fact was noted that the proposition had progressed so
far that a lot on Fifth Street, " in the central part of
the city," had been secured, and subscriptions to the
stock were " rapidly filling up."
In the spring of 1848 an Exchange was established
in connection with the Chamber of Commerce, where
merchants met regularly to interchange views and
transact business. The enterprise met with general
support and favor, a very large proportion of the busi-
ness men subscribing to it. Rooms were secured on
the northeast corner of Main and Olive Streets, up-
stairs, and fitted up for the purposes of the Exchange.
Edward Barry was appointed secretary, and the rooms
were supplied with newspapers, price-currents, etc.,
and telegraphic dispatches giving the state of the
market up to twelve o'clock noon in all the Atlan-
tic and Southern cities. The subscription price was
ten dollars per annum, and subscribers possessed the
privilege of introducing strangers and non-residents
into the Exchange and reading-rooms. On the 14th
of May, 1849, it was announced that another effort
was about to be made for the organization of a
Merchants' Exchange. At a special meeting of the
Chamber of Commerce held on the llth of September,
1849, George K. McGunnegle, vice-president, stated
that it had been called to take into consideration the
establishment of a Merchants' Exchange and the pro-
curing of rooms which would answer that purpose for
the present, with the ulterior view of erecting an edi-
fice suitable to the object. After some discussion the
matter was referred to a committee, of which James
E. Yeatman was chairman. On the 17th of Septem-
ber the committee reported that it was impracticable
at that time to build a Merchants' Exchange, and rec-
ommended the leasing of the second floor of the build-
ing owned by Mr. Charless, next door to the corner
of Main and Olive Streets. The report was adopted,
and a committee appointed for the purpose of estab-
lishing a Merchants' Exchange. On the 27th of De-
cember following it was announced that the rooms in-
tended for the use of the Chamber of Commerce and
of the merchants generally had been completed. They
were located in the second story of the building occu-
pied by Charless & Blow. A meeting of merchants
and other subscribers to the new Exchange was held
in tljeir new rooms on the 2d of January, 1850, and
the rules prescribing the terms of membership and
the various committees and for the regulation of busi-
ness were adopted. A resolution was also adopted
1344
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
that the Exchange be regularly opened at the hour of
eleven o'clock on Monday, January 7th, and that the
'Change hour be from eleven to twelve o'clock every
day, except Sundays and holidays.
Nearly two hundred of the principal merchants of
the city were members of the Exchange and Reading-
Room, at an annual contribution sufficient to cover the
expenses of the establishment. A secretary and clerk
were employed, whose duty it was to keep an accurate
record of the state of the market in St. Louis and
other important cities, procure the latest accounts of
sales and other information calculated to influence
commercial transactions, obtain telegraphic dispatches,
and keep at all times, as far as practicable, tables of
the state of the supply and demand in leading articles
of the St. Louis market.
This intelligence was kept in appropriate books, but
was only open to the inspection of members. All
persons were admitted to the Exchange room, but no
resident of the city, engaged in mercantile pursuits,
and not a member of the association, was permitted
to buy or sell produce or merchandise at the Exchange,
or avail himself of the information which was col-
lected for the use of members. Non-residents of the
city might be introduced by any member, and when so
introduced had free access to the privileges of the Ex-
change and Reading- Room for a limited time. Others
not resident might also purchase any produce or mer-
chandise offered for sale, but might not be sellers.
Manufacturers and mechanics might sell their com-
modities without the necessity of membership. Any
person of any profession or pursuit, of respectable
standing, could become a member by subscribing and
paying the annual charge for its support, and auction-
eers at a small charge obtained the privilege of selling
stocks and real estate in the Exchange, except during
the 'Change hour.
The Merchants' Exchange and Reading-Room were
open to members at all times (Sundays and holidays
excepted) from seven o'clock A.M. to eight o'clock P.M.
in summer, and from eight o'clock A.M. to nine o'clock
P.M. in winter, commencing the 1st of October and
ending the 1st of March.
The commercial year was considered to commence
on the 1st of September, and end on the 31st of
August following.
The Merchants' Exchange, though closely allied
with the Chamber of Commerce and conducted in
conjunction with it, was a distinct organization. The
Chamber of Commerce controlled the affairs of ioth
associations, and its members were known as the
" voting members." The Merchants' Exchange was
composed of persons who simply had the right to
transact business in the Exchange rooms, without a
vote in the government.
In the mean time the millers of St. Louis had or-
ganized an Exchange of their own. Previous to this
action, being continually in the market, they had to
go on the Levee and sample all the piles of wheat
they might find, and then wait an indefinite time for
the sellers to make their appearance, some of whom
might be there ready to sell by ten o'clock, others not
before four o'clock in the afternoon. Thus the millers
were from day to day from four to six hours exposed
the year round to all kinds of weather and the intol-
erable dust or mud. Having suffered from exposure
on the Levee in previous years, James Waugh and
T. A. Buckland determined in February, 1849, to call
a meeting of all the millers, in order to remedy the
inconvenience and exposure in transacting their busi-
ness. With that in view they wrote a request to each
miller in the city to meet at C. L. Tucker's office.
Theodore Papin, being present, agreed to deliver the
notices, and on the day appointed for the meeting
they were greeted with the presence of nearly all the
mill-owners in the city, among them the following :
Gabriel S. Chouteau, Joseph C. Shands, John Walsh,
Robinson, Joseph Powell, Mr. Tibbits, Dennis
Marks, George P. Plant, Henry Whittemore, Alphonso
Smith, T. A. Buckland, C. L. Tucker, Henry Pilk-
ington, James Waugh.
T. A. Buckland was called upon to state the object
of the meeting, after which those present organized
the Millers' Association by electing the following di-
rectors: Gabriel S. Chouteau, John Walsh, Joseph
Powell, C. L. Tucker, Dennis Marks, Mr. Tibbits, T.
A. Buckland, and James Waugh, with Joseph Pow-
ell president, and C. L. Tucker secretary. The board
was then called together by the president, and after
consultation the following committee was appointed :
Messrs. Powell, Marks, and Buckland, with instruc-
tions to rent rooms and procure the necessary tables
and other furniture. As soon as the rooms were ready
the merchants were invited to bring to them samples
of any produce they might have for sale. Thus
about the 1st of March, 1849, the Millers' Exchange
was opened over Nos. 9 and 11 Locust Street, and is
said to have been the first Exchange established in the
United States for the buying and selling of produce.
It continued for two years, during which time nearly
all the produce seeking a market in St. Louis was
offered for sale. When the merchants established a
general Exchange, and for that purpose rented rooms
adjoining the corner of Main and Olive Streets, the
millers were invited to join them. In response the
millers appointed Messrs. Marks, Tibbits, and Buck-
COMMERCIAL EXCHANGES.
1345
land to confer with the officers of the Merchants' Ex-
change, and at the conference it was agreed that the
secretary of the Millers' should be the assistant secre-
tary of the Merchants' Exchange, with which ar-
rangement the Millers' and Merchants' Exchanges
were united.1
In March, 1851, the following officers of the
Chamber of Commerce were elected : President, Wil-
liam M. Morrison ; Vice-Presidents, Alfred Vinton,
David Tatum ; Secretary and Treasurer, Edward
Barry ; Committee of Appeals, T. H. Larkin, J. J.
Roe, Adolphus Meier, J. D. Osborne, Dennis Marks,
George Partridge, P. R. McCreery, R. M. Henning,
Neree Valle, J. H. Alexander, E. M. Ryland, H. T.
Chiles ; Committee of Arbitration for March, John
C. Bull, R. M. Funkhouser, J. T. Chappell, Alonzo
Child, Solon Humphreys, James W. Finley, Henry
Ames, N. Ranney, Morris Collins, Robert Barth, J.
D. Houseman, A. W» Fagin, Henry Whittemore.
In December, 1852, the following gentlemen were
appointed by the president of the Chamber of Com-
merce as delegates to the " Commercial Convention"
held in Baltimore on the 18th of that month : Joseph
Stettinius, P. Herman, W. H. Barksdale, James A.
Bryan, T. J. Homer, William Bennett, Taylor Blow,
0. Wales, Thomas M. Taylor, J. D. Houseman, E.
W. Blatchford, A. J. McCreery, James Christy, W.
Ballentine, E. Livermore, John Knapp, William Low,
W. S. Gilman, R. K. Woods, Henry White.
The project of erecting a building for the Chamber
of Commerce and Exchange was again revived in
1855, and with better success than had attended the
previous efforts in this direction. On the 13th of
September of that year, on motion of Hon. Henry T.
Blow, a committee, consisting of Henry T. Blow, R.
J. Lackland, Charles P. Chouteau, A. F. Shapleigh,
and Thomas E. Tutt, was appointed to procure a
charter for an Exchange Building Company, to solicit
proposals for a suitable lot, and to procure plans for a
building for an Exchange. On the 15th of Novem-
ber, 1855, Edward J. Gay and Robert Barth, on the
1 In his address at the opening of the new Exchange, Dec. 21,
1875, Mr. Wayman Crow, second president of the Chamber
of Commerce, said, " The Chamber rented the commodious
room adjoining the St. Louis Insurance Company on Main
Street, where they established a daily reading- and assembly-
room with convenient arrangements. Subsequently they in-
vited the Millers' Exchange, which had just organized, to unite
with them and bring samples of grain, flour, etc., ' on 'Change,'
— an important step of progress, for, if I am not mistaken, this
was the pioneer Corn Exchange in this country, our Chamber
taking the lead in thus bringing together the buyers and the
sellers with their samples for the purpose of facilitating their
daily intercourse and trade."
part of and representing the owners of property on
the east side of Main Street, between Market and
Walnut Streets, submitted a proposition for the erec-
tion of a building on the site named, fronting one
hundred and twenty-three feet on Main Street, the
second story to be appropriated exclusively for the
use of a Merchants' Exchange hall, at a rental of two
thousand five hundred dollars per annum for ten years,
and at a meeting held on the 24th of November,
1855, the president of the Chamber of Commerce
was instructed to enter into a lease of the premises
offered by Messrs, Gay and Barth. At a meeting of
the stockholders " who have engaged in a building for
a Merchants' Exchange on the ground recently occu-
pied by the Centre Market," which was hejd Jan. 5,
1856, the following trustees were chosen : James H.
Lucas, George R. Taylor, Louis C. Gamier, Edward
J. Gay, Neree Valle", Felix Coste, and Lawrason Riggs.
A resolution was also passed that the trustees pro-
ceed immediately to consummate the agreement en-
tered into with the Chamber of Commerce for the
leasing of the second story of the new building.
On the 25th of February the stockholders held
another meeting, at which the plans for the building
were presented for approval. The following com-
mittee to solicit additional subscriptions was ap-
pointed : G. W. Dreyer, Isaac S. Smyth, T. A. Buck-
land, Joseph E. Elder, Adolphus Meier, Robert
Campbell, Samuel Bonner, John C. Powell, S. B.
Wiggins, John Kern, Adolphe Paul, J. G. Shelton,
and Joseph C. Barlow. The committee organized by
the election of Adolphus Meier as chairman.
The work was prosecuted successfully, and the con-
struction of the proposed Exchange begun. At a
meeting of the stockholders held on the 9th of March,
1857, on motion of Col. Robert Campbell, Adolphus
Meier was called to the chair, and John E. Yore ap-
pointed secretary. The chairman explained the ob-
jects of the meeting to be to receive the report of the
trustees of their transactions for the past year, to re-
ceive and approve the charter granted by the Legisla-
ture to the company, and to elect a board of seven
trustees to serve for the ensuing year. The reports of
the president and secretary were then read, and on
motion of Samuel B. Wiggins were adopted. The
charter for the St. Louis Merchants' Exchange Com-
pany was then read, and on motion of Mr. Lucas it
was resolved that the said charter be approved and
accepted, and that the stockholders of the company
signify their acceptance of the same by signing their
names to it. The meeting then proceeded to the
election of seven trustees to serve for the ensuing
year. Messrs. George Knapp and Taylor Blow were
1346
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
appointed tellers. The votes having been counted,
the following gentlemen were declared elected as trus-
tees : James H. Lucas, George R. Taylor, Louis C.
Gamier, Neree Valle, Lawrason Riggs, Felix Coste,
and Edward J. Gay.
The first annual report of the trustees to the stock-
holders was as follows :
" The contract for the entire building was awarded to Messrs.
Barnett & Weber, at the sum of sixty-four thousand five hun-
dred dollars, and the contract carefully guarded as to the time
for its completion and security for its faithful performance.
" The building was to have been completed and ready for
delivery on the first day of last December, but it is regarded as
a fortunate circumstance that it had not progressed as rapidly
as the contract required, for it is well known to the association
that the conflagration on the 19th of November last entirely
destroyed that imposing structure known as the City Buildings,
immediately in the rear of the Exchange; and there can be but
little doubt but that the Exchange building would have shared
a similar fate, even if it had progressed so far as to be ready for
the roofing.
"The trustees, as soon as they had fixed upon a plan and
made selection of a design, secured the services of Mr. Oliver
A. Hart, architect and superintendent, who was employed to
revise the specifications for the entire structure and superin-
tend the building from its foundation to its entire completion.
" The building has been progressing under the personal super-
vision of Messrs. Gamier, Coste, and Taylor, constituting the
building committee, who, together with Mr. Hart, it is believed,
have supervised the entire construction from its excavation to
the present time.
" The building is on an entire rock foundation, care having
been observed in going down to the solid rock in all places
where it was not reached according to the excavation made for
the cellars, and in this connection it is believed to be a most sub-
stantial job of rubble masonry, as the utmost care was observed
by Messrs. McFadden <t Lynch, the contractors, whose names
alone are a sufficient guarantee that the work has been faith-
fully done. The outer walls on Main and Commercial Streets,
constructed of brick und stone, are two and a half feet in thick-
ness from the top of the lintels to the bottom of the two massive
trusses, and 'from thence up to the cornice one and a half feet in
thickness.
" The gross amount of subscriptions, both in money and kind,
amount to the sum of eighty-seven thousand two hundred dol-
lars, and the subscriptions in kind or property have all been
advantageously used in the contracts for the building.
"The Itase from the association to the Chamber of Commerce
of the second story for the term often years, has been executed
by both parties, and it is most confidently believed that the
whole building will be finished complete between the 1st and
15th of the ensuing May ; the stores, however, will be ready by
the 10th of April."
The ground for the building was broken on the 1st
of March, 1856. The erection of the structure was
pushed rapidly forward, and business " on 'Change"
was transacted for the first time in the new hall on
June 8, 1857. The edifice was of the Venetian
style of architecture. The front was of the " Allen
stone," and the main and paitition walls were of
brick. The space occupied on Main Street was one
hundred and twenty-three feet, the building running
back eighty-six feet to Commercial Street. On the
main floor were four stores, each having a front of
twenty-seven feet in the clear by eighty-five feet deep
and fourteen high. Three of these stores were leased
as follows as soon as finished : One to the Franklin
Savings and Insurance Company, one to Peter Ames
for a wine and liquor store, and the other to the Mer-
chants' and Manufacturers' Savings Institution.
The Exchange Hall was one hundred and one feet
in length and eighty feet in depth. The extreme
height to the apex of the dome was sixty-three feet,
and the galleries twenty-six feet. The panels of the
dome were beautifully decorated in fresco by the
artist, L. D. Pomerede, with paintings representing
the four quarters of the globe, and the hall was well
lighted by ample windows and by a skylight in
the dome. Connected with the main hall was a
room for the use of the secretary of the association.
The south end of the hall was fitted up as a reading-
room, elevated about seventeen feet above the main
floor, and reached by a circular iron staircase. The
room was eighteen feet by eighty, supported by eight
Corinthian columns, and inclosed by a second tier of
columns and tasteful iron railings. This reading-room
was exposed and visible from the main floor.
The third story of the building was devoted to
offices, twenty-two in number, arranged so as to form
a square around the basin of the rotunda, with a
gallery four feet wide, protected by an iron railing
running around the entire square.
The exterior of the building was of a handsome
and imposing character, the stone used being a finely
grained and shaded limestone from the quarry near
Allcntown, on the Pacific Railroad. The building
was three stories high, and the north and south en-
trances had projecting porticoes, suppoited by fluted
and carved Corinthian columns with bold moulded
capitals, and an entablature surmounted by a large
carved work, in the centre of which was a medallion
with the device or coat of arms of the Chamber of
Commerce.
At the time of its erection the structure was one
of the handsomest and most imposing of its kind in
the country.1
About eleven o'clock on the day of its formal oc-
cupation by the Exchange the visitors began to as-
semble, and in less than an hour the hall was thronged
almost to its capacity. Considerable business was
transacted, but calls were made for a speech from
1 Among those especially prominent in aiding the erection of
the building were James 1J. Lucas and George 11. Taylor.
COMMERCIAL EXCHANGES.
1347
Henry Ames, president of the Chamber of Commerce.
That gentleman declined making any remarks, but
taking the stand, offered the following sentiments :
" St. Louis has long been married to New York and
Boston : the Western people have now adopted the
Utah principle and taken Baltimore into the alliance."
Judge Z. Collins Lee, of Baltimore, then took the
stand, in answer to a generally expressed desire, and
compared the past of St. Louis with her then present
greatness. From this time the Chamber of Commerce
held its meetings in the new building.
A movement was set on foot in June, I860, for the
removal of the Exchange to other quarters in a new
building then about to be commenced by F. P. Blair,
Thomas C. Reynolds, and Thomas Walsh, on Third
Street, south of the post-office, but nothing came of it.
Dissensions, engendered by political excitement, arose
among the members of the Chamber of Commerce
during the early period of the civil war, and culmi-
nated at the annual election on the 8th of January,
1862. A contemporary version of the affair gives
the following particulars : *
" The annual election of officers for the Chamber of Commerce
took pliice yesterday and resulted, unhappily, in an unfriendly
division of the members, the withdrawal of part of them, anil a
movement to establish a new Chamber, which movement was
half consummated in the excitement of the moment. It has
heretofore been customary, during the two or three weeks im-
mediately preceding an election, to fix upon proper persons as
candidates, nominate them at a preliminary meeting, and elect
them with but nominal opposition when the day for balloting
came on. This season the offices of president, vice-president,
and committee-men were unsought for. Several gentlemen who
were solicited to become candidates declined, and the usual
primary mode of nominating was, we believe, dispensed with
altogether. Still a full ticket was offered by general consent to
the Chamber voters, and bid fair to be elected without regular
opposition. It bore the heading ' Commercial Ticket,' and con-
tained the following name,s :
" For president, Henry J. Moore; for vice-presidents, Carlos
S. Greeley, Aaron W. Fagin : for flour inspectors, William
Stobie, James L. Benson; for committee of appeals, J. W.
Booth, Thomas Ilicheson, Nathan Cole, George D. Hall, Gil-
bert Pryor, F. A. Reuss, Alexander II. Smith, Henry A. llo-
mcycr, E. 0. Stanard, Isaac V. W. Butcher, Robert G. Greer,
Sylvester II. Laflin.
" The office of secretary, which pays a liberal salary, was the
only one which invited or promised a contest. Mr. W. B.
Baker, who has been the incumbent for several years, was
placed upon the commercial ticket for re-election. It became
evident some weeks ago that he would meet a determined oppo-
sition, and friends and opponents of this gentleman set them-
selves to work actively, pro and co», in the canvass. His
friends said his defeat was sought on political grounds, and
that he was to-be forced from office because he was a Union
man. His opponents, on the contrary, claimed to base their
objections on personal grounds, said they had solicited Union
men to run for the secretaryship, and that they would support
1 Missouri Republican, Jan. 9, 1862.
any one in opposition, laying all political considerations aside.
Many of the friends of Mr. Baker, however, viewed these pro-
fessions with distrust, and determined to rally in force in his
behalf, the other party having found a candidate in the person
of R. II. Davis.
"The old plan of making new members on election-day to
secure additional votes was called into requisition in this in-
stance. A list of eighty new names was offeied for member-
ship, and composed, says rumor, of friends of Baker. The
opposite party had not been industrious in preparing a list of
their own, and defeat or victory hung upon the exclusion or
admission of these candidates. To save themselves they had,
of course, to accomplish their exclusion. Under an old stand-
ing rule of the Chamber, which requires but five adverse votes
to 'black-ball' a candidate, this was easily done. The names
were offered en masse, and rejected en masae. Upon this rejec-
tion the supporters of Mr. Bilker felt that the day was against
them and gave up the contest. Capt. Moore withdrew as a
candidate for president, and the friends of the commercial
ticket generally declined to vote and retired from the hall. A
portion met in the secretary's room, and with S. M. Edgell in
the chair, resolved to take steps towards establishing a new Ex-
change, the chairman being authorized to appoint a committee
to report at a future meeting on the subject.
"Those who remained in the hall completed the election, and
voted for nn irregular ticket, which was chosen as foJIows:
"President, Albert Pearce ; First Vice- President, William
Matthews; Second Vice-President, Edgar Ames: Secretary and
Treasurer, R. II. Davis.
" Committee of Appeals, T. H. Larkin, N. Schaffer, T. Betts,
John Tolle, II. McKittrick, John F. Baker, J. Jackson, W. S.
Moffett, Willis J. Powell, T. Ferguson, J. W. Booth, Samuel
Johnson, Jr.
" Flour Inspectors, W. Stobie, Joseph Powell, J. L. Benson.
" It was rumored last evening that Messrs. Pearce, Ames, and
one or two others of those elected had declined to accept, but
we hear that they consider the best means of preserving the
Chamber of Commerce and the excellent mercantile organiza-
tion of St. Louis will be best assured by their acceptance. AVe
think it is likely that they will retain the places to which they
have been invited. The leading members of the ticket-elect,
we may fay, are Union men of the strongest cast, but this fact
we cite merely to prove that politics played a less conspicuous
part in the Chamber election of yesterday than many of the
members themselves would have believed. Mr. Pearce, the new
president, is the present head of the old and important house
of Hening <t Woodruff, and possesses the mercaniile experience
and elements of general character necessary to fill the office
with credit to himself and the Chamber of Commerce."
•
At the meeting of the "bolting" members, Stephen
M. Kdgell was called to the chair as president, and
Clinton B. Fisk was chosen secretary.
The president was instructed to appoint a com-
mittee of five persons, whose duty it should be to
report at a subsequent meeting a plan of organization
of " The Union Merchants' Exchange of St. Louis,"
and to make inquiry for suitable rooms for the accom-
modation of the organization, and report location and
terms of lease. The meeting adjourned to meet at
the call of the president and committee. .
On the llth of January the secretary issued the
following :
1348
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
" ELECTION NOTICE. — The Union Merchants' Exchange of St.
Louis will elect permanent officers for the year 1862 on Satur-
day, the llth inst., at twelve o'clock noon. The secretary will
be at the rooms of the Exchange, corner of Main and Elm
Streets, at ten o'clock this (Saturday) morning to receive names
and fees for membership. Parties engaged in mercantile or
manufacturing pursuits, banks, bankers, and insurance compa-
nies are invited to an examination of the proceedings of the
Union Merchants' Exchange as published in this paper this
morning, and to membership in the Union Exchange.
" CLINTON B. FISK, Secretary."
'.'The Union Merchants' Exchange convened for the transac-
tion of business this day under the United States flag at their
temporary rooms, corner of Main and Elm Streets. The com-
mittee on permanent organization, through Thomas Richeson,
made report as follows :
" ' Gentlemen, — Your committee would suggest to this meeting
the following as the necessary steps to be taken for the per-
manent organization of the Union Merchants' Exchange of St.
Louis :
" ' 1st. That all good loyal Union men of the city of St. Louis
engaged in mercantile or manufacturing pursuits, who desire to
become members of the Union Exchange, be and they are hereby
requested to come forward and signify their intention by giving
their names to the secretary of this meeting.
" ' 2d. That this body will proceed to the permanent organi-
zation of the Union Merchants' Exchange of St. Louis by the
election of permanent officers for the ensuing year at twelve
o'clock noon on Saturday, the llth inst., and that each member
be required to pay the sum of ten dollars to the secretary pro
tern, before casting his vote.
" ' 3d. That the president appoint a committee of five persons,
whose duty it shall be to prepare suitable rules and regulations
for the government of this Exchange.
'"4th. That your present committee be continued for the
purpose of procuring rooms for the permanent occupancy of
this Exchange.'
"The report of the committee was received and adopted by
acclamation.
"James Archer tendered to the Exchange a 'flag of the
Union,' to be displayed from the rooms on Saturday, the llth
inst.
" H. M. Woodward proposed to place an iron safe in the
rooms free of rent.
" The meeting passed a vote of thanks to Messrs. J. H. Lucas,
L. W. Patchen & Co., Teichman & Co., Wattenberg, Bush & Co.,
James Archer, and H. M. Woodward for their generous courte-
sies to this body.
" Partiesi desiring membership in the Union Merchants' Ex-
change were then invited to make application to the secretary.
" One hundred and fifty firms enrolled their name?, when the
Exchange adjourned to meet at eleven o'clock on Saturday, the
llth inst. ; election of permanent officers to take place at twelve
o'clock.
"Judges of Election, Clinton B. Fisk, Alexander H. Smith,
and Henry S. Reed.
" The secretary will be present at the Union Exchange Rooms
at ten o'clock Saturday morning to receive additional names
and fees for membership. List of members will be published
in the city papers of Monday morning, Jan. 13, 1862.
"S. M. EDGELL, President.
" CLINTON B. FISK, Secretary."
In its issue of January llth the Republican said, —
" So far as we can understand, the differences which have
taken place between the merchants and business men who have
heretofore met at the Merchants' Exchange remain unadjusted,
the committees in their meetings for that purpose having mari-
ifested very little disposition to meet each other on reasonable
terms. This is to be regretted on several accounts. It not only
tends to break up an association which has been the pride of the
city, and to which all have looked for aid and counsel in times
of difficulty, but it is likely to be productive of bad feeling, and
to interrupt the transaction of business of every kind. It may
well be doubted whether the feud can stop here, for there are
traces of a disposition already visible to carry it into social life,
and make it the cause of unpleasant differences between men
who have been friends for years. Can it be possible that there
is not good sense and kind feeling enough among the men who
have been, perhaps by accident, made prominent actors in this
affair to put a stop to action likely to lead to these results ?
" From the papers published below it will be seen that all the
officers elected by the Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday have
resigned their places; that the president (Mr. January) and
one of the vice-presidents, Mr. W. Matthews, have also resigned,
leaving the other vice-president (Mr. Pottle), under a former
election, the only officer of the association. This has been
done, as we understand it, to give an opportunity to the mem-
bers of the Chamber of Commerce to begin the work of organi-
zation anew, to retrace their steps, and to enable them to select
officers who will be acceptable to the great majority of the
members. If errors have been committed, if political tests
have been made by any one, a matter about which we have not
the evidence upon which to form a correct judgment, if it be
deemed essential to continue the existence of the association,
and this is admitted, the resignation of all the officers ought to
be regarded as highly honorable, and as the best mode of re-
storing harmony to the Chamber. Whatever else may be done,
the action of these gentlemen cannot fail to meet the approval
of the thinking and conservative portion of the members of the
Chamber of Commerce.
"Si. Louis, Jan. 10, 1862.
" To D. A. JANUARY, President Chamber of Commerce :
"Sir, — The undersigned, elected by the Chamber of Com-
merce on the 8th inst. to the offices of president, vice-president,
and secretary, respectfully decline to fill said offices.
" ALBERT PEARCE.
•'WILLIAM MATTHEWS.
'• EDGAR AMES.
" R. H. DAVIS."
"ST. Louis, Jan. 10, 1862.
"To THE SECRETARY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, St. Louis:
" Sir, — The undersigned, president and first vice-president
of the Chamber, respectfully tender the resignation of these
offices.
"D. A. JANUARY, President.
"WILLIAM MATTHEWS, First Vice-Prest."
"ST. Louis, Jan. 10, 1862.
"To D. A. JANUARY, President Chamber of Commerce:
"Sir, — The undersigned, elected by the Chamber of Com-
merce on the 8th inst. as the committee of appeals to serve for
the ensuing year, respectfully decline to serve.
"THOMAS H. LARKIN. THEO. BETTS.
"J. F. BAKER. JOHN F. TOLLE.
" W. S. MOFFETT. THOMAS FERGUSON.
"JAMES W. BOOTH. H. McKirrRicK.
"SAMUEL JOHNSON, Jr. WILLIS J. POWELL.
" J. JACKSON. N. SCHAEFFER."
The breach in the organization seems to have had
its origin in the political differences and animosities of
COMMERCIAL EXCHANGES.
1349
its members, and the election of the secretary was the
excuse rather than the cause of the division.1
Strenuous efforts were made to heal the breach, but
without avail. Among these was the appointment by
the Chamber of Commerce of Messrs. Francis Whit-
taker, J. J. Roe, Edgar Ames, William Matthews,
and N. Wall as a committee to confer with the se-
ceding members. A similar committee was appointed
by the Union Exchange and a conference held, but
no compromise was effected.
The two committees subsequently held another
meeting, at which the following paper was presented
by the committee of the regular organization to the
Union committee :
" ST. Louis, Jan. 10, 1862.
"S. M. EDGELL, ESQ., President:
" SIR, — We, the committee chosen with full powers to wait
on your body, beg leave to inform you that the officers elected
at the annual meeting of the Chamber of Commerce on the 8th
inst. have all declined serving, that the president, Mr. Jan-
uary, and vice-president, Mr. Matthews, have also resigned,
leaving Mr. Pottle the only executive officer of the Chamber of
Commerce proper.
" We therefore tender to you the Chamber of Commerce, you
assuming all its liabilities.
" Hoping this course may reconcile and harmonize all past
grievances, and bring the commercial interests of our city to-
gether in peace and quiet, and asking your consideration of
this communication, we are,
Respectfully,
" FRANCIS WHITTAKER, Chairman.
" JOHN J. ROE.
" EDGAR AMES.
" WILLIAM MATTHEWS.
" N. WALL."
On the llth of January a meeting of the Union
Exchange was held, at which John J. Roe, on behalf
of the Chamber of Commerce, addressed the members
of the Union Exchange touching the importance of
union and harmony among the merchants of St.
Louis, and desired to know whether the proposition
from the Chamber of Commerce to surrender their
rooms and other property to the Union Exchange,
with the provision that the members of the Chamber
1 The complication was aggravated by the dissemination of
the following circular :
"CHAMBER OF COMMERCE,
"ST. Louis, Jan. 7, 1862.
" SIR, — Inclosed you will find the nomination of officers for
the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce for the present year, 1862.
Unfortunately, a certain set of the members of said Chamber
have sought to introduce politics into that organization, and wo
find an opposition, through which a violent secessionist, claim-
ing to be a relative of Mr. Jefferson Davis, is presented for the
important position of secretary simply upon the ground that
the old incumbent has proved himself a loyal citizen. Such an
issue cannot but work great evil to the interests of the Chamber,
and we inclose the within ticket, asking your consideration to
its merits, and trusting you will give it your cordial support."
86
of Commerce should be admitted as a body en masse
to the new Union Exchange, would be favorably re-
ceived. A negative response was given to the inter-
rogatory. S. M. Edgell. president, stated that the
new organization would refuse admission to no one
who was willing to stand upon the platform which
had been adopted by the Union Exchange ; that the
institution was to be known as truly loyal to the
United States government, but that from its rooms
political discussions and disputes should be banished.
Maj. Edwards, chairman of the committee on per-
manent organization, indorsed the views expressed by
the president, counseled steadfastness to the principles
already adopted, and presented as candidates for the
offices of the Uuion Merchants' Exchange for the year
1862 the following persons:
President, Henry J. Moore; Vice-Presidents, Carlos S. Gree-
ley, Aaron W. Fagin; Committee of Appeals, J. W. Booth,
Thomas Richeson, Nathan Cole, George D. Hall, Gilbert Pryor,
F. A. Reuss, Alex. H. Smith, Henry A. Homeyer, E. 0. Stan-
ard, Isaac V. W. Dutcher, Robert C. Greer, Sylvester H. Laf-
lin; Secretary and Treasurer, William B. Baker; Flour In-
spector, Joseph Powell.
All the candidates were elected.
The membership list of the Union Merchants' Ex-
change of St. Louis at the date of its permanent or-
ganization was as follows :
Archer, James. Clarke, D. A.
Anglerodt & Barth. Cogswell & Co.
Ames. Henry & Co. Cranwill, Castle & Peters.
Alexander, F. R. Collins, Morris.
Auferheide, F. W. Collins, Kellogg & Kirby.
Bridge, Beach & Co. Chase & Bro.
Buckland, T. A., attorney. Cutter & Terrill.
Baldwin & Dodd. Cooley & Tower.
Banker, G. W., president of Creveling, H. C.
the O'Fallon Lead and Oil Campbell, Robert A Co.
Company. Comstock, J. F. & Co.
Bonner, Samuel. Conant, H. A.
Boyden & Co. Caminan, Jacob.
Behrens, F. S. & Co. Davis, Samuel C. & Co.
Block & Evers. Dunham & Gregg.
Blunden, Koenig & Co. Dutcher & Co.
Booth, J. W. & Son. Davis <fc Co.
Bowen, John H. Doan, King & Co.
Beck & Corbett. Edgell, S. M. & Co.
Beckman, E. & Bro. Edgar, T. B.
Bemis & Brown. Ewing, AV. L. & Co.
Baur & Bohle. Eckermann & Co.
Butler, Asa R. Eagle Foundry.
Bell, C. H. & Co. Ensel, G. S.
Brebaugh, Simeon. Eads, James B.
Brown <t Co. Edgell, S. M.
Barlow & Taylor, bankers. Fagin, A. W.
Collier White Lead Co. Filley, Chauncey I.
Christopher & Richards. Fisk, Clinton B.
Chadbourne & Forster. Fisher, John A. & Co.
Chapman & Thorp. Ferguson, C. C., secretary.
Chamberlain, F. B. & Co. Franklin Insurance Co.
Clarke, R. P. Fenby, Samuel.
1350
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Fritchle, J. & Co.
Fii?k, Knight & Co.
Fisse, G. H.
Fenby, R. D.
Fenn, William P.
Filley, E. A. A S. R.
Forster, Marquard.
Filley, Giles F.
Greeley & Gale.
Grassmuck, Peter.
Goodrich, Willard A Co.
Garrison, J. L.
Goodwin & Anderson.
Gaylord, Son & Co.
Greer, J. G. & Co.
Green, J. & Co.
Green, W. R. A Co.
Gilderhaus & Co.
Hazard, W. T.
Heinrichshoffen, W. & R.
Holmes, Charles.
Iluniko, William.
Holmes, Robert.
Holmes, S. & Son.
Hening & Woodruff.
Holton & Capelle.
How, John.
Holsman, George.
Hall, Woodward & Co.
Hoeber, Gustavus.
Harlon & Wahl.
Hammill, S. & J.
Homeyer, Henry A. A Co.
Hamilton, Mark.
Humphreys, Terry & Co.
Hancock, D. J. & Co.
Habe, William A Bro.
Hammond & Co.
Ham, James.
Haseltine A Bent.
Howland, Charles H.
Illinois River Packet Co.
James, P.
Jackson, Perry A Co.
Jackson, Edward.
Jacoby, S.
Kendall, H. N. & Co.
Kreickhaus & Co.
Krafft, E. F.
Kuhs A Mueller.
Leonard, James D.
Lemb, Adam.
Lipman, Morris J.
Loring, H. I. A Co.
Lemcke Bros.
Ludewig, Johannes.
Moore, Henry J.
Mudd, Alexis.
Merritt, J. & Bro.
Mitchell, Rammelsherg A Co.
McArthur A Fisher.
Meyer A Blaun.
McCartney, Samuel A Co.
Morris, S. T.
Manny, Drake A Downing.
Martin, Henry A Co.
Moreau, Alexander B.
Mueller, A. C.
McKee A Fishback.
Meier, Adolphus A Co.
Meyer, Henry L. A Co.
Mepham A Bro.
Meyer A Meister.
McQueen, William N.
McCandless, William.
Marks, Dennis.
Northrup, A. K.
Nulsen A Mersmans.
Obear A Gates.
Obear, W. F.
Plant, George P. A Co.
Pompenay, Francis.
Pegram, George.
Pearce, H. 0. A Co.
Pottle A Bailey.
Pike A Kellogg.
Partridge A Co.
Pomeroy A Benton.
Perret, A. L.
Prather, John G. A Co.
Pryor, Gilbert.
Pulsifer, W. H.
Patchin, L. W. A Co.
Pomeroy, C. W.
Perry, John D.
Roe, John J. A Co.
Reevey, J. B.
Rich A Co.
Reuss, F. A. A Co.
Richardson, James.
Rosenfeld, Isaac, Jr., cashier
State Savings Association.
Raphaelsky, M.
Sears, S. G.
Sexton, John A.
St. Louis Building and Sav-
ings Association.
Seitz, Louis.
Sinnot, Nicholas Cullen.
Standard, Gilbert A Co.
Stevens, N.
Smith, W. H. A W.
Smith, F. A Co.
Stobie, William.
Schaeffer, Anheuser A Co. ,
Stoddard, A. S. A Co.
Stafford, E.
Sumner, A.
Simpkins, G. W.
Stetkauler, G.
Shidy A Loomis.
Simpson, John H.
Sweet, G. B. A Bro.
Stedman, W. S. A Co.
Slater A Virden.
Stephens, R. A Co.
Smith, Alexander H.
Sickles, T. B. A Co.
Schild, William A Co.
Smith, Irwin Z.
Seimers A Sersinghaus.
Tucker, Charles L.
Teasdale, M. C.
Teichuian A Co.
Toole, John.
Thamer, Julius.
Totten, W. W.
Uhrig, Joseph.
Vansyckle, A.
Woodward, H. M.
Whittaker, Francis.
Wilson, William C.
Wilson, James.
Willard A Co.
Wattenberg, Busch A Co.
Waltman, Gustavus.
Whitmore, Charles.
Whitmore, Henry.
Wolff A Hoppe.
Wann, John.
Whiteside, John.
Warne, Cheever A Co.
Young, William A Co.
Yaeger, Eggers.
At a meeting of the Union Merchants' Exchange,
held January 13th, the following resolution was
adopted :
" Resolved, That all persons engaged in mercantile or manu-
facturing pursuits, banks, hankers, and insurance companies
who can subscribe to the following obligation are cordially in-
vited to membership in the Union Merchants' Exchange in St.
Louis, and that all the members heretofore enrolled shall be
required to subscribe to said obligation :
"We, the undersigned, solemnly pledge our honor that we
will bear true allegiance to the United States and to the pro-
visional government of the State of Missouri, and support and
sustain the Constitution and laws thereof; that we will main-
tain the national sovereignty paramount to that of all State,
county, or confederate powers ; that we will discourage, dis-
countenance, and forever oppose secession, rebellion, and disin-
tegration of the Federal Union ; that we disclaim and denounce
all faith and fellowship with the so-called Confederate authori-
ties or armies, and pledge our honor to the sound performance
of this our solemn obligation."1
At a meeting of the Union Exchange, held Jan.
23, 1862, the committee appointed by the Union
Merchants' Exchange to meet a similar committee
from the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce reported
that they had met, and after consultation in regard
to the differences between the two organizations, were
unable to effect any satisfactory adjustment, where-
upon the following resolutions were offered :
"Resolved, That no member of the Union Merchants' Ex-
change shall, after the 1st of February next, be a member of or
transact business at the rooms of any similar organization in
this city ; and the president of this association shall cause the
name of any member violating this rule to be stricken from the
roll of membership, and announce the same at the first meet-
ing of the Exchange thereafter.
" Resolved, That no member of any similar organization in
the city of St. Louis shall be admitted to the membership of the
Union Merchants' Exchange after the 1st of February next,
except by ballot, and any applicant failing to receive two-thirds
of the whole number of votes cast shall be rejected."
Action upon these resolutions was postponed to a
subsequent meeting.
The new Exchange occupied quarters in the build-
ing south of the post-office, on Third Street, belong-
1 " The Merchants' Exchange building is emphatically run-
•ning under the Stars and Stripes. An old American flag which
had seen service in the war of 1812 was unfurled to the
breeze yesterday from the Exchange." — Republican, Jan. 14,
1862.
COMMERCIAL EXCHANGES.
1351
ing to Mitchell, Rammellsburg & Co. Feb. 4, 1862,
there were two rooms (about eighty by twenty-five
feet) where the principal business was transacted,
connecting with each other by three doors in each,
opening into a hall nine feet in width, running nearly
the full length of the building. Besides these there
were two ample committee-rooms in the rear, and the
secretary's office.
At the election for officers of the Chamber of Com-
merce, held on Jan. 15, 1862, the following were
chosen : President, William Matthews ; First Vice-
President, James Mackoy ; Second Vice-President,
George Bayha ; Secretary and Treasurer, Robert H.
Davis ; Committee of Appeals, T. H, Larkin, John
F. Tolle, John F. Baker, Mackot Thompson, N.
Schaeffer, Willis J. Powell, Thomas Ferguson, Edward
Ring, Samuel Johnson, Jr., G. L. Hughes, David
Anderson, Charles L. Thompson ; Flour Inspectors,
James L. Benson, William Stobie, Joseph Powell.
D. A. January, the late president, in announcing
the vote, took occasion to deliver a short valedictory,
assuring the Chamber of his hearty co-operation, and
indulging in hopes for its prosperity and usefulness in
the future. The new president, on being introduced
by Mr. January, made a few remarks, tendering his
thanks for the honor conferred upon him, and in the
name of the Chamber complimenting the late incum-
bent upon the fidelity and success of his administration, j
Mr. Mackoy, the first vice-president, was next in-
troduced. He alluded to the influence over the busi-
ness of the West, and, indeed, over the commerce of
the world, that had been exerted in the past by the
Chamber, and said he trusted that, with the single
purpose of developing the commercial interests of the
country, knowing no North, no South, no East, no
West, it would be enabled in the future to maintain
its proud position.
Derrick A. January, whose retirement from the pres- j
idency of the Chamber of Commerce has been men- j
tioned, was born in Lexington, Ky., in August, 1814, !
and lived there until he was about sixteen years of
age, when he removed with his widowed mother to
Louisville, Ky., where he worked in an humble ca-
pacity in the printing-office of the Advertiser news-
paper. In 1832 he removed to Jacksonville, 111., where
in connection with his brother he opened a general
store. The business grew and prospered, and was con-
tinued without interruption until the winter of 1836-
37, when the family removed to St. Louis. Here
Mr. January opened the wholesale grocery house of
January, Stettinius & Co., on the Levee. The uni-
form prosperity which had always attended his mer-
cantile career received a new impetus in St. Louis,
and continued without interruption for nearly forty
years. Although he was surrounded with younger
associates, his name was the bulwark of the firm.
During the existence of the house whose head he
was it occupied a leading position, and remained un-
shaken even in the disturbing period of the civil war.
He retired from this business in 1875.
Mr. January was prominently instrumental in build-
ing the first " Lindell Hotel," and subscribed largely
for that purpose. In the movement for rebuilding
that structure he took the same active part, and his
subscriptions were equally munificent. He was one
of the originators of the Merchants' Bank ; was
president of the Chamber of Commerce, as we have
seen, at the beginning of the war ; was for four years
president of the St. Louis Mutual Fire Insurance
Company, and was one of the founders of the United
States Insurance Company. Many other prominent
corporations had the benefit of his wise counsel in
their boards of directors.
Mr. January died July 19, 1879. Upon his death
the Merchants' Exchange adopted highly eulogistic
resolutions, in which it was stated that " No man less
ostentatious, less attracted by the allurements of per-
sonal ambition, ever attained a position of more influ-
ence or possessed a more commanding hold upon the
affectionate regard of his fellow-citizens. With no
desire for political place, he was far from indifferent
to the cause of public affairs, and by all the means in
his power he aided every movement designed to purify
and elevate the government of city, State, and nation.
" In business he was the embodiment of the soul
of honor and the spirit of enterprise. The growth
and prosperity of our city and State, the extension of
our commercial relations, the promotion of every ele-
ment of progress, and the encouragement of all influ-
ences tending towards culture and refinement seemed
ever present in his brain and heart. Coming to St.
"Louis in 1837, he soon took a leading position among
the merchants of the city, and his house became
known all over the country as standing with the
highest in the magnitude of its transactions and in
point of honorable dealing. His manners were dig-
nified, courteous, and elegant, and in social life, no
less than in the walks of commerce, he was conspic-
uous for his urbanity and modest bearing. At home
he was considerate, kind, and cheerful ; at all times
he was even-tempered, benevolent, and just. ... In
all relations of life the deceased was a true man."
Mr. January was twice married, — first in 1842 to
Miss Mary Louisa Smith, step-daughter of the late
Jesse G. Lindell, by whom he had three children, the
first of whom died in infancy. In 1860 he was
1352
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
again married to Miss Julia C. Churchill, of Louis-
ville, Ky., who, with five children, survives him.
At a special meeting of the Union Exchange, held
on the 3d of April, 1862, the following communication
was read and submitted to the members :
"OFFICE ST. Louis
" MERCHANTS' EXCHANGE COMPANY,
" April 2, 1862.
" To Henry J. Moore, Esq. :
" DEAR SIR, — I have the honor to present the following reso-
lution of the company I represent, with an earnest request
that the committee asked for will be granted, and that mutual
concessions may lead to good results.
" I am, respectfully yours,
" GEORGE R. TAYLOR,
"President Merchants' Exchange Company.
" ' Resolved, That the president be and he is hereby in-
structed to request of the two Chambers of Commerce the ap
pointing of a committee of five members of their respective
bodies to meet this board on Friday next at 10 o'clock A.M.,
with a view of avoiding, if possible, the sacrifice of this com-
pany's interests, and the adjustment of the present unfortunate
difficulties.' "
A motion to comply with the request was adopted,
and the president appointed the committee as follows :
George Partridge, Thomas Richeson, Dennis Marks,
Charles Holmes, Henry A. Homeyer.
The conference failed to procure an adjustment of
the difficulties, but on the 27th of October another
proposition was submitted. The letter of the president
embodying this proposition was as follows :
"OFFICE OF THE ST. Louis MERCHANTS'
EXCHANGE COMPANY.
"ST. Louis, Oct. 27, 1862.
" To THE UNION MERCHANTS' EXCHANGE OF ST. Louis, Mo. :
" As president of the St. Louis Merchants' Exchange Com-
pany, I have the honor to address your body, and sincerely
hope that you will view with liberality, as well as equitably, the
following proposition, the more especially as the stockholders
of the Exchange Company are neither directly nor indirectly re-
sponsible for the unfortunate division that has so seriously in-
volved the company's interest, and proximate ruin of their pro-
perty. And in this connection allow me to call your attention
to the company's earliest history, and the great liberality that
characterized the action of those having then, as at this time,
the building and the company's interest in charge.
"The St. Louis Chamber of Commerce then occupied rooms,
wholly unsuited for their purpose, over the drug store of Messrs.
Charless <t Blow, being contracted, dark, and ineligible in every
particular. At this time the Chamber entered into an agree-
ment with a few of their own members, proposing, among other
things, that if a room sixteen feet in the clear, and not less than
one hundred feet in front by eighty feet in depth, with as few
obstructions as practicable was prepared, the same would be
leased for ten years, at an annual rent of two thousand five hun-
dred dollars. Now, at this time the property represented by
this company was vacant, and at the instance of a few persons
an association was formed, the ground purchased, and the build-
ing now the company's erected, the association subsequently
obtaining a charter. Instead of a room of the dimensions speci-
fied in the agreement referred to, the present building was
erected, and the most elegant apartments to be found in the
whole range of commercial cities in the United States placed at
the disposal of the Chamber of Commerce. The building is
known to be complete in all its appointments, was occupied by
the merchants for whom and at whose instance it was built, and
continued to be occupied by them until the inauguration of this
cruel war, when difficulties, in which this company was in no
wise involved, arose, eventuating in a separation, and ultimately
in the closing of the apartments so leased to the Chamber and
parties for whom it was built.
"The foregoing is a plain statement of facts, with the addi-
tional one that the company, in its liberality, desiring to serve
the merchants, have wellnigh ruined their property, for it is
almost useless for other purposes. Now, in view of all the cir-
cumstances, and with the hope and reasonable expectation of
harmonizing ultimately the unfortunate division between par-
ties for whom the building was erected, the undersigned sub-
mits the following proposition : We will place your honorable
body in peaceable possession of all the original apartments occu-
pied by the Chamber of Commerce, including the use of all the
furniture, fixtures, and property on the premises, on the first
day of the ensuing November, for the term of fourteen months,
at the same rental specified in the lease to said Chamber, upon
condition, first, that your honorable body admit such members
of the old Chamber to your organization on their complying
with all the requisites of your rules and organization : or,
" Second!}', that, should you refuse them membership, then
your honorable body admit such of them as may choose to visit
your meetings and participate in the sale and purchase of pro-
duce, upon their paying the regular and customary fees pre-
scribed by your rules, — not voting nor participating in the man-
agement of your organization, but to conform in all particu-
lars, in their intercourse with the members and each other, as is
prescribed by rules in the premises.
" I honestly entreat your honorable body, on behalf of the
interests of all parties involved, so detrimental to this company,
and the interests directly and most injuriously affected, to ac-
cept the within and foregoing proposition, thus harmonizing all
conflicting opinions without sacrificing principle, and avoiding
the injury, if not ultimate destruction, of this company's prop-
erty.
" I am, very respectfully,
" G. R. TAYLOR, President.
At a meeting of the Union Exchange, held on the
18th of November, 1862, the directors were author-
rized by a unanimous vote to make a proposition to
George R. Taylor, president of the Exchange Com-
pany, to lease the Chamber of Commerce building
for five years, at two thousand five hundred dollars
per annum, and make no conditions as to member-
ship. The terms suggested were accepted, and on
the 26th the Union Exchange removed from the
rooms near the post-office which it had occupied to
the old quarters in the Chamber of Commerce build-
ing. At an election held on the 7th of January,
1863, the following officers of the Union Exchange
were chosen :
President, George Partridge ; Vice-Presidents, C. S. Greeley,
A. W. Fagin ; Directors, N. Schaeffer, John J. Roe, E. 0. Stan-
ard, S. M. Edgell, Barton Able, George P. Plant, William
D'Oench, Thomas Richeson, J. 0. Pierce, H. A. Homeyer ;
Committee of Appeals, J. W. Booth, Nathan Cole, C. L.
COMMERCIAL EXCHANGES.
1353
Tucker, Samuel McCartney, John C. Rust, F. A. Reuss, Robert
C. Greer, C. 0. Dutcher, M. C. Teasdale, George H. Rea, G. W.
Chadbourne, G. Woltman ; Committee of Arbitration, S. Jac-
oby, T. A. Buckland, J. G. Nulsen, G. W. Banker, A. L.
Holmes, W. Heinrichshofen, A. B. Marean, Charles F. Meyer,
N. Stevens, W. II. Pulsifer.
On the 4th of March, 1863, the Exchange was
chartered, the incorporators being all the members
of the association.
In the spring of 1871 the question of obtaining
more spacious accommodations presented itself, and
at a meeting of the directors held on the 12th of
June, 1871, Gerard B. Allen presiding, the following
propositions were submitted :
" Third and Chestnut Proposition.
"Sr. Louis, June 12, 1871.
" GERARD B. ALLEN, ESQ.,
" President of the Union Merchants' Exchange:
" Dear Sir, — The undersigned have agreed to form a company
with ample capital for the purpose of erecting an Exchange
building, fronting two hundred and forty-three feet on the west
side of Third Street, between Chestnut and Pine Streets, with
a depth of one hundred and fifty feet on Chestnut Street, be-
tween Third and Fourth Streets, and desire to lease to your as-
sociation suitable accommodations therein.
" The location, in reference to the business of this city, and
to the positions of the custom-house, post-office, court-house,
banking-houses, and hotels, is one of the most central that can
be secured, and is likely to remain so for a number of years to
come. We design to erect a first-class edifice, which will be,
architecturally, an ornament to the city, and fit up the second
story for an Exchange, with its reading-rooms, secretary's and
directors' rooms. The details of arrangements of the rooms
will be made to suit the views of your association, as it is the
design of the company to devote the entire fronton the western
side of Third Street, if required, to the purposes of the Ex-
change, and not only to construct an edifice ample for the pres-
ent wants of trade, but also to provide for extending it so as to
accommodate the manufacturing, mechanical, and banking in-
terests as well as the commercial. It is also intended to set the
building sufficiently back so as to widen the adjoining streets.
" The style of the edifice will accord with the present Euro-
pean taste, and it will have all the necessary accommodations
for the purposes of your association ; a room will be furnished
on the second floor, double the size of the present Exchange
room, with the privilege of making it nearly four times as large ;
it will be from forty-five to fifty feet in height, with acoustic
advantages unsurpassed. The construction of the building will
be such that light and ventilation will be obtained on the four
sides or points, with the principal points south and east, these
being the most sought after, even in our domestic buildings.
Another grand feature of the arrangement is that a summer
Exchange can be had on the ground floor, on the west side of the
building, covering it over with glass sustained by iron-work,
flagging it with marble tiles, forming an arcade from Chestnut
to Pine Streets, with brokers', bankers', real estate, and insur-
ance offices on both sides of it. Those who have traveled
abroad can readily see the effect and importance of this feature
in the arrangement of an Exchange building, and the ready
facilities it would give for the transaction of business would be
unequaled on this continent.
"We respectfully request the appointment of a committee to
confer, on the part of your association, with Messrs. George
Knapp, James H. Lucas, B. W. Alexander, R. J. Lackland, and
H. L. Patterson, a committee on our part, respecting the terms
and other arrangements which would be acceptable to it in re-
gard to the proposed Exchange.
" We remain, dear sir, yours respectfully,
"James H. Lucas, J. G. Weld, George Knapp &
Co., B. W. Alexander, Ann L. Hunt, Eras-
tus Wells, Thomas Allen, Joseph Brown,
Adolphus Meier, Franklin 0. Day, George
R. Taylor, R. J. Lackland, Henry Blaksley,
J. H. McLean, Joseph Weil, John Finn, James
J. O'Fallon, Elois P. Kayser, William C. Tay-
lor, R. W. Mitchell, William Keiler, Frederick
Hill, John H. Gay, Ed.ward J. Gay, William
T. Gay, J. R. Pullis & Brother, Z. F. Wetzell
& Co."
Third and Locust Proposition.
"ST. Louis, June 12, 1871.
"To THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF THE CITY OF ST. Louis:
"For myself and associates, I propose to erect a Merchants'
Exchange building in Block 64 of the city of St. Louis, at the
northeast corner of Locust and Third Streets, the building to be
two hundred by one hundred and eight feet ; the Exchange room
to be one hundred by one hundred and seventy feet in the clear
and forty-six feet high, to have entrances from Third Street and
Exchange Street. The large room will leave committee-room,
secretary's room, reading-room, directors' room, and ample ac-
commodation for washing, etc. For particulars, see plans.
"We propose to lease to the Chamber of Commerce for thirty
years, the first ten years thereof for fifteen thousand dollars, the
second ten for twenty thousand dollars, and the third ten years
for twenty-five thousand dollars.
" For myself and associates,
" P. B. GERHART."
A plan for erecting a similar building at Sixth
Street and Washington Avenue was also submitted
by John A. Scudder, Catherine Ames, and William
H. Scudder.
Architectural drawings of the proposed buildings
accompanied the first two propositions.
The board, after an informal consultation, ordered
the propositions to be laid upon the table for one
week, and directed the secretary to request the par-
ties to amend their propositions by including in them
all particulars respecting the locations, dimensions,
prices of rent, and the time at which they would
obligate themselves to have the building ready for
occupancy in the event of the acceptance of any of
the propositions.
At a meeting of the directors on the 19th of June
the following amended propositions were submitted
by the same parties :
Thrrd and Chestnut Location.
"ST. Louis, June 19, 1871.
"GERARD B. ALLEN, President Union Merchants' Exchange:
" DEAR SIR, — We propose to furnish the Union Merchants'
Exchange with suitable apartments for all the purposes of an
Exchange building, including large chamber, reading- and com-
mittee-rooms, offices, etc., located on Third Street, between
Chestnut and Pine Streets. The size contemplated for the
1354
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
large chamber is .one hundred and seventy-nine feet in length,
eighty feet in width, and from forty-five to fifty feet in height,
with light and ventilation from three sides, and unsurpassed
acoustic properties.
"Should a larger room or different dimensions be required,
we hold ourselves in readiness to make the alterations, with a
view to meeting the reasonable views of the directory and mem-
bers. Full and complete arrangements have been made for the
purchase and possession of the ground, and ample guaranty
will be given for the completion of the building, which will be
on an elegant scale of architectural beauty, on or before the
25th of November, 1872, the time of the expiration of your
present lease. We propose a lease to the Exchange for twenty-
five years on the following terms : For a term of five years,
$12,000 per annum; for a second term of five years, $15,000 per
annum ; for a third term of five years, $18,000 per annum ; for
a fourth term of five years, $21,000 per annum; and for the fifth
term of five years, $24,000 per annum.
" We may here repeat, from a former statement laid before
you, that the location proposed is perhaps the most central
that can be found, relative to the custom-house, post-office,
court-house, banking and insurance institutions, leading hotels,
the preponderance of the business houses of our city, and the
centre of our river commerce."
(Signed)
GEORGE KNAPP, representing James H. Lucas, George
Knapp <fc Co., Ann L. Hunt, Thomas Allen, Adolphus Meier,
George R. Taylor, Henry Blaksley, Joseph Weil, James J.
O'Fallon, William C. Taylor, William Keiler, John H. Gay,
William T. Gay, J. G. Weld, B. W. Alexander, Erastus Wells,
Joseph Brown, Franklin 0. Day, R. J. Lackland, J. H. Mc-
Lean, John Finn, Elois P. Kayser, R. W. Mitchell, Frederick
Hill, Edward J. Gay, J. R. Pullis & Brother, Z. E. Wetzell <fc
Co., who had agreed to form a company with ample capital for
the purpose of erecting an Exchange building, conformably to
the above proposition.
Third and Locust Plan. — P. B. Gerhart, for himself
and associates, reiterated his former proposition, with
the additional statement that they proposed to have the
building ready for occupation in eighteen months
after the acceptance of the proposition and after Third
Street had been widened as proposed for the bridge
approaches.
Sixth and Washington Avenue Proposition. —
Messrs. John A. and W. H. Scudder and Mrs. Ames
submitted the same proposition as before for the
erection of a building on this location, with the stip-
ulation that it should be completed by November,
1872. This contemplated the erection of a building
one hundred and eighty-two feet on Washington Av-
enue by one hundred feet on Sixth Street, leaving
twenty-five feet on the north side for an open court.
The rent proposed was, for the first five years, §5500
per annum ; the next ten years, $20,000 per an-
num ; the next five years, §25,000 per annum.
The board did not discuss the merits or demerits
of the propositions, but merely considered the mode
of submitting the question to the members of the
Exchange. The directors decided that a vote of the
members be taken on the 6th, 7th, and 8th of July,
polls open from 10 A.M. to 2 P.M. each day. They
further decided that any plan to be considered adopted
must have a majority of all the votes cast, and that
in the event of there not being a majority for either
of the propositions, the one receiving the lowest num-
ber be considered rejected, and a new ballot ordered
upon the other two. If a majority of the votes were
cast for any one proposition, the board would under-
stand that they were instructed to enter into a con-
tract according to the proposition approved.
The proposition of the Messrs. Scudder and Mrs.
Ames was, however, withdrawn, as appears from the
following letter :
"OFFICE OK HENRY AMES <fc Co.
"Sx. Louis, June 27, 1871.
"To G. B. ALLEX, President of the Union Merchants' Ex-
change, St. Louis :
" DEAR SIR, — We desire to withdraw the proposition now be-
fore you, of the undersigned, for building a new Exchange
building on Sixth and Washington Avenue, believing that in
so doing you will the more readily arrive at a selection which
will be agreeable to a larger number of your members than if a
greater number of proposals were before you. As the selection
of this site seems to be opposed by many of your members, we
are unwilling to be the instruments of any discord or disagree-
ment among you. In conclusion, we will say that we will cor-
dially support any location which may be the selection of a
majority of your members.
" Yours, respectfully,
"JOHN A. SCUDDER.
" CATHERINE AMES.
"WILLIAM H. SCUDDER."
The withdrawal of the Scudder proposition left
but two sites to be considered and voted upon by the
members of the Exchange, viz. : Third and Locust
Streets, and Third Street between Chestnut and Pine.
" We maintain," said the Republican at the time,
" that the latter is the more suitable, being nearer the
centre of trade and more accessible to the great body
of our merchants. As has heretofore been stated,
there are seven hundred and seventy-three business
houses represented on 'Change located south of Olive
Street, while there are only four hundred and ninety-
two located north of that street. This shows at a
glance that a large majority of our mercantile com-
munity would be better accommodated by the loca-
tion of the Exchange between Chestnut and Pine
Streets than between Locust and Vine. We believe
that the question has already been decided with em-
phasis by the common voice of those most interested,
and it only remains to record that decision at the
election to be held on the 6th, 7th, and 8th of next
month."
The proposition of Mr. Knapp and his associates
was finally accepted by the board, and a special com-
mittee, composed of Gerard B. Allen, George Bain,
COMMERCIAL EXCHANGES.
1355
John Wall, W. M. Samuel, Miles Sells, and D. P.
Rowland, was appointed to prepare articles of associa-
tion for a company to be known as the St. Louis
Chamber of Commerce Association. At that time
the officers of the Exchange were Gerard B. Allen,
president ; R. P. Tansey, first vice-president ; George
Bain, second vice-president ; and George P. Plant,
John F. Mauntel, William H. Scudder, Philip C.
Taylor, D. P. Rowland, William J. Lewis, Web
M. Samuel, John A. Scudder, John Wahl, and Miles
Sells, directors. This committee reported a series of
articles of association to a meeting held on the 22d
of November, 1871, and after they had been read, the
following preamble and resolutions were adopted :
"WHEREAS, A petition signed by nearly seven hundred mem-
bers of this Exchange, being a majority thereof, has been pre-
sented to this directory requesting them to locate the new Ex-
change building on the block bounded by Third and Fourth and
Chestnut and Pine Streets, and to take steps to form a stock
company to purchase or lease the property designated and build
a suitable building thereon ; therefore be it
" Resolved, That the directory of the Union Merchants' Ex-
change cordially indorse the location so designated and the
articles of association reported to them by the special com-
mittee appointed for this purpose.
" Resolved, That committees of three each be appointed by
the president to canvass the members of the Exchange and
others interested and secure subscriptions to the capital stock
of the proposed association."
The articles of association which were adopted at
the same meeting read as follows :
" CERTIFICATE OF ASSOCIATION OF THE ST. Louis CHAMBER OF
COMMERCE ASSOCIATION.
" The undersigned hereby certify that, by virtue of the pro-
visions of chapter sixty-nine of the general statutes of the State
of Missouri, entitled ' Manufacturing and Business Com-
panies,' and authorizing the formation of corporations ' to
erect hotels, halls, market-houses, warehouses, exchange and
other buildings, and for any other purpose intended for mutual
profit or benefit, not otherwise especially provided for and not
inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of this State,' they
have associated, and by these presents do associate together, to
form a corporation in manner and form, and for the objects and
purposes hereinafter set forth, as follows :
"ART. I. The corporate name of this company shall be
'THE ST. Lnns CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ASSOCIATION.'
"ART. II. The objects for which this company is formed
are the erection of an Exchange and other buildings on Block
86, bounded by Chestnut, Pine, Third, and Fourth Streets, in
the city of St. Louis, ^tate of Missouri ; the lease or purchase,
in fee-simple or otherwise, of the land on which said Exchange
buildings are designed to be erected, and the use or renting
out of said buildings for a Merchants' or other Exchange, for
offices, banks, stores, or any other lawful use or purpose what- !
•ever approved by this company.
"ART. III. The amount of the capital stock of this company
shall be one million dollars, and consist of ten thousand shares
of one hundred dollars each. But the company shall be re-
garded as established and organized by the subscriptions of
stock made by the signers of this certificate, and the board of
directors hereinafter named shall make rules or by-laws in ref-
erence to any further subscriptions to said capital stock.
" ART. IV. The affairs of this company shall be managed by
a board of thirteen directors, — Rufus J. Lackland, B. W. Alex-
ander, Henry T. Blow, Gerard B. Allen, Geo. Knapp, John A.
Scudder, W. M. Samuel, George Bain, George P. Plant, Henry
L. Patterson, E. 0. Stanard, W. J. Lewis, and D. P. Rowland
shall form said board for the first year.
" ART. V. The business operations of this company shall be
carried on in the city of St. Louis, and its office shall be at such
place in said city as may from time to time be selected by said
board of directors.
"ART. VI. The period of the corporate existence of this
company shall be fifty years.
"ART. VII. The board of directors shall, as soon as prac-
ticable, call a general meeting of the stockholders of this com-
pany to make by-laws for the same, as provided by law, for the
management of its property, the regulation of its affairs, the
transfer of its stock, and especially for the declaration of the
powers and duties of said board of directors."
On the 12th of December the directors met and
elected Rufus J. Lackland president, Gerard B. Allen
and George Knapp vice-presidents, and George H.
Morgan secretary pro tern. At the same meeting
they adopted and issued the following address :
"The undersigned, directors of the St. Louis Chamber of
Commerce Association, desire, in asking for your subscriptions
to the capital stock of that association, to present some of the
reasons which have impelled them to assume the responsibility
of providing St. Louis with a suitable Exchange building.
" It must be apparent to all of our citizens that it is full time
that St. Louis should evince the same faith in its future prog-
ress that is exhibited by the great majority of the people of
the whole country. No greater evidence of this faith and of a
determination to command success can be given than the erec-
tion of a Merchants' Exchange, a grand central mart, in which
will be combined the commerce of a dozen States, and around
which must of necessity gather the controllers of the capital
which will aid, encourage, and extend that commerce. Nor is
it unimportant that such a building should combine architec-
tural strength and elegance. The present requirements of our
commerce cannot be served in a small edifice, and it is not open
to doubt that the requirements of ten years hence will demand
greatly extended accommodations; that with the increase of
our population, the extension of our trade, the cultivation of a
higher taste in art, the erection of a structure of imposing di-
mensions will alone satisfy the conditions of the progress of
the city and assure that progress.
" The plan proposed, and which has received the approval of
the members of the Merchants' Exchange, is to devote the en-
tire block bounded by Fourth, Chestnut, Third, and Pine
Streets to the erection of buildings for commercial, banking,
insurance, legal, and exchange purposes, the structure to be
suitable in architectural design to the metropolis of the West,
commensurate in extent and adaptation to the present and
prospective commercial interests of the city, and which shall
present facilities for the immediate co-operation of the varied
interests represented in the Produce Exchange, the Board of
Trade, the Mechanics' and Manufacturers' Exchange, the To-
bacco Association, the Pork-Packers' Association, the Real Es-
tate Exchange, the Board of Underwriters, etc. The entire
cost of such a structure, including the fee-simple of the ground,
will exceed two million dollars, but it is not probable that the
entire cost will be borne by the association. The building of
1356
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
the whole block in the same style of architecture is imperative,
but it is now proposed that the association shall purchase only
the eastern two-thirds of the block, leaving Mr. Lucas and
Mrs. Hunt to build up the western third, a division that will
reduce the amount to be raised by this association some seven
or eight hundred thousand dollars, while the interests of the
public will lose nothing. The work is not to be commenced
upon the structure until the entire amount necessary to con-
struct it has been provided for by stock subscriptions or other-
wise, nor will the architect be selected until that time, when
perfect plans, with specifications, shall be submitted, and the
cost clearly known before any expenditure upon construction
account is made.
"We are thus explicit in stating details that we may more
directly enlist your aid. It seems to us clear that in this task
of developing the commercial interests of St. Louis and placing
its future progress beyond question, we are justly entitled to call
upon the moneyed institutions of the city for liberal stock sub- I
scriptions. We advance no labored argument to prove that the
enterprise must of necessity be a paying one. In a building
of the character designated a large amount of room will be de-
voted to banking rooms, insurance offices, etc., and as they will
be by the location brought in direct proximity with the interests
that form the basis of their transactions, there will be no lack
of desirable tenants. There is scarcely more need to present
reasons that should determine you to make subscriptions to the
capital stock. The banks and insurance companies of the city
represent a capital of nearly fifty millions of dollars, capital
that belongs to St. Louis, is a representative of the accumu-
lated wealth of the city, and has been largely drawn here by
the operations of merchants. Beyond this the banks alone
hold an average of over thirty millions of dollars, deposited by
merchants and business men, each of whom is interested in,
and will be served by the erection of, the proposed structure.
The merchants themselves of necessity are unable to withdraw
large amounts of their capital from their active business for
stock subscriptions, even to an enterprise of this character; nor
would it be to the interest of the banks to have them do so.
The latter, however, as the custodians of the deposits of the
merchants, are required to hold a certain portion of their re-
sources in trust, and we submit to them that the fiduciary trust
thus imposed can be most wisely used in such an investment as
we propose, as by this means they employ most directly a por-
tion of the gathered capital of the merchants to aid and ex-
tend the commercial operations and profits of the depositor.
" We are gratified to announce that the subscriptions already
made and tendered foot up four hundred thousand dollars, of
which two hundred and fifty thousand dollars is from individ-
uals, and the remainder from the Bank of the State, the Boat-
men's Saving Institution, and Third National Bank, each of
which institutions will subscribe fifty thousand dollars, and
propose to occupy portions of the building. We may add that
the subscriptions will be called for only as the work progresses,
thus extending the payments over a period of eighteen months
or two years.
" In conclusion, we suggest that, although at the moment
there may be a doubt as to whether some of our banks, under
their charters, can make such subscriptions, that this objection
may be obviated by the passage by the Legislature of a gen-
eral law enabling corporations as such to take stock in other
corporations.
(Signed)
" Rufus J. Lackland, B. W. Alexander, Henry T. Blow, Ge-
rard B. Allen, George Knapp, John A. Scudder, W. M.
Samuel, George Bain, George P. Plant, Henry L. Patter-
son, E. 0. Stanard, William J. Lewis, D. P. Rowland."
On the 19th of December the association was char-
tered by the Legislature, the incorporators being
Erastus Wells, John N. Bofinger, R. J. Lackland,
and others. Immediately after its organization the
board effected the purchase of the ground for five
hundred and sixty-one thousand seven hundred dol-
lars and eighty-six cents, and applied itself to the
work of obtaining subscriptions, which on the 6th of
July, 1873, amounted to six hundred and fifty thou-
sand dollars.1
In May, 1873, the work of tearing down the old
buildings was commenced, and in July the first ex-
cavation was made for the foundations. On August
25th following the first stone of the foundation was
laid, and on the 6th of June, 1874, the corner-stone
was laid with Masonic ceremonies under the direction
of Rufus E. Anderson, Grand Master of the Grand
Lodge of Missouri.2 On Friday, June 5th, the re-
ception-stone was set in place at the northeast corner
of the building, a large copper box having been fitted in
place in its centre. The immense corner-stone proper
was placed at a point a short distance away, to serve
as a speaker's stand. On Saturday afternoon, June
6th, the members of the different Masonic lodges, in-
cluding the Grand Lodge of Missouri, and Knight
Templar commanderies of the city assembled in uni-
form at Seventh and Market Streets, where they were
joined by Company A, National Guards, Capt. John B.
Gray. The members of the Chamber of Commerce
Association and Merchants' Exchange and a large
number of other prominent citizens also joined the
procession. At five o'clock the march was begun. First
came a body of mounted policemen, then the mili-
tary headed by the New Orleans Band, then the
Knights Templar commanderies, then the Chamber of
Commerce Association and Merchants' Exchange, and
lastly the Grand Lodge, headed by the Arsenal Band.
On Fourth Street, in front of the Planters' House, the
procession halted and opened out, and the Grand Lodge
passed through, receiving the salutes of the command-
1 Among' the most earnest promoters of the enterprise was-
James H. Lucas, who consented to conform the building to be
erected on the Fourth Street front of the Exchange Square to-
the Exchange building. After the five hundred thousand dol-
lars of stock had been subscribed, Mr. Lucas subscribed twenty
thousand dollars, and made a deed for the property, yielding to
the company the additional advantage of allowing the Exchange
property to extend back so as to leave him a depth for his
Fourth Street property of only ninety-five instead of ninety-
six and a half feet. Ill health, however, prevented Mr. Lucas
from taking an active part in the work, and from giving writ-
ten pledges to build up the Fourth Street front in conformity
to the Exchange plan. — Republican, Nov. 18, 1873.
2 At this time the subscriptions to the stock amounted to eight
hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
COMMERCIAL EXCHANGES.
1357
cries and military. Passing around by Chestnut
Street, the body proceeded to the scene of ceremony.
Arrived there, the officers of the Grand Lodge took
their station on the platform, and the brethren
formed in a hollow square about the corner-stone.
The officers of the Grand Lodge at this time were
R. E. Anderson, G. M. ; John W. Luke, D. G. M. ;
J. E. Cadle, S. G. W. ; Allen McDowell (acting),
J. G. W. ; William N. Loker, G. Treas. ; Geo. Frank
Gouley, G. Sec. ; Rev. R. A. Holland, G. Chap. ; D. N.
Burgoyne, Bearer Great Light ; J. R. Friend, S. G.
Deacon ; Morris Jacks, J. G. Deacon ; W. R. Stub-
blefield, G. Marshal ; Nicholas Wall, Grand Marshal ;
G. B. Dameron, G. Sword-Bearer; John G. Gilfillan,
Grand Steward ; Isaiah Forbes, Grand Steward ; J.
X. Allen, Grand Tiler. After music by the Arsenal
Band, R. J. Lackland, president of the Chamber of
Commerce Association, introduced to the immense
concourse who blocked the streets on every side Web
M. Samuel, president of the Merchants' Exchange,
who delivered an interesting and forcible address.
Rufus E. Anderson, Grand Master of the Grand
Lodge, then addressed the assemblage, and when he
had finished, the ceremony of laying the corner-stone
was commenced. A box was placed in the stone,
containing a Bible, the records, constitution and by-
laws of the Chamber of Commerce Association and
of the Merchants' Exchange, copies of newspapers,
coins, and other relics, and the stone, weighing nine
tons, was then lifted into place, after which the usual
Masonic ceremonies were performed.
The officers of the Chamber of Commerce Associa-
tion at this time were Rufus J. Lackland, president ;
George Knapp, first vice-president ; B. W. Alexan-
der, second vice-president ; George H. Morgan, secre-
tary and treasurer ; Directors, Rufus J. Lackland, B.
W. Alexander, George Knapp, W. M. Samuel, George
Bain, George P. Plant, D. P. Rowland, J. H. Britton,
John R. Lionberger, John H. Beach, Adolphus
Meier, Charles L. Hunt, J. B. C. Lucas. Building
Committee, George Knapp, chairman ; R. J. Lack-
land, J. R. Lionberger, Adolphus Meier, Charles L.
Hunt.
In 1875 the name of the Exchange, which had
continued to be the Union Merchants' Exchange, was
changed to the Merchants' Exchange of St. Louis, and
in the preamble to their rules and by-laws the mem-
bers declared the object of the association to be " to
advance the commercial character and promote the
manufacturing interests of the city of St. Louis," to
" inculcate just and equitable principles of trade, es-
tablish and maintain uniformity in the commercial
usages of the city, acquire, preserve, and disseminate
valuable business information," and to " avoid and
adjust, as far as practicable, the controversies and
misunderstandings which may arise between individ-
uals engaged in trade." The erection of the new
Exchange building was pressed forward with great
energy, and the splendid structure was completed and
formally opened on the 21st of December, 1875, with
ceremonies of an elaborate and imposing character.
At ten o'clock the members of the Exchange assem-
bled at the old Exchange building to say " good-by"
to their former home. At eleven o'clock Company
A, National Guards, commanded by Capt. C. E.
Pearce, filed into the hall, headed by Postlethwaite's
Band, and after music by the Arsenal Band, D. P.
Rowland, president of the Exchange, called the as-
semblage to order, and announced that Mr. Wayman
Crow, the oldest living member and the second presi-
dent of the Exchange, had been selected to deliver
the farewell address. Mr. Crow then addressed the
meeting, giving an historical sketch of the organiza-
tion and relating many interesting reminiscences.1
1 In the course of his address Mr. Crow said, —
"Our organization, gentlemen, has witnessed in this city a
growth and development almost unparalleled in modern times.
Since the day of our incorporation a population of ten thou-
sand has increased to nearly half a million. In a little more
than half a century St. Louis has passed from a border trading-
post, scarcely yet Americanized, to a metropolis which is already
contending for a foremost rank among American cities. I can
scarcely help feeling surprised when I look around me to find
myself almost, if not quite, the oldest ' business man' of St.
Louis, although in some communities I might claim to be a
young man yet. But having been in business here more than
forty years, I cannot recall to mind an individual now in com-
mercial life who was engaged in mercantile pursuits at the time
of my coming. You will pardon me, then, I am sure — seeing
that I belong to the past more than to the present — if my
thoughts revert to those early days and rest for a moment with
the men who were my trusted co-laborers, and with those who
immediately preceded us in our work. At least you will per-
mit me to bear witness to the high character, the commercial
honor, the personal faithfulness of those who were the early
founders of our prosperity, and who gave the tone and stan-
dard— 'not yet lost, and never, as we confidently hope, to be lost
— to the daily business life of St. Louis. Those old-time work-
ers may have been a little too conservative, sometimes timid, —
' old fogies' you would call them nowadays, — but they were
scrupulously honest in their dealings, strict constructionists in
their regard for contracts, men of untarnished integrity in
meeting their engagements, and it is to their practice and ex-
ample that the present high commercial credit of St. Louis, both
at home and abroad, is greatly due. However strong and prom-
ising the present may be, I cannot, as your oldest member, say
a better word than this, — that we should hold fast to the early
traditions of the Chamber of Commerce, and maintain that
high regard for honorable dealing which has characterized the
past, so that to be a recognized member of the St. Louis Mer-
chants' Exchange may always and everywhere be a passport
to respect and confidence. Consider through what trials and
difficulties we have thus far advanced. No city has suffered
1358
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
At the close of Mr. Crow's address the band struck
up " Auld Lang Syne," and the air was sung by the
entire Exchange. A procession was then formed
under direction of William Hamilton, grand marshal,
which marched up Main Street to Washington Avenue,
up Washington Avenue to Fourth Street, down Fourth
Street to Chestnut Street, and along Chestnut Street
to the new Exchange building. A squad of mounted
police formed the head of the procession. Next came
Postlethwaite's Band, followed by Company A, Na-
tional Guard Rifle Association, Capt. Charles E. Pearce
in command. The president and directors of the St.
Louis Chamber of Commerce Association came next,
and after them the architects, builders, and con-
tractors of the new building, ex-presidents of the Ex-
change, vice-presidents and directors, various com-
mittees and members. Along the line of march the
streets were lined with people, and at the new build-
ing there was scarcely room enough for the column
to pass along comfortably. Although there was a
goodly number of ladies and gentlemen present as
spectators, the vastness of the hall and the galleries
made the many appear but few. When the proces-
sion filed into the hall, the officers, ex-officers, and dis-
tinguished guests mounted to the platform, while the
other members of the procession filled all the standing-
room on the floor of the hall. The Arsenal Band took
position at the left of the platform and opened the cer-
emonies with music. Among those on the platform
were the following:
D. P. Rowland, president of the Merchants' Ex-
change, Mayor Britton, Rev. Dr. W. G. Eliot, Way-
man Crow, Capt. James B. Eads, Samuel M. Edgell,
George Knapp, Charles Hunt, Adolphus Meier, ex-
Governor E. 0. Stanard, John Beach, Web. M.
Samuel, Maj. Francis D, Lee, George Partridge, D.
A. January, William H. Scudder, George H. Mor-
gan, Capt. Nanson, Craig Alexander, John B. Maude,
Michael McEnnis, William M. Senter, R. P. Tansey,
Capt. Davidson, and John Booth.
Hon. E. 0. Stanard called the meeting to order,
greater reverses by fire, pestilence, and flood, by financial crises,
by internal dissensions and civil war; and yet we have passed
through all, chiefly by the sturdy strength and steadfastness of
our business men. At the present time, notwithstanding many
disturbing influences and more ' exceptions' to the course of
strict honesty than are necessary to 'establish the rule,' the
prevailing tendencies are in the right direction. The future is
clear and bright before us. To your hands, gentlemen, upon
whom the burden and heat of the day must fall, the commercial
destinies of our city are committed. Let the future be better
than the past by as much as the magnificent building to which
we go is better than that from which, almost reluctantly, we
must now depart."
and stated that as the hall was so very large, and its
acoustic properties had never been tried, it would be
necessary to preserve the strictest silence to secure a
hearing of the speakers. He then introduced Maj.
Francis D. Lee, chief architect of the building, who
delivered possession to R. J. Lackland, president of
the Chamber of Commerce Association, accompanying
the formal transfer of the structure with a brief address.
Mr. Lackland then delivered the building in turn to
D. P. Rowland, president of the Merchants' Ex-
change. In the course of his remarks, Mr. Lackland
complimented Col. George Knapp, chairman of the
building committee, for the untiring energy which
he had displayed in overcoming all obstacles to the
completion of the edifice. " To his (Col. Knapp 's)
far-sighted public spirit and indomitable energy,"
added Mr. Lackland, " we are mainly indebted for
this beautiful structure."
On behalf of the Merchants' Exchange, Mr. Row-
land accepted the trust from Mr. Lackland, to whose
remarks he responded in a brief and eloquent address.
Prayer was then offered by Rev. Dr. W. G. Eliot,
after which Capt. James B. Eads, orator of the day,
was introduced, and delivered an elaborate and able
address. A poem on commerce was then recited by
Solon N. Sapp, which was followed by addresses by
Web M. Samuel, Hon. E. 0. Stanard, and George
H. Morgan. Mr. Morgan then read a communica-
tion from Thomas A. Buckland, a member of the
first board of directors of the Merchants' Exchange,
congratulating the association on the grand results
which had been achieved, and referring to the great
changes which had taken place since thirty years
before, when the pulpit of the First Baptist Church
stood almost in the spot occupied by the president's
desk in the new hall. Capt. Frank B. Davidson being
called on made a few remarks, after which President
Rowland declared the meeting adjourned, and the
vast assemblage dispersed. In the evening the hall
was illuminated and a concert was .given, which was
repeated on the following night.
The building is one of the most spacious, attractive,
and conveniently arranged structures of its class in the
world, and its total cost (including the site) was about
$1,800,000.
It occupies the eastern and principal portion of the
block bounded by Third, Fourth, Chestnut, and Pine
Streets, having a main frontage of two hundred and
thirty-five feet on Third Street, and secondary fronts
of one hundred and eighty-seven feet each on Chest-
nut and Pine Streets.
Externally the edifice is of cut Warrensburg sand-
stone, and is apparently but three stories high, although
COMMERCIAL EXCHANGES.
1359
it is in reality five, exclusive of the basement. The
basement is treated with quoined piers, with red gran-
ite plinths and boldly moulded caps, and the first story
with piers supported by moulded bases and caps, car-
rying a bold cornice enriched with triglyphs. The
second and third stories are of .the composite order, the
pilasters coupled and supported with pedestals, with
balusters between the same. The centre of the Third
Street front is enriched with detached columns in the
several stories, surmounted by a bold pediment. A
rich crowning entablature, carrying a balustrade, sur-
mounts the entire building. In all parts of the de-
sign the reliefs are bold, producing the fullest effect
of light and shade ; and although the separate parts
of the building are almost colossal, the general effect
of the whole is light and airy. The style of the archi-
tecture is something of a mixture, but may properly
be classed of the renaissance order.
The principal fagade is recessed
twenty-one feet from the original
building line of Third Street, thus
giving room for a broad sidewalk and
spacious area along that entire front.
It is also recessed on Chestnut and
Pine Streets, so that the sidewalks
there are increased to a width of four-
teen feet.
Although the structure appears to
be a unit, in reality there are two
distinct buildings, separated internally
by a large area for light and ventila-
tion, but connected by a grand central
stair hall and by arcades on Chestnut
and Pine Streets. In that portion of
the structure west of the internal area
is situated the grand Exchange Hall, the clear dimen-
sions of which are two hundred and thirty-five feet by
ninety-eight feet in area, with a height of sixty-nine
feet. It is lighted on every side with great windows
filled with plate-glass in two tiers, separated by a light
gallery extending around the hall. The door and hall
casings are of massive walnut highly varnished and
polished, with panel-work of French walnut. The
bases of the pilasters and all the wainscotings are of
the same material.
The president's desk with accessories on a raised !
platform ornaments the west side of the hall, and is :
the most elegant piece of work of the kind in the
West. It is of walnut, carved and moulded in the
most tasteful manner. The desks of the members,
the grain tables, and, in short, all the other fittings are
likewise of walnut. The grain tables are all covered
with thick slabs of highly-polished white marble.
The ceiling, including the cornice and cone, is
ninety-nine by two hundred and fifteen feet, and ex-
clusive of them is fifty by one hundred and seventy-
nine, and is divided into three compartments, each
containing a grand medallion.
The central figure of the ceiling is emblematic of St.
Louis, and is surrounded by groups typical of the agri-
cultural, mineral, and industrial products of the Mis-
sissippi valley. The group of figures to the north
represents the four quarters of the world bringing
their various offerings to the West, which, with out-
stretched arms, offers its products in exchange. The
two figures at the bottom complete the representation
of the West with the Mississippi Hiver.
The two end compartments are composed of geo-
metrical divisions, ornamented in imitation of stucco,
containing each four panels, with emblematic repre-
sentations of the industries of the State of Missouri
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
in basso-relievo. The centres of these two compart-
ments form each a medallion of twenty-six by twenty-
six feet. The one on the north end represents char-
acteristic types of European nations, — England, Ger-
many, Italy, France, Scotland, and Ireland forming a
central group, surrounded by Russia, Switzerland,
Spain, Sclavonia, European Turkey, and Greece. The
south medallion represents characteristic types of
Asia and Africa, — Arabia, Egypt, Judea, China, and
Japan forming the principal group, surrounded by
Ethiopia, Caucasia, India, Persia, Abyssinia, and
Mongolia.
The cornice surrounding the ceiling, with the span-
drels and lunettes over the windows, forms a border
twenty feet wide, containing the names of all the
States of the Union, and representations of the mer-
chant flags of the world in panel-work, enriched
with ornaments in imitation of stucco.
1360
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
The style of this decoration is of the classic Vene-
tian school of the sixteenth century, of which it is a
magnificent illustration. The ceiling, as a whole,
presents a scene of gorgeous beauty, which is only
intensified by an examination of the various groups
and figures in detail. The coloring is of a florid,
tone, the harmony of which is preserved in the
minutest particular, the contrasts and shades being so
arranged as not in any instance to attract the eye
from the general effect.
The artists were Messrs. Becker & Sciepcevich,
fresco and decorative painters of St. Louis.
The building fronting on Third Street is entirely
devoted to banks and offices, and has a basement and
five stories. The first story contains six rooms of
ample dimensions, arranged with fire- and burglar-
proof safes and every accommodation for first-class
moneyed institutions. The upper four stories are
divided into sixty commodious and well-lighted
offices, furnished like the first with fire-proof safes
and every modern convenience. The basement con-
tains a number of large rooms suitable for brokers' or |
exchange offices and various other kinds of business.
The first story of that portion of the structure
under the ground hall is devoted to banks, offices, or i
any business purpose for which it may be required.
A noticeable feature of the interior consists of six
immense doors opening into the grand hall, each
one nine feet wide and eighteen feet high. They
fold back into the thickness of the wall so as to afford
no obstruction when opened, and are composed of
dark bard wood of several hues, paneled, moulded,
enriched, and highly polished. They are finished
with bold architraves, entablatures, and pediments.
The grand staircase, which cost twenty-five thou-
sand dollars, leads from the basement to the grand
hall, and is accessible from every face of the building.
It is of imposing proportions, and is composed of
hard woods, and the newels and balusters are massive,
and of elegant designs of carving, moulding, and pan-
eling. Some idea of its dimensions may be obtained
from the fact that it occupies an area of twenty-seven
by sixty-one feet.
There are six broad entrances to the building, —
O*
three on Third Street, one on Pine, one on Chest-
nut, and one on the court west of the structure.
The principal or central entrance on Third Street is
very beautiful and strictly classical, of the Doric
order. The frieze of the portico bears the name and
purpose of the building in raised letters carved
from the stone. The stairway from this entrance
leads directly to the grand hall. The other entrance
on Third Street, as well as those on Pine and Chest-
nut, communicate with the main stairway, and also
with the steam elevators, which extend through the
entire height of the building, giving easy and ready
access to every part of the building.
During the National Democratic Convention which
nominated Samuel J. Tijden for President there were
five thousand two hundred chairs on the floor of the
hall, and at the formal opening of the hall it con-
tained over ten thousand people. In the centre of
the hall, and directly in front of the rostrum, stands
a large handsome fountain, throwing out jets of
water in all directions, adding not only to the beauty
of the surroundings but also to the comfort of all
present, particularly on hot summer days. This was
the gift of John A. Scudder, an ex-president of the
Exchange and one of its most enterprising members.
The fountain is on rollers, and can be moved in and
out of the hall with very little trouble. The archi-
tects of the building were Lee & Annan.
The officers of the Chamber of Commerce from its
formation up to 1862 were :
1836 to 1840.— Edward Tracy, president; Henry Von Phul,
vice-president; John Ford, secretary.
1841 to October, 1849. — Wayman Crow, president; George
K. McGunnegle, vice-president.
1836 to 1849.— John Ford, Daniel Hough, and F. L. Ridgely,
secretaries.
From October to December, 1849. — George K. McGunnegle,
president; Edward Briggs, vice-president; Edward Barry, sec-
retary.
1850. — George K. McGunnegle, president; Edward Brooks,
vice-president; Edward Barry, secretary.
1851, to March 4. — George K. McGunnegle, president; Ed-
ward Brooks, vice-president.
1851, from March 4. — William M. Morrison, president; Alfred
Vinton and David Tatutn, vice-presidents; Edward Barry, sec-
retary.
1852. — William M. Morrison, president; Alfred Vinton and
Henry Von Phul, vice-presidents ; Edward Barry, secretary.
1853. — Alfred Vinton, president; James E. Yeatman and
Henry Von Phul, vice-presidents; Edward Barry, secretary.
1854. — Alfred Vinton, president; R. M. Henning and Henry
Von Phul, vice-presidents ; Edward Barry, secretary.
1855. — R. M. Henning, president; Rufus J. Lackland and
Henry T. Blow, vice-presidents ; Edward Barry, secretary.
1856, to May 31. — R. M. Henning, president: J. A. Brown-
lee and William T. Hazard, vice-presidents ; W. B. Baker, sec-
retary.
From June 9, 1S56, and 1857. — Henry Ames, president; D.
A. January and John J. Roe, vice-presidents; W. B. Baker,
secretary.
1858.— E. M. Ryland, president; R. M. Funkhouser and T.
A. Buckland, vice-presidents; W. B. Baker, secretary.
1859. — R. M. Funkhouser, president; John T. Douglass and
Charles L. Tucker, vice-presidents; W. B. Baker, secretary.
1860. — D. A. January, president: M. L. Pottle and J. H.
Oglesby, vice-presidents; W. B. Baker, secretary.
1861. — D. A. January, president; William Matthews and M.
L. Pottle, vice-presidents ; W. B. Baker, secretary.
1862. — William Matthews, president; James Mackoy and
George Bayha, vice-presidents; R. H. Davis, secretary.
COMMERCIAL EXCHANGES.
1361
In 1862 the organization went out of existence, but,
as we have seen, the Chamber of Commerce Associa-
tion was formed in the autumn of 1871, and Hufus
J. Lackland was elected president and still continues
to serve as such. At the time of the completion of
the building the officers were Rufus J. Lackland,
president; George Knapp, first vice-president, and B.
W. Alexander, second vice-president, who with Web
M. Samuel, George Bain, Charles Green, D. P. Row-
land, J. H. Britton, J. R. Lionberger, J. H. Beach,
Adolphus Meier, Charles L. Hunt, and Levi L. Ash-
brook were the directors. George H. Morgan was
secretary and treasurer.
The present board of directors is composed of the
same persons, with the exception of J. H. Britton
(deceased). The officers of the Merchants' Exchange
(which succeeded the old Chamber of Commerce or-
ganization in 1862) have been, —
Year.
President.
Vice-Presidents.
1862.
H. J. Moore.
C. i
1863.
G. Partridge.
C. 6
1864.
T. Richeson.
B. j
1865.
B. Able.
E.I
1866.
E. 0. Stanard.
A.
1867.
C. L. Tucker.
E. .
1868.
J. J. Roe.
G. :
1869.
G. P. Plant.
H.
1870.
W. J. Lewis.
G.(
1871.
G. B. Allen.
R.
1872.
R. P. Tansey.
W.
1873.
W. H. Scudder.
S. ]
1874.
W. M. Samuel.
L. :
1875.
D. P. Rowland.
j. i
1876.
N. Cole.
j.
1877.
J. A. Scudder.
N.
1878.
G. Bain.
H.
1879.
J. Waul.
M.
1880.
A. H. Smith.
c. :
1881.
M. McEnnis.
j. ,
1882.
C. E. Slayback.
c. :
1883.
J. C. Ewald.
D.
S. Greeley, A. W. Fagin.
S. Greeley, A. W. Fagin.
Able, C. L. Tucker.
0. Stanard, H. A. Homeyer.
H. Smith, D. G. Taylor.
Ames, D. G. Taylor.
P. Plant, H. A. Homeyer.
A. Homeyer, Nathan Cole.
G. Wagguman, H. C. Yeager.
P. Tansey, G. Bain.
. H. Scudder, C. H. Teichman.
M. Edge!l, W. M. Samuel.
L. Ashbrook, J. F. Tolle.
P. Meyer, W. M. Seuter.
Wall I, F. B. Davidson.
Schaefer, G. Bain.
C. Haarstick, Craig Alexander.
McEnnis, W. J. Letup.
E. Slayback, J. C. Ewald.
Jackson, A. T. Harlow.
F. Orthwein, F. Gaiennie.
R. Francis, D. P. Grier.
No. of
Members.
675
518
725
990
1110
1068
1268
1332
1282
1289
13G9
13(33
1307
1442
1397
1327
1290
1260
1303
3533
3565
Secretary and Treasurer, 1862, Clinton B. Fisk; 1863-64, J. H. Alex-
ander; 1865-83, George H. Morgan.
Officers for the Year 1883.— President, J. C. Ewald; Vice-Presidents, D.
R. Francis, D. P. Grier; Directors: 1883, Michael McEnnis, J. C. Mac-
Ginnitie, Charles W. Barstow, John P. Keiser, Charles S. Freeborn ;
1883-84, Charles E. Slayback, D. P. Slattery, A. 0. Grubb, L. C. A. Koenig,
Ewing Hill; Secretary and Treasurer, George H. Morgan ; Assistants,
D. R. Whitmore, Lovell W. Stebbins ; Caller, Joseph P. Carr ; Assistant
Caller, John D. Bell ; Committee of Appeals, Stephen G. Price, J. D.
Houseman, Jr., L. Methudy, Hugh Ferguson, Breedlove Smith, H. G.
Bohn, D. L. Wing, E. F. Hoppe, John H. Evil, William Stobie, H. B.
Eggeis, Charles L. Thompson; Committee of Arbitration: First six
months, Henry S. Platt, R. H. Allen, Jr., A. Weyl, D. II. Bartlett, Delos
R. Haynes; Second six months, James M. Carpenter, F. W. Rockwell,
A. F. Donk, C. Bernet, Joseph Lloyd ; Door-Keeper, James P. Newell ;
Registry Clerk, Frank L. Stobie; Telegraph Clerk, Frederick L. Stobie;
Messenger, Edward M. Pottle.
The merchants of St. Louis, and in fact the com-
munity generally, have just reason to be proud of
their Exchange, which is universally recognized as
being one of the most honorable and influential bodies
in the country. It is not exaggeration to say that it
is felt in the commerce of nearly every important
nation on the globe, commanding as it does the trade
of the far-famed valley of the Mississippi, with its
vast stores of produce and its busy hives of industry
and thrift. Among its members have been not only
many of the representative business men of St. Louis,
but individuals who have been and now are conspicu-
ous in national affairs. In its organization the Ex-
change is comprehensive and essentially democratic,
its doors being open to the members of all honorable
trades, professions, businesses, or callings. Among them
are commission merchants, insurance men, millers,
dealers in feed, grocers, flour dealers, produce mer-
chants, brewers, teamsters, provision merchants, pork-
packers, cotton buyers, fast freight transportation men,
real estate men, manufacturers of paints, oils, and
white lead, brokers, hide and wool merchants, maltsters,
coal dealers, builders, blacksmiths, civil engineers, con-
fectioners, coopers, cracker manufacturers, distillers,
cider and vinegar manufacturers, druggists, farmers,
foundrymen, hatters, hotel-keepers, ice dealers, iron
manufacturers, lawyers, livery-stable keepers, lumber-
men, manufacturers of macaroni, paper dealers, paint-
ers, printers, railroad men, rope manufacturers, salt
dealers, manufacturers of soap and candles, street
sprinklers, stove dealers, stockmen, tanners, tobacco
dealers, wire manufacturers, undertakers, in short, the
Exchange is thoroughly representative of the commer-
cial and industrial activity of St. Louis, and embraces
the great bulk of those who contribute most to the
wealth and prosperity of the community at large. It
has always maintained a high and rigid standard of
commercial ethics, and has contributed immensely to
secure for the business men of St. Louis that reputa-
tion for strictly honorable dealing which they enjoy
throughout the commercial world.
The Cotton Exchange. — The first meeting of the
organization now known as the St. Louis Cotton Ex-
change was held in the directors' room of the old Mer-
chants' Exchange building, on Main Street, on Oct. 17,
1873. The officers of the Cotton Association (for so
it was then called) were Theodore G. Meier, president ;
William M. Senter, vice-president ; Myron Coloney,
secretary ; and Messrs. William P. Shyrock, Henry
Drucker, Miles Sells, S. A. Bemis, Harlow J. Phelps,
D. W. Marmaduke, and John T. Watson, members
of the directory. There had previously been held an
informal gathering at the office of Theodore G. Meier,
at which were present the gentlemen named above,
together with Messrs. Ladd and Rowland. The asso-
ciation so established and subsequently incorporated
(in August, 1874) comprised eighty-one members,
who paid five dollars initiation fee each, and were as-
sessed twenty dollars each for annual dues. At the
1362
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
first formal meeting the question of a suitable location
was discussed, and it was
" Ordered, That the room fronting on Main Street,
third floor of building joining the Merchants' Ex-
change building, be rented for the use of this associa-
tion at a rate of not more than twenty-five dollars per
month."
At a subsequent meeting the president was author-
ized to procure " a telegraphic machine" for the
" rooms," by which appellation the single apartment
was officially dignified. Cotton warehousemen were
made to feel the power of the association by being
notified that " weighers must plainly state the condi-
tion of cotton upon their
certificates, and the gross
weight, tare, and net of
the same."
At the fifth regular
meeting was conceived
the plan of offering large
cash premiums on cotton
at the approaching St.
Louis Fair (1874), and
it was " resolved that not
less than ten thousand
dollars be offered as pre-
miums on cotton next
fall." The Fair Asso-
ciation met this tender
in a reciprocally liberal
spirit, and the cotton
men increased the sum
to eleven thousand dol-
lars. This relation ex-
isted up to 1881, and the
premiums annually of-
fered were an important
factor in building up the
cotton interest in St.
Louis. On the ratifica-
tion of the articles of incorporation the Association
changed its name to the Cotton Exchange, by which
it is now known, raised its dues and initiation fee to
fifty dollars each, and elected the following officers on
Sept. 16, 1874: Theo. G. Meier, president ; William
M. Senter, vice-president ; Myron Coloney, secretary ;
and Messrs. William P. Shyrock, Henry Drucker,
Miles Sells, S. A. Bemis, Harlon J. Phelps, John T.
Watson, and L. C. Norvell, directors.
In 1875 the Exchange removed to new quarters on
Main and Chestnut Streets, where its membership in-
creased to three hundred in 1880, although during
the five years preceding the membership fee had been
ST. LOUIS COTTON EXCHANGE,
Southwest corner Main and Walnut Streets.
successively advanced to two hundred and fifty dollars,
then five hundred dollars, and finally to the present
figure, one thousand dollars, the annual dues remain-
ing, however, at fifty dollars. At the first regular
meeting of the directory of 1875 the present secre-
tary, C. W. Simmons, was chosen, and he bids fair to
serve efficiently many more terms. The presidency
since that period has been occupied successively by
William M. Senter, W. P. Shyrock, M. C. Hum-
phrey, J. H. Dowell (who died during his term, Mr.
Senter filling the unexpired portion), D. P. Rowland,
and James L. Sloss.
The present officers are William M. Senter, presi-
dent; William L. Black,
vice-president ; C. W.
Simmons, secretary and
treasurer ; Henry W.
Young, assistant secre-
tary ; Directors, William
M. Senter, Win. L.
Black, James L. Sloss,
J. B. Fisher, Theo. G.
Meier, D. P. Rowland,
W. V. Johnson, M. C.
Humphrey, and T. H.
West.
The new Exchange
building was erected by
the Cotton Exchange
Building Company, com-
posed of Vice-President
William L. Black, Silas
B. Jones, William T.
Wilkins, and Leonard
Matthews. Its erection
was necessitated by the
marvelous growth of the
cotton interest and the
inadequacy of the old
quarters to the demands
of the trade, and was determined on at a meeting
of the directors of the Exchange in the month of
November, 1879, at which D. P. Rowland, W.
M. Senter, J. L. Sloss, and W. L. Black were
appointed a committee to select a suitable location.
The site chosen, southwest corner of Main and Wal-
nut Streets, though " down town," has the desired ad-
vantage of being near the river, the base of cotton
supplies, and is also the centre of the district almost
exclusively occupied by cotton factors and others in
the trade. The building, which was designed by H.
W. Kirchner, architect, is five stories in height
(eighty feet in all), and fronts eighty-five feet on Main
COMMERCIAL EXCHANGES.
1363
and one hundred and thirty-five on Walnut Street.
There is ample accommodation for offices. The Ex-
change hall proper, seventy-six by fifty feet, is on the
second floor, and is reached by a beautiful and capa-
cious corridor and staircase. Architecturally, the build-
ing, designed after the renaissance school, is of stock
brick, trimmed with stone and galvanized iron, the
first story being of iron. The value of the ground
and structure is about one hundred and twenty-five
thousand dollars. Its construction occupied a year.
The grand hall is a model in its natural wood finish,
the elegance of its furnishing, and in the good taste
displayed in the fresco decorations. The latter com-
prise scenes from life in the cotton-picking season, and
panels with representations of an overflowing basket
of the fleecy staple, a ship loaded with cotton, and a
Mississippi River steamboat " baled" all over. The
painting on twenty piers is emblematic of the manu-
factured cotton in its several stages, and on the west
wall is an arrangement of State seals, those of Mis-
souri, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, and Mississippi.
The building is supplied with reading-rooms, electric
clocks, bells, elevators, telegraph-offices, telephones,
and other modern conveniences and business necessi-
ties. Upon the occasion of the dedication of the new
building, May 4, 1882, speeches were made by pres-
ent and past officers, and by ex-Governor Hubbard, of
Texas, ex- Governor Stanard, of Missouri, and others.
A silver service was presented to Vice-President Black,
a collation was served, and a promenade concert was
given in the evening.
William Marshall Senter, the able and energetic i
president of the Cotton Exchange, was born at Lex-
ington, Tenn., April 11, 1831, the son of a prosper-
ous farmer in that section. His mother was a native
of North Carolina, and was of Scotch lineage. Up
to the age of about eighteen young Senter assisted
his father on the farm, and obtained a good common
school education. He then engaged as a clerk in the
dry-goods business at Trenton, Tenn., and after a suita- i
ble apprenticeship went into business for himself at !
that place. While residing in Trenton he married
his present wife, Lucy Jane Wilkins. In 1863 he
removed to Columbus, Ky., and remained in business
there about a year. His success at both places caused
him to seek a larger field for his operations, and in
1864 he removed to St. Louis, where he established
himself as a commission merchant. His attention
was soon directed to the cotton trade of St. Louis.
Owing to the war the city was then handling consid-
erable cotton, and Mr. Senter became impressed with
the idea that this traffic could be retained. The re-
ceipt of fifty-six thousand bales in 1865-66 seemed
to justify this confidence, but in the years immediately
following only an average of some twenty-eight thou-
sand bales were handled. Nevertheless, Mr. Senter,
who had become thoroughly identified with the cotton
trade, maintained the correctness of his belief, and
labored incessantly through years of discouragement
to make his prediction good. He was an influential
member of the Cotton Association, which was organ-
ized in 1870, and when, as we have seen, the present
Cotton Exchange was established in 1873, he was the
| first vice-president, and is now in his third term as
president.
As a result of the labors of Mr. Senter and others
the cotton trade of St. Louis began ultimately to
assume a shape that promised permanent success.
In 1870-71 the receipts were only twenty thousand
two hundred and seventy bales, but in 1871-72 no
less than thirty-six thousand four hundred and twenty-
one bales were handled in St. Louis. The completion
of the Iron Mountain Railroad into the rich cotton-
fields of Arkansas and Texas gave the trade a great
stimulus; and when in 1873, Col. Paramore settled
in St. Louis and laid before the cotton merchants his
scheme for a gigantic cotton compress that should
afford proper facilities for handling cotton on a large
scale and with the utmost economy, in order to attract
and provide for the growing trade of the Southwest,
he found a willing co-laborer in Mr. Senter. The
result of their joint efforts was the organization of
the St. Louis Cotton Compress Company, which now
has a paid-up capital of one million dollars, and man-
ages the largest cotton compress and warehouse in the
world. It is a fine monument to the wise forethought
and liberal commercial spirit of its projectors. When
Col. Paramore retired from the presidency of this
corporation in 1881, Mr. Senter, who had been vice-
president and one of the directors from the organiza-
tion, succeeded to the vacancy.
When the Iron Mountain Railroad was about to
pass out of Thomas Allen's hands into those of per-
sons having no special interest in St. Louis, Mr.
Senter was one of those who at once responded and
took stock, to keep the control of the road at St.
Louis. He also became a director of the road, and
took an active part in the management, a connection
which lasted until Jay Gould finally purchased the
property.
Mr. Senter has also been an earnest and efficient
promoter of Col. Paramore's Texas and St. Louis
Railway (the " Cotton Belt Line"), and is the vice-
president of the organization.
When the new Cotton Exchange was being erected,
the builder became embarrassed and was unable to go
1364
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
on with the work, whereupon Mr. Senter stepped to
the front and organized a building company and tided
the enterprise over the difficulty.
"When St. Louis took her place as one of the
assured cotton marts of the country, many American
and foreign buyers with large capital made the city
their headquarters, but the veteran house of Senter
& Co. led them all, and has retained its acknowledged
supremacy, having handled of late years over sixty
thousand bales annually, representing a value of over
five million dollars. Associated in the house of
Senter & Co. is Mr. Senter's brother-in-law, W. T.
Wilkins, who brought to the concern rare energy and
ability.
As a business man of ripe judgment, Mr. Senter
is in great request, but outside of the cotton interests
his business connections are few. He has, however,
been vice-president of the Merchants' Exchange, and
is a director in the American Central Fire Insurance
Company of St. Louis.
Personally, Mr. Senter is one of the most modest
and unassuming of men, but in action he is energetic
and intrepid. He is a member of the Baptist
Church, and strives to leaven his business with his
religious principles. The result is that no house in
St. Louis enjoys a higher reputation as an honest,
capable, and sound establishment.
Mr. Senter has had four children, three of whom
are now living. One, a daughter, is the wife of A.
B. Jones, a well-known lawyer of St. Louis.
The St. Louis Board of Trade was organized in
the autumn of 1867, and its formal inauguration took
place at the Polytechnic building on the evening of
October 17th of that year, the address on that occa-
sion being delivered by Hon. Henry T. Blow. The
board held a meeting at the same place on the 1st of
November, 1867, which was called to order by the
president, Adolphus Meier, who laid before it the re-
port of Messrs. Wayman Crow, Henry T. Blow, and
Isidor Busch, " a special committee appointed to con-
sider and report upon a communication from the Bir-
mingham, England, Chamber of Commerce, recom-
mending the adoption of an international law." The
Board of Trade has continued in active and successful
operation since then down to this writing, its officers
(1882) being C. I. Filley, president; Joseph A.
Wherry, first vice-president ; C. L. Thompson, secre-
tary and treasurer ; E. C. Simmons, Joseph O'Neil,
E. K. Holton, J. E. Shorb, John Cantwell, E. A.
Hitchcock, N. C. Chapman, I. M. Mason, and S. H.
Laflin, directors.
Mechanics' Exchange. — In 1839 the leading me-
chanics of the city, in order that there might be unity
in their efforts, and that co-operation might be secured
among them, called a meeting for the purpose of
forming a Mechanics' Exchange. At this meeting
Capt. David H. Hill presided, and Louis Dubreuil
was appointed secretary. Five persons were chosen
to select a committee from the different departments
of business, one to be selected from each branch, to
draft a constitution, by-laws, etc. The five gentlemen
thus chosen were R. N. Moore, J. M. Paulding, Asa
Wilgus, William A. Lynch, and John H. Ferguson,
who after consultation submitted the following names:
Joseph C. Laveille, carpenter ; Daniel D. Page, baker ;
Asa Wilgus, painter; Isaac Chadwick, plasterer;
Samuel Gaty, founder ; Thomas Andrews, copper-
smith ; George Trask, cabinet-maker; John M. Paul-
ding, hatter ; James Barry, chandler ; James Love,
blacksmith; Joseph Laiden, chair-maker; Wooster
Goodyear, cordwainer; William Shipp, silversmith;
John Young, saddler ; B. Townsend, wire and sieve
manufacturer; J. Todd, burr millstone manufacturer;
Thomas Gambal, cooper ; Francis Raborg, tanner ;
S. C. Coleman, turner ; N. Paschall, printer; John G.
Shelton, tailor ; B. L. Turnbull, bookbinder ; Charles
Coates, stone-cutter; Anthony Bennett, stone-mason;
David Shepard, bricklayer; I. A. Letcher, brick-
maker; William Thomas, ship-builder; Samuel Haw-
kins, gunsmith ; Samuel Shawk, locksmith ; A. Oak-
ford, comb-maker ; N. Tiernan, wheelwright ; J. B.
Gerard, carriage-maker ; Moses Stout, plane-maker ;
James Robinson, upholsterer ; and J. Bemis, machin-
ist. From this meeting resulted the organization of
the mechanics, and ultimately the formation of a
Mechanics' Exchange.1
In 1852 a new Exchange was organized, a meeting
for that purpose being held at the Criminal Court
room on the 23d of February. At this meeting Col.
; Thornton Grimsley was called to the chair, and Rufus
Kayser was appointed secretary, after which Mr.
Goodin, chairman of a committee appointed at a
previous meeting, reported as follows :
"Your committee, appointed at a primary meeting of the
master-mechanics of St. Louis, held on Thursday evening, the
12th instant, to prepare a plan of organization, would report
recommendatory, as follows :
" 1st. That we proceed at once to an organization, under the
name and style of the Mechanics' and Manufacturers' Exchange
and Library Association of St. Louis, by the election of the fol-
lowing officers: president, vice-president, corresponding secre-
tary, recording secretary, treasurer, and a board of seven direc-
tors, the president of the association to be ex officio chairman
of the board of directors.
2d. That any mechanic or manufacturer residing in the county
of St. Louis shall, upon the payment of ten dollars, the amount
1 Edwards' Great West, p. 365.
COMMERCIAL EXCHANGES.
1365
of annual subscription, be entitled to the full privileges of mem-
bership for one year.
" 3d. That the board of directors, as soon as elected, shall be
instructed to report to the association for the government of the
same a constitution and by-laws.
"THORNTON GRIMSLF.Y,
" CHARLES H. PECK,
"P. WONDERLY,
"J. C. EDGAR,
•' R. KEYSER,
"JOHN GOODIN,
" Committee."
The report was unanimously adopted, and the fol-
lowing resolutions were after wards offered and adopted :
" Resolved, That at the first meeting of the subscribers to the
association it be made the special order of business to elect the
following : president, vice-president, corresponding secretary,
recording secretary, treasurer, and a board of seven directors.
" Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed in each
ward of the city to obtain subscriptions of members."
The following committees were afterwards appointed,
in accordance with the resolution : First Ward, J.
Dunn, F. Saler, L. W. Peck ; Second Ward, Richard
Ivers, Morris Pawley, S. E. Selleck; Third Ward,
J. P. Camp, C. H. Peck, James Luthey; Fourth
Ward, Rufus Keyser, Frank Weston, Mahlon Weber;
Fifth Ward, J. C. Edgar, W. F. Stacy, P. Kings-
land ; Sixth Ward, J. C. Cochran, Linus Jackson,
Archibald Carr.
The present Mechanics' P^xchange was organized
in 1856 by A. Ittner, Thomas Rich, A. Cook, W.
Stamps, James Garvin, C. Lynch, J. Locke, James
Luthy, and others. The first president (elected in
1856) was N. M. Ludlow. In 1857-58 the rooms
of the association, which was then known as the Me-
chanics' and Manufacturers' Exchange, were located
at No. 63 Chestnut Street, between Third and Fourth
Streets. The objects of the association, as stated at
the time, were " the encouragement, development, and
promotion of the mechanical and manufacturing in-
terests of the city, and the arbitration of all errors
and misunderstandings between its members and those
of the community having business with them." The
rooms were kept open on business days from seven
o'clock A.M. until six o'clock P.M., the general assem-
bling hour being from eleven to twelve o'clock. Each
member was entitled to a " communication box," the
use of the reading-room, library, stationery, etc.,
without extra charge. The terms of membership
were ten dollars per annum, payable half-yearly in
advance.
The officers in 1858 were W. Stamps, president ;
N. M. Ludlow, first vice-president ; E. N. Leeds,
second vice-president ; R. M. Parks, treasurer ; Henry
Weissenfels, secretary. Committee of Arbitration,
87
John Andrews, William Barron, Philip Wilson,
James L. Gage, P. Gregory, John B. Gibson, P.
Harvey, Andrew Middleton ; Committee of Appeal,
Charles H. Peck, Samuel Robbins, W. F. Cozzens,
John Evill, W. G. Clark, L. D. Baker, W. H. Mark-
ham.
The avocations of the members at this time were :
architects, superintendents, and builders, 110 ; hatters
and fur dealers, 4 ; bricklayers, 60 ; wire manufac-
turers, 1 ; boot and shoe dealers, 3 ; paper-hanging
establishments, 2 ; stationers and booksellers, 3 ; car-
riage- and wagon-makers, 5 ; stone-masons, 9 ; lumber
dealers, 13 ; stone-cutters, 8 ; tin and stove dealers,
9 ; hardware dealers, 3 ; wood-turners, 2 ; galvanized
iron-work, 7 ; saw-milling, 15 ; stone-pavers, 4 ; var-
nish manufacturers, 1 ; terra-cotta work, 9 ; painters,
8 ; lime-burners, 6 ; cement dealers, 2 ; gas-fitters, 5 ;
plumbers. 10 ; planing-mills, 5 ; mastic work, 2 ;
wrought- and cast-iron-work, 17 ; brick-makers, 20 ;
plasterers, 11; marble dealers, 8; composition-,
metal-, and slate- roofers, 14 ; sundry other kinds of
business, 24 ; total, 401.
Persons, not members, residing in or out of the city,
who desired to exhibit models, works of art, etc., had
the privilege of using the large hall for that purpose,
if acceded to by the secretary or any other officer of
the institution.
The present Exchange was chartered in 1875, with
an authorized capital stock of two thousand five hun-
dred dollars.
On the 12th of February, 1879, the Exchange
entered upon the occupation of its new quarters,
comprehending the entire fifth floor of the then re-
cently completed Hunt building, No. 106 North
Fourth Street, which had been leased to the organiza-
tion by Mr. Hunt. The president of the Exchange,
W. W. Polk, and the vice-presidents, Thomas F. Hay-
den and Francis Hawkins, welcomed the members.
At the present time the membership numbers
several hundred. The present board of officers is
composed of Anthony Ittner, president ; T. P. Mc-
Kelleget, first vice-president; W. J. Thorn, second
vice-president; William Stamps, treasurer; and W.
R. Dalton, secretary. Directors, J. Green, P. Mul-
cahy, II . Gundaker, J. Methudy, M. Hudson, and
W. Adams.
Among the most active and energetic members
of the Mechanics' Exchange was Joseph K. Bent,
on the occasion of whose death the Exchange
adopted resolutions expressive of regret at the loss
of an esteemed member, a valued friend, and one
of the foremost builders of the city. Mr. Bent
was born in Wendell, Mass., Nov. 16, 1816. His
1366
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
parents were descended from the old settlers of
Massachusetts, and the family was widely and favor-
ably known. His uncle, Joseph Kilbourn, was a
wealthy cotton broker in Augusta, Ga., and one of
his two brothers was a prosperous cotton broker in
New Orleans. Joseph K. received a good common-
school education, and then learned the trade of a
carpenter and builder. His parents went West in
the " '30's" for their health, and settled at Liberty,
Clay Co., Mo., where, July 3, 1839, Mr. Bent was
married to Miss Sabrina Phelps, daughter of William |
W. Phelps, a well-known and influential gentleman :
of that region, and a descendant of the famous Phelps ;
family of Western New York, after whom the village
of Phelpstown was named. At Liberty, Mr. Bent
attempted to practice the profession of an architect, •
but the field being very limited, he removed to St.
Louis, Oct. 25, 1839, and was soon actively engaged
in building. During the forty years that followed he j
transacted a large and flourishing business as con- !
tractor. Up to the year 1868 he conducted the busi-
ness alone, but in that year he admitted his son, Wil-
liam E. Bent, as a partner, the firm-name being
Joseph K. Bent & Son. Mr. Bent's name is indeli-
bly associated with some of the largest and most
costly buildings erected in St. Louis. He did the
carpenter- work for the new Merchants' Exchange, the
immense Barr building at Sixth and Olive Streets,
and the First Presbyterian Church on Lucas Place, i
and had the entire contract for building the Third
National Bank, and many large stores on Fourth and
Fifth Streets, in the business portion of the town, as
well as numerous handsome and costly private resi-
dences in various parts of the city. In his day he
was one of the largest, as well as one of the best,
builders St. Louis possessed. In addition to his i
building enterprises he for several years managed a
planing-mill, manufacturing work for his own build-
ings as well as for others.
Mr. Bent died on the 21st of March, 1880, leav-
ing a comfortable estate to his widow and children, i
He was a faithful member of the First Presbyterian
Church, and bore his last illness with Christian forti- '
tude. He was a member of no secret or other society i
except the Mechanics' Exchange, in which he took a
deep interest. He was thoroughly devoted to his pro-
fession, and in the management of his large and ex-
acting business made numerous friends, being emi-
nently of a social nature. He was a man of unusual
decision of character, and enjoyed the implicit confi-
dence and respect of all who knew him.
The St. Louis Real Estate Exchange is located
at 212 North Sixth Street, and its officers (1882) are
Charles Green, president; M. A. Wolff, vice-president ;
Leon L. Hall, secretary and treasurer ; Charles Green,
Theophile Papin, J. S. Farrar, F. L. Haydel, J. L.
January, William C. Wilson, and John Maguire, di-
rectors.
St. Louis Mining and Stock Exchange. — In
1874 the St. Louis Mining Exchange was established
at the southeast corner of Fourth and Elm Streets,
by M. S. Mepham & Co., as a headquarters for persons
engaged in mining or the sale of mineral lands. A
large number of persons interested in minerals rented
offices in the building, all being located at convenient
distances apart on the first floor, and separated from
each other by neat railings. Cases were fitted up for
the display of Missouri minerals, and a complete and
handsome collection was secured, together with
specimens of fossils, Indian curiosities, and relics of
the civil war, the latter presented by Gen. John B.
Gray.
The St. Louis Mining and Stock Exchange was
organized in the fall of 1880, and held its first meet-
ing at its rooms on Third Street, between Olive and
Locust, Dec. 2, 1880, on which occasion the Exchange
was formally opened for business at eleven o'clock.
The officers at the time were : President, James
Baker ; Vice-President, Thomas Richeson ; Treasurer,
Francis T. Iglebart ; Secretary, Theodore W. Heman ;
Directors, G. W. Chadbourne, Charles F. Orthwein,
Francis T. Iglehart, J. W. Paramore, John W. Noble,
D. P. Rowland, Thomas Richeson, E. S. Chester, T. W.
Beman, "W. R. Allen, D. R. Francis, James Baker,
John E. Ennis.
The St. Louis Coal Exchange was organized
June 1, 1879, for the purpose of developing the coal
trade of the city, and for the mutual protection of
dealers and shippers of coal.
The officers of the Exchange are Alexander Hamil-
ton, president; C. E. Gartside, treasurer; and Wil-
liam Lackman, secretary. The Exchange is located
at No. 108 North Fourth Street.
Boatmen's Exchange. — In 1868, Charles P. Chou-
teau erected a handsome building on the Levee at the
corner of Vine Street, for the purposes of a Boatmen's
Exchange. The building presented quite a striking
appearance, having a front of about sixty feet and a
height of ninety feet. The material used in its erec-
tion was principally brick, but the front was of Chi-
cago stone from the Lemont quarries. The rear faced
on Commercial Street, and had also a handsome ex-
terior. The style of architecture was Italian. The
architects were Messrs. Barnard & Piquenard. The
cost of the building was about eighty thousand dollars.
St. Louis Furniture Exchange. — In October,
0*
BANKS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, AND BANKERS. 1367
1879, there was quite a formidable strike among the
furniture-workers of the city, and at the suggestion of
George A. Rubelmann, a prominent dealer in cabinet
hardware, a meeting of the furniture manufacturers
was held, at which the desirability of union in the
existing emergency was conceded and the organization
of a Furniture Exchange determined. On the 26th
of October, 1879, the following officers were elected:
President, Daniel Aude; Vice-President, D. S. Home ;
Treasurer, J. H. Koppelman.
The strike soon collapsed, but the organization con-
tinued, and now embraces about fifty of the leading
manufacturers of the city. The Exchange meets at
Sixth and Morgan Streets, where it has convenient
rooms and supports a monthly paper, The St. Louis
Furniture Manufacturer. The present officers of the
Furniture Exchange are : President, Charles Spier ;
Vice-President, Frank Prange ; Secretary, F. Han-
peter ; Treasurer, J. H. Koppelman.
The St. Louis Manufacturers' Association was
organized on the 27th of March, 1874. The meeting
for the purpose, which was held in the directors' room
of the Merchants' Exchange, was called to order by
Adolphus Meier, who announced that it was an ad-
journed meeting, G. B. Allen having been chairman
of the previous meeting. At this meeting Mr. Allen
had been appointed to draft a constitution, by-laws,
and rules of order for the prospective association.
Mr. Allen read the document prepared by him,
which, on motion of Giles F. Filley, was adopted as a
whole.
The election of officers was then proceeded with by
ballot, Gerard B. Allen being elected president, and
Thomas Richeson vice-president.
The constitution provided that the secretary and
treasurer, which offices should be united in one person,
should be appointed by the executive committee,
which should be appointed by the president.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics was instituted
under an act of the General Assembly of Missouri
in March, 1879. The second section of the act
establishing the bureau defines its objects. It is
" to collect, assort, systematize, and present in annual
reports statistical details relating to all departments
of labor in the State, especially in relation to the com-
mercial, industrial, social, educational, and sanitary
condition of the laboring classes, and to the perma-
nent prosperity of the productive industries of the
State." The general offices are located in St. Louis.
The expense of the bureau up to Dec. 31, 1880, was
one thousand four hundred and forty-six dollars and
thirty cents. H. J. Spaunhorst is the commissioner.
The Missouri State Board of Immigration was
created by an act of the Legislature of Missouri in
March, 1879, its object being to advertise the resources
of the State and invite immigration. The officers
appointed when the board was created were Andrew
McKinley, of St. Louis, president ; A. Steinacker, of
St. Joseph, auditor; and John M. Richardson, of Car-
thage, Mo., secretary. The commissioners were to serve
for a term of four years. An appropriation was made
by the State for the first two years, of eight thousand
dollars, and for the next two years of twenty thousand
dollars. The board has issued several papers relating
to the agricultural, mining, and manufacturing capa-
bilities of the State, sixty thousand copies of the
" Hand-Book of Missouri," and fifty thousand copies
j of a smaller pamphlet and map, which have been dis-
tributed in other States and in Europe. The board
has conducted in the past and continues to conduct
an extensive correspondence with intending immigrants
and capitalists. The invitation extended to immi-
grants does not come from great land proprietors and
speculators, with specious and exaggerated statements,
to induce them to take their property at fancy prices,
but from the whole people, through their representa-
tives in the Legislature of the State. They are in-
vited because it is believed that the undeveloped
resources, once understood and put in process of
development, will enhance the value of every prop-
erty in the State ; because every acre put under
cultivation, every mine opened and worked, every
mill and factory built, and every new industrial
enterprise started will benefit the already existing
industries, create new markets, and increase the com-
merce and material wealth of Missouri.
CHAPTER XXXII.
BANKS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS,
AND BANKERS.
WHEN the white settlers first occupied the site of
St. Louis, the currency in use among the Indians was
mainly wampum, or peag, or wampumpeag, as it was
variously called. It consisted of dark purple and
white beads, made out of shells or stone, and pierced
for stringing. The purple beads had twice the value
of the white, and when arranged in strings or belts
were used as articles of jewelry. As currency, wam-
pum was used in strings and valued according to
measure, a fathom, or belt, consisting of three hun-
dred and sixty beads. At an early period the settlers,
in trading with the Indians for furs and peltries, some-
1368
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
times used wampum, but as it was liable to deterioration
by wear and use, and became overabundant, besides
not being of a character to satisfy foreign debts, it
soon ceased to be current and was abolished as a
nuisance.
When the early settlers received gold and silver,
they hoarded it up to pay for foreign commodities,
and to supply its place for making " change" began
to use a " barter currency." * Beaver-, otter-, raccoon-,
pechon-, muskrat-, mink-, gray-squirrel, buffalo-, and
deer-skins, beef-hides, bacon, beeswax, country-made
sugar, whiskey, and lead constituted the first currency
of St. Louis.2
l Writing on this subject, Mr. Billon says, " The French word
livre signifies in English a book, a pound-weight, and down to
the date of the French Constitution of 1792 was the name of
a coin of the value of eighteen and one-half cents of our cur-
rency, which for long centuries back, under the ancient mon-
archy of France, was established as the unit of that nation, in
which all their money calculations were figured up and their
account-books kept.
" The French Revolutionists, in their zeal to do away with
everything that savored in the slightest of the ancien regime,
abolished the livre and substituted therefor their new coin, the
franc, which they made one mill, or the one-tenth of a cent,
heavier than the livre, otherwise it would have been merely the
same old thing with a new name, since which day the word livre, i
as applied to a money coin, has become obsolete, and is known '
but to few of the present age. The par value of five livres, by
act of Congress, was ninety-two and one-half cents, United !
States currency, and that of five francs, ninety-three cents.
"As this term livre occurs in every French document on '
record in the archives relating to money matters, the persons
who were employed to translate these papers into English some •
years back, being doubtless ignorant that there ever had been a
coin of that designation, have almost invariably translated it
into 'pound,' thereby making the document translated mean-
ingless in its most essential particular, the consideration.
" Let it be understood that the above remarks in relation to
the livre apply solely to the mode of keeping their accounts,
there being but little of any coin seen in the country, the circu-
lating medium being furs and peltries at a fixed price per pound,
— forty cents for finest, thirty for medium, and twenty cents
inferior. Whether established by law or custom does not appear,
but, unless otherwise stipulated by contract, all transactions were
understood to be in the above medium. After the transfer to j
Spain the coin of that kingdom began to appear, but in very '
limited amounts, as we find a few transactions for ' hard dol- |
lars,' in contradistinction of the soft, or ' fur dollars.'
"As to paper money, none had ever been seen in the country \
at that early day, and even had there been any, but few could j
have made out the denomination.
"Even after the transfer to the United States transactions
were made in peltries, as we find that Judge John B. C. Lucas
made his first purchase of a house for his residence from Pierre
Duchouquette and wife, Dec. 14, 1807, for six hundred dollars
in peltries."
z The following advertisements, taken from the files of the old
Missouri Republican, show that barter currency was very gen-
erally in use in St. Louis at a late period :
Jan. 4, 1809. — " Have just received and offer for sale an as-
sortment of dry-goods, consisting of the following, viz. : Coat-
In many instances taxes were collected in kind,
and fees were established in barter.
It was long before the tide of immigration brought
to the people a small supply of silver coin. This
ings, flannels, blankets, velvets, cassimeres, linens, muslins,
checks, sannas, baftas, ginghams, cambrics, hose, handker-
chiefs, threads, sewing-cotton, sewing-silk, buttons, shoes, hats,
paper, blank-books, pins, needles, etc.
" Also a small assortment of groceries, viz. :
"Young Hyson and Hyson skin teas, best green coffee at
sixty-two cents, loaf and lump sugar at fifty cents, Muscovado
sugar at fifty cents, black pepper, Spanish segars per box, hun-
dred, or dozen, indigo, etc., with a general assortment of
queen's penciled and enameled ware.
" The above goods were purchased in New York for cash, and
will be sold as low as any in the Territory for cash, or lead at
six dollars per hundred, delivered at Ste. Genevieve or Her-
culaneum.
" H. AUSTIN <t Co.
" Ste. Genevieve."
Jan. 11, 1809. — "Just received and opened at the store of
Bernard Pratte a complete assortment of dry-goods, groceries,
liquors, iron, and steel, which will be disposed of at a moderate
advance either for cash or pork."
Oct. 19, 1809.— "The subscriber respectfully informs the citi-
zens of Ste. Genevieve that he has just opened at the new store,
opposite the billiard-room, a handsome and general assortment
of hardware and groceries, which he will sell wholesale on the
most advantageous terms for cash, lead, or approved notes.
"JOHN GORDON."
Dec. 21, 1809. — "I wish to purchase a quantity of beef-hides
of a good quality. A generous price will be given in cash or
goods from those indebted to the subscriber. Hides will be
taken in payment.
"GEORGE DALE."
April 26, 1810. — "The subscriber has just opened a quantity
of bleached country linen, cotton cloth, cotton- and wool-cards,
iron, German steel, smoothing-irons, ladies' silk bonnets, arti-
ficial flowers, etc. Also a handsome new gig, with plated har-
ness, cable and cordelle rope, with a number of articles that
suit this country. He will take in payment fur, hides, whiskey,
country-made sugar, bacon, and beeswax.
" JOHN ARTHUR.
" P.S. — A negro girl eighteen years of age, a good house-
servant, for sale."
May 2, 1811. — " The copartnership of Audubon & Rozier is
this day dissolved by mutual consent. Those indebted are re-
quested to make immediate payment to Ferdinand Rozier, who
is duly authorized to settle all the business of said firm.
"JOHN AUDITBON.
"FERDINAND ROZIER."
"The subscriber begs leave to inform his friends and the
public that he has purchased that valuable stock of goods
formerly owned by Audubon & Rozier, on such terms as
to enable him to dispose of them by wholesale or retail un-
usually low for cash, or to punctual customers on short dates.
The best market price will be given for lead in exchange for
goods.
"FERDINAND ROZIER.
"Ste. Genevieve, April 6, 1811."
Jan. 4, 1812. — " Look here ! The subscriber has removed to
the house adjoining Mr. Dongan's silversmith-shop, on Main
BANKS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, AND BANKERS.
1369
was usually in the shape of -Spanish milled dollars,
and did not satisfy the demand for small change.
For the purpose of making change the people cut the
dollars into pieces worth twenty-five cents and twelve
and a half cents each, which were nicknamed " sharp-
shins.'' This class of currency soon became very
redundant and, of course, very unpopular, and in
time ceased to pass except at a great reduction, or as
old silver. Smaller sums than twelve and a half cents
were given out by store-keepers in pins, needles,
writing-paper, etc.
In framing the Constitution (1*789), the right to
coin money and regulate its value was given to Con-
gress, the States being prohibited from making any-
thing but gold and silver coin a legal tender, with the
avowed purpose of establishing a specie currency as
the national standard of value. But the States each
claimed the right to incorporate banks, and Pennsyl-
vania had taken a leading step in this direction by
chartering, in 1781, the Bank of North America.
This was the first bank which issued convertible
notes. On Sept. 2, 1789, the Treasury Department
was established, and Alexander Hamilton was ap-
pointed secretary. He proposed the scheme of the
first national bank of the United States, which was
chartered by Congress in 1791. Its charter was for
twenty years, and it issued no notes under ten dol-
lars. Questions of coinage were taken tip by Con-
gress as early as 1781, but it was not until July 6,
1785, that the "dollar" was adopted. On Aug. 8,
1786, a mint law was passed, but after being modi-
fied Oct. 16, 1786, it was not approved until Sept. 2,
1792. Silver was first coined in 1794, and gold in
1795.
Banks at this time were political engines, and the
charter of the Bank of the United States having ex-
pired, its renewal was refused, and it went into liqui-
dation in 1811. A large number of State banks at
once sprang up, and a wild inflation of paper money
prepared the way for a sad condition of financial
affairs. Immediately on the declaration of war with
Great Britain in 1812, all the banks in the Middle
and Southern States except New York suspended
payment, and the New York banks had to succumb
in 1814, amid the closing scenes of the war. The
Street, St. Louis. He has on hand a heap of whiskey, plenty
of peach-brandy, linsey, country linen, shoes, cut and ham-
mered nails, cotton and cotton cloth, bed-cords, etc., which he
will sell low for cash or beef-hides, delivered at the store or at
Squire Moorehead's slaughter-yard.
" FRED. YIEZKR.
"N.B. — No credit may be expected, as the subscriber has
(unfortunately) never learned to write."
New Orleans banks suspended in April, 1814, the
banks of Philadelphia Aug. 30, 1814, and those of
the Middle and Southern States within a fortnight
later. Those of Ohio and Kentucky had specie until
Jan. 1, 1815, and while a few in Maine ceased pay-
ment early in 1814, the banks in the rest of New
England did not suspend at all.
Banks now multiplied faster than ever, and the old
ones increased their issues. The notes required elab-
orate quotations, and brokers had a rich harvest in
negotiating them. The war with Great Britain had
j very little effect upon St. Louis, but at its close immi-
gration from the old States poured rapidly into the
town. The new settlers brought more or less money
and property with them, and introduced some changes
in the customs and modes of living. About this
period began that era of prosperity which has con-
tinued ever since, and which has been a conspicuous
feature of the city's history. Enterprising traders
took up their abode in the town and commenced suc-
cessful business. The new buildings that were erected
were more tasteful in appearance than the old ; a new
vitality appeared to quicken the sluggish channels of
business, and an atmosphere of thrift and comfort
was created. The money which the new inhabitants
now brought in, and which had been paid by the
United States to the militia during the war, and to
the regulars stationed in or passing through the town,
turned the heads of all the people, and gave them
new ideas and aspirations, so that by 1819 the whole
country was affected with a mania for speculating in
lands and town lots.1
St. Louis boasted in 1816 of having a business
capital of nearly one million dollars, but complained
that it did not enjoy the advantages of a bank, al-
though the Territorial Legislature granted a charter
for one as early as Aug. 21, 1813.2 All the leading
: -^
1 On the 9th of January, 1818, the following notice appeared :
"St. Louis Exchange and Land Office. The undersigned
having opened an office as broker for the Missouri and Illinois
Territory, informs the public that he is now ready for the pur-
chase and sale (on commission only) of houses and lands,
United States stock, etc.
"S. R. WIGGINS."
3 The Missouri Gazette of July 1.3, 1816, says, —
" The opulent town of St. Louis may boast of a capital of
nearly one million, and has few manufactories, no respectable
seminary, no place of worship for dissenters, no public edifices,
no steam mill or boat, no bank, and (I was going to say) no
effective police. Mr. Philipson has lately established an excel-
lent brewery, where excellent beer and porter are made. Mr.
Wilt erected a red and white lead manufactory, and threw into
the market several tons of that useful article ; his red lead has
been admired as superior to that imported. Mr. Hunt's tanning
establishment is of primary importance. Mr. Henderson's soap
1370
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
citizens of the town felt that a bank was a necessity,
and they made great efforts to establish one. They
did not succeed, however, until September, 1816,
when the Bank of St. Louis was first opened for
business, as will be seen elsewhere.
The State banks in other sections of the Union had
by this time flooded the country with their issues, and
the result was a succession of speculations, revulsions,
panics, and general depression in business. The year
1817 was considered " a period of gloom and agony;
no money, either gold or silver ; no paper convertible
into specie ; no measure or standard of value left re-
maining ; no price for property or produce ; no sales
but those of the sheriff and the marshal." It was
upon this troubled sea that the fortunes of the Bank
of St. Louis were cast. It conducted its business after
the prevailing fashion. Instead of restraining specu-
lation, it joined in the race for wealth and flooded the
country with its issues. As a consequence it ceased
to exist within three years.
Shortly after the Bank of St. Louis began business
the Bank of Missouri was organized, and incorporated
Feb. 1 , 1817. The commissioners appointed to receive
subscriptions to its capital stock of two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars were Charles Gratiot, William
Smith, John McKnight, Jean B. Cabanne, and Mat-
thew Kerr. The first president was Auguste Chouteau,
and the first cashier Lilburn W. Boggs. The institu-
tion being a depository of the public moneys, it entered
upon its career with the confidence of the public, but,
like most banks of the day, it followed the course
marked out by the Bank of St. Louis, and failed like
its predecessor with great loss to many deserving and
industrious citizens.
and candle manufactory would be of great utility if it only re-
ceived that patronage the proprietor so richly merits.
"I have no doubt but that brickmakers and bricklayers,
carpenters who could be satisfied with a moderate compensation
for their labor, black- and whitesmiths, silversmiths, woolen-
and cotton-carding and spinning-machines and managers,
tobacconists, nailers, gunsmiths,coopers, pump-makers, stocking-
weavers, wagon-makers, stone-cutters, boat-, barge-, and ship-
builders, rope-makers, cutlers and tool-makers, skin-dressers,
and many other employments would do well here. A man of
capital and enterprise would soon accumulate a large fortune by
erecting a steam flour- and saw-mill in this place; wheat sells
here at one dollar per bushel (abundance raised in the country),
and good merchantable flour is sure to command from eight to
ten dollars per barrel. Corn generally rates at from twenty-five
to fifty cents, and will bring in meal from fifty to eighty-seven
an'd one-half cents per bushel. Pine boards sell at four dollars,
and oak and ash at two and three dollars per hundred feet.
Saw-logs could be brought to town at one dollar each. Five
thousand barrels of whiskey are annually received here from
the Ohio, and sold at seventy-five cents per gallon, while thou-
sands of bushels of grain are offered at a low price to any
enterprising man who will commence a distillery."
Governor Ford, in his " History of Illinois," says
emigrants brought money into the State at this period
in great abundance. " The owners," he adds,
"had to use it some way, and as it could not be used in legiti-
mate commerce in a State where the material for commerce did
not exist, the most of it was used to build houses in towns which
the limited business of the country did not require, and to pur-
chase land which the labor of the country was not sufficient to
cultivate. The United States government was then selling land
at two dollars per acre, eighty dollars on the quarter-section to
be paid down on the purchase, with a credit of five years for
the residue. For nearly every sum of eighty dollars there was
in the country a quarter-section of land was purchased, for in
those days there was no specie circulation to restrain unwarrant-
able speculation ; but, on the contrary, the notes of most of the
numerous banks in existence were good in the public land offices.
The amount of land thus purchased was increased by the gen-
eral expectation that the rapid settlement of the country would
enable the speculator to sell it for a high price before the expi-
ration of the credit. This great abundance of money also,
about this time, made a vast increase in the amount of mer-
chandise brought into the State. When money is plenty every
man's credit is good. The people dealt largely with the stores
on credit, and drew upon a certain fortune in prospect for
payment. Every one was to get rich out of the future emi-
grant. The speculator was to sell him houses and lands, and the
farmer was to sell him everything he wanted to begin with and
to live upon until he could supply himself. Towns were laid
out all over the country, and lots were purchased by every one
on credit; the town-maker received no money for his lots, but
he received notes of hand, which he considered to be as good as
cash; and he lived and embarked in other ventures as if they
had been cash in truth. In this mode, by the year 1820, nearly
the whole people were irrecoverably involved in debt. The banks
in Ohio and Kentucky broke one after another, leaving the
people of these States covered with indebtedness and without
the means of extrication. The banks at home and in St. Louis
(as we have seen) ceased business. The great tide of immi-
grants from abroad, which had been looked for by every one,
failed to come. Real estate was unsalable; the lands pur-
chased of the United States were unpaid for and likely to be
forfeited. Bank notes bad driven out specie, and when these
notes became worthless there was no money of any description
left in the country." 1
In 1822 there was a pressing scarcity of money ;
in 1825, 1826, 1827, and 1828 convulsions and bank-
ruptcy among the banks. Kentucky, Tennessee, Illi-
nois, and Missouri tried stay laws, tender laws, and
paper issues in every form. Kentucky tested the ex-
periment most thoroughly ; the others desisted sooner.
In 1829 and 1830 the gloom which had brooded so
long over the country was dispelled and a brighter
prospect was unfolded. For the first time for eight
years the natural course of trade had brought a bal-
ance of specie of eight and a half millions of dollars
into the country. In 1828, in the election of Gen.
Jackson to the Presidency, the people began to evince
hostility to every form of paper money, and in his
first message to Congress President Jackson charged
i Page 43.
BANKS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, AND BANKERS. 1371
the United States Bank, which had been chartered in
1816, and which had established a branch in St. Louis
with Col. John 0' Fallen as president, with having
" failed in the great end of establishing a uniform and
sound currency." The friends of the bank defended
it, and the leading political parties took sides, one for,
the other against, the bank. The citizens of St. Louis
who favored the bank gave expression to their feel-
ings at a public meeting held in the town hall on the
afternoon of July 24, 1832. Dr. William Carr
Lane presided at the meeting, and James L. Murray
was appointed secretary. A committee consisting of
Messrs. Edward Bates, Pierre Chouteau, Jr., George
Collier, Thornton Grimsley, Henry S. Geyer, and
Nathan Ranney presented the following resolutions,
which were adopted :
" Resolved, That we view with deep mortification and regret
the President's veto of the bill which recently passed both
houses of Congress to continue for a limited time the charter of
the Bank of the United States.
" Resolved, That, in our opinion, the Bank of the United
States is greatly useful and convenient to the government as a
fiscal agent, highly beneficial to the nation at large, and indis-
pensably necessary to the commercial prosperity and individual
comfort of the Western people, and its existence is as strictly
accordant with the principles laid down in the Constitution as
its operations are with the welfare of the community.
"Resolved, That in the present condition of the commercial
and pecuniary affairs of this section of the Union, if the bank
should be driven, by fear of the consequences of the President's
veto, to curtail the discounts and withdraw its paper from cir-
culation, one universal scene of distress and ruin will pervade
the whole Western country.
" Resolved, That a committee be appointed to 'draft an ad-
dress to the people on the subject of the re-charter of the Bank
of the United States, and on the principles and doctrines of the
veto message."
The chair appointed Dr. George W. Call and
Messrs. Frederick Hyatt, Matthew Kerr, Asa Wilgus,
Thomas Cohen, and James L. Murray to compose the
committee under the last resolution.
Gen. Jackson had also a great many friends and
admirers in St. Louis, and on the evening of the same
day they held a meeting in the town hall, at which
Dr. Samuel Merry and Absalom Link presided, and
William Milburn acted as secretary. Col. George F.
Strother made an address, after which Messrs. E.
Dobyns, John Shade, James C. Lynch, L. Brown, B.
W. Ayres, J. H. Baldwin, and P. Taylor were ap-
pointed to draft resolutions. Subsequently the veto
message was read, and the following resolutions were
adopted :
"Resolved, That this meeting view all banks and banking
institutions possessing exclusive privileges and powers of mo-
nopoly as of dangerous tendency in a government of the people,
calculated in their nature to draw distinctions in society and
build up family nobilities.
" Resolved, That this meeting do concur with Gen. Jackson
in the view which he has taken of the United States Bank, with
its privileges, powers, and unconstitutionality.
"Resolved, That this meeting view the stand which Gen.
Jackson has taken against the moneyed powers of Europe and
America as a mark of firmness and patriotism not surpassed by
any patriot or statesman since the light of liberty first dawned
upon our country.
"Resolved, That he is entitled to the fullest confidence of this
meeting and of the American people for his undiminished
firmness.
" Resolved, That this meeting will, by all honorable and
proper means, contribute all in their power to sustain him in
his position against the bank."
During the time that the Branch Bank of the
United States was in operation in St. Louis it had
the confidence of the community, and was of great
advantage to its business interests. It closed its
career with great credit to its managers, for when the
accounts were settled it was found that the govern-
ment had sustained a loss of only one hundred and
twenty-five dollars. On July 10, 1832, President
Jackson vetoed a recharter for the parent bank, and
in 1836, its twenty years' charter from the Federal
government having expired, it was rechartered by the
State of Pennsylvania. In 1837 and 1839 it sus-
pended specie payments, and Feb. 4, 1840, it sus-
pended finally, the stockholders losing everything.
Upon the abolition of the Branch Bank of the
United States the Cincinnati Commercial Agency
established a branch in St. Louis, and by means
of its ample capital and liberal dealing gained the
confidence of the public. The general government
deputized the agency as its fiscal agent, and the
new bank assumed the business of the Branch Bank
of the United States, and imparted new vigor to
business, which had begun to languish for the want
of pecuniary support. With the aid of government
deposits the agency made considerable money, and its
success excited the jealousy of the merchants, who
had long wished for a bank of .their own, and who
for several years had been trying to effect that object,
but who had been opposed by others who dreaded the
great influx of paper and a repetition of the disasters
which had overtaken the banks that had previously
been established in the city. The merchants, how-
ever, determined to make another effort, and the first
bill presented to the Legislature in 1837 was one to
charter " The Union Bank of Missouri." The bill
was amended and changed, and on Feb. 1, 1837, the
charter of " The Bank of the State of Missouri,"
which had been passed, was signed by the Governor
and became a law. Hugh O'Neill, Henry Walton,
John B. Sarpy, George K. McGunnegle, and John
O'Fallon were appointed to receive subscriptions in
1372
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
St. Louis, and a sufficient amount having been sub-
scribed the bank went into operation on the 15th of
April, 1837. After the establishment of the new
bank the general government, in accordance with an
act of Congress, was compelled to transact its business
with it, and in June, 1837, a transfer was also made
by the Commercial Agency to the Missouri Bank " of
the local debt of our citizens," " the amount to be
paid in installments at stated periods running through
two years, bearing an interest of five per cent."
About the time of the agitation for the establish-
ment of a local bank, a bill passed the Missouri House
of Representatives for the expulsion of all agencies
of foreign banking institutions from the State. Im-
mediately a town-meeting was called at the City
Hall, on Dec. 17, 1836, " for the purpose of taking
into consideration the propriety of continuing bank
agencies in the city, and for other purposes." The
meeting was organized with Dr. Hardage Lane as
chairman, and Charles D. Drake as secretary. John
F. Darby addressed the meeting at some length, and
Dr. William Carr Lane offered the following resolu-
tions, which were adopted :
"That in the opinion of this meeting it will be highly
inexpedient in the General Assembly to remove or lessen the
banking facilities now possessed by the manufacturing and
commercial community by removing the bank agencies now
located amongst us, and that we deprecate any presentation in
the General Assembly on the subject as tending inevitably to
the great injury of every class of our citizens.
" Resolved, That a committee of five persons be appointed to
respectfully memorialize the General Assembly upon the subject
of these agencies."
The chair then appointed the following committee
in accordance with the resolution : George Morton,
Henry S. Geyer, John D. Dagget, James T. Swearin-
gen, and Samuel S. Reyburn.
George Morton then offered the following resolu-
tions, which were severally adopted :
" Resolved, That this meeting has heard with regret that
there is a disposition in the General Assembly to expel from
the State agencies of foreign insurance companies; for the
reason that they are evidently an accommodation and benefit to
this city, affording to the owners of insurable property facilities
of protection which without them could not be had, and opera-
ting only for the advantage of the community.
" Resolved, Therefore, that our senators and representatives
be respectfully requested to use their influence to induce the
General Assembly to permit insurance agencies to continue
their beneficial operations amongst us.
"Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed by the
chair to select five gentlemen to repair as a delegation to the
city of Jefferson, and co-operate with our senators and repre-
sentatives in respectfully laying before the General Assembly
the wants and wishes of the people of this city upon such sub-
jects of general interest as to them shall seem proper."
The chair appointed Messrs. George Morton, Henry
Von Phul, and Edward Tracy that committee.
In 1830 the banks in the United States were esti-
mated to number three hundred and twenty-nine', with
a capital of one hundred and ten millions of dollars.
In 1837 their number, including branches, was seven
hundred and eighty-eight, with two hundred and ninety
million dollars capital. The consequences of their
multiplication were speculation in property and com-
modities, increasing prices, strikes of working-people
for increase of wages, the abandonment of agricultural
pursuits, and the crowding of people into cities or large
towns for the purpose of speculation, chiefly in city
and village lots. Industry was no longer thought of
by the multitudes of people who found themselves
rich from the high prices obtained for farming lands
bought for new villages or cities that were to grow
up to enrich their owners. At length (1836-37)
the United States began to import food from other
countries, and hungry mobs attacked the flour-stores
in New York, the great speculation culminating
in panics in all the cities. Early in March, 1837,
Herman Briggs and Co., of New Orleans, failed on
account of the decline in cotton. Their New York
agents failed as soon as the news reached that city.
This was the beginning. At New York one failure
followed another among those who held Southern
funds. In April news came that the leading Eng-
lish merchants granting American credits had become
dependent on the Bank of England, and were being
carried on a guarantee from the city. The panic then
recommenced, and continued increasing until May 8th,
when the Dry- Dock Bank of New York suspended.
The other banks were forced to suspend on the 9th and
10th. The Philadelphia, Baltimore, St. Louis, and
other banks followed as the news spread. Each city
professed that it could have held out, but was forced
to yield in the general interest. St. Louis suffered
greatly from the panic that swept over the country.
Many of the leading firms of the city were prostrated,
and business, which a few weeks before was moving
smoothly along in its accustomed channels, was
checked with fearful suddenness, and became almost
extinct.
Of course the state of the country was a promi-
nent topic in political discussions. Hon. Thomas H.
Benton, then the leader of the Democratic party in
Missouri, was an advocate of a specie currency, and
his party declared in favor of a monetary system com-
posed exclusively of the precious metals. The Whig
party was in favor of re-establishing a controlling
power, like the United States Bank. In August,
1837, notwithstanding the denunciations of Col. Ben-
BANKS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, AND BANKERS.
1373
ton and his adherents, a petition to Congress " for the
establishment of a National Bank" was adopted by the
Chamber of Commerce of St. Louis, and was signed
by nearly every leading business man in the city.
An extra session of Congress was called by Presi-
dent Van Buren ; the banks expanded still more their
issues of depreciated paper, and Congress did nothing
but permit the issue of United States Treasury notes
bearing a small interest to meet the pressing wants of
the general government. On May 10, 1838, the
New York and New England banks resumed, but the
Philadelphia banks delayed until the Governor forced
them to resume, Aug. 13, 1838. The banks in the
other States followed in due time. In October, 1839,
the paper of the United States Bank went to protest,
and on the 9th the Philadelphia banks suspended
payment. They were followed by all the banks
South and West, and by those of Rhode Island.
The New York and other New England banks did
not suspend. In consequence of the suspension of
the Eastern banks, the Bank of the State of Missouri,
on the 12th of November, 1839, passed a resolution
" that the bank will in future receive from, and pay
only to individuals her own notes and specie on the
notes of specie-paying banks." This decision, on
becoming generally known, aroused the intense in-
dignation of the mercantile community of St. Louis.
The Missouri Republican of the following day
says, —
" The bank excitement continued very high during yester-
day. In fact, it is the only subject matter of conversation or
consideration. The merchants, it might literally be said, have
forsaken their counting-rooms, and mechanics their shops.
Wherever two or three meet, the action of the bank was the
theme of conversation, and in every circle that we have fallen
in with, whatever might be the politics of those composing it,
the resolution of the directors was condemned without measure
or reserve. In truth, there never has been in this community
so universal and unanimous a condemnation of any measure as
this. Execrations loud and deep are freely uttered in every
quarter, and by men of all parties."
The notes of banks of other States formed the
principal currency of the State, and by this act of the
Bank of the State of Missouri all the notes of banks
which had suspended specie payment lost their char-
acter as representing funds for the payment even of
existing contracts. The merchants were in a most
distressing situation. They had their commercial
honor to preserve, and to do this it was all important
that their notes should not go to protest. There were
not, however, sufficient specie and bankable funds in
circulation to redeem their paper.1 In this crisis a
meeting was held at the court-house at noon on Nov.
13, 1839, " to take into consideration the recent move-
ment by the Bank of the State of Missouri in re-
fusing to receive anything except specie and its own
paper in payment of debts due it."
Edward Tracy was chosen president, J. C. Laveille
and J. Clemens, JY., vice-presidents, and G. G. Foster
and Samuel Gaty, secretaries. It was
" Revolved, That, as the sense of this meeting, it will be no dis-
credit to any individual having paper maturing this day at the
Bank of Missouri to allow said paper to go to protest if a ten-
der is made at bank or to the notary of currency hitherto bank-
able and is refused."
The president announced the following gentlemen
as a committee on resolutions : Messrs. N. Paschall,
George Morton, Joseph Foster, A. Carr, J. P. Doane,
J. B. Sarpy, Asa Wilgus, John "Whitehill, Wayman
Crow, George K. Budd, A. G. Farwell, H. Von Phul,
and Felix Coouce.
A proposition was made to John Brady Smith,
president of the bank, that the collection paper dis-
counted by the bank up to that time should be paid
in the same description of funds as that previously
received by the bank, and that the business paper dis-
counted by the bank up to that time should, as far as
possible, be placed on the footing of accommodation
paper, the curtailment and discount being paid in
specie or the notes of specie-paying banks.
The president promised to confer with the board
of directors, and after due deliberation by that body
objection to the proposition was raised on the ground
that there would be necessarily some depreciation of
the funds, which loss the bank was unwilling to sus-
tain. So great was the emergency at this particular
juncture in financial affairs, that this objection was
met on the part of the most wealthy of the citizens
by an offer to legally bind themselves to indemnify
the bank against any loss it might sustain by a depre-
ciation of the notes of the banks " heretofore received."2
The directors of the bank held a consultation, but
determined to adhere to their original resolution.
The merchants had fully expected that the bank
would accept the noble proposition made it by the
responsible gentlemen mentioned, but when the refusal
of the board of directors was made known, another
indignation meeting was called, which strongly con-
demned the conduct of the bank, and resolutions were
adopted recommending those doing business with it
to withdraw their deposits and patronize some other
1 Edwards' Great West.
1 The gentlemen who obligated themselves to be thus respon-
sible were George Collier, E. Tracy, Pierre Chouteau, John
Walsh, William Glasgow, John Perry, Henry Von Phul, John
Kerr, G. K. McGunnegle, Joseph C. Laveille, and John O'Fal-
lon. — Edwards' Great Went, p. 368.
1374
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
institution. As a consequence many of the largest
depositors withdrew their funds and deposited them
in the insurance offices, and with the St. Louis Gas-
Light Company, which was then doing a banking
business.1
The bank, notwithstanding it was thus deprived of
the support of many of its most influential patrons, still
pursued the policy it had adopted, and weathered the
financial storm which had threatened it.
On Jan. 15, 1841, all the banks of the country re-
sumed specie payments, but they all suspended again
on the 4th of February of the same year. The Phil-
adelphia banks resumed in March, 1842, but complete
resumption of specie payments throughout all the
States was not accomplished until 1843, when prices
were at the lowest point. Bankruptcy, ruin, and dis-
tress had done their work. At least two thousand
millions of dollars, it has been estimated, represented
the shrinkage in prices or values, six hundred millions
of dollars of debts being wiped out by actual bank-
ruptcies.2
In 1846 the Democratic party succeeded in estab-
lishing the independent treasury, the general govern-
ment becoming its own banker, and receiving and
paying only coined money. The measure was highly
beneficial in promoting the use of coined money. In
1 The Missouri Republican about this time discourses thus
upon the financial situation :
'"The Divorce,' the Bank and the People. — A third and
probably last notice from the State Bank of Missouri appears
in to-day's paper. The first notice was the famous resolution
of the 12th, contemplating a specie-paying business altogether,
and another restricting the curtailment of renewable paper to
five per cent, instead of ten, as had been the case. Under the
first resolution specie was demanded in all eases, as well as upon
collection, as discounted business and accommodation paper.
The next day brought forth another set of resolutions requiring
depositors of paper for collection, whether owned in the city or
out of it, to withdraw the same from bank, and giving notice
that no paper will be received hereafter for collection unless
specie is expressed on the face. The third and last notice is
that to which we have requested attention, and which is a free
confession on the part of the bank that the measure which it
contemplated on the 12th would operate harshly and oppres-
sively, and its repeal is compassed in another way. By the last
notice, for the next sixty days discounted business paper is made
to assume the character of renewable paper, the drawer paying
up one-tenth of the amount with interest, and although the ar-
rangement is restricted to sixty days, we venture to prophesy
that its character will not be changed, and that it will there-
after be renewed."
2 The first bankruptcy law in this country was passed April
4, 1800, but was repealed Dec. 19, 1803. Another bankruptcy
act was passed Aug. 19, 1841, and repealed Feb. 25, 1843. This
was the period of "scrip," or " shinplaster" currency. The
kinds of currency in use in the West were known as " bank
scrip," " canal" and " railroad scrip," " white dog," " blue dog,"
" blue pup," etc.
the same year and in 1847 the potato famine in Ireland
sent to the United States thousands of emigrants, and
in 1848 the revolution on the continent sent thou-
sands more. The potato famine also gave the- United
States a market for grain, and saved them from a
share in the financial troubles of 1847. The repeal
of the Corn Laws in 1846 and the more liberal
tariff adopted by Congress in that year gave wider
scope to industry. Railroads had already been
extended both in the United States and Europe suffi-
ciently to affect production and exchange. The tele-
graph was just coming into general use, and ocean
steam navigation was rapidly extending. Following
close upon this conjunction of circumstances came the
discovery of gold in California in 1848. At once
began a great emigration of adventurous men to the
Pacific slope, and also great speculation in exports
thither. The whole industrial world gained by this
new supply of the medium of exchange, which came
just when it was needed to sustain the new develop-
ment of industry and commerce. The first exchange
of the metal was for food and manufactured articles,
and its djscovery caused a new and sharp demand for
agricultural and manufactured products in St. Louis
and elsewhere. New fields were opened, new fac-
tories built, not in the United States only, but in all
the commercial countries. The new and enlarged in-
dustries brought richer returns than before, both of
wages and profits, not on account of the money, but on
account of the whole industrial expansion, which the
new supply of real money facilitated.
After two or three years of low discount rate and
cheap food, there followed in 1853 rumors of war
and a bad crop in England. This caused high prices
for wheat and a renewed speculation in Western
lands and railroads, which resulted in 1854 in a
crisis and panic -in Wall Street, New York. Some
California traders also found their affairs to be in a
critical condition, but generally the mercantile com-
munity held firm.3 Suddenly, on the 13th of January,
1855, the failure of Page & Bacon, of St. Louis, an
old and highly-esteemed banking-house, with liabil-
ities estimated at several millions of dollars, was an-
nounced. The firm transacted the largest banking
business in the West, and at this time stood towards
the city and county of St. Louis in the relation of
public benefactors.4
3 Professor William G. Sumner.
* The head of the firm was Daniel D. Page, of whom a bio-
graphical sketch is given in the municipal chapter. Henry
D. Bacon, his partner, was born May 3, 1813, at East Gran-
ville, Mass. He entered early in life into commercial pursuits
at Hartford, Conn., and in 1835 removed to the city of St.
BANKS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, AND BANKERS.
1375
The announcement of the suspension of the bank-
ing-house of Page & Bacon created a wide-spread
sensation in the community, which was not diminished,
but rather increased, by the fact that Messrs. Loker,
Louis, where he soon engaged as partner in one of the lead-
ing dry-goods firms of the city. He then entered the iron
trade, which he pursued with good results until his marriage
in 1844 with Miss Julia Page, daughter of .Daniel D. Page,
when he became associated with him in the flour business. He
was a very active and enterprising young man, and at his
suggestion his father-in-law in 1848 consented to open a
banking-house under the firm-name of Page & Bacon, leaving
its management to the more experienced Bacon. The property
of D. D. Page provided a strong backing to the concern, and
the house prospered from the start. The known ability of
Henry D. Bacon increased the confidence of the public, and as
both were leading Democrats, they profited through the oppor-
tunity offered by the Mexican war, under the Democratic ad-
ministration of President Polk, which made St. Louis the dis-
bursing centre of large sums of money for the army. In 1850
they established a branch in California, and in 1854 their ex-
changes amounted to the immense sum of eighty millions of
dollars.
Everything went on well with the firm, and as Duncan, Sher-
man & Co. were their New York agents, both firms made large
gains. In 1849 and 1850, St. Louis took a sudden leap forward.
An immense emigration from Europe, especially from Germany,
forced across the ocean by the collapse of the revolution of 1848,
settled either in St. Louis or in its vicinity. Most of them were
people of means, and with the traditional desire of Germans to
own land, they purchased real estate. The trade in building
lots assumed enormous proportions, and values rose rapidly.
Page & Bacon saw heavy profits in the movement, and at once
started with building up the extensive property of Mr. Page,
selling houses and lots with small cash payments and on long
mortgages at great advantage, and using the funds of the bank
in buying more land. But in 1854 this upward tendency came
to a sudden stop ; sales of land gradually ceased, and Page &
Bacon found themselves unexpectedly in difficulty to meet all
the demands upon them. Early in the fall of that year the
great sugar-refinery of Belcher Brothers in St. Louis, the lar-
gest establishment of its kind then in the country, suspended
payment, and Page & Bacon held a large amount of their dis-
credited paper. Distrust began to creep upon the commercial
community of the city. Bacon saw the storm coming and hur-
ried to New York. He opened negotiations with Duncan,
Sherman & Co., with whom he had been doing a lucrative busi-
ness for seven years. The conference came to a conclusion on
the third day at midnight in Bacon's room in the New York
Hotel, and he was promised that his firm should have a credit
of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars on the strength of the
securities Bacon had to offer, valid mortgages on improved
property in St. Louis. Henry Bacon returned home in bright
spirits, but he was greatly alarmed a few days later when a
telegram informed him that Duncan, Sherman A Co. could not
help them, as they must first look out to protect themselves.
" For God's sake," he telegraphed back, " do not desert us ; if
you do we are ruined, and half of St. Louis with us !" But the
New York house was inexorable, and sent word that a banking-
house had no right to risk its money in real estate or other
speculations. Thereupon Page & Bacon closed their doors.
. The banking-house of Messrs. Duncan, Sherman & Co. failed
in New York in August, 1875, and, singular to note, their fate
was precisely the same as that which overtook their St. Louis
Renick & Co., another banking firm, did not open their
doors. Ordinary business in the city was left unat-
tended to by the citizens, and the public mind seemed
absorbed at first in the public calamity of the stop-
page of Page & Bacon, and afterwards in the run
which commenced on the other banking-houses of the
city. Indeed, Saturday, the 13th of January, 1855,
was a day long to be remembered in the financial
annals of St. Louis. As soon as the banking-houses
were opened in the morning a run on the deposits
commenced, and continued without intermission until
evening. During this time the firm of Lucas &
Simonds paid out upwards of two hundred and sixty
thousand dollars, Louis A. Benoist & Co.1 more than
correspondents twenty years before. As in the case of Page <fc
Bacon, Duncan, Sherman & Co., not six weeks before their
failure, were told by their London correspondents that their
credit would be protected and their paper honored. But on the
27th of July, 1875, they were told that they could not be accom-
modated, as a banking-house had no right to tie up its funds in
cotton and railroad speculations. Like Page & Bacon, they were
also forced to stop business.
Besides many public evidences of the liberality of the firm,
Mr. Bacon showed his generosity personally in many ways.
To his efforts in part is to be attributed the establishment of
the Mercantile Library, which has proved to be of the greatest
use to St. Louis. He contributed forty thousand dollars towards
the erection and furnishing of the Union Presbyterian Church,
and the Webster College and the Home of the Friendless were
also beneficiaries of his bounty. He was among the first of the
enterprising merchants of St. Louis who stepped forward prom-
inently to aid in the construction of the Missouri Pacific Rail-
road when that magnificent enterprise was presented to the
public. His first subscription was the liberal sum of thirty-
three thousand dollars, and afterwards he made advances for
the prosecution of the work to the amount of from one to two
hundred thousand dollars. The Belleville and St. Louis Rail-
road was another evidence of the same liberality. He also
assisted very materially in pushing forward to its destination
the North Missouri Railroad. In advancing to the city and
county of St. Louis large amounts of money to meet their bonds
the firm of Page & Bacon at the time were regarded as public
benefactors. In 1853, knowing the advantage a direct line
through the rich bottom-land of Illinois would prove to St.
Louis, they advanced the necessary sum for the completion of
the greater portion of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad. This
diverted an immense sum of money from their business, and a
pressure shortly after taking place in the.money market, as w
have stated, the firm was compelled on Jan. 13, 1855, to suspend
payment.
1 Louis A. Benoist was born in St. Louis, Aug. 13, 1803. His
father, Francois M. Benoist, was a native of Montreal, Can.,
and his mother was the daughter of Charles Sanguinette, an
early settler. Francois M. Benoist was an Indian-trader, and
removed to St. Louis in 1790. His son Louis A. attended early
in life the school of Judge Tompkins, and at the age of fourteen
went to St. Thomas' Coljege, Kentucky, where he remained for
two years. Returning to St. Louis, he commenced reading
medicine with Dr. Todson. After a trial of two years he re-
linquished medicine and began the study of law in the office of
Horatio Cozens. Soon after this he entered the office of Pierre
1376
'HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
one hundred thousand dollars, and the Boatmen's
Saving Institution one hundred and seven thousand
dollars.
Though the run was apparently upon these insti-
tutions alone, yet the other banking-houses by no
means escaped the visitation. J. J. Anderson & Co.
and E. W. Clark & Brothers, bankers, paid out on
that day larger sums, in proportion to their deposits,
than any other houses in the city, although no crowds
were collected around their doors, as was the case
with other financial institutions. The same was true
of other firms to a smaller extent. It was calculated
by good judges that between seven and eight hundred
thousand dollars of deposits were drawn from the
banking-houses on this eventful day.
To check the panic which was spreading over the
community, and to restore public confidence in the
monetary institutions of the city, on Monday morn-
ing, January 15th, the following guarantee notice
was issued, in which it will be seen that ten of the
wealthiest citizens of St. Louis, believing in the en-
tire ability of these banking-houses to pay every
demand which might be made upon them, pledged
their private property (estimated to be worth over
eight million dollars) to secure the deposits :
" To THE PUBLIC.
" The undersigned, knowing and relying on the ample ability
of the following banking-houses in the city of St. Louis, and
with a view of quieting the public mind in regard to the safety
of deposits made with them, hereby pledge themselves, and
offer as a guarantee their property, to make good all deposits
with either of said banking-houses, to wit : Messrs. Lucas &
Simonds, Bogy, Miltenberger & Co., Tesson and Danjen, L. A.
Provenchere, conveyancer, where he continued his studies. In
1823 he visited Europe to look after some family property, and
on his return was wrecked in the Bay of Biscay, but reached St.
Louis in safety, and opened a broker's office for the sale of prop-
erty, loaning money, etc. He pursued this business for a short
time, and in 1832 opened an exchange and lottery office. This,
it is said, was the first banking-office established in St. Louis.
In 1838 his business increased to such an extent that he estab-
lished a branch in New Orleans under the firm-name of Benoist
& Hackney, which was afterwards, in 1855, known as Benoist,
Shaw & Co. In July, 1847, the St. Louis house of Benoist &
Co. suspended payment, together with the Perpetual Savings
Institution, owing to the tightness of the money market, and
their " inability to convert their debts or funds into such cur-
rency as their depositors could use." Messrs. Benoist A Co.,
however, resumed payment thirty days afterwards. Mr. Benoist's
banking career was a long one, and he amassed a very large
estate, estimated in value at about three millions of dollars. He
was thrice married, his first wife being Miss Barton, of Kas-
kaskia, 111., his second Miss Hackney, of Pennsylvania, and
the third Miss Sarah E. Wilson, daughter of John Wilson, of
New Jersey. Mr. Benoist had twenty children, of whom thir-
teen survived him. He died in Havana on the 15th of January,
1869.
Benoist & Co., John J. Anderson & Co., Darby & Barksdale,
and Boatmen's Savings Institution.
" J. O'Fallon, Ed. AValsh, Louis A. Labeaume, J. B. Brant, L.
M. Kennett, D. A. January, John How, James Harrison,
Andrew Christy, Charles P. Chouteau.
"ST. Louis, Jan. 15, 1855."
The generous manner in which these patriotic and
self-sacrificing citizens stepped forward to sustain the
credit of their city, with no motive save the city's
good, showed plainly the broad basis on which the
prosperity of St. Louis was founded and restored con-
fidence completely. Indeed, no more pleasing event
has ever happened in the commercial history of the
country. These noble men volunteered their private
fortunes for the purpose of protecting the character
and standing of their city, both as to her commercial
credit and the quiet of the community, and no one
could require stronger evidence of the entire safety
of his or her funds in the threatened banks. The
guarantee provided, together with the prompt pay-
ment by the bankers of every deposit called for on
January 16th, restored confidence completely, and for
the remainder of the week, though money was very
scarce, every one seemed comparatively cheerful and
energetic. The crisis, though it seemed for a time
about to result in a fearful public calamity, was in
reality productive of much good, for it developed
resources in St. Louis which before were latent and
not suspected by many of the citizens. It showed
also that the finances of the city were founded on a
substantial basis, and that they were fully able to
withstand a storm. But, above all, it exhibited the
noble character of the wealthy citizens in a clear and
brilliant light, and as the news of the crisis, and of
its issue, spread over the country, St. Louis assumed
a prouder and loftier position than she had ever attained
in the eyes of the commercial world.
The houses which had survived the " run" pro-
ceeded to business with renewed vigor and added
stability and strength, and the two firms which had
suspended made immediate preparations to resume at
an early day. Messrs. Page & Bacon paid all their
drafts, after the 15th of January, at the Bank of
America, in New York, with interest and cost of pro-
test, and on February 17th announced that they
would " resume the regular business" of their office
on the 19th. At the time named the banking-house
fully resumed business operations, but in consequence
of the failure of their branch bank in San Francisco^
and their drafts going to protest in New York, the
partners of the parent bank in St. Louis determined
to suspend operations, which they did finally on
April 4th.
BANKS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, AND BANKERS.
1377
On the 24th of August, 1857, the failure of the
Ohio Life and Trust Company, of Cincinnati, an old
and highly- esteemed institution, with liabilities for
seven million dollars, was announced. This incident
passed without causing any general alarm, but the banks
well knew what it meant. They reduced their loans
in New York City from August 22d to October 17th
nearly one-half, and this produced a crisis. A large
number of failures of banks and firms, especially
brokers, produce dealers, and persons depending on
Western collections, took place in September. Bills
on the seaboard were hardly obtainable in the interior
at ten and fifteen per cent, premium. On the 12th
and 13th of September the banks of Philadelphia,
Washington, Baltimore, and many interior towns sus-
pended. Stocks fell forty or fifty per cent., and twenty
thousand persons were thrown out of work in New
York City within a fortnight. On the 13th of October
the New York banks (with one exception) suspended ;
the New England banks followed immediately.
The crisis in St. Louis was perhaps more intense
than in any other city of the country. The news
from Philadelphia and Baltimore of the suspension
of the banks id those cities was announced in the
newspapers on September 28th, and was not without
its effect on the money market. Immediately after
the banks opened for business the "run" on them for
specie payments began. The consequence was that the
house of Darby & Barksdale closed about ten o'clock,
and very soon thereafter that of J. J. Anderson &
Co. suspended payments. There were unusual de-
mands upon the other banking-houses of the city, but
they were promptly met. An excessive " run" also
occurred upon the banking-house of James H. Lucas
& Co., which was then doing the largest banking busi-
ness of any house in the West. The senior member
of the firm was one of the wealthiest men in the city,
and as his failure would have proven a public calamity
at this time, eighteen generous gentlemen of large
means, and of the highest character for honesty and in-
tegrity, without solicitation from any quarter, pledged
their private property to secure the depositors of the
banking-house against all loss. The guarantee was as
follows :
"The undersigned, believing that there is nothing in the con-
dition of affairs to justify a want of confidence on the part of
the community in the solvency of the several banking-houses
of St. Louis, do hereby, in order to allay the apprehensions of
depositors and to prevent the inconveniences which might re-
sult from a run on their depositories (without intending by
their action to intimate a distrust of any other hous«), guaran-
tee and assure to all persons having accounts with the banking-
house of James H. Lucas & Co. the safety of their respective
deposits.
" AVitness the hands and seals of the undersigned this 28th of
September, 1857, at St. Louis, Mo.
" James E. Yeatman, James Harrison, John How, R. J. Lock-
wood, Edward J. Gay & Co., Ed. Walsh, J. 0' Fallen, John
H.Gay, M. Brotherton, W. Renshaw, Jr., J. S. McCune,
D. A. January & Co., D. H. Armstrong, Chas. K. Dickson,
Thomas T. Gantt, AVni. M. McPherson, James B. Eads,
Chas. Tillman."
Another paper of the same character, guaranteeing
the safety of all deposits in the banking-house of
Renick & Peterson, was also issued and signed by
Samuel Gaty, R. Campbell, Edward Walsh, John How,
Charles K. Dickson, Thos. T. Gantt, J. J. Murdoch,
0. D. Filley, G. F. Filley, J. B. Sickles, Livermore,
Cooley & Co., W. Renshaw, Jr., W. H. Ben ton, and H.
Crittenden. These gentlemen were known to be men of
wealth ; at the same time they were prudent and were
able to carry out their pledge, and would have done
so if it had been required of them.
After what had transpired on Monday, the 28th of
September, there was great anxiety to see what would
be the result of the panic on Tuesday. The Repub-
lican of the 30th thus details the financial proceed-
ings of the day :
" It was apprehended that a run would be made on the
bankers and savings institutions, notwithstanding the guaran-
tees given to two of the banking-houses by some of the leading
capitalists of the city and the acknowledged solvency of the
whole of them. At the hour of opening an unusual number of
persons was observed upon Main Street and on the cross streets
leading to it. The first thing that attracted attention was a
notice at the door of the banking-house of Bogy, Miltenberger
& Co. that the house had temporarily suspended business, and
that it would not be opened.
" The seekers after gold were early on the street in front of
the banking-house of James H. Lucas & Co., where they were
soon joined by a number of idlers and curiosity-mongers.
Those who had deposits in this house were not overmodest in
making demands for specie, and from nine to nearly eleven
o'clock the tellers were busily employed in paying checks.
"Another class of depositors was not slow in paying their
respects to the gentlemen who managed the German Savings
Institution, in the Merchants' Exchange block. There was
quite a rush upon them, and this was kept up for an hour or
two, when all demands for specie from affrighted depositors
ceased. While these things were going on in Main Street,
another set of depositors were paying their respects to the
Boatmen's Savings Institution, at the corner of Pine and Sec-
ond Streets. For a time, say an hour or two, the young gen-
tlemen whose province it is to honor drafts upon this institu-
tion were a good deal exercised, and the coin passed out pretty
freely ; but by the time they had fairly got their bands in the
demand was exhausted, and they had nothing unusual to do
for the balance of the day. Passing up Main Street, a few
stragglers were noticed in the banking-house of L. A. Benoist
& Co., but the serenity of the gentleman who manages that
concern was not disturbed, and he rarely took his hands out of
his pockets.
" Still farther up the street, the State Savings had no calls
for specie from importunate or suspicious depositors, and dis-
counts were made and the usual business carried on as if they
had no knowledge of any undue excitement in the city."
1378
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Mercantile failures now commenced and followed
each other day by day, the panic increasing with re-
newed force as each suspension was announced, and
as money was locked up by any one who could get
and keep it, the pressure for money in the city was
very great. There was an abundance of " currency,"
but this had ceased to be available in the payment of \
debts where specie funds were required, and for this
reason, on October 3d, Messrs. Chouteau, Harrison &
Valle, one of the largest and most important business
houses, temporarily suspended payment. This was an
event that was not expected, and it added fuel to the
panic. As a consequence, many of the leading houses
in St. Louis were compelled to suspend business, and
thousands of persons were thrown out of employ-
ment. On the following day the banking-house of
E. W. Clark & Brothers was compelled to tempora-
rily suspend cash payments. This was followed on
the 5th by the suspension of the great banking-house
of James H. Lucas & Co., which had been struggling
for several weeks to withstand the unexampled mone-
tary pressure. The Republican in announcing this
failure said, —
" It needed only the stoppage of this banking-house of James
H. Lucas & Co. to wind up the financial horrors with which
this city has been overwhelmed within the past three weeks.
Business houses have suspended to the surprise of everybody,
banking-houses supposed to be equally sound with that of
Lucas & Co. have gone down, and confusion has been increased ;
but when the house of James H. Lucas & Co. was forced to
suspend yesterday by the continual run upon it, as regular as
the rain which fell throughout the day, men were amazed and
scarcely knew what to think. The case is an extraordinary one.
For at least thirty days the house had endured a regular, cease-
less draft upon it for coin. There was not a man, in all proba-
bility, who did not believe that his money was perfectly safe
with them, but the great majority of depositors, either to answer
the importunities of friends or to be sure that the gold was in
their clutches, resolved to check it out, and it was done. We
assume that a million of dollars of current deposits were thus
extracted by little and little, and yesterday, between one and two
P.M., the doors were closed. We need not say that we regret
this suspension. There is hardly a man in the community who
will not do it. To nearly all it was a matter of surprise that
such an event should occur at all, even in such inauspicious
times. But when it is considered that the house was doing an
immense business, that it had daily transactions over the coun-
try, that in the sudden and extraordinary pecuniary panic
through which we are now passing losses must necessarily be
incurred, and with a run upon all banking-houses, indicating
a general want of confidence, however ungenerous that feeling
may have been, it is not surprising that even this strong house
should have been forced to yield to the storm. The members
of the firm have, it is certain, the warmest sympathies of the
people of St. Louis."
On October 6th an unexampled run was made on ;
the Boatmen's Savings Institution, which was con- \
tinued until night. The capacity of the bank was -
not impaired by this demonstration, as the amount
paid out hardly made an impression on the funds then
in its vaults, and specie funds were offered it by other
banks, but declined by the managers of the institu-
tion. In consequence of rumors that were circulated
in the city, the bank in the afternoon issued the fol-
lowing " card" :
"BOATMEN'S SAVINGS INSTITUTION,
"Oct. 6, 1857.
" Whereas, there are rumors injurious to this institution, that
a portion of its cash funds are on deposit in other institutions
of this city, the board deem it proper to state that all the cash
funds belonging to it are in its own vaults.
" By order of the board of directors.
"S. BLOOD, President."
On the same day the " Mutual Savings Institu-
tion," located under the Planters' Hotel, at the corner
of Fourth and Pine Streets, suspended. At the State
Bank a steady run was made on it all day. The Ger-
man Savings and the Franklin Savings Institutions,
situated in the Exchange building, suffered a similar
run, but it created no impression on their funds.
Tesson & Danjen, Benoist & Co., Franciscus & Co.,
Renick & Peterson, and other banking-houses were
not much troubled with specie demands.
Thus the panic continued until October 6th, when
a second meeting was held by the leading merchants
of the city at the Exchange room, for the purpose of
receiving the report of Messss. Ranney, Gamier, Ho-
gan, January, Crow, Wall, Gay, Oglesby, King,
Funkhouser, and Tucker, a committee appointed at a
previous meeting " to advise upon the currency ques-
tion." The committee reported the following resolu-
tion, which was adopted :
" Jtesolved, That the committee are unanimously of opinion
that memorials should be generally signed petitioning the Leg-
islature of this State, which convenes on the third Monday in
the month, not to issue any State bonds, except such as previous
legislation makes imperative to be issued, and to pass such a
revenue law as will give to the world the most perfect assurance
that, under any and all circumstances, Missouri will pay her
interest and protect her obligations."
On motion of Mr. Ranney, the following resolution
was also unanimously adopted :
"Resolved, That the business men of St. Louis will continue
to receive for the present the good currency (meaning Illinois
bank-notes, which were thought to be better secured than any
other) afloat in the country in all transactions at par."
In consequence of the action of the merchants, the
following day passed off without any excitement what-
ever. " There was quite a cheerful feeling, and people
seemed to feel that they had reached the turning
point, when financial affairs must improve and greater
activity be infused into every description of busi-
ness."
BANKS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, AND BANKERS.
1379
On October 19th the banking-house of Messrs.
Tesson & Danjen suspended, which was followed on
the 24th by the closing of the Bank of the State of
Missouri. On the 26th the State Bank opened as
usual, but did not pay specie, and with this exception
business was transacted through the day. The Mer-
chants' Bank suspended specie payments as soon as
it opened on Monday morning, the 26th, but the
Southern Bank suffered the run to be made upon it
for an hour, and then the suspension of specie pay-
ments was announced. The Mechanics' Bank sus-
tained the run all day, but, like the others, was forced
in time to succumb to the unexampled monetary
pressure.
This crisis was short, sharp, and severe, but the
recovery was rapid, and the reaction healthful. The
losses were very great, but it was only a bad stumble
in a career of great prosperity, and it simply taught
sobriety and care. The number of bankruptcies in
the United States and Canada was 5123, with $299,-
800,000 liabilities. Fourteen railroads suspended pay-
ment on $189,800,000, and cotton manufacturers
suffered severely by the fall of cotton (sixteen cents
to eight and a half cents) and by the depreciation of
stock.
The Northern and Eastern banks resumed in De-
cember, 1857, and were followed shortly afterwards
by all the other banks in the country. Things went
on until the civil war very much in the old way. The
next panic was in November, 1860. Prosperity and
abundance prevailed everywhere in all the States.
Business of every kind appeared to be conducted
with profit ; the crops had been abundant, and the
banking and currency systems rested upon a solid
foundation. But the election of President Lincoln
was followed by movements towards secession and by
political agitation and excitement. Later in Novem-
ber several States were found to be drifting in the
wake of South Carolina, which was considered the
leader in a movement aiming at secession. A dark
cloud arose to mar the fair prospects of a great nation
engaged in profitable occupations, and there ensued a
shrinkage of business, a contraction of credit, the
reduction of enterprise, and some hoarding of gold.
Prices were lowered, the foreign exchanges fell, and
gold began to be imported. Southern collections be-
came difficult, and then ceased.
The panic set in about the middle of November at
New York with sudden violence. Some of the banks
were speedily embarrassed, and the suspension of all,
or nearly all, was considered inevitable if the panic
continued to the close of Thursday, the 22d of No-
vember. But on Monday, the 19th, a plan for allay-
ing the panic was devised, and was submitted on that
day and the next for the consideration of the bank
officers, who adopted it in general meeting on Wednes-
day, the 21st. It was at once carried into effect, with
wonderful success. People who had drawn out specie
at once returned it to the banks, and the day, that was
expected to bring on general bankruptcy only wit-
nessed universal rejoicing. Not so, however, in St.
Louis, where all the banks, with the exception of the
Exchange Bank, suspended payment on November
26th. They resumed shortly after, but during the
winter the Southern States seceded and the political ex-
citement increased. In April, 1861, the progress of
the secession movement caused great uneasiness in
financial circles, but on the 24th of that month the
bank officers again united as before and prevented
any panic worthy of note.1
On October 14th the banks of St. Louis created
quite a stir in the community by deciding not to receive
or pay out the notes of the Union Bank of Missouri.
The initiative was taken by the State Bank, which
was followed by the others. On the following day
a meeting of the bank presidents was called at the
instance of the Merchants' Bank, " to determine on a
lirie of policy to be pursued by these institutions
towards each other." The State Bank, Merchants',
Southern, Mechanics', and St. Louis were represented
at the meeting. A resolution was adopted for a set-
tlement of balances each day, the notes of each bank
being received and paid out indiscriminately. This
resolution was agreed to by all the banks represented
except the Bank of St. Louis, which, in consequence
of the seizure of some one hundred and thirty-four
thousand dollars of its coin by the military authori-
ties, did not feel itself warranted in abiding by the
resolution.2
1 On the 20th of September, 1861, the following notice was
published :
" Subscriptions Invited to the National Loan. — Pursuant to
instructions from the Secretary of the Treasury, a book will be
opened on the 24th day of September, 1861, at the office of the
assistant treasurer in St. Louis, for subscriptions, under my
superintendence, for treasury notes, to be issued under the act
of July 17, 1861. BKN. FARRAR,
" Assistant Treasurer United States, St. Louis, Mo."
2 The coin referred to was taken possession of by an officer
of the army in the branch bank at Boonville, 111., and was
transferred by him into the hands of the United States Ex-
press Company, with instructions to deposit it with the sub-
treasurer in St. Lous. The sub-treasurer refused to receive
it, and the express officer then made a special deposit of it in
the Mechanics' Bank, where it remained for some time, as none
of the army officers were willing to take the responsibility of
restoring it at this time to the bank. In a short time, how-
ever, the specie was returned to the owners.
1380
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
In consequence of this action on the part of the St.
Louis Bank, its paper on the 16th was rejected at the
several banks. This proceeding was followed on the
next day by similar action on the part of several of
the other banks. The State Bank received and paid
out Southern and Mechanics' Bank bills, while the
Merchants' refused the Mechanics', but took the
Southern Bank notes, as they had agreed to do. The
Mechanics' then retaliated on the Merchants' by
throwing out its paper. This state of affairs con-
tinued until the 19th, when the misunderstanding
between the Merchants' and Mechanics' Banks was
removed, and they received each other's paper as for-
merly. The paper of the State, Mechanics', Mer-
chants', and Southern Banks constituted at this time
the only circulating medium in the city.1
The final panic at New York preceding the suspen-
sion of specie payments on Dec. 30, 1861, was very
slight, the banks having suspended before the public
had become aware of there being any pressing neces-
sity for it. In the interior, where State banks were
issuing notes on security of stocks of the seceding
States, many banks failed, and there was much dis-
tress among the people. The year 1862 consequently
opened with a general suspension of specie payments
by the banks in all parts of the country, and on Feb.
25, 1862, Congress authorized the issue of one hun-
dred and fifty millions of "greenback" legal tender
notes. The first issue of legal tenders was in April.
As they were issued gold rose, and all specie disap-
peared. On July llth one hundred and fifty mil-
lion dollars more legal tenders were voted, and the
provision of the act of February 25th. for funding
them in six per cent, bonds was omitted.2
1 On the 31st of July, 1861, the assistant finance commissioner
of the State made an official report on the condition of the State
bank-note circulation, from which it appears that the entire out-
standing circulation of all the banks in the State was $8,021,000.
Of this account the discredited or partially discredited banks
had a circulation of $4,609,405, divided as follows: St. Louis,
$472,110; Mechanics', $831,635; Western, $597,045; Southern,
$715,070; Union, $1,067,510; Farmers', $926,035. This would
leave for the circulation of the remaining banks, Exchange,
Merchants', and State Banks, $3,411,595, which was the local
capital upon which the business of the city and State was con-
ducted. The savings institutions (leaving out the brokers) had
a deposit account of over $3,000,000.
J In consequence of the discovery of extensive gold deposits
at Pike's Peak, in Colorado, and the Salmon River regions, a
meeting was held on May 26, 1862, at the Union Merchants'
Exchange, " to take into consideration measures for establishing
in St. Louis a United States Branch Mint." Mr. Partridge
called the meeting to order, when Clinton B. Fisk read a pre-
amble and resolution, and the following memorial to Congress.
which were adopted. The memorial was circulated throughout
the city and State for signatures, and was afterwards submitted
to Congress :
In January, 1862, the highest price of gold was
three and three-quarters premium, and when a second
issue of legal tender notes was authorized (July llth),
it sold at a premium of twenty per cent. In January,
1863, another issue of one hundred million dollars of
the notes was authorized, when gold rose to fifty per
cent, premium. June 20, 1864, gold trading was
forbidden. Gold rose from 199, on the 21st, to 230
on the 23d, and fell to 207 again. The act was re-
pealed July 2d. Gold reached its highest point, 285,
in July. 1864, the paper dollar being worth a little
more than thirty-five cents in coined money. One
week after the Confederate forces east of the Missis-
sippi, on May 11, 1865, had surrendered, the pre-
mium on gold was as low as twenty-eight and a half
per cent.
The act of July 17, 1862, provided for the issue of
stamps to be used as " change,1' but they were incon-
venient, and the act of March 3, 1863, provided for
fifty million dollars of fractional notes.3
" To the President and Members of the Senate and House of
Representative*, in Congress of the United States:
" Your memorialists would represent that since the recent dis-
covery and partial development of the rich gold deposits at
Pike's Peak and Colorado, and the Salmon River regions, St.
Louis has become the depository of much of the crude products
of these mines. Several organizations, with abundant supplies
for the further exploration and development of said mines, are
now en route for the northwest from this city and vicinity.
" The Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers afford accessible com-
munication by steamboat to within one hundred and twenty
miles of the richest mines of the Rocky Mountains. The
Pacific Railroad, the early completion of which we now hope
for, will open to St. Louis direct communication with the rich
gold districts of the Sierra Nevada and Pike's Peak. The rich
treasures of these mines will naturally flow back by these routes
into the lap of St. Louis. Our great city, being situated in the
geographical centre of this continent, reaching out her arms by
her rivers and railroads to every extremity of the nation, makes
her, by her providential location, not only the great centre of the
commerce of the Mississippi valley, but of the United States.
"In view, therefore, of these considerations, and in order to
the speedy convertibility of the crude products of these mines
into coin, your memorialists pray your honorable body to estab-
lish a branch mint in the city of St. Louis, Mo., and, as in duty
bound, your petitioners will ever pray."
3 The following general order was issued in St. Louis in Sep-
tember, 1862 :
"OFFICE OF THE PROVOST-MARSHAL-GENERAL,
"DISTRICT OF MISSOURI AND IOWA.
"ST. Louis, Sept. 15, 1862.
"GENERAL ORDER No. 1.
"All banks, bankers, banking institutions, brokers, and all
persons, natural or politic, doing a banking business, or any
branch thereof, wholly or partially within this district, are
hereby notified and warned that all transfers and assignments
of stock, certificates in the nature of stock, certificates of de-
posit, money, or currency used as money, or any other credits
or effects, made by the following persons, that is to say:
BANKS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, AND BANKERS.
1381
On the 25th of February, 1863, the National Bank
Act was passed, authorizing $300,000,000 of bank
capital to be distributed, half of it according to bank-
ing capital, and half of it according to population.
An act approved July 12, 1870, added $54,000,000,
and provided for withdrawing and redistributing an
excess above the quota held in New York and the
East. This last was found impracticable. The act
of Jan. 14, 1875, removed all restrictions. On Oct.
5, 1865, there were sixty-six national banks in opera-
tion. The system rapidly absorbed nearly all the
banks. The law required that country banks should
hold fifteen per cent, of their circulation and deposits-
in greenbacks, and that the banks in the large re-
demption cities should hold twenty-five per cent.
The banks were afterwards allowed to count their
reserves with their redemption agents as part of this
reserve up to three-fifths of the required amount.
The act of June 20, 1874, did away with this re-
serve, as far as circulation was concerned, and substi-
tuted a five per cent, reserve to be kept at Washing-
ton, where the redemption takes place.
The act of June 30, 1864, limited the amount of
greenbacks to $400,000,000, and such part of $50,-
000,000 more as might be needed to redeem tem-
porary loans. A general resolution in favor of con-
traction and resumption passed Dec. 18, 1865, and a
measure allowing the Secretary of the Treasury to
withdraw $10,000,000 in six months, and thereafter
$4,000,000 per month, was adopted April 14, 1866.
The crisis in England in the spring of 1866, and the
war on the continent in the summer of that year, caused
some stringency in the United States, and set the gold
premium in activity. In February, 1868, McCulloch's
contraction was suspended by order of Congress. He
had reduced the greenbacks to $356,000,000, at which
" 1st. Persons holding any office, civil or military, under the
government called the government of the Confederate States
of America.
" 2d. Persons holding any office, civil or military, under the
government of any of said Confederate States.
" 3d. Persons who have in any manner assisted or given aid
and comfort to the said Confederate States, or any of them, dur-
ing the present rebellion against the authority of the United
States, are all absolutely null and void; and all banks, bankers,
banking institutions, brokers, and all persons, natural or
politic, doing a banking business, or any branch thereof, wholly
or partially within this district, are forbidden to recognize or
give effect to any such transfer or assignment, or to pay any
money, or transfer any credit, by reason of any check, draft,
bill of exchange, or order drawn or made by any person claim-
ing to be the proprietor, owner, or assignee of any such stock,
money, credits, certificates or effects, or the proceeds thereof.
" By order of Brig. Gen. SCHOFIELD.
(Signed) " THOMAS T. GANTT,
" Provost- Marshal- General."
point they stood until October, 1872, when Mr. Bout-
well, who affirmed that the $44,000,000 so withdrawn
were under his control, issued $5,000,000 of them to
correct a stringency in Wall Street. These were
withdrawn during the winter, and the sum remained
$356,000,000 until the crisis of 1873, when it was
raised to. $382,000,000. The act of Jan. 14, 1875,
made that sum the limit, allowed national banks to
be formed to any extent, and authorized them to issue
notes for ninety per cent, of the bonds deposited.
Greenbacks to the amount of eighty per cent, on the
additional notes issued were to be withdrawn until
greenbacks were reduced to $300,000,000.1
The phenomena of excessive issues of paper money
during the years 1863, 1864, and 1865 were pecu-
liarly impressive. Prices frequently rose and fell
from rapid fluctuations in the volume of the issues as
well as from the vicissitudes of war.2
1 The case of Hepburn vs. Griswold, involving the constitu-
tionality of the Legal Tender Act as to contracts made before
its passage, was decided by the United States Supreme Court in
conference Nov. 27, 1869, by the chief justice and seven asso-
ciates. One of these, Judge Grier, resigned Feb. 1, 1870, and
the decision against the constitutionality of the act as applied
to the contracts mentioned was announced February 7th. Judge
Strong was appointed Feb. 18, 1870, and Judge Bradley March
21, 1870. The re-argument of Knox vs. Lee, involving the
decision just mentioned, took place in December, 1870. Judge
Miller read the decision of the majority affirming the constitu-
tionality of the law, Chase, Nelson, Clifford, and Field dissent-
ing.— Professor William G. Sumner, "First Century of the
Republic," p. 258 ; 8 Wallace, United States Reports, p. 626 ;
12 Wall. 457, and note, p. 528.
* The following is a copy of an act passed by the Legislature
of Missouri, entitled " An Act relative to railroad directors or
other officers, bank directors or other officers, and directors or
other officers or trustees of any incorporated company or insti-
tution," approved March 23, 1863 :
" Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Mis-
souri as follows :
"SECTION 1. That all railroad directors and officers, bank
directors and officers, and all officers of all incorporated com-
panies, or of any incorporated institutions in this State, before
entering upon their duties as such officers or directors, shall
take and subscribe an oath in form as follows :
"'I, A. B., do on oath (or affirmation) declare that I have
not at any time since the 17th day of December, A.D. 1861,
willfully taken up arms or levied war against ^he United States,
nor against the provisional government of the State of Missouri,
nor have willfully adhered to the enemies of either, whether
domestic or foreign, by giving aid and comfort or countenance
thereto, but have always in good faith opposed the same; and,
further, I will support, protect, and defend the Constitution of
the United States, and of the State of Missouri, against all
enemies and opposers, whether domestic or foreign, any ordi-
nance, laws, or resolutions of any State Convention or Legisla-
ture, or of any order or organization, secret or otherwise, to the
contrary notwithstanding; and that I do this with an honest
purpose, pledge, and determination faithfully to perform the
same without any mental reservation or evasion whatever, and
1382
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Suffering and distress prevailed among the poor
and all who were dependent on fixed incomes. There
were stupendous speculations in gold, in stocks and
commodities and property, and sudden acquisitions of
wealth from these speculations, as well as from gov-
ernment contracts, with heavy losses and depressions
in many branches of trade and industry. Since the
close of the war, the panic of 1869, from a great
speculation in gold,1 and that of 1873, from the
breaking down of new railroad enterprises, have been
the most notable.
The stringency which had occurred in the fall of
1871 and 1872 was significant of the approaching
absorption by expanding credit of the legally limited
amount of paper currency. In the summer of 1873
the granger agitation in the West frightened investors
from railroad bonds and crippled the enterprises which
depended on the continuance of these investments for
funds. The rebuilding of Chicago and Boston had
also caused a great absorption of circulating capital.
On the 8th of September the New York Warehouse
and Security Company failed, and its suspension was
followed by that of one or two firms involved by
railroad construction. Confidence in persons known
to be burdened in this way was impaired, and a run
on them for deposits began. On the 18th of Septem-
ber, Jay Cooke & Co. succumbed to this demand, and
a panic followed. The country depositors began a
that I will faithfully demean myself while in office,' which
said oath or affirmation shall be filed in the office of the clerk
of the county court for the county where the said directors or
other officers or trustees reside within ten days after taking said
oath or affirmation.
"Sec. 2. All railroad directors and officers, bank directors
and officers, all officers of all incorporated companies, or of any
incorporated institution, who shall fail to take and subscribe to
the foregoing oath or affirmation on or before the 1st day of
April, A.D. 1863, shall vacate their office as said directors or
officers, and the vacancy occasioned shall be filled by appoint-
ment or election under existing laws.
"SEC. 3. Any person who shall falsely take, or having taken,
shall thereupon willfully violate the oath prescribed in the first
section of this act, shall, upon conviction thereof by any court
of competent jurisdiction, be adjudged guilty of the crime of
perjury, and shall be punished therefor in accordance with ex-
isting laws. An>l it shall be the duty of the judges of all
courts having criminal jurisdiction under the laws of this State
specially to charge the grand juries in the counties in which
said courts shall be held respectively, and of all grand juries,
in the performance of their duties under the laws of this State,
specially to inquire concerning the commission of any act of
perjury mentioned in the first section of this act. This act to
take eflect from and after its passage."
1 In September, 1869, a corner in gold was made, which ter-
minated in the panic of September 23d, known in history as
"Black Friday," when the Secretary of the Treasury inter-
vened by a sale of gold to pat a stop to the proceedings of a
clique of speculators.
" run" on their banks, the country banks called for
their balances, and the city banks called their funds
in from the brokers. On the 20th the Union Trust
Company of New York suspended, and two or three
other banks and trust companies followed in quick
succession. The panic on the New York Exchange
was so great that it was closed, and remained so for
ten days. The Gold Exchange closed on Monday, the
22d, with gold at 112.
The financial storm did not break upon St. Louis
until late in September. To prevent a panic and
business failures a meeting of bank presidents and
other members of the Clearing House Association
was called at the rooms of the association on Sep-
tember 25th, and the following resolutions were unan-
imously adopted :
"Resolved, 1st, That, for the protection of our commercial
interests and for the purpose of preventing a drain of currency
from the banks of this city, we do hereby agree to adopt sub-
stantially the plan adopted in New York, viz. : we will not pay
out currency or checks except for small sums, to be optional
with the banks upon which they are drawn, but we will certify
checks drawn on balances in our banks payable through the
Clearing-House only.
" 2d, That the committee of management of the St. Louis
Clearing-House Association are hereby authorized and directed
to issue immediately Clearing-House certificates in sums of five
hundred dollars each to an amount not exceeding two million
dollars. Said certificates shall be used for the purpose of
settling balances between the banks composing the Clearing-
House Association, and each bank should be entitled to an
amount of said certificates equal to its pro rata of clearings
during the past quarter; such certificates so issued to be se-
cured by a deposit of ample collateral with a special committee
of five bank officers to be selected by the president of the Clear-
ing-House Association.1
"3d, That the deposit of collateral with said committee shall
consist of United States bonds, bonds of this city and county,
such commercial paper and such other securities as the com-
mittee in their judgement consider proper and satisfactory, and
the committee shall fix the valuation at which the securities
shall be taken.
"•1th, That these resolutions shall remain in force only until
the 1st of November next."
The leading merchants of the city considered
this movement of the banks as being commendable
and prudent in the highest degree, and as having
a direct tendency to prevent a panic and business
failures. Immediately after the adjournment of the
meeting a general suspension of the St. Louis banks
and banking-houses took place, and a run upon them
* The committee appointed in accordance with the second
resolution was as follows : John R. Lionberger, president Third
National Bank; AVilliam H. Scudder, vice-president State Sav-
ings Institution; James II. Britton, president National Bank
of Missouri; Robert Barth, of Angelrodt & Bartb ; C. D. Block,
president Fourth National Bank ; and R. J. Lackland, president
Boatmen's Savings-Bank.
BANKS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, AND BANKERS.
1383
was thus prevented. As a consequence currency be-
came very scarce, and Mayor Brown in a message to
the City Council recommended that the city issue its
warrants as a measure of relief for existing financial
embarrassments. The City Council entertained the
proposition favorably, and with curious unanimity on
September 29th passed an ordinance providing for an
issue of three hundred thousand dollars in municipal
" shinplasters." The new scrip was immediately pre-
pared, and on November 6th the first installment of
one hundred and five thousand dollars was put into
circulation. The notes were of three denominations,
one dollar, two dollars, and three dollars, and the en-
graving and printing were finely executed. They
were printed on a superior quality of bank-note paper,
in four colors. The back of the notes was brown in
color, from which circumstance they came to be known
as " brown-backs." In general appearance they were
similar, but each was embellished with a different de-
sign. They read :
"STATE OP MISSOURI,
"ST. Louis, Nov. 1, 1873.
" The city of St. Louis hereby promises to pay to bearer at
the city treasury one (two or three) dollar. This note is re-
ceivable for all city taxes, licenses, and other municipal dues.
"JOSEPH BROWN, Mayor,
"SAMUEL PEPPER, Comptroller,
"A. GEISEL, Treasurer."1
The panic of 1873 was allayed in New York by
the union of the banks, as in 1860 and 1861, although
not without serious disasters incident to a shrinkage in
values estimated at three hundred millions of dollars
within four weeks, principally in the obligations of i
railroad enterprises, which had been placed upon the
market to an extent far exceeding the immediately
available financial resources ef the country. The re-
vulsion was precipitated by a falling off in the demand
for American railway securities in other countries.
Happily, the course pursued by the bank officers in
New York and other cities was effectual in preserving
the industry, trade, and commerce of the country from
a catastrophe that threatened at one time to overwhelm
the economical interests of the people. The suspen-
sion of paper payments by the banks continued until
Nov. 22, 1873.
In the summer of 1877 considerable depression
was felt in commercial circles in St. Louis, which
seriously affected the banking institutions of the city.
1 In 1861 the city issued similar warrants, but it would have
•been better if they had never been issued. Seven years after-
wards frauds connected with the issue were discovered, but the
full extent of them was never completely developed. Some
officials estimate that the city lost by the first transaction about
•one hundred thousand dollars.
With the decrease of business the banks became
crippled in their resources, and in consequence of fail-
ing securities a considerable amount of depreciated
real estate came into their possession. The banks
could not realize upon this class of assets in time to
meet the demands of their clamorous depositors, and
when the crisis came a number of the small savings
institutions were forced to suspend business.
The German Bank, then located at the corner of
Fifth and Market Streets, was the first to suspend, on
July 10, 1877. The announcement of the failure of
this institution, though not altogether unexpected
among the well informed in the community, was a
surprise to the public at large. On the 14th, soon
after the beginning of banking hours, crowds began to
gather at the numerous small banking-houses, and a
run was made on them by frightened depositors, who
were determined to withdraw their money. As a
consequence the Butchers' and Drovers' Bank, at the
corner of Fifth and Morgan Streets, soon went into
liquidation, and its suspension was followed on the 16th
by the closing of the North St. Louis Savings Associ-
ation, situated at the southeast corner of Fourth and
Morgan Streets, and of the Bank of St. Louis. The
suspension of the Bank of St. Louis appears to have
been directly the result of the failure of the North
St. Louis Savings Association. At the same time a
slight run was made on the Boatmen's, but the with-
drawals amounted to scarcely more than a trifle for
that wealthy institution. A number of the most sub-
stantial citizens offered this bank liberal assistance if
it needed it, one gentleman making a proffer of one
hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars cash ; but
the Boatmen's Bank declined these kind offers, as it
felt fully able to satisfy all the demands that might be
made upon it. The Provident Savings Association,
the Union Savings, the German Savings, the Broad-
way Savings, the Biddle Market Bank, and a number
of other banks sustained something of a " run," but
cheerfully paid all deposits on demand.
At the close of business on the 16th of July the
run had about ceased, and although quiet prevailed in
banking circles, on the 17th another moneyed institution
closed its doors. The Bremen Savings- Bank opened
as usual on that day, but in the face of a pressing
demand for more money than it had at hand, it sus-
pended about ten o'clock.
The failure of this bank ended the financial crash
of 1877. The suspensions fell like a thunderbolt
upon a great number of small depositors, frugal, trust-
ful, hard-working men and women, whose little all,
representing years of toil at the market-stall or the
wash-tub, was swept away.
1384
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
The act of Congress of Jan. 14, 1875, specified
Jan. 1, 1879, as the day for the resumption of specie
payments by the national banks, and at the time
named all the banks resumed, and to-day the country
is enjoying unexampled prosperity.
The extent of the commercial interests of St. Louis
is plainly indicated by the strength and proportions
of her banking business. A larger capital is em-
ployed in banking in St. Louis than in any other city
in the country of approximate size. Notwithstanding
the enormous capital invested the business has been
uniformly profitable, and while the number and
strength of the banks have increased year by year,
the wonderful development of the commercial and
manufacturing interests of the city, has kept the
money employed.
At one time St. Louis received calls from some of
the Southern States for large amounts of money. This
demand was sufficient to absorb all the money that
the banks could spare during the entire season of
moving the cotton crop. It was a profitable business,
as the margins were liberal aod the borrowers were
able to offer the very highest grade of commercial
paper. Since the war, with the opening up of new
channels of trade, this class of banking business has
changed somewhat. Then, again, the commerce of
certain of these States is so disturbed that St. Louis
bankers noted for conservatism refuse to accept any
paper offered from them unless it is well secured.
AGGREGATE STATEMENT OP THE TWENTY-FOUR BANKS IN ST.
national banks on the 3Qth December, 1822, — compared
Chase, manager of the Clearing-Houie.
Therefore this old channel for the employment of bank-
ing capital is temporarily closed. Yet the grain trade,
the flour interest, the cotton traffic, and other elements
of St. Louis commerce have increased so largely that
the bankers have been able to employ their immense
resources safely and profitably. In view of this
success under conditions somewhat unfavorable, the
banks properly feel assured of the future. There is
no other section of country in the world that is re-
cuperating and advancing commercially so rapidly as
the South. The influence that the prosperity of Texas
and Arkansas has had upon St. Louis is well known.
There is not a branch of trade in the city that has not
been benefited by it, and the banking business has had
its share. With the further progress of prosperity
in the South, and with continued commercial activity,
there will be a greater demand for the employment
of banking capital than has ever been known in
St. Louis, and this will no doubt necessitate an in-
crease on even the enormous resources now in the
hands of existing banks, if it does not call for the
establishment of other banking institutions. For a
generation past St. Louis has been renowned for the
strength of her banks.
The leading institutions of this class have long held
a high rank among the very best banks of the United
States, and the representative bankers of St. Louis
have enjoyed a wide reputation as enterprising, saga-
cious, and prudent financiers.
Louis, — eighteen State banks on the \5th December, 1882, find «>jt
with statement of 31«< December, 1881, as exhibited by Edward
Dec. 31, 1881.
Dec. 15 and 30,
1882.
DIFFERENCES.
Capital and surplus
$11,696,063
$13,492,964
Increase. ..
$1,796,901
7,863,391
8,901,522
1 038,131
Current deposits
35,479,737
32,827,489
Decrease...
2,652,248
1,448,590
632,850
«
815,740
Liabilities
$56,487,781
$55,854,825
$632,956
Bonds to secure circulation
$1,610,000
$710,000
Decrease...
$900000
Good loans and bonds
41,578,226
39 898,252
a
1 679 974
Cash checks, and exchange
5,990,551
7,599 187
1 609 036
6,276,348
6,627,158
350 810
Real estate and other assets
1,U:;2,656
1,020,228
Decrease
12 428
$56,487,781
$55,854,825
Decrease...
$632,956
The Bank of St. Louis, or " the Old Bank of St. i Pratte, Manuel Lisa, Thomas Brady, Bartholomew
Louis," as it is distinctively known, was chartered by
the Territorial Legislature on Aug. 21, 1813, the
commissioners being Auguste Chouteau, John B. C.
Berthold, Samuel Hammond, Rufus Easton, Robert
Simpson, Christian Wilt, and Risdon H. Price.
On the 2d of October, 1813, subscription books
Lucas, Clement B. Penrose, Moses Austin, Bernard i were opened under the supervision of the board of
BANKS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, AND BANKERS.
1385
commissioners, Christian Wilt secretary, as follows :
At St. Louis, by Robert Simpson ; at St. Charles, by
Uriah J. Devore ; at Ste. Genevieve, by Thomas Oli-
ver ; at Mine a Breton, by Moses Austin ; at Cape
Girardeau, by Joseph McFerron ; at New Madrid, by
John La Vallee.
In December, 1814, Thomas F. Riddick, Risdon H.
Price, and John Cromwell, on the part of the com-
missioners, gave the public notice that
" on the 15th of December instant subscription books will be
opened at St. Louis, St. Charles, Herculaneum, Mine a. Breton,
and Ste. Genevieve, in the Missouri Territory, and at Kaskaskia
and Cahokia, in the Illinois Territory, under the direction of
William Smith, Theodore Hunt, and Edward Hempstead, at
St. Louis; Nathaniel Simonds and Jesse Morrison, at St.
Charles ; John W. Honey and Elias Bates, at Herculaneum ;
Moses Austin and William H. Ashley, at Mine a Breton ;
Joseph Pratte and William Shannon, at Ste. Genevieve; Pierre
Menard and AVilliam Morrison, at Kaskaskia ; Nicholas Jarrot
and John Hay, at Cahokia, for the purpose of receiving sub-
scriptions for stock in the Bank of St. Louis. A copy of the
articles of the association will be found in the hands of each of
the commissioners above named, the books to continue open
for three months ; shares at one hundred dollars each."
It was the first bank established in Missouri, and
was organized on Sept. 2, 1816, with the following
directors : Samuel Hammond, William Rector, Ber-
nard Pratte, Risdon H. Price, Moses Austin, Theo-
dore Hunt, E. B. Clemson, Justus Post, Robert
Simpson, Charles N. Hunter, Walter Wilkinson,
Theophilus W. Smith, and Elias Bates. On the 20th
of September, Col. Samuel Hammond was elected
president, and John B. N. Smith cashier. The capi-
tal stock was one hundred thousand dollars.
For over a year the bank was a most popular institu-
tion. It created an extraordinary impetus in business
circles, encouraged the public mind, and was every-
where regarded as a most excellent enterprise. Early
in 1818, however, there was a reaction, caused, it is
said, by speculative and unsafe investments on the
part of the management, and the stockholders and
directors became divided. The antagonism finally
culminated in a rupture in the board, and the seizure
of the bank property by what was known as the
Thomas H. Benton faction among the stockholders.
These proceedings are fully set forth in the subjoined
protest in the interest of the ousted officials, bearing
date Feb. 13, 1818:
" TERRITORY OF MISSOURI. }
' \ »s.
COUNTY OF ST. Louis. )
" I, Joseph V. Gamier, a notary public in and for the county
of St. Louis, in the Territory aforesaid, duly commissioned, at
the request of the president and directors of the Bank of St.
Louis, stating among other things that on Wednesday, the llth
day of February inst., a meeting of the board of directors of
said bank being held at the banking-house of said bank (being
discount day) after the business of the day had been gone
through, a certain resolution was offered by Joshua Pilcher, a
director, supported and seconded by Elias Rector, also a direc-
tor, having for object the removal from office of cashier of said
bank of John B. N. Smith, which being carried in the affirma-
tive by a majority of two (ten of the directors being present),
a motion was made by the said Joshua Pilcher that the board
proceed to the appointment or election of a cashier, which being
also carried, the board proceeded to the election of a cashier,
when, after two ballots without effect, on the third ballot The-
ophilus W. Smith was declared duly elected the cashier of the
said Bank of St. Louis by a majority of four votes, three votes
being in the negative and seven in favor of the said Theophilus
W. Smith. That upon the result of the election being made
known, three of the directors then present, to wit, the said
Joshua Pilcher, Elias Rector, and Robert Simpson, tendered
their resignation as directors of the said bank, which being re-
corded, their seats as directors of the said bank were declared
•vacated, and an entry of the same was made on the minutes of
the proceedings of the said board of directors. That shortly
after a tumultuous assemblage of persons was seen in and about
the banking-house of said bank, instigated, it is supposed by
the said Joshua Pilcher and Elias Rector, in consequence of the
said election and appointment of the cashier as aforesaid, and
for no other cause as is verily believed. That the said Joshua
Pilcher, Elias Rector, Thomas H. Benton, Lieut. James McGun-
negle (of the army of the United States), Thompson Douglass,
Stephen Rector, Thomas Handy, John Little, Jeremiah Con-
nor, Taylor Berry, and Col. Daniel Bissel, also in the army of
the United States, with others, at present unknown, did, as they
also believe, enter the banking-house of the said bank with an
intent forcibly to wrest from the president, directors, and officers
of the said bank the possession thereof; and did actually then
and there pass a resolution to possess themselves of the keys of
the outer doors of the said bank, and did accordingly, or one of
them for the whole and in the name of the whole, actually take
possession of the same, and, having ordered out the subordinate
officers of the bank, did lock up the doors thereof. The said
president and directors further state that the aforesaid Joshua
Pilcher and others did afterwards assemble near the said bank-
ing-house at the counting-room of the said Joshua Pilcher, and
then and there demanded of the president the delivery by him
of the keys of the vault of the same, which being refused, they
did afterwards, on the evening of the same day, again assemble
together, when the following resolution was adopted, to wit:
' Resolved, That a committee of five persons be appointed to
take charge of the keys of the bank and to have the custody of
the banking-house, and deny admittance to the said governing
directors and their officers, and will assist in putting them out
if they gain admittance by any means,' a copy of which was
left by the said Joshua Pilcher and Jeremiah Conner with Eli
B. Clemso/i, the president pro tern., legally appointed by the
president, who was prevented from attending by indisposition.
They, the said Pilcher and Connor, in conjunction with Thomas
H. Benton, having previously declared to the said Theophilus
W. Smith, the cashier of the said bank, that it was their deter-
mined intention to carry the said resolution into effect should
an attempt be made to regain the possession of the said bank
and banking-house, which said declaration and threats thus
made by the said Pilcher, Connor, and Benton, for themselves
and on behalf of the aforementioned Elias Rector, James Mc-
Gunnegle, Thompson Douglass, Stephen Rector, Thomas Hanly,
John Little, Taylor Berry, and Daniel Bissel, the said parties thus
protesting had no doubt and verily believed would be carried
into execution should an attempt be made at regaining the
possession of the said bank and banking-house, whereby and
wherefor all attempts at the same have by the said protesting
1386
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
parties been thought useless and even dangerous. Afterwards,
to wit, on the 12th day of the same month, Theophilus W.
Smith, the cashier of the said bank, made of the said Joshua
Pilcher, Thomas H. Benton, and Jeremiah Connor a demand of
the keys of the said bank, which were denied him ; Col. Eli B.
Clemson, the president pro tern., also made a demand of the keys
aforesaid of the said Joshua Pilcher, and the same were refused
and denied him ; whereby the said president and directors and
the subaltern officers of the said bank have been prevented from
attending to the duties of their respective appointments, to the
great damage, prejudice, and detriment of the said Bank of St.
Louis, the stockholders thereof and all others concerned, either i
directly or indirectly, with the same.
" Whereupon I, the said notary, at the request aforesaid, have
and do hereby protest against the said Joshua Pilcher, Elias
Rector, Thomas H. Benton, James McGunnegle, Thompson
Douglass, Stephen Rector, Thomas Hanly, John Little, Jere-
miah Connor, Taylor Berry, and Daniel Bissel, and all others
concerned, for all the damages, losses, interests, and costs suffered
or to be suffered by the said president and directors of the Bank
of St. Louis, the stockholders in the said bank, whether collec-
tively or in their individual capacity, and all others concerned
in business with the said bank of whatever nature soever, in
consequence of or resulting from the taking possession by the
said Joshua Pilcher, Elias Rector, Thomas H. Benton, James
McGunnegle, Thompson Douglass, Stephen Rector, Thomas
Hanly, John Little, Jeremiah Connor, Taylor Berry, and Daniel
Bissel of the said Bank of St. Louis and the banking-house
thereof, and the keeping out of the same the said president and
directors, and thereby putting a stop to and preventing the
carrying on of the business of the same and exposing it to dis-
order."
Legal proceedings were instituted against those who
took forcible possession of the bank, and on February
20th following it was announced that " the banking-
house of the Bank of St. Louis having been restored
to the possession of the board of directors by the in-
dividuals in whose possession it has unlawfully been,
the public are hereby notified that the bank will be
open for business as usual on Monday, the 23d day
of February inst., at ten A.M. By order of the board.
S. HAMMOND, President."
On March 3d following the opposition party pub-
lished the following protest :
" To THK PUBLIC : Whereas, a notice was given by the presi-
dent and directors of the Bank of St. Louis to the public that
the Bank of St. Louis would open on Monday, the 23d inst., for
the transaction of business ; and whereas that period has passed
without his notification having been complied with, but another
advertisement has been published, notifying the public that the
Bank of St. Louis would remain closed until the 10th March
next, stating among other reasons for such a measure that ' it
is believed' (by the president and directors) 'that a combina-
tion has been formed for the purpose of embarrassing the pro-
ceedings of said bank, which combination still exists,' the un-
dersigned, stockholders in the said bank, being fully satisfied
that no such combination has ever existed, and that this is
only a pretext of the said president and directors to shield
themselves from the imputation such a proceeding was calcu-
lated to draw upon them from the public, and also to give an
additional coloring to the proceedings of the llth and 12th
inst., and being also convinced that no substantial cause exists
for the adoption of such a measure by the said president and
directors, we do therefore most solemnly protest against such a
proceeding on the part of the said president and directors as
calculated materially to injure the interests of the stockholders
in said bank ; we do also further protest against the manner in
which the business of the said bank is at present conducted, by
keeping the doors closed and refusing the payment of their
paper, at the same time receiving payments from many indi-
viduals who are obliged to enter the banking-house by a private
door for that purpose.
"Stephen Rector, Thompson Douglass, Joshua Pilcher, Elias
Rector (agent for William Rector), Thompson Douglass (at-
torney for Risdon H. Price), J. McGunnegle, J. McGun-
negle (attorney for Daniel Bissell), Taylor Berry, T. H.
Benton (for self and Thomas Wright), John Little,
Thomas Hanly.
"ST. Louis, Feb. 26, 1818."
On March 12, 1818, the board of directors, through
S. Hammond, president, issued a notice that " the
public mind having become tranquillized, the Bank of
St. Louis opened for business on Tuesday last, re-
deemed its paper in specie, and the public are hereby
notified that it will continue to redeem its paper in
specie on its presentation." 1
After the disagreement of February, 1818, the
bank continued to decline until July, 1819, when it
finally collapsed, to the serious disadvantage of its
stockholders. On July 12, 1819, the following notice
declared the suspension of the first bank established
in St. Louis :
"The directors of the Bank of St. Louis, finding that the
operation of the bank cannot be continued either with profit to
the stockholders or advantage to the community, have deter-
mined to suspend the business of the bank. A general meeting
of the stockholders has therefore been called to take into con-
sideration the propriety of continuing or closing finally its con-
cerns; and in the mean time, to save the creditors of the bank
from losses or unnecessary delay in the liquidation of their de-
mands, the directors have made specific assignments of the
effects of the bank, appropriating them so as to discharge the
debts due by the bank as promptly as possible.
" The Bank of St. Louis, after a suspension of business for
!The directors of the Bank of St. Louis prior to the 8th of
December, 1817, for that year were Samuel Hammond, Robert
Simpson, Thompson Douglass, Justus Post, Thomas Wright,
Risdon H. Price, Moses Austin, William Rector, Eli B. Clemson,
J. B. N. Smith (cashier), Joshua Pilcher, Samuel Perry, Theo-
dore Hunt, Elias Bates; after Dec. 8, 1817, until Feb. 11, 1818,
Samuel Hammond, Justus Post, Joshua Pilcher, Walter Wil-
kinson, James Mason, Moses Austin, Elias Rector, Eli B. Clem-
son, Nathaniel B. Tucker, J. B. N. Smith (cashier), J. J. Wil-
kinson, Robert Collet, Elias Bates, Robert Simpson ; after
Feb. 11, 1818, to Dec. 14, 1818, Samuel Hammond, Walter Wil-
kinson, Justus Post, Nathaniel B. Tucker, Eli B. Clemson,
Theophilus W. Smith, James Mason, Rufus Easton (two
vacancies), J. J. Wilkinson, Stephen F. Austin, Elias Bates,
Theophilus W. Smith (cashier); from Dec. 14, 1818, Risdon
H. Price (president), Stephen F. Austin, Rufus Easton, Fred-
erick Dent, Jesse G. Lindell, Samuel Hammond, John Nivin,
Samuel Perry, John Hall, Robert Simpson, Eli B. Clemson,
James Clemens, Jr., Paul Anderson.
BANKS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, AND BANKERS. 1387
about twelve months, resumed operation on the 3d of March
last, under the expectation on the part of the directors of being
able, if not to continue the operation of the bank successfully,
at least to collect the debts due the bank, and pay the claims
against it more promptly than while in a state of suspension.
The first object of the directors, therefore, was to acquire a
fund on which to commence temporarily until the bank could
collect the debts due to it.
" By order of the board of directors.
" RISDON H. PRICE, President."
Branch Bank of the United States. — In the year
1829 a branch of the Bank of the United States at
Philadelphia, chartered by Congress in 1816, was estab-
lished in St. Louis with the following officers : John
O'Fallon, president, William Clark, Thomas Biddle,
Peter Lindell, William H. Ashley, John Mullanphy,
George Collier, James Clemens, Jr., Matthew Kerr,
Pierre Chouteau, Jr., and Edward Tracy, of St.
Louis, Samuel Perry, of Potosi, and Peter Bass, of
Boone, directors ; Henry S. Coxe, cashier ; George K.
McGunnegle, clerk ; and Thomas 0. Duncan, teller.
John O'Fallon was re-elected in 1830, 1831, 1832,
and 1833, and after the latter date we find no account
of the institution, which succumbed about that time
to the embarrassments growing out of the determined
hostility of President Jackson's administration to the
parent bank at Philadelphia.
The directors during these years were as follows :
1830, John O'Fallon, William Clark, Thomas Biddle,
William H. Ashley, John Mullanphy, George Collier,
James Clemens, Jr., Pierre Chouteau, Jr., Edward
Tracy, Jesse G. Lindell, John Kerr, Louis Valle", of
Ste. Genevieve, John Bull, of Chariton ; 1831, John
O'Fallon, John Mullanphy, George Collier, Jesse G.
Lindell, Bernard Pratte, John W. Johnson, Thomas
Biddle, William H. Ashley, John Kerr, Daniel D.
Page, Charles Wahrendorff; 1832, John O'Fallon,
John Kerr, Jesse G. Lindell, Daniel D. Page, Bernard
Pratte, John W. Johnson, John H. Gay, James Clem-
ens, Jr., Henry Von Phul, Peter Powell, Edward
Tracy ; 1833, J. O'Fallon, D. D. Page, B. Pratte,
Sr., J. H. Gay, J. Clemens, Jr., H. Von Phul, E.
Tracy, G. Collier, J. Mullanphy, A. Kerr, A. Gam-
ble. On the 12th of March, John O'Fallon was
unanimously re-elected president.
The affairs of the branch bank in St. Louis were
conducted with the strictest integrity, and the directors
never forfeited the confidence reposed in them by the
public.
The Bank of the State of Missouri1 was chartered
in 1837, the act of incorporation being signed Feb-
ruary 1st of that year. On that day, in the evening,
1 The old Bank of Missouri was incorporated Feb. 1, 1817, as
heretofore stated, but had only a brief existence.
the election for president and directors took place, with
the following result : John Brady Smith, of St. Louis,
president of the parent bank ; Hugh O'Neill, Sam-
uel S. Reyburn, Edward Walsh, PMward Dobyns,
William L. Sublette. John O'Fallon, directors of the
parent board.
Branch at Fayette: J. J. Lowry, president; W.
H. Duncan, J. Viley, Wade M. Jackson, James Ear-
eckson, directors. On the 20th of February a sub-
scription was opened for the $50,000 capital stock
required to authorize the subscription on the part of
'. the State, and $108,000 was realized. The capital
| stock was $5,000,000, and the State held one-third of
\ the amount. The bank purchased the house of Pierre
Chouteau, on Main Street near Vine, shortly after-
ward, and on April 15th began operations.
In June, 1837, the board of directors was com-
pleted by the appointment by Governor Boggs of C.
C. Detchemendy, of Ste. Genevieve, and Carty Wells,
of Warren, as directors on the part of the State. The
organization of the bank was then as follows: Presi-
dent, John Brady Spith ; Directors, Hugh O'Neil,
Edward Walsh, Samuel S. Reyburn, William L. Sub-
lette, Edward Dobyns, John 0 Fallon, D. C. M. Par-
i sons, Thomas West, C. C. Detchemendy, Carty Wells
i (on the part of the State), George K. McGunnegle,
1 Theodore L. McGill (elected by the stockholders) ;
Cashier, Henry Shields.
John Brady Smith was one of the most efficient
officers the bank ever had. He remained at its head
for many years, and died March 17, 1864.
Mr. Smith accompanied his father to St. Louis at
; an early period, and was at one time one of the most
extensive and liberal merchants in St. Louis. As the
first president of the bank, he administered its affairs
with safety and liberality during several trying periods
of financial disaster. He was collector of the county
of St. Louis for several years, and at all times en-
' joyed the fullest confidence of his fellow- citizens.
On the 31st of July, 1837, the bank began issuing
its own paper, the lowest denomination of notes being
twenty dollars. In 1839 it suffered a serious loss in
the abstraction of one hundred and twenty thousand
dollars in foreign coin stored in its vaults, and
although an arrest and prosecution followed, and
every effort was made to recover the money, it was
without result. In 1857 the institution was reorgan-
ized under the general law of the State of that year,
and with its branches then had a cash capital of
three million two hundred thousand dollars. There
were eight branches, one at each of the following
places : Cape Girardeau, Palmyra, Canton, Fayette,
Springfield, Arrow Rock, Louisiana, and Chillicothe.
1388
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
In 1866 the stock held by the State was sold, and
the bank was reorganized under the National Bank-
ing Act. Its title was changed to "The National
Bank of the State of Missouri," the stock of all of
the branches was consolidated with that of the parent
bank, and the institution began operations as a national
bank Nov. 1, 1866. The aggregate capital at the date
of this movement was $3,410,300. Col. James H.
Britton, formerly of the Third National Bank of St.
Louis, was elected president, Judge Barton Bates vice-
president, E. P. Curtis cashier. Under this manage-
ment the bank purchased all the water loan of five
million dollars in 1868. In June, 1876, it having
been found that the existing capital was too great to
be profitable, it was deemed expedient to reduce it to
two million five hundred thousand dollars.
Up to 1877 the National Bank of the State of
Missouri was believed to be the strongest, as it was
the oldest, institution of its kind in St. Louis. The
bank had been uniformly successful and% prosperous,
its business had been most extended, yet it had always
been conducted upon sound banking principles. It
had never made money fast, but had paid its semi-
annual dividends regularly. Of it it was said at this
time, " In the long course of years during which the
National Bank of the State of Missouri has been a
leader in the banking business of the West, it has
maintained its position in public confidence and es-
teem. It has survived panics and crises without being
disturbed, and when banks were tumbling down in
ruins on all sides this old and stanch institution stood
as solid as a mountain."
Among the early officials of the bank were some of
the most prominent men in the State. Its other presi-
dents besides Mr. Smith, before its organization under
the National Act, were Ferdinand Kennett, Bernard
Pratte, Joseph Charless, Edward Walsh, Robert Camp-
bell, James M.' Hughes, and Robert A. Barnes.
Mr. Barnes was born in Washington, D. C., Nov.
29, 1808. His father was Jesse Barnes, of Charles
County, Md., whose ancestor emigrated in 1662 from
the county of Norfolk, England, to the southern part
of Maryland, settling near the site of the present town
of Port Tobacco. His mother was Mary Evans, of
Prince George County, Md.
When thirteen years old he was placed in charge
of an uncle, Richard Barnes, of Louisville, Ky., from
whom he obtained his business education. Having
determined to make St. Louis his home, he removed
thither, arriving on the 17th of May, 1830, and has
resided there ever since.
In December, 1840, Mr. Barnes became a director
in the Bank of the State of Missouri, and was
continued as such until November, 1866, a period of
nearly twenty-six years, during the last eight of which
he was its president. In November, 1866*, as we have
seen, the institution became a national bank, when its
management passed into other hands. He was also a
director in various other corporations. Mr. Barnes
has never had any political aspirations, and has led
the quiet life of a private citizen. On the 28th of
January, 1845, he married Louise de Mun, third
daughter of Jules de Mun and Isabelle Gratiot.
There is no living issue of this marriage.
A large proportion of the subordinates of the old
Bank of Missouri were in its service for a long term
of years. Up to the year 1877 it had had only three
cashiers, — Henry Shields, A. S. Robinson, and E. P.
Curtis.
Early in 1877 rumors became current to the effect
that the bank was embarrassed by reason of shrinkage
in the value of its securities. This led to an investi-
gation by the comptroller of the currency, which re-
sulted in an order for the election of a new board of
directors. At this election in May, 1877, four new
members were chosen, consisting of Hon. John B. Hen-
derson, N. S. Chouteau, Web M. Samuel, and H. S.
Mills. At the next meeting of the board after the
election it ordered an examination of the affairs of the
bank, appointing for that purpose the gentlemen
named above in conjunction with J. H. Britton, pres-
ident, and Barton Bates, vice-president of the bank.
The result was a unanimous vote to wind up the bus-
iness, either by securing the appointment of a receiver,
or by placing the bank in voluntary liquidation.
The failure of the bank created the greatest sur-
prise, as there were few persons in the West who
doubted its strength and solvency, and so strong was
the confidence placed in it that the city and State
funds were deposited in it. Its suspension was as-
cribed to the following causes :
In 1873, when the panic came, the bank found itself
in possession of many securities, real and personal,
which at the time were fully up to the values for
which they were pledged. Subsequently the shrink-
age in values was so great that the assets could not be
kept up to the standard. This depreciation was all
the more severely felt because of the general depres-
sion in trade during the previous three years, which
had prevented all the banks of the country from mak-
ing the profits of former years. The bank had a good
record as a promoter of public enterprises. It took
corporation loans, it aided the building of railroads
within the State borders, it subscribed liberally to
the stock of the new Merchants' Exchange, and it as-
sisted the tunnel and bridge enterprises and the Eads
BANKS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, AND BANKERS.
1389
jetties. No city or county or State loan was offered
in the market but that the bank made bids. At the
time of the failure its board of directors was composed
of J. H. Britton, president ; Barton Bates, vice-pres-
ident ; James B. Eads, John B. Henderson, N. S.
Chouteau, J. S. Walsh, C. F. Burns, Web M. Samuel,
and H. S. Mills.
The Exchange Bank was chartered in 1856, with
a capital of five hundred thousand dollars, and was
one of the few institutions of its kind that did not
reorganize under the national banking laws. Books
for subscriptions to the stock were opened on the 21st
of March, 1857. at the office of Bogy, Miltenberger
& Co., and the advance notice of the fact was signed
by the following corporators and commissioners :
Lewis V. Bogy, Andrew Christy, Edward Cabot,
Joseph S. Pease, Samuel B. Wiggins, M. L. Jackson,
L. Dorsheimer, Bartholomew Rice.
On the 9th of October, 1857, the stockholders
elected as directors Lewis- V. Bogy, Louis Dorsheimer,
Joseph S. Pease, M. W. Warne, E. Schneider, J. W.
Spalding, John D. Perry, John T. Douglass, Louis C.
Herschberg, A. Berthold, A. M. Waterman, Stephen
Hoyt, J. B. Osborn. On the llth of the same
month Lewis V. Bogy was elected president. In
1869 the bank erected a building at 217 North Third
Street, and removed from its old location opposite the
custom-house. In 1874, Joseph Bogy was elected
president. The Exchange Bank, and its New York
correspondent, the Chemical Bank, were the only
banks which did not suspend specie payment in their
circulation. This bank always paid coin in redeeming
its bank notes.
The Merchants' National Bank was organized as
a State bank in 1857, the notice of the opening of
books for subscriptions, issued in March of that year,
reading as follows :
"MERCHANTS' BANK. — Books for subscription to the capital
stock of this bank will be opened on Wednesday, the 18th of
March, 1857, at the office of the Millers' and Manufacturers'
Insurance Company, on the corner of Main and Pine Streets,
and will remain open from 9 o'clock A.M. until 4 o'clock P.M. of
each day, until Tuesday, the 31st inst.
" Parties subscribing will be obliged to pay to the committee
of corporators ten per cent, in gold and silver coin at the time
of subscribing, and the residue at such times as may be required
by the directors during the ensuing twelve months.
"Corporators. — James E. Yeatman, William G. Clark, Thorn-
ton Grimsley, B. M. Runyan, R. M. Parks, William T. Christy,
Robert Campbell, John A. Brownlee, John G. MeCune, D. A.
January, Joseph Charless, William M. Morrison, Henry T.
Blow."
In April, 1857, the organization was effected by the
election of the following directors: John A. Brown-
lee, Joseph Charless, William M. Morrison, William L.
Ewing, Thomas T. Day, P. R. McCreery, D. A. Janu-
ary, James E. Yeatman, E. C. Sloan, B. M. Runyan,
L. Levering, R. Campbell, J. W. Luke. John A.
Brownlee was chosen president, and R. F. Barry cash-
ier. Five months later, on the 1st of September, the
bank went into operation. On April 23, 1861, the
directors passed a resolution tendering to the State
authorities a loan, for the purpose of enabling the
State to take measures for a more efficient organiza-
tion of the militia and to provide arms for defense.
On July 31, 1863, Robert K. Woods was elected
cashier to succeed R. F. Barry, resigned.
In 1865 the institution was reorganized under the
national banking law as a national bank. W. L. Ewing
was elected president, and James E. Yeatman cashier.
The presidents since the reorganization have been as
follows : W. L. Ewing, elected in 1865 and served
until 1866, when he was succeeded by Robert Camp-
bell, who served one year, when Mr. Ewing was again
elected and served for a similar term, being succeeded
by George L. Stansbury in 1869. Mr. Stansbury
served until 1872, when he retired and C. B. Par-
sons was chosen in his place. In 1874, James E.
Yeatman was elected president, and still retains the
position. The cashiers have been James E. Yeat-
man, elected in 1865 and served until 1874; Robert
Eagle, elected in 1874 and served until 1878 ; James
C. Moore, the present incumbent, chosen in 1878.
The bank is now located on the corner of Locust
and Third Streets. The present capital stock is
$700,000 ; surplus and dividend profits, $157,254.
The present officers are James E. Yeatman, presi-
dent ; L. Levering, vice-president ; James C. Moore,
cashier ; Directors, James E. Yeatman, A. F. Shap-
leigh, E. C. Sterling, L. Levering, J. L. Sloss,
Thomas Rankin, Jr., John O'Fallon, David Rankin,
H. T. Simon, E. A. Hitchcock, John A. Walsh,
and H. L. Newman.
The Bank of Commerce was organized March 28,
1857, by John F. Darby, Lawrason Riggs, Carlos S.
Greeley, Felix Coste, Marshall Brotherton, Henry
Hassinger, and William H. Maurice. It was incor-
porated under an act of the General Assembly of
Missouri as a State bank, Feb. 14, 1857, the incor-
porators being Asa Wilgus, A. P. Ladew, George M.
Moore, W. H. Morris, Clark J. Morton, William
Hassinger, John F. Darby, and Josiah G. McClellan.
The bank was opened for business July 6, 1857,
having for its board of officers Marshall Brotherton,
president ; R. M. Funkhouser, vice-president ; and A.
P. Ladew, secretary and treasurer. The different
presidents of the bank were elected in the following
order : Marshall Brotherton, elected March 28, 1857 ;
1390
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Felix Coste, elected Nov. 11, 1857; Henry J. Reed,
elected Jan. 14, 1874 ; and C. B. Burnham, elected
Jan. 13, 1875. Mr. Burnham still retains the posi-
tion. The bank was originally located at No. 202
North Second Street, and was removed in 1872 to the
corner of Fourth and Olive Streets. The institution
was organized originally as a building and savings as-
sociation, under the title of the " St. Louis Building
and Savings Association," with an authorized capital
of §500,000, and a liberal charter, which also gave it
banking privileges. On Jan. 1, 1869, the name was
changed to that of the " Bank of Commerce." The
original capital was paid in at the rate of $2.50 per
month per share, and at the end of the first six
months amounted to $15,105.50 in cash. On Jan.
1, 1864, the capital was $200,000, which was after-
wards increased to $300,000 on July 1, 1864. In
1866 the stockholders voted to discontinue the pay-
ment of dividends and allow the profits to remain in
the reserve fund of the association for five years, and
in 1871 again voted to continue the non-dividend
policy indefinitely. On July 1, 1878, the payment
of dividends was, at the request of the stockholders,
resumed ; the accumulated earnings to the credit of
the reserve fund at that date amounted to $775,000,
which with the capital of $300,000 gave the bank
$1,075,000 of its own funds in the business.
On July 1, 1882, the reserve fund amounted to
$900,000, and the bank sold the remaining two thou-
sand shares of stock to its shareholders at $400 per
share, making its capital stock July 1, 1882, $500,000,
and the reserve fund $1,500,000, being a total capital
of $2.000,000.
The present officers are C. B. Burnham, president ;
Nathan Cole, vice-president ; and J. C. Van Blarcom.
cashier. The directors are James W. Bell, C. B.
Burnham, G. W. Chadbournc, Nathan Cole, Samuel
M. Dodd, George J. Plant, W. H. Pulsifer, W. H.
Thompson, and John Whittaker.
The Mechanics' Bank of St. Louis was incor-
porated under the general laws of Missouri in 1857,
and in March of that year notice was given that
on Thursday, March 19, 1857, books for the sub-
scription to the capital stock would be opened at the
room of the Mechanics' and Manufacturers' Exchange,
on Chestnut Street, between Third and Fourth
Streets, and would remain open from nine in the
morning until three o'clock in the afternoon of each
day until Monday, the 30th day of March.
The notice was signed by Charles H. Peck, B. W.
Alexander, Bernard Bryan, John C. Evans, N. M.
Ludlow, D. K. Ferguson, J. W. Thornburgh, S C.
Hunt, L. D. Baker, R. M. Parks, Oliver A. Hart,
John Evill, William S. Cuddy, G. I. Barnett, John
M. Wimer, incorporators.
The bank was opened for business in November,
1857, being then located on the corner of Third and
Chestnut Streets. Joseph Charless was elected the
I first president in 1857, and his successors in order
were J. W. Wills, Oliver Garrison, and D. K. Fergu-
j son. The first cashier was J. W. Wills, his succes-
sors being Charles Everts, George T. Hulse, and R.
: R. Hutchinson, the present incumbent.
The institution has always transacted business
under a charter from the State of Missouri. This
bank is now located on the corner of Second and
Pine Streets.
The last annual statement of Dec. 15, 1882, makes
the following exhibit :
Resources.
Loans and discounts $1,891,603.85
Real estate 9,513.29
Sight exchange 360,074.74
Cash...* 621,560.17
$2,882,752.05
Liabilities.
Capital stock $600,000.00
Undivided earnings 129,871.39
Unclaimed dividends 1,971.00
n .. ( Individual, $1,955,425.33 ) „ , ,n ofto „..
Deposits « T, , -in- AQI oo f •• 2,150, 909. 60
( Banks, 19o,484.33 j
$2,882,752.05
The officers during 1882 were D. K. Ferguson,
president; J. W. Branch, vice-president; R. R.
Hutchinson, cashier ; Directors, Oliver Garrison, R.
M. Parks, John G. Wells, E. N. Leeds, D. R. Gar-
rison, R. Sellew, D. K. Ferguson, Joseph W. Branch,
John N. Booth, R. B. Whitmore, Benj. B. Graham,
and W. L. Wickham.
Joseph Charless was born in Lexington, Ky.,
Jan. 17, 1804. His father, Joseph Charless, was a
! native of Westmeath, Ireland, where he was born
July 16, 1772. The family was originally of Wales,
from which principality John Charles emigrated to
Ireland in 1663. Joseph Charles the elder was im-
plicated, with Emmet, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and
other noble spirits, in the Irish rebellion of 1795,
upon the failure of which he fled to France, whence
he soon emigrated to the United States, landing in
New York in 1796. To maintain the familiar Euro-
pean dissyllabic pronunciation of his name he added
a final s to its spelling, and thus Charles became
i Charless.
Joseph Charless the elder was a printer by trade,
made his home in Philadelphia, and found employ-
ment with Matthew Carey, the publisher, himself an
Irish patriot and refugee, a man of warm heart and
generous impulses, a creator of public opinion, a friend
BANKS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, AND BANKERS.
1391
of Franklin, Lafayette, Washington, and Henry Clay,
and a hater of everything English, from William
Cobbett to Manchester cottons. Carey was a great
favorer of " the American system" of protection to
American industries (he was the father of Henry C.
Carey), and it was probably through his acquaintance
with Clay that the senior Charless was induced to re-
move to Kentucky. In 1798 he had married Mrs.
Sarah McCloud, a widow with one child, — her maiden
name being Jordan, born Jan. 28, 1771, at Wilming-
ton, Del. He moved to Lexington in 1800, and to
Louisville in 1806, coming finally to St. Louis in
1808, where he founded the Missouri Gazette, the
first newspaper published in St. Louis and west of the
Mississippi, a journal which still flourishes in vigorous
usefulness and widespread influence as the Republican
of St. Louis.
Joseph Charless the elder was a man full of all good
qualities, honored and respected by all who knew
him ; simple in manner and habit, an impulsive,
warm-hearted, generous Irish gentleman, hospitable
to a degree, and brimful of cheery humor. He lived
to be sixty-two years old, while his widow died at the
age of eighty-one, outliving all her children but one,
Joseph, the subject of this sketch, and all her grand-
children except two.
Joseph Charless the second, the fourth child of his
parents, was vei-y early put to " the case" and taught
the rudiments of the printer's trade in his father's
office. Then, an academy having been started in St.
Louis, he was sent there to complete his education ;
began the study of law under Francis Spalding, a
leading member of the bar of St. Louis, and finished
his studies in the law school of Transylvania Uni-
versity, Lexington, Ky.
A profession, however, was not to his taste, and his
father having sold out his interest in the Missouri
Gazette and gone into the wholesale drug business,
Joseph became his partner in 1828, and from that
time was a prominent man among the merchants of
St. Louis. Joseph Charless, Sr., died in 1834, his
son persuading him on his death-bed to alter his will
and make an equal partition of the estate, which he
intended bequeathing all to his favorite son, Joseph.
This act was characteristic of the whole life of Mr.
Charless, in whom the spirit of justice was instinctive.
The tender and beautiful little " Memorial" of his
domestic life, prepared for her grandchildren by his
widow, unconsciously reflects this trait in his character
on every page. This venerable lady, still surviving, is
Charlotte, daughter of Capt. Peter Blow, a veteran of
the war of 1812. Her mother was formerly a Miss
Taylor, and both her parents were Virginians of the
old stock. They had emigrated from Virginia, and,
after farming in Alabama and elsewhere, came to St.
Louis in May, 1830. Miss Blow became the wife of
Joseph Charless, Nov. 8, 1831.
Joseph Charless was closely attentive to business all
his life, not content merely to maintain his house at
a paying level, but striving always to extend its con
nections and clientele, and increase the number and
scope of its operations, going from jobbing to import-
ing, and from importing to manufacturing. But he
was a public man at the same time in the truest sense,
not as a politician and office-holder, but as a represen-
tative and promoter of public business interests. He
had little to do with politics, though always an earnest
Old-Line Whig ; but he took a leading part in muni-
cipal councils, just as he made himself prominent in
church and Sunday-school, — he was a Presbyterian
and an elder, — as a matter of public duty ; he took
his place in the board of aldermen, among the directors
of the public schools, and was a railroad director and
bank president. The State appointed him president
of the Bank of the State of Missouri, and he was
president of the Mechanics' Bank, and director of
the Pacific Railroad at the time of his sudden death,
besides being one of the most active men in the
city in encouraging the founding of the City Uni-
versity. Mr. Charless was loved and cherished by a
very large circle of business friends, acquired in the
domestic sphere in which he shone, in the church, the
school board, the bank, and the business connections
of the extensive house of Charless, Blow & Co., of
which he was the head. His personal integrity and
worth, his high business standing, his skill and probity
in all sorts of affairs earned him the respect and con-
fidence of the entire community ; they looked to him
as a leader, and he never hesitated to take the lead in
every creditable and honorable enterprise for advanc-
ing the interests of St. Louis. He contributed his
money freely to all these, and he was quick to see the
advantages of every solid scheme of public improve-
ment. He gave liberally and wisely in benevolence ;
in charity, in ministering to the sick, the suffering,
and the needy his purse was always open, and his
personal services always employed.
Mr. Charless was a man of deep, unaffected piety
in all the walks of life, a consistent and active Chris-
tian at church, at home, in society, and business
alike. His conformity was steadfast and consistent,
without making him strait-laced or austere. His
manners were gentle, polite, and all that the winning
benevolence and generous nobility of his face and
bearing promised ; he was kindliness and courtesy
personified, and he had no enemies. He never made
1392
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
any enemies except one, the man whose dastard ma-
lignity turned him into an assassin. This man, Jo-
seph W. Thornton, was hanged Nov. 11, 1859, and
Joseph Charless forgave his deed, though his fellow-
citizens and the law could not do so. Thornton had
been defendant in a criminal action, in which it be-
came Mr. Charless' duty to bear witness against him.
Charless told only what he knew, what the law
compelled him to reveal, and it must have been an
ungrateful task to a man of his gentle disposition ;
but Thornton never forgave him, always declaring
that Charless' testimony had ruined his prospects and
deprived him of his livelihood, which indeed was the
consequence of his own act, not what Charless bore
witness to. He brooded over it, and at last waylaid
him on June 3, 1859, and fired two shots at him.
This was on Market Street, between Third and Fourth
Streets. The first shot prostrated the victim, and as
he fell the assassin fired another shot at him, all with- !
out a word of warning. Such a feeling of intense
indignation was aroused at this wretched deed that
the military had to be called out to preserve order
and save Thornton from lynching. Mr. Charless
died, after twenty-four hours' great suffering, with the
peace and composure of the Christian always ready
for any summons, no matter how sudden.
The painful tragedy of Mr. Charless' death and the
great love and esteem in which he was held by all his
fellow-citizens led to a more than usually solemn and
imposing funeral. An immense concourse of people
was present in and around the Second Presbyterian
Church, in which he had worshiped, and all there
were mourners and filled with feelings of profound
sympathy for his bereaved family. The pall-bearers,
headed by John O'Fallon, consisted of James H.
Lucas, Edward Bates, H. R. Gamble, Robert Camp-
bell. John Simonds, Wm. W. Greene, Thornton
Griiusley, Geo. K. McGunnegle, Edward Walsh, N.
Paschall, Charles Keemle, B. F. Edwards, Wm. Nis-
bet, I. W. Willis, and Chas. S. Rannels. The banks,
churches, railroad companies, and all the other finan-
cial, benevolent, and religious associations with which
Mr. Charless had so long and intimately been con-
nected passed resolutions of condolence and sympathy,
and the whole community, roused to its depths by such
a sad and untimely taking off, did not stint to express
its consciousness of the great loss it had sustained in
the death of so honored, trusted, and useful a citi-
zen. .
The St. Louis National Bank was established in
the spring of 1857, under the name of the Bank of
St. Louis. The original notice of the opening of the
subscription books read as follows :
" Notice is hereby given that on Wednesday, the 18th day of
March, 1857, we will open books for the subscription to the capi-
tal stock of the Bank of St. Louis, at the office of John J. An-
derson & Co., corner of Main and Olive Streets, in the city of
St. Louis, and they will remain open from nine in the morning
until three o'clock in the afternoon of each day until Saturday,
the 26th day of March.
" All persons subscribing will be required to pay ten per cent,
in gold and silver, and the balance at such time and in such
amounts as may be required by the directors ; it being provided,
however, according to the charter, that the whole amount shall
be paid within one year from the date of subscription.
" Corporators. — John J. Anderson, John G. Priest, George
Knapp, A. P. Ladew, D. S. Senter, Madison Miller, Joseph
Widen, Stephen Haskel, James Harrison, Taylor Blow.
"ST. Louis, March 3, 1857."
The original directors were John Simonds, A. G.
Switzer, Frederick Meyer, George B. Sanderson,
George S. McClure, Henry T. Mudd, George R.
Robinson, Morris Collins, William Lucas, L. M.
Kennett, J. B. S. Lemoine, S. B. Wiggins, T. A.
Buckland. John J. Anderson was elected president,
and John Brown cashier. The bank began operations
Dec. 15, 1857.
Towards the close of 1860, R. P. Hanenkamp,
afterwards city comptroller of St. Louis, was elected
president, and held the position for three years, at
the end of which William E. Burr was chosen his
successor. Mr. Burr has continued in the manage-
ment of the bank ever since.
In 1865 the institution was changed to a national
bank, and became known as the St. Louis National
Bank. Its incorporators as a national bank were
William E. Burr, James H. Wear, R. P. Hanen-
kamp, John F. Tolle, Benjamin Stickney, Thomas
Ferguson, Joseph Garneau, and N. Schaeffer. The
officers at this time were William E. Burr, president ;
James H. Wear, Benjamin Stickney, Thomas Fergu-
son, R. P. Hanenkamp, Joseph Garneau, William
Ballentine, N. Schaeffer, John F. Tolle, directors;
and Louis C. Billon, cashier.
The bank, as originally operated, was located on
Chestnut Street, between Main and Second Streets,
and was well patronized from the beginning. When
changed to the St. Louis National Bank in 1865 it
was removed to the building on Olive Street, opposite
the post-office. Having sold that building, it moved
in 1875 to its present commodious quarters in the
Chamber of Commerce building. The government
funds collected in the city and in a large extent of
surrounding country are all deposited in this bank,
together with all the collections of the internal rev-
enue office, as well as those of the post-office and the
bankrupt courts.
The annual statement of the bank, Dec. 31, 1881,
1 showed its resources to be S3, 143, 876. 82 ; capital
BANKS; AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, AND BANKERS.
1393
stock paid in, $500,000 ; surplus fund, $56,335.44 ;
undivided profits, $36,902.80 ; deposits, $581,305.39 ;
United States deposits, $110,913.63.
The officers for 1882 were William E. Burr, presi-
dent; J. G. Chapman, Nathan Cole, S. H. Laflin, H.
McKittrick, F. Mitchell, James M. Nelson, S. A.
Bemis, James H. Wear, directors ; and John Nicker-
son, cashier.
The First National Bank of St. Louis was or- |
ganized in October, 1863, and began operations on
the 10th of that month in its new building at the j
junction of Fifth Street and Carondelet Avenue,
with the following officers : President, F. W. Cronen-
bold ; Vice-President, Christian Staehlin ; Cashier,
Peter Weiss ; Directors, F. W. Cronenbold, Christian
Staehlin, James Harrison, Bernhard Heidacker, Henry
Kalbfleisch, William Lemp, Francis A. Lorenz, George
Gehrke, and Henry Steinmeyer. The amount of stock
subscribed at this time was over one hundred thousand
dollars. In 1871 some of the officers became involved
and the bank changed its name to the Empire Bank.
Mr. Kalbfleisch was elected president. It continued
under the same directors until 1876, when the busi-
ness was turned over to the Lafayette Bank. A
handsome building was erected at the junction of
Fifth and Merchant Streets for the First National
Bank.
The Lafayette Bank was organized in 1876, with
a paid in capital of one hundred thousand dollars.
The incorporators were F. Arendes, H. Ziegenhein,
Charles B. Stuever, William Hahn, and Philip W.
Schneider. F. Arendes was the first president, H.
Ziegenhein vice-president, and F. Lesser cashier.
The first directors were the incorporators. The origi-
nal location was the corner of Carroll Street and Ca-
rondelet Avenue. From here it was removed to its
present location, at the junction of Fifth and Mer-
chant Streets. The present officers are F. Arendes,
president; H. Zeigenhein, vice-president; and P. J.
Doerr, cashier; Directors, F. Arendes, H. Ziegen-
hein, Charles B. Stuever, W. Hahn, and Philip W.
Schneider.
The Second National Bank was organized in De- j
cember. 1863, with a capital of $200,000, with the
privilege of increasing it to $1 ,000,000. The first board
of directors was composed of T. B. Edgar, George H.
Rea, S. Rich, George P. Plant, Morris Taussig, J.
0. Pierce, E. 0. Stanard, Charles Holmes, and Wm.
Smith. T. B. Edgar was chosen president, and E.
D. Jones, of the Exchange Bank, cashier. The bank
began business in January, 1864. It immediately be-
came conspicuous in its services in placing the popu-
lar loans of 7-30's, 5-20's, and 10-40's, and handled
a larger amount of these securities than any other
bank in St. Louis. The bank declared its first div-
idend May, 1864, and in July, 1868, gave to its
stockholders a fifty per cent, dividend in stock, mak-
ing the capital $300,000.
During a period of ten years its dividends amounted
in the aggregate to $370,175, ranging from five to
six per cent, semi-annually, up to July, 1873, at
which time it suspended the payment of dividends,
preferring to let the accumulations remain for the
benefit of increasing business.
The Third National Bank of St. Louis was orig-
inally chartered by the General Assembly of Mis-
souri for 1856-57 as the Southern Bank of St.
Louis, with a capital of $1,000,000. The incor-
porators were James S. Watson, James H. Britton,
Abner Hood, Wm. J. McElhinney, and Wm. T.
Wood. On the 6th of April, 1857, the following per-
sons were elected directors :
Robert M. Funkhouser, John J. Roe, Samuel K.
Wilson, Abner Hood, E. B. Kimball, Charles Miller,
Wm. H. Barksdale, John J. Mudd, E. F. Pittman,
John R. Lionberger, Wm. J. McElhinney, James S.
Watson, James H. Britton. This board subsequently
elected as officers James S. Watson, president ; James
H. Britton, cashier; George 0. Atherton, teller; B.
W. Dudley, general book-keeper ; Thomas A. Stod-
dart, individual book-keeper.
The bank began operations June 16, 1857, on
Pine Street, near Main, with $110,600 of paid in
stock. In February, 1859, President Watson died,
and on March 14th following, E. B. Kimball was
elected his successor.
James S. Watson was born at Jackson, Tenn., Sept.
17, 1815. Of his early career little is recorded. He
is understood to have lived some years in Kentucky ;
and about 1839 removed to St. Louis, where he was
employed for some time as clerk. He then went to
St. Charles, Mo., where he was similarly occupied, and
where, March 25, 1841, he was married to Miss
Alby A. Easton. In November, 1842, he was elected
chief clerk of the lower house of the Legislature.
Under the firm-name of Watson & Yosti, he for some
time transacted business at Boonville, Mo., where he
made an excellent record as an honorable and success-
ful business man. In December, 1849, he entered
into partnership in the wholesale boot and shoe busi-
ness with Thomas E. Tutt at St. Louis. This part-
nership continued five years, the firm transacting a
large and profitable business.
Mr. Watson was one of the passengers on the train
that met with the fearful casualty at the Gasconade
bridge, whereby many persons lost their lives, and' he
1394
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
was so badly injured that his life was despaired of.
Having a fine constitution he rallied sufficiently to be
able to engage in business again, but, while traveling
eastward and when near Philadelphia, he was again
almost killed by a collision. For the second time he
apparently recovered, and resumed business with his
usual energy and perseverance, but he never fully re-
gained his strength, and his death, which occurred at
New Orleans, Feb. 25, 1859, was doubtless hastened
by the injuries which he sustained in these two
accidents.
Mr. Watson's bus- _-
in ess career in Mis-
souri appears to have _
been uniformly suc-
cessful, and in St.
Louis he was a leader
in whatever he un-
dertook. He was
public-spirited, and
took a deep interest
in politics. Hissym-
pathies were with the
Democratic party,
and he enjoyed the
friendship and con-
fidence of its leading
men in Missouri and
the West, He had
great faith in the
future of St. Louis,
and erected the first
dwelling south of
Lafayette Park.
There are not
many of Mr. Wat-
son's contempora-
ries living, but those
who remain testify
most cheerfully to
his many noble
traits. He was a true friend, an obliging neighbor,
an accurate business man, a kind husband, and an
affectionate father.
Mr. Watson was a brother-in-law of Hon. Thomas
L. Anderson, Samuel L. South. Archibald Gamble,
and Gen. L. C. Easton, gentlemen of character and
prominence then and for many years subsequently. At
his death he left a wife and two children.
On the 2d of January, 1864, the Southern Bank
having been changed into a national bank, with a cash
capital of one million dollars, was reorganized, and be-
gan'operations as the Third National Bank of St. Louis.
JAMES S. WATSON.
The directory under the reorganization consisted of
E. B. Kimball, president ; James H. Britton, cashier ;
and E. B. Kimball, Charles K. Dickson, John R.
Lionberger. James B. Eads, William N. Switzer,
Eugene Jaccard, Samuel R. Filley, John Jackson,
and James H. Britton, directors.
On March 14, 1864, Mr. Kimball resigned the
presidency, and James H. Britton was elected his
successor. On the same day Thomas A. Stoddart
was elected cashier. Mr. Britton served as president
until Nov. 1, I860, when he resigned to accept the
^J===m^_^ presidency of the
National Bank of
the State of Mis-
souri. John R. Li-
onberger, his suc-
cessor, resigned Nov.
8, 1876, and was
succeeded by Thom-
as E. Tutt, the pres-
ent chief executive
of the bank.
The bank was re-
moved from its orig-
inal location on Pine
Street to Second
Street near Pine,
and on Nov. 25,
1874, occupied its
new building, No.
417 Olive Street,
where it still re-
mains. This build-
ing is six stories in
height, with a stone
front, and basement
and first floors fire-
proof.
During its exist-
ence this bank has
paid to shareholders
in dividends $1,902,540, of which $1,5 12,400 was de-
clared and paid in its character of the Third National
Bank.
The present officers are Thomas E. Tutt, president ;
John R. Lionberger, vice-president ; T. A. Stoddart,
cashier; Directors, John Jackson, Oliver B. Filley,
John R. Lionberger, Thomas E. Tutt, Leonard Mat-
thews, James W. Paramore, W. T. Wilkins, J. S.
Walsh. J. M. Franciscus.
The Fourth National Bank of St. Louis was or-
ganized Feb. 1, 1864. It was chartered Feb. 26,
1864, under the general National Bank Act, and was
BANKS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, AND BANKERS.
1395
first opened for business on March 22, 1864, with a
capital stock paid in of $500,000. The incorporators
were John C. H. D. Block, Joseph J. Mersman, C.
L. Holthaus, John C. Nulsen, F. E. Schmieding,
Francis Cornett, John H. Kaiser, Arnold Hussmann,
C. L. Buschmann, and Christian Peper. The first
board of officers was composed of Joseph J. Mersman,
president ; John C. H. D. Block, vice-president ; and
Frederick W. Biebinger, cashier, the last of whom
still holds the position. In 1866, John C. H. D.
Block succeeded to the presidency of the bank, and
has retained it ever since. When the bank was first
organized it was located on the northwest corner of
Third and Washington Streets, where it remained
until it was removed to the present location on the
northeast corner of Fourth and Washington Streets. It
has a capital paid in of $500,000 ; surplus fund, $200,-
000; contingent fund, $41,969.21; and undivided
profits of $!)!, 607. 41. The assets, consisting of United
States bonds, Missouri State bonds, real estate, and -
other good securities, amount to $4,693,013.91.
The present board of officers is composed of John
C. H. D. Block, president ; A. Hussmann, vice-presi-
dent ; and F. W. Biebinger, cashier. The directors
are John C. H. D. Block, F. E. Schmieding, Francis
Cornett, John H. Kaiser, Arnold Hussmann, C. L.
Buschmann, Christian Peper, Henry Grove, and
Louis J. Holthaus.
The Fifth National Bank-was first organized in
1860 under the name of the Tenth Ward Savings
Association. The incorporators and first directors
were Henry Overstolz, Thomas L. Sturgeon, Philip
Stremmel, Gustavus Hoffman, Thomas M. Speer,
James Stoltebinn, John H. Marquard, Nicholas
Hatch, and N. F. W. Brentzen. The bank was first
located on Broadway and Exchange Street. In 1881
it was again incorporated under the name of the
Tenth Ward Savings- Bank, the directors being Louis
Espenschied, James Green, John H. Marquard, Albert
Schroder, Theodore Koch, Henry Overstolz, and C.
C. Crecelius. Henry Overstolz was the first president,
and Theodore Koch was the first cashier. In Janu-
ary, 1883, it was organized under the National Bank-
ing Act as the Fifth National Bank, and on January
10th opened for business on the northeast corner of
Fifth Street and Christy Avenue. Henry Overstolz
was chosen president, Louis Espenschied vice-presi-
dent, and C. C. Crecelius cashier. The present di-
rectors are Henry Overstolz, James Green, Louis
Espenschied, Otto D. Amour, Conrad Stauff, Charles
Wunderlich. and G. A. Rubelmann. The capital
stock is two hundred thousand dollars.
The bank is one of the most flourishing of the
financial institutions of St. Louis, and much of its
success is due to the energy, sound judgment, and busi-
ness tact of its chief executive, Hon. Henry Over-
stolz, who has long been prominent among the
business men of St. Louis for the rare combination
of enterprise, sagacity, and prudence which he brings
to the administration of affairs whether public or pri-
vate.
The Continental Bank of St. Louis was chartered
as the National Loan Bank of St. -Louis in February,
1865, and was organized and went into operation as
such in March, 1866. The incorporators were
Thomas O'Reilly, William McKee, Chauncey I. Fil-
ley, and Stephen Ridgely. The institution was for
several years conducted as the " National Loan Bank,"
but its name was changed to that of the Continental
Bank, under which name it now transacts a general
banking business. The capital stock is one hundred
thousand dollars ; surplus, fifty thousand dollars.
The first president was T. B. Edgar, who was suc-
ceeded by George A. Baker, the present incumbent.
W. H. Maurice was first chosen cashier in 1866, and
was succeeded by E. Karst, who held the position for
a term of years, and was followed by W. P. Keating,
who still retains the position. The bank is located at
No. 411 North Third Street. The officers for 1882
were George A. Baker, president ; J. M. Thompson,
vice-president; W. P. Keating, cashier; Directors,
H. A. Crawford, C. W. Rogers, E. C. Meacham,
Oscar Bradford, J. A. Bartlett, I. G. Baker, C. S.
Freeborn, J. W. Larimore, and G. W. Parker.
The International Bank of St. Louis is a State
bank, and was chartered Feb. 28, 1865, the incorpor-
ators being Isidor Bush, F. S. Behrens, William C.
Lange, August Leisse, C. T. Uhlmann. It was first
opened for business Nov. 12, 1866, with a capital of
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, at 226 Mar-
ket Street, and was subsequently removed to its present
location, southeast corner Fifth and Market Streets.
The resources of the bank, according to a statement
made Dec. 31, 1881, were $517,542.07; capital
stock paid in, $100,000; surplus funds on hand,
$1358.93 ; deposits, $395,212.44. The first presi-
dent was William C. Lange, who has served ever
since. The directory for 1882 consisted of William
C. Lange, president; and Louis Gottschalk, Hugo
Krebs, P. A. Schroth, G. J. Helmerichs, William C.
Lange, John P. Heinrich, C. F. Hermann, August
Leisse, A. W. Straub, directors ; John P. Heinrich,
secretary.
The Commercial Bank of St. Louis was incor-
porated under the general corporation laws of Missouri,
March 19, 1866, and the bank was opened for busi-
1396
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
ness during the same month. The incorporators were
Edward M. Samuel, William J. Lewis, John M. Platt,
John F. Baker, Isaac S. Warren, J. A. J. Aderton,
George W. Rucker, James Richardson, and Charles
W. Reiser. The first officers were Edward M. Samuel,
president ; John M. Platt, vice-president ; and J. W.
Donaldson, assistant cashier. Mr. Samuel continued
to act as president of the bank until his death, Sept.
22, 1869, when he was succeeded by William J.
Lewis, who was followed by William Nichols, the j
present incumbent.
Edward Madison Samuel belonged to a family of j
Welsh and English descent, the Welsh branch of
which settled in Virginia about the year 1700. From
thence they emigrated westward, and Edward M.
Samuel was born in Henry County, Ky., Oct. 12,
1807. In 1815 the family moved to Missouri, where
the father became quite prominent, serving for many
years as the county clerk of Randolph County. When
about eighteen young Samuel was placed in business
in Old Franklin, Clay Co., and in 1829 removed to
Liberty, Clay Co., where he engaged in mercantile
pursuits for nearly twenty-five years, and where he
lived for nearly forty years. He soon became one of
the leading business men of Northwest Missouri, and
established a reputation for integrity and ability that
was recognized throughout the State.
In 1829, Mr. Samuel was appointed receiver of
public moneys at the land office at Plattsburgh, a po-
sition which entailed peculiar responsibilities. The
" Platte purchase" was included in the district,
having then recently become subject to pre-emption
and settlement. But before the survey had been
made settlers had flocked in, improvements had been
made, and the result was an immense number of
conflicting claims, which it was the province of the
register and receiver to adjust. As a member of
this court, Mr. Samuel distinguished himself as a i
clear-headed business man as well as an able and ;
impartial judge.
In June, 1853, he was appointed a justice of the :
Clay County court, and served as such for somewhat |
over a year. In this important position his financial
and administrative talents were conspicuously demon-
strated.
In 1857, upon the organization of the Liberty
Branch of the Farmers' Bank of Missouri, he was
elected its first president, and was continuously re-
elected until his removal to St. Louis in 1865.
On settling in the metropolis he established the com-
mission house of E. M. Samuel & Sous, his sons enter-
ing the house with him. Soon after he interested him-
self in the organization of the Commercial Bank of St. '
Louis, and, as we have before stated, became its first
president, retaining that position until his death. As a
business man he enjoyed to an unusual degree the con-
fidence and respect of his associates, and came to be re-
garded as a public-spirited and useful citizen. Although
of delicate health, he was a man of great mental activity
and endurance, and filled a large space in the com-
munity. During his long residence in Clay County
he contributed largely to every public and religious
movement. His gifts were marked by a large-minded
catholicity. Thus, while for many years a devoted
member of the Presbyterian Church, some of his
largest contributions were in behalf of William Jewell
College, a Baptist institution. His own lack of
adequate school privileges when a boy made him re-
gard education with peculiar favor, and he was a
generous and steadfast friend of all worthy enter-
prises in this direction. He was also an earnest and
judicious adviser of young men, and there are many
,yet living who remember with gratitude his encour-
aging and kindly counsel. Extensive and varied
reading enabled him to supply the education he was
unable to obtain when a boy, and he was a well-in-
formed man on matters of general information, while
few were better instructed on economical and political
questions. Practice made him a clear and logical
speaker and writer, and he was a frequent contributor
to the public journals, his communications often giving
a decided impulse to popular thought.
In politics Mr. Samuel was an earnest Whig. He
enjoyed the acquaintance of Henry Clay, and corre-
sponded with both Clay and Webster for many years.
He was also the personal friend of many of the great
men of his period, especially those who represented
Missouri in the national councils. He was twice
nominated by his party for Congress, but, although
his canvass was spirited and able, it was impossible
to overcome the adverse majority.
In social life and in his family, Mr. Samuel's warm-
hearted and genial nature shone with peculiar lustre.
His domestic relations were particularly happy, and
by the community at Liberty, where he so long lived,
he was regarded with the highest respect and affec-
tion as a citizen above reproach. He was twice mar-
ried, and two daughters and three sons survive him.
The latter succeeded to his large and profitable busi-
ness, and constitute one of the best known of the
commission houses of the present day.
The Commercial Bank has a capital of $200,000,
and a surplus fund amounting to $293,592.92. The
bank was located originally at the corner of Second
and Olive Streets, but subsequently removed to 217
Olive Street. Its present quarters are situated in the
BANKS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, AND BANKERS.
1397
Chamber of Commerce building, and the officers in
1882 were W. Nichols, president; Erastus Wells,
vice-president; E. C. Breck, cashier; and William
Nichols, Erastus Wells, E. C. Breck, Isaac M. War-
ren, B. W. Lewis, M. M. Buck, Miles Sells, William
Spear, Thomas Howard, John M. Gilkerson, A. A.
Talmage, W. M. Samuel, and John H. Maxon, di-
rectors.
The Franklin Bank was chartered in 1867, under
the laws of Missouri, as the Franklin Avenue Ger-
man Savings Institution, with a paid up capital of
sixty thousand dollars. The incorporators were John
H. Conrades, James H. Forbes, F. H. Krenning, J.
G. Kaiser, Henry Meier, Adolph Moll, H. Mohriman,
H. S. Platt, F. W. Reipschlaeger, E. F. Rethwilm, Ad.
Wippern, and J. B. Woestman. The bank began
business in 1867, and until Jan. 1, 1882, was con-
ducted as the Franklin Avenue German Savings In-
stitution. Then the title was changed to that of the
Franklin Bank, and the institution was removed to the
present location, at the southeast corner of Fourth and
Morgan Streets, the directors having purchased the
bank building of the late North St. Louis Savings
Association. The capital and surplus of the Frank-
lin Bank at present is three hundred thousand dol-
lars. The bank is under the same management as
when originally organized, having for its chief execu-
tive officer H. Meier, with Ad. Wippern as vice-
president, and G. W. Garrels as cashier. The present
board of directors is composed of James H. Forbes,
F. H. Krenning. Henry Meier, Adolph Moll, H. S.
Platt, F. W. Reipschlaeger, Ad. Wippern, and J. B.
Woestman.
The Laclede Bank was established in 1867 by
Bartholow, Lewis & Co., and was operated as a private
bank until 1872, when it was incorporated as the La-
clede Bank by Thomas J. Bartholow, Benjamin W.
Lewis. Jr., W. H. Chick, James A. Jackson, Theo-
dore D. Meier, William J. Lewis, P. B. Leech, Carlos
S. Greeley, Edward Fenton, Joseph P. Card, and
George M. Edgerton. Thomas J. Bartholow was the
first president, and Francis T. Iglehart cashier. The
bank was originally located at Third and Locust
Streets, but subsequently removed to 217 North
Third Street, and on the 27th of February, 1883,
to its present location at the corner of Third and
Pine Streets. The original chartered capital of the
bank was two hundred thousand dollars, but upon
the reorganization of the institution, in November,
1882. it was increased to five hundred thousand dol-
lars. The officers for 1883 are John D. Perry, presi-
dent; James A. Gregory, vice-president; H. B.
Schuler, cashier ; and the following directors: John
89
D. Perry, James A. Gregory, H. B. Schuler, Theo-
dore Meier, William McMillan, L. C. Nelson, D. C.
Grier, James W. Lewis, Turner T. Lewis, Howard
Blossom, Charles Filley, D. R. Francis, and W. S.
Hume.
The State Savings Association is one of the
prominent financial institutions of St. Louis, and may
justly rank as one of the strongest and most prudently
managed banks in the country. It was organized under
an act of the Legislature of Missouri, on the 29th of
December, 1855. While the charter was granted for
a savings-bank, yet it has never been in any respect
a savings association, but has always done a regular
commercial business as a bank of discount and de-
posit. The incorporators were John How, R. M.
Henning, Eugene Miltenberger, Isaac Rosenfeld, Jr.,
Lewis V. Bogy, Neree Valle, William L. Ewing, R.
J. Lockwood, and B. W. Hill. The bank went into
active operation immediately after its organization, and
was located at first at the corner of Vine and Main
Streets, where it remained until 1876, when it was
removed to its present quarters at the corner of Vine
and Third Streets. The first president of the insti-
tution was R. M. Henning, and his successors were
John How. John J. Roe, and Charles Parsons, the
present incumbent. The first cashier was Isaac
Rosenfeld, Jr., who was succeeded by Charles Parsons,
who was followed by J. H. McCluney, the present
cashier. The capital stock of the institution is six
hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and a surplus has
been accumulated, after making regular and liberal
dividends since its organization, which now amounts
to over seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The
officers during 1882 were Charles Parsons, president;
William H. Scudder, vice-president; and John H.
McCluney, cashier. Directors, Charles Parsons, John
A. Scudder, Daniel Catlin, A. F. Shapleigh, C. C.
Moffitt, Joseph Franklin, and John T. Davis.1
1 In 1859 there was inaugurated a war on the part of the
State Bank of Missouri against the currency of neighboring
States, which, being less easy to be presented for redemption,
usurped the purposes of circulation and prevented the Bank of
Missouri from getting its former advantage in this respect. A
law was passed to prevent any chartered bunking institution
from carrying on the business of receiving and paying out for-
eign currency. In consequence of this the State Savings In-
stitution gave up its charter, and the stockholders associated
themselves as joint partners, and so continued doing business
until Jan. 26, 1864, when a new charter was obtained, with all
the privileges denied by the former Legislature, under which
charter the bank is now doing business.
During its early history, in October, 1859, an attempt was
made to rob the institution. A local account of the affair says,
" For three or four days past it has been known in certain quar-
ters that an attempt has been made to enter the State Savings
1398
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Charles Parsons, president of this bank, was born
in Homer, Cortland Co., N. Y., on the 24th of Jan-
uary, 1824, and is the son of Lewis B. Parsons, late
of Buffalo, N. Y., and grandson of Capt. Charles
Parsons, of the New York line in the Revolutionary
war. He commenced business, after receiving a thor-
ough academical education, as a clerk in his father's
store, and soon after attaining his majority was em-
ployed, first as clerk and after as partner, in a com-
mission and transportation house in Buffalo from
1846 to 1850, when he entered the Bank of Attica,
in Buffalo, and remained some months, solely for the
purpose of learning the business of banking under
its very able financier, Gains B. Rich. At the close
of 1850 he removed to St. Louis with the view of
selecting a point at which to commence the business
of banking, and finally, at the instance of H. D.
Bacon, of the then well-known firm of Page &
Bacon, located at Keokuk, Iowa, where he was very
successful in business, and remained until January,
1862, when he tendered his services to the govern-
ment and was placed in charge of the army transpor-
tation at St. Louis, receiving soon after the rank of
captain and assistant quartermaster. The duties of
his position were very extensive and onerous, em-
bracing employment of hundreds of steamers on the
rivers and railroad trains on land, to transport the
troops, horses, cannon, provisions for men and ani-
mals, and all the various articles required to pro-
vision, feed, and render efficient great armies opera-
ting over the extended theatre of war in the West
and South. Besides these duties he was required to
audit and settle the accounts of all other army quar-
termasters pertaining to transportation from Wiscon-
sin in the North to the line of actual war in the
South. These various and arduous duties he fulfilled
and discharged to the great satisfaction of Gen. Robert
Allen, the chief of the Quartermaster's Department
in the West, as is shown by his report to the War
Department, in which he speaks in the highest terms
of Capt. Parsons, and also to the satisfaction of Gen.
M. C. Meigs, quartermaster-general himself, as is
shown by the order of Gen. Meigs, June, 1864, call-
ing him to Washington to take control of the bureau
of railroad transportation for the United States, under
the management of the War Department. This order,
however, he persuaded the quartermaster-general to
rescind. Mr. Parsons continued in the service of the
government until July 13, 1864. Having been
Institution, corner of Vine and Main Streets, by an entrance
through tho Vine Street sewer, and an effort to tunnel through
the rock that forms the foundation of the building."
elected, in the previous February, cashier of the
State Savings Association, and being satisfied that
the success of the government was assured, he re-
signed his commission in the army. As a further
recognition of his services he received the brevets of
major and lieutenant-colonel. In August, 1864, he
assumed the discharge of his duties as cashier of the
State Savings Association, and served as such with
remarkable fidelity and success until February, 1870,
when he was elected president of the association.
Mr. Parsons was one of the organizers of the Keokuk
and Des Moines Railroad Company, and continued on
the directory for some years. He was at one time a
director of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad Com-
pany, has been president of the St. Louis Clearing-
House for the past ten years, is president of the
Hannibal Gas Company, vice-president of the Belle-
fontaine Street Railroad Company, and director of
the Missouri Street Railway Company, both of St.
Louis, and is a director in the water-works companies
of Atchison, Kan., and Hannibal, Mo.
On the llth of June, 1857, Mr. Parsons was
married to Miss Martha A. Pettus, of St. Louis.
In the various positions which he has been called
on to fill, Mr. Parsons has never failed to exhibit
rare business abilities and administrative talents of
the highest order.
The Valley National Bank was organized July
25, 1871. and was chartered under the National
Banking Act Aug. 9, 1871. The incorporators were
Dwight Durkee, George D. Hall, James Richardson,
H. H. Curtiss, N. C. Chapman, 0. G. Proctor, W. N.
Stone, A. W. Mitchell, J. M. Brawner, Preston Rob-
erts, Augustus Kountz, N. S. Penfield, J. C. Culbert-
son, A. B. Safford, J. L. Stephens, A. D. Jaynes, T.
H. Waugh, David Auld, Josiah Hunt, John Williams,
and others. The bank opened its doors for business
Aug. 23, 1871. at which time its president was Dwight
Durkee, who was elected at a regular meeting of the
board of directors July 27, 1871. The cashier at that
time was James T. Howenstein. When the bank began
business the board of directors consisted of Dwight
Durkee, George D. Hall, James Richardson, H. H.
Curtiss, N. C. Chapman, 0. G. Proctor, W. N. Stone,
A. W. Mitchell, J. M. Brawner, Preston Roberts,
Augustus Kountz, N. S. Penfield, J. C. Culbertson,
A. B. Safford, J. L. Stephens, A. D. Jaynes, J. H.
Waugh, David Auld, Josiah Hunt, and John Williams.
On Jan. 29, 1873, J. A. J. Aderton was elected presi-
dent of the bank, and served until Oct. 24, 1878, when
he was succeeded by S. E. Hoffman, who has since
retained the position. The first location of the bank
was No. 320 North Third Street, whence it was re-
•
BANKS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, AND BANKERS.
1399
moved to No. 207 North Third Street, where it
remained until the removal to the present location,
at the corner of Locust and Fifth Streets.
The annual statement of the bank, Dec. 31, 1881,
makes the following exhibit:
Resources.
Loans and discounts $889,647.56
Overdrafts 2,602.12
United States bonds 50,000.00
Other bonds, etc 7,038.85
Real estate, fixtures, and furniture.. 12,977.90
Premium on United States bonds 1,500.00
Cash and sight exchange 619,190.18
United States treasurer 9,250.00
Demand loans 381,353.69
$1,973,560.30
Liabilities.
Capital paid in $250,000.00
Surplus 28,834.47
Circulation 45,000.00
Dividends unpaid 8,488.00
Deposits 1,641,237.83
$1,973,560.30
The officers for 1882 were S. E. Hoffman, presi-
dent ; M. J. Lippman, vice-president; G. H. Goddard,
cashier ; M. J. Lippman, John B. Noland, Charles P.
Burr, H. H. Curtis, Joel Wood, G. H. Goddard, R.
J. McElhaney, Walter H. Trask, and S. E. Hoffman,
directors.
The German-American Eank was incorporated
by Martin Lammert, August Gehner, John J. Menges,
Ernest Witte, B. F. Horn, George Tinker, Hugh L.
Fox, and E. A. Mysenburg, Nov. 3, 1872, and was
opened at the northeast corner of Tenth and Franklin
Streets. John J. Menges was elected president ;
Martin Lammert, vice-president ; and E. A. Mysen-
burg, cashier. The first directors were Hugh Bren-
non, G. Mysenburg, Ernest Witte, William Nieman,
Martin Lammert, John J. Menges, B. Weber, B. F.
Horn, George Tinker, William Trauernicht, Hugh L.
Fox, August Gehner, and E. A. Mysenburg. The
capital stock paid up is $150,000. The bank is now
located at the northwest corner of Fourth and Frank-
lin Streets. The official statement of the officers
Dec. 31, 1882, showed gross earnings for six months
of $36,730. 11 ; surplus fund, $56,684.21 ; resources,
$1,174,605.95. The present officers are August
Gehner, president ; Martin Lammert, vice-president ;
John Dierberger, cashier ; Directors, Thomas Ferren-
bach, H. H. Schulze, August Gehner, Casper Stolle,
C. H. Grote,' William Trauernicht, George Holtgrewe,
Glaus Vieths, Martin Lammert, Ernest Witte, F. H.
Logemann. John H. Yandell, J. C. Lullman.
SAVINGS-BANKS.
As early as 1839 an effort was made to establish
a savings-bank in St. Louis, a meeting of " mer-
chants, traders, and mechanics" being held at the
Merchants' Exchange rooms for that purpose on the
7th of February. On motion of Col. Charles Keemle,
George K. McGunnegle was called to the chair, and
N. E. Janney appointed secretary. The object of the
meeting having been stated by the chairman, J. Smith
i Hoinans made an address in favor of the project, pre-
senting many statistics showing the success and utility
of similar institutions in other cities, and concluding
I by offering the following preamble and resolutions :
" WHEREAS, This meeting is fully impressed with the belief
i that there is a large number of persons in this city who have
; no profitable mode of investment for their surplus earnings, and
" WHEREAS, The want of a depository for the active, bene-
ficial, and profitable investment of the surplus means of many
of our fellow-citizens is the cause of the extravagant waste of
such funds ; therefore,
" Resolved, That a committee of five persons be appointed by
the chairman, whose duty it shall be to report within forty
days a plan for the formation of a savings association in the
city of St. Louis.
"Resolved, That when this meeting adjourns, it adjourn to
meet again on the 20th of March next, to receive the report of
the committee."
The resolutions were unanimously adopted, and on
motion of A. Wilgus, it was unanimously
" Resolved, That the committee under the first resolution be
authorized to procure the written opinions of Josiah Spalding,
H. R. Gamble, and Beverly Allen as to the authority which
the citizens have to establish such an institution without a
charter from the Legislature, and whether the same is contrary
to the Constitution of the State."
On motion of D. L. Holbrook, it was unanimously
" Resolved, That the same committee be directed to report
upon the expediency of connecting a joint-stock association
for the proposed savings institution, similar to the Mechanics'
and Traders' Bank of Cincinnati and other institutions of the
same character."
The chairman then announced the following as
composing the committee under the first resolution :
J. Smith Homans, Asa Wilgus, J. W. Paulding,
Wayman Crow.
On motion of Mr. Wilgus, the chairman was added
to the committee.
The Boatmen's Savings-Bank was originally
organized in 1846, was chartered in 1847 as the St.
Louis Boatmen's Savings Institution, and was opened
for business during the same year. The bank was
incorporated as a savings institution (without capital,
on the savings-bank plan, " where boatmen and other
industrious classes can safely deposit at interest their
earnings," etc.), with a twenty years' charter, the
profits to be divided pro rata among " original six-
month depositors," viz., those who deposited one
hundred dollars and upwards during the first six
months, and allowed the same to remain undisturbed.
1400
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
The incorporators were George W. Sparbawk, Sul-
livan Blood, Edward Dobyns, L. M. Kennett, Daniel f
D. Page, B. W. Alexander, Samuel C. Davis, Adam
L. Mills, Amedee Valle, George K. Budd, Thomas
Andrews, Henry D. Bacon, Lawrason Riggs, James
G. Barry, John M. Wimer.
These gentlemen were subsequently continued as
trustees, and Adam L. Mills was elected president.
At a meeting of the board of trustees, held at the
office of the Missouri Republican on the 30th of
August, 1847, there were present George W. Spar-
hawk, Sullivan Blood, A. Valle", John M. Wimer,
Thomas Andrews, Samuel C. Davis, A. L. Mills, and
James G. Barry.
On motion the meeting was called to order, and
George W. Sparhawk was called to the chair, and
A. Valle appointed secretary.
The object of the meeting having been explained
by the chairman, and the act of incorporation read,
the latter, on motion of James G. Barry, was accepted.
On motion of John M. Wimer, a committee of j
three was appointed by the chairman to draft by-laws
and regulations for the government of the institution,
whereupon A. Valle1, S. Blood, and S. C. Davis were
chosen.
On Sept. 14, 1847, John F. Darby and E. Haren
were elected trustees to fill vacancies. On the 21st,
Dr. Robert Simpson was elected treasurer, and B. B.
Chamberlain secretary.
On Oct. 16, 1847, the trustees gave notice to the
public that on Monday, the 18th inst., its doors would
be opened for business, stating that " the Boatmen's
Savings Institution will henceforward be opened daily
from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M., and on Saturdays till 6 P.M.,
until further ordered. On Fridays no males will be
admitted, this day being expressly set apart by the
trustees for the female community. The institution
for the present is located at No. 16 Locust Street, one
door west of Main, and those who become its patrons
are respectfully requested to circulate among their
friends and neighbors its charter and by-laws."
In April, 1854, the bank was robbed of eighteen
thousand dollars in notes of the bank and over one
thousand dollars in gold. The thief or thieves ob-
tained access to the safe before the bank was opened
in the morning, but left behind four thousand dollars
in gold and several checks which were also in the safe.
Upon the discovery of this loss the officers offered a
reward of one thousand dollars for the detection of
the thief and four thousand dollars for the return of
the money. In anticipation of a run on the bank, the j
banking-houses of Page & Bacon, Lucas & Simonds, '
Loker, Renick & Co., E. W. Clark & Brothers, and '
J. J. Anderson & Co. offered advances to unlimited
amounts, but assistance of this character was not re-
quired, as the ordinary routine of the bank was not
disturbed. During the financial panic of 1855 the
Boatmen's was one of the institutions for which the
leading merchants pledged their property.
On the 1st of January, 1856, the bank abandoned
its original charter and began business under a second
— twenty years' — charter, with a capital of four hun-
dred thousand dollars. On the 1st of October, 1873,
three years prior to the expiration of the second charter,
the bank reorganized under the general banking laws of
Missouri as The Boatmen's Savings-Bank, with an au-
thorized and paid up capital of two million dollars. A pe-
culiarity of the second charter was the section which
provided that " at the expiration of every five years
from the first day of January, 1856, if the board of
directors deem it expedient, they may make, in such
manner and on such terms as to them shall appear
equitable, a dividend among the stockholders not ex-
ceeding one-fourth of the net profits of the preceding
five years, and the remainder of said profits shall, at
the discretion of the board, be reserved for the better
security of depositors and for future operations, until
the winding up of the affairs of this corporation, or
converted into stock of the corporation and appor-
tioned equitably among the stockholders, notwith-
standing such conversion and apportionment should
increase stock beyond the sum limited in the first sec-
tion of this act. Otherwise than is in this section
provided no dividend shall be made by this board."
In accordance with the above section, the board of
directors did not declare any dividend until April 1,
1871, more than fifteen years after commencing the
banking business, but carried their net earnings to the
credit of profit and loss account, until at that time
the earnings had amounted to $2,293,442.83, and on
the first of April, 1872, a further dividend of $300-
000 was declared, and on July 1, 1873, the surplus
was $2,456,742.
At the first election for directors under the second
charter, held in 1856, the following were elected : Sulli-
van Blood,1 Carlos S. Greeley, George K. Budd, Rufus
1 Sullivan Blood was born in the town of Windsor, Vt.,
April 2-1, 1 795. His parents were natives of Massachusetts, but
emigrated to Vermont, then a newly-admitted State, in 1793.
They lived upon a farm, and both died about 1813, whereupon
young Blood resolved to seek a home in the far West. About
two years after their death he made his way to Olean, on the
head-waters of the Allegheny, in Western New York, where a
number of persons were awaiting the opening of navigation
to descend in boats to the Ohio. On arriving at the Seneca
reservation, Mr. Blood engaged for a year among the Indians
in the lumber business, and having realized a small sum of
BANKS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, AND BANKERS.
1401
J. Lackland, William D'Oench, Louis A. Labeaume,
Robert Holmes, Luther M. Kennett, John M. Wimer,
Asa Wilgus, Adam L. Mills, and Adolphus Meier.
Sullivan Blood was elected president, and Alton R.
Easton cashier. Charles Hodgeman succeeded Mr.
Easton as cashier in 1857, and occupied that post
until his death, which occurred in April, 1870, when
the present cashier, William H. Thomson, was elected.
On Oct. 26, 1857, at a called meeting of the direc-
tors of the institution, the following resolutions were
adopted :
"1. Resolved, That all deposits in this institution up to this
date will be paid in gold and silver, and it will continue to
receive deposits in the same, and pay out the same to said
depositors.
" 2. Resolved, That this institution will also receive on de-
posit bank-notes of all the chartered banks in this State, to-
gether with their branches, and will pay out the same to said
depositors indiscriminately in the bank-notes aforesaid.
3. Resolved, That this institution will receive in payment of
all discounted paper or other debts due the Boatmen's Saving
money there, he descended the Allegheny, a distance of three
hundred miles, to Pittsburgh. He then engaged on a flat-boat
and worked his passage down the Ohio until he reached Cin-
cinnati. From there he went to Cairo, where there was not a
house, and from thence ascended the Mississippi in a keel-boat
to St. Louis. He was greatly pleased with the activity of the
place, and in 1817 took up his residence in the town, where he
remained until his death. St. Louis was at that time just in
the transition state between a village and a town, and in that
year the first movement was made to protect the citizens by a
regular force of watchmen. In 1818, Mr. Blood was appointed
a member of the force, and before long was promoted to the
position of captain, to which he was re-elected several consecu-
tive years. In 1823, Capt. Blood revisited his native State,
and during his visit was married to Miss Sophia Hall. After
holding the position of captain of the watch for ten years, he
became deputy sheriff. In 1833 he was elected and served as
alderman from the then Second Ward for one terra, at the end
of which his political life ended, as he afterwards always de-
clined to become a candidate for public office. It was at this
period that he turned his attention to river matters, and be-
came engaged as a steamboat captain in the St. Louis and New
Orleans trade, in which he was quite successful. His boats,
which were built under his own supervision and which he per-
sonally commanded, became extremely popular, and Capt.
Blood during his period of service was one of the most skillful
and successful pilots on the Mississippi. In the early part of
1847, when the Boatmen's Savings Institution was incorporated,
Capt. Blood was appointed one of the directors. His execu-
tive abilities soon gave him such prominence in the board of
directors that he was chosen president, a position which he
filled with credit to himself and advantage to the institution
until 1870, when he resigned for the purpose of allowing some
younger and more active man to assume the laborious duties of
the office. He still continued a director, and up to the time of
his death, which occurred Nov. 27, 1875, notwithstanding his
advanced age, made a daily visit to the institution and took an
active part in its affairs. Capt. Blood left a wife, one son, Henry
Blood, a merchant in Iowa, a married daughter, wife of James
L. Sloss, of the firm of Gilkeson & Sloss, of St. Louis, and a
daughter, Miss Anna Louisa Blood.
Institution the paper of all the chartered banks in the State
of Missouri and the branches thereof.
"4. Resolved, That the Boatmen's Savings Institution will
receive in payment for all collection-paper gold and silver
only, unless otherwise notified in writing.
"S. BLOOD,
''President."
In 1870, Capt. Sullivan Blood resigned the presi-
dency of the bank, and was succeeded by Rufus J.
Lackland, although he still retained his place in the
board of directors.
Rufus James Lackland is a member of one of those
Maryland families which removed to Missouri at an
early day, and which, as frequently noted elsewhere in
this work, have contributed so much to the growth
and prosperity of St. Louis. Among these enter-
prising spirits, Peter and Jesse Lindell, Michael
McEnnis, Robert A. Barnes, Edward Bredell, John
Kennard, Thomas T. Gantt, and R. J. Lackland at-
tained to special prominence in the affairs of the city.
The Lack lands, or Lachlans, as they originally spelled
their name, were influential people in Montgomery
County, Md., and closely allied with the Edmon-
stones and other leading families of that State. Archi-
bald Edmonstone, who came from Scotland at an
early day, is stated by George Lynn Lachlan Davis, a
well-known Maryland antiquarian and writer, in his
" Day Star of American Freedom," to have been the
ancestor " of the Lachlans of Montgomery, but now
in the State of Missouri, and of the wife and children
of Governor Hempstead, of Iowa." In Scotland,
where it originated, the Lachlan family enjoyed con-
siderable prominence, and in this country it has always
maintained a leading position. James Lackland was
a member of the Levy Court and county commissioner
of Montgomery County from 1799 to 1801, and
Dennis Lackland was a merchant of the same county
in 1820.
Rufus J. Lackland is directly descended from the
" Lachlans of Montgomery" mentioned in the " Day
Star," and is a cousin of the author of that book. He
was born in Poolesville, Montgomery Co., Md., his
father being Dennis Lackland, and his mother Eliza
Appleby, a native of Berkeley County, Va., whose
mother was Mrs. Margaret Moore Appleby, of Balti-
timore.
In 1835, Mr. Lackland removed with his parents
to Missouri, and during the same year entered the
store of Mullikin & Pratte, at the corner of Market
Street and the Levee. Upon the dissolution of this
firm in 1837 he obtained a position as clerk of the
steamer " Clyde," plying between St. Louis and New
Orleans, and subsequently of the steamers " Chester,"
" Oregon," " Caroline," and " Eclipse." In 1847 he
1402
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
withdrew from the steamboat business and established
himself in the wholesale grocery and commission
trade as a member of the firm of William M. Morri-
son & Co., which continued to transact a flourishing
business until 1861, when it dissolved, each partner
having secured a competence. Mr. Lackland con-
tinued the business in his own name, and later ad-
mitted his two elder sons to partnership, the style of
the firm being R. J. Lackland & Sons. In 1871 he
finally retired from business.
For many years Mr. Lackland had been a director
and one of the largest stockholders in the Boatmen's
Savings-Bank, and in 1871 he was elected president,
a position he has held ever since. The excellent
judgment which had characterized his management
of his private business and had contributed so mate-
rially to its success has been conspicuously displayed
in the conduct of this institution, which is one of the
strongest and most prosperous banks in the West.
Numerous other public enterprises have enjoyed
the benefit of Mr. Lackland's wise counsel and assist-
ance. In 1855 he was elected vice-president of the
Merchants' Exchange, and in the autumn of 1871
was chosen president of the Chamber of Commerce
Association, organized for the purpose of erecting a
new Exchange building. Mr. Lackland is still presi-
dent of this association, having been continuously re-
elected to the position. He was one of the most
zealous and efficient spirits in promoting the construc-
tion of the new Chamber of Commerce, and has always
been foremost among his fellow business men in aid of
all important public enterprises. For many years he
has been a director in the Iron Mountain Railroad, and
also in the Oakdale Iron-Works and the Scotia Iron
Company. For twenty years he has been a director
in the Belchers Sugar-Refining Company, and is now
president of the St. Louis Gas Company. Some of
these are among the most important industrial con-
cerns in the city, employing large capital and a vast
number of hands, and are justly regarded as repre-
sentative institutions of St. Louis.
Mr. Lackland was married in St. Louis, Aug. 23,
1840, to Miss Mary Susannah Cable, a native of New
York, who died in December, 1866, having borne ten
children, eight of whom are living. Mrs. Lackland
was loved and respected for her many virtues. Some
years later Mr. Lackland married his present wife,
Mrs. Caroline Eliot Kasson, the youngest sister of the
Rev. Dr. William G. Eliot, chancellor of Washington
University, St. Louis, and a lady of fine literary at-
tainments.
In religion Mr. Lackland is a Unitarian, and in
politics a Democrat. In all the relations of life,
whether public or private, he enjoys in the highest
degree the esteem and respect of all who know him.
His present position in the community is due en-
tirely to his own exertions. Forced at an early age
to rely upon himself, he put forth all his energies, and
soon made a decidedly favorable impression as a young
man of exceptional industry and zeal. As a mer-
chant, his career was marked by great energy and
steadfastness of purpose, a clear, quick judgment, un-
sullied integrity, and exceptional ability in the man-
agement of enterprises of great magnitude. As the
result, he now enjoys an influence and consideration
among his fellow business men which gives him a pecu-
liar and special pre-eminence in the mercantile world
of St. Louis. Personally, Mr. Lackland is a gentle-
man of pleasant and genial address, and kind and
amiable towards all with whom he is thrown in con-
tact. By the community in which he has resided
for more than forty years he is justly regarded as a
far-sighted, liberal-minded, and noble-hearted citizen.
In 1873, as previously stated, the Boatmen's Savings
Institution was transformed into the Boatmen's Sav-
ings-Bank. In addition to the original capital of
$400,000 there was a surplus fund of $2,400,000, and
the capital of the bank was fixed at $2,000,000, the
$800,000 remaining being divided among the stock-
holders. The following were designated as the board
of directors in the articles of association : Rufus J.
Lackland, Carlos S. Greeley, Adolphus Meier, James
Smith, Sullivan Blood, William A. Hargadine, Edward
J. Glasgow, William P. Howard, John B. C. Lucas,
George S. Drake, and William H. Thomson.
The Boatmen's Bank was first located on the south-
west corner of Second and Pine Streets, but was
afterwards moved to the north side of Chestnut, be-
tween Main and Second Streets, and thence to the
present location on the northeast corner of Second
and Pine Streets.
The officers of the bank for 1882 were Rufus J.
Lackland, president ; George S. Drake, vice-president ;
William H. Thomson, cashier ; Directors, Lawrence
L. Butler, Samuel Cupples, George S. Drake, Theo-
dore Forster, Carlos S. Greeley, William A. Harga-
dine, Rufus J. Lackland, Adolphus Meier, E. C.
Simmons, William H. Thomson, Edwards Whitaker.
The semi-annual statement rendered Dec. 31, 1881,
showed the condition of the bank to be as follows :
Resources.
Cash 81,147,735.31
Exchange matured 149,795.05 81,297,530.36
Bills receivable $4,847,534.47
Bills of exchange 519,369.28
Bonds 107,000.00
Real estate 79,969.25 5,553,873.00
Total.
86,851,403.36
BANKS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, AND BANKERS.
1403
Liabilities.
Capital stock $2,000,000.00
Surplus fund July 1,
1881 8186,591.88
Net earnings past six
months 126,157.72 $312,749.60
Dividend " No 15" $80,000.00
Bills receivable charged
off. 40.COO.OO 120,000.00 192,749.60 2,192,749.60
Deposits on time
Deposits on demand
Dividend "No. 15"(4 per
cent, on $2,000,000)....
Total.
$1,325,711.93
3,252,941.83
80,000,00 4,658,653.76
$6,851,403.36
The Germans' Savings Institution of St. Louis
was incorporated Feb. 25, 1853, with an authorized
capital of twenty-five thousand dollars, and authority
to increase the same from time to time at the will of
the directors to any amount not exceeding two hun-
dred and fifty thousand dollars, divided into shares of
fifty dollars each. The incorporators were Edward
Haren, John Kern, William Palm, Francis Saler,
Robert Barth, Joseph Degenhardt, George Busch,
Charles Wetzel, Adolphe Abeles, Frederick Bergesch, j
Lewis Bach, John Wolff, Edward Eggers, Louis
Hirschberg, Ernest C. Angelrodt. The institution
opened for the reception of deposits on Monday, May
23, 1853, the office being located at No. 35 Main
Street, between Chestnut and Pine Streets. It trans-
acts a general banking business, and solicits the ac-
counts of corporations, firms, and individuals. The
present capital stock paid up is $250,000, and there
is a surplus fund on hand amounting to $95,707.67. '
The board of directors for 1882 was composed of i
F. W. Meister, president ; Charles F. Orthwein, j
George H. Braun, John Wahl, Louis Fusz, William j
Koenig, J. G. Greer, Adolphus Boeckeler, and A.
Nedderhut. Richard Hospes is the cashier. The
bank is located in the Chamber of Commerce build-
ing.
The Provident Savings Institution was organ-
ized and incorporated in February, 1864, and was
originally intended to supply the need of a public
pawn-office, such as those which exist in Europe. !
The project did not, however, receive the support of
the public, and the institution was changed to a sav-
ings-bank, and continued as such until 1877, when it ;
was again changed to a commercial bank. Its charter i
authorized a capital of two hundred and fifty thou- i
sand dollars. The paid up capital is now one hundred
thousand dollars, and it is the intention of the man- i
agement to increase it to two hundred thousand dollars.
The incorporators of the savings-bank were Henry
Hitchcock, Carlos S. Greeley, Robert Holmes, Wil-
liam M. Morrison, George Partridge, George P. Plant,
S. A. Ranlett, and Levin H. Baker. The bank was •
opened for business in January, 1865, having for its
president J. P. Doan, who served in that capacity
until 1872. He was succeeded by William Gresham,
who occupied the position until 1877, and was followed
by C. S. Greeley, who still retains the position. The
cashiers have been S. A. Ranlett, from 1865 to 1877,
and the present incumbent, Almon B. Thomson.
This institution was first located at the corner of Main
and Locust Streets, but removed to its present loca-
tion, No. 513 Olive Street, in 1867. The official
statement shows that it has a cash paid up capital of
$100,000, and a surplus fund of $4666.51.
The officers for 1882 were C. S. Greeley, president ;
William H. Thomson, vice-president; and Almon B.
Thomson, cashier ; Directors, William H. Thomson,
D. F. Kaime, Thomas H. Swain, James S. Garland,
Carlos S. Greeley, Lucien Eaton, S. A. Ranlett, and
A. B. Thomson.
The Union Savings Association was incor-
porated and organized Feb. 19, 1864, having for its
incorporators Gustavus W. Dreyer, T. B. Edgar, E.
0. Stanard, Henry Overstolz, Rene Beanois, John W.
Woerner, Alexander B. Moreau, Edward Wider, T.
M. Ellis, Thomas E. Souper, Ferdinand Meyer, James
M. Corbett, and John T. Tell. Thomas S. Ruther-
ford was elected president of the association, and was
succeeded by W. A. McMurray, who was followed by
Peter Nicholson, the present incumbent. The asso-
ciation has a paid up capital of one hundred thousand
dollars, and a surplus of twenty-three thousand seven
hundred and sixty-one dollars. The officers for 1882
were Peter Nicholson, president ; William A. Mc-
Murray, vice-president ; and Horace Ghiselin, cashier ;
Directors, Peter Nicholson, G. W. Updyke, W. A.
McMurray, S. G. Niedinghaus, John Scullin, H. C.
Wilson, J. W. Mortimer, A. Mansur, J. B. C. Lucas,
Charles H. Turner, D. A. Marks, G. A. Madill, and
Horace Ghiselin. The present location of this insti-
tution is at No. 322 North Third Street.
The Safe Deposit Company of St. Louis was
established in 1870, under a charter from the Gen-
eral Assembly of the State of Missouri, for the safe-
keeping of money, bonds, valuable packages, plate,
etc., and for the execution of trusts, absolute security
and privacy being guaranteed. The incorporators
were J. B. S. Lemoine, Eugene Jaccard, Robert K.
Woods, G. A. Hayward, John R. Lionberger, J. H.
Britton, James Harrison, John Byrne, Jr., Thomas
Howard, and Logan Hunter. In 1870 the safe de-
posit building, No. 513 Locust Street, now occupied
by the company was erected. The building is supplied
with the latest and most improved fire- and burglaj-
proof vaults, safes, etc., and everything pertaining to
the establishment is furnished with a view to safety
1404
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
and durability. J. B. S. Lemoine was chosen presi-
dent in 1870, and continued as such for some years,
being succeeded by John R. Lionberger, the present
incumbent. The officers for 1882 were John R.
Lionberger, president; Edwin Harrison, vice-presi-
dent ; and G. A. Hay ward, secretary. The board of
directors remains the same as at the incorporation of
the company in 1870.
The Bremen Savings-Bank was incorporated Aug.
16, 1868, and began business Oct. 1, 1868. The in-
corporators were M. Brotherton, L. L. Ashbrook,
Horace Fox, Hermann Obrock, Christopher Crone,
August F. Reller, F. W. Prange, Henry Bakewell,
Henry Leder, John Maguire, Joseph W. Crooks,
Reiner Bueter, Samuel Stannard, and James Green.
M. Brotherton, president ; Horace Fox, vice-president ;
and C. D. Affleck, cashier, were the first officers.
The original directors were Christopher Crone, James
Green, Jacob Bitner, Henry Bakewell, Joseph W.
Crooks, Horace Fox, M. Brotherton, F. W. Prange,
August F. Reller, Henry Hahne, L. L. Ashbrook,
Samuel Stannard, and Nicholas Hatch. The capital
stock was originally 8100,000 ; of this only $30,000
was paid in, which grew to $125,000. In 1877 the
bank suspended for fifteen days, and reopened on
the 1st of August with a capital of $35,000. The
present capital is $70,000, with a surplus of $12,000.
F. W. Prange is president, and C. E. Kircher is cashier.
The directors are Samuel Marx, Charles Naber, An-
thony Nacke, Hermann Obrock, F. W. Prange, C.
H. Spencer, and T. T. Wurmb. The bank occupies
the original location, 3618 Broadway.
The Citizens' Savings-Bank was incorporated in
September, 1868. The incorporators and first di-
rectors were Joseph O'Neil, John Ring, David
Nicholson, R. W. Powell, M. H. Phclan, J. B.
Ghio, and P. P. Connors. Joseph O'Neil became
president ; R. W. Powell, vice-president ; and John
Schenk, cashier. The bank was first opened one
door from its present location, on the corner of Lo-
cust and Third Streets. The capital stock is two
hundred thousand dollars. Joseph O'Neill and R.
W. Powell have continued as president and vice-
president, and P. Gleeson is the present cashier. M.
H. Phelan, William Dooly, Daniel Cahill, Joseph
O'Neil, P. P. Connors, R. W. Powell, and J. B.
Ghio are the directors.
The Mullanphy Savings-Bank was incorporated
Jan. 16, 1873, by A. S. Allen, F. W. Buschmann, G.
H. Elbrecht, James Garnett, F. Heman, H. Klages,
George Lanitz, John P. Mullally, F. G. Niedriughaus,
J. H. Rottmann, F. A. Schuleuburg, A. Schulherr,
and Frederick Schwartz, and was organized with a
paid up capital of one hundred thousand dollars.
The incorporators comprised the original board of
directors, and the officers were A. Schulherr, president ;
Frederick Leser, cashier. The bank has always been
located at the corner of Broadway and Mullanphy
Street. The last annual statement, Dec. 1, 1882,
showed: Assets, $675,276.72; surplus fund, $38,-
089.54. The present officers are John H. Rottman,
president ; G. H. Elbrecht, vice-president ; L. G.
Kammerer, cashier; Directors, H. C. Benning, G.
H. Elbrecht, C. Kellersmann, William Kerksieck, E.
C. Little, Joseph Marks, John P. Mullally, Louis
Nolte, James W. Rosebrough, J. H. Rottmann,
Charles Schumacher, F. Schwartz, H. Klages.
The Northwestern Savings-Bank, corner of Four-
teenth and North Market Streets, was incorporated
May 15, 1873. The incorporators were Charles G.
Stifel, J. H. Evers, A. Peck, A. Bohn, John J.
Hilger, J. F. Heidbreder, B. Israel, H. Kobusch,
William Leffmann, Henry Pius, R. W. Rernmel-
kamp, Fred. Steinkamper, Charles Schulter, and P.
Obernier. The original and present officers are
Charles G. Stifel, president ; J. H. Evers, vice-
president; and P. Obernier, cashier. The original
and present directors are the incorporators. The
capital stock is fifty thousand dollars, and the surplus
is forty-seven thousand dollars. The bank has al-
ways been at the corner of Fourteenth and North
Market Streets.
Miscellaneous Notes. — In addition to the banks
and savings institutions whose history has been nar-
rated, many other financial institutions have been
established in St. Louis from time to time. Among
these are the following :
Mutual Savings Institution, chartered in 1863, com-
menced operations Feb. 6, 1854, with a capital of
$50,000. Deposits as small as five cents were received.
On time deposits six per cent, interest was paid. From
the 6th of February up to the 20th of December,
1854, the institution had opened seven hundred and
sixty-nine accounts, with deposits aggregating $66,-
484.59.
Central Savings-Bank, organized in 1857 with a
capital stock of $50,000, subject to increase not ex-
ceeding $750,000. When the Central commenced its
career it was managed by the following officers : Henry
L. Patterson, president ; John H. Tracy, cashier ; Di-
rectors, Henry J. Spaunhorst, John Byrne, Jr., Peter
J. Hurck, John F. Slevin, Francis Lepere, Thomas
Ferguson, Hugh Boyle, Henry B. Berning, Redmond
Cleary.
Owing to imprudent investments the institution
collapsed, and on the 17th* of July, 1876, the direc-
BANKS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, AND BANKERS.
1405
tors executed an assignment for the benefit of the cred-
itors to E. T. Farish, attorney, and Charles Green,
real estate agent. Subsequently a committee was
appointed, consisting of Timothy Cavanaugh, Daniel
Cavanaugh, J. Dalton, Fusz & Backer, and Thomas
McEvilly. Subsequently M. H. Phelan was appointed
assignee by the United States Court. When the
estate passed into the bankruptcy court the following
statement of assets was submitted :
ASSETS.
Notes discounted $338.381.55
Insurance debts and notes in suit... 276,969.11
Bonds and stocks
Notes discounted No. 2
Overdrafts
Due from banks and bankers
Cash on hand July 6, 1876
Real estate....
56,900.00
151.573.39
12,595.55
6,075.00
12,683.45
213,488.27
Total $1,066,666.32
There were 1228 creditors, representing a total
indebtedness of $844,673.07. The deposits consisted
of small amounts, chiefly ranging from 8200 to $1000.
Assignee Phelan succeeded in six years in paying off
twenty per cent, of this indebtedness in three divi-
dends, ten, five, and five per cent, each, which ex-
hausted the collected assets of the bank, amounting
to $160,000. The value of the assets shrunk to
insignificant figures, owing to the worthless nature of
some of the real estate securities.
The City Bank of St. Louis ; books for subscrip-
tion to stock opened at the counting-room of Lucas
& Simonds, March 18, 1857 ; incorporators, D. A.
January, William M. Morrison, Henry L. Patterson,
Charles D. Drake, John Simonds.
People's Savings Institution; subscribers notified
that ten per cent, of the amount subscribed was to be
paid on or before Tuesday, March 10, 1857, to Isidor
Bush, corner of Park and Carondelet Avenues, or to
Emil Ulrici, No. 53 Carondelet Avenue, between'
Barry and Marion Streets ; commissioners to receive
the first installments, John How, Waldemar Fischer,
Isidor Bush, Matthias Steitz, John Hogan, Henry
Pilkington, Emil Ulrici, Charles Taussig.
First Ward Savings Association ; books for sub-
scriptions opened March 14, 1857, at the office of
Thomas Allen, Decatur Street, and at J. P. Mack's
drug store; Commissioners, Thomas Allen, John C.
Rust, Stephen D. Barlow, Benjamin A. Soulard,
Rene Bouvais, James G. Stewart, Heber Livermore,
E. A. Burt, Patrick E. Burke.
St. Louis Building and Savings Association ; sub-
scription-books opened at the rooms of the Mechanics'
and Manufacturers' Exchange, on Chestnut Street
between Third and Fourth, March 9, 1857; incor-
porators and commissioners, Asa Wilgus, Clark J.
Morton, Peter A. Ladue, John F. Darby, William
Hassinger, George H. Moore, William M. Maurice,
Josiah G. McClellan.
United States Savings Association, organized in
1857, went out of business in June, 1879. The di-
rectors of the institution, which was then located at
Second and Market Streets, decided in that month to
close up the affairs of the bank, and to transfer its
accounts to the Mechanics' Bank, southwest corner of
Second and Pine Streets. This decision was caused
by the fact that the business was no longer profitable.
The officers at the time were Jacob Tamm, presi-
dent ; Theodore Sessinghaus, vice-president ; Charles
Kern, cashier. The directors were Jacob Tamm,
Theodore Sessinghaus, G. Wetzel, Charles Hegel,
Charles Kern, Henry Wiebusch, August Eichele,
H. D. Meyer, Herman Morell, Nicholas Guerdan,
and Otto Lademann.1
Accommodation Bank, organized about 1864, was
located at first on Chestnut Street near Fourth, but
afterwards removed to the northeast corner of Chest-
nut and Third Streets. For some years the bank
transacted a flourishing business both as a savings
and discount association. Its president was Hon.
Erastus Wells, and the cashier William D. Henry.
The board of directors in 1867 was composed of
Erastus Wells, G. W. Dreyer, Col. Cavender, John
E. Liggett, of Liggett & Dausman, and Thomas V.
Strude, of Strude, Ruby & Co.
Real Estate Saving Institution, organized in April,
1867, was located at 72 North Third Street, above
Olive. Seven per cent, interest was paid on deposits,
and sums as low as one dollar were received. The
officers were : President, George K. Budd; Treasurer,
Francis Whitney ; Legal Counselor, John M. Krum ;
Trustees, William M. Morrison, John S. McCune,
John M. Krum, Thomas E. Tutt, Henry Whitmore,
Morris Collins, Charles A. Pope, Oliver A. Hart, R.
M. Funkhouser, George K. Budd, Edward Haren,
Sr., John B. Johnson.
Home Savings- Bank, established in May, 1867,
" for the accommodation of citizens at the northern
end of the city." The officers were E. D. Jones,
president ; James Hodgman, vice-president ; H. C.
Pierce, cashier, and E. D. Jones, James Hodgman,
D. P. Green, E. G. Obear, A. C. Osborn, A. H. Weber,
J. 0. Coding, G. W. Alexander, H. L. Parker, J. P.
Colby, John Crangle, W. L. Barker, and T. Sessing-
1 Augustus Beneke, cashier of the United States Savings In-
stitution, died suddenly in March, 1871. He had been a resi-
dent of St. Louis for twenty-two years, and was widely and
favorably known.
1406
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
haus, directors. The building was located at the cor-
ner of Broadway and Jefferson Street.
Butchers' and Drovers' Bank, organized in June,
1867, with B. M. Chambers as president, and P. S.
Langton, cashier, was located at the corner of Fifth
and Morgan Streets, opposite the Union Market. Its
business grew to enormous proportions, and during
the great panic of 1873 it paid all checks as pre-
sented, but on the 14th of July, 1877, it ceased
operations. " The only reason," says a newspaper
announcement of the action of the bank officers, " as
given to us for the close was the imperative provision
of the new statute, which takes effect at the end of
the month, and which provides ' that when the capital
stock shall have become impaired to the extent of
twenty-five per cent, thereof by reason of bad loans
or otherwise, such corporation shall cease to do busi-
ness unless the stock shall have been made good by
assessment within sixty days.'
" The stock of the bank as subscribed is two hun-
dred and sixty-one thousand dollars, of which one
hundred and thirty thousand five hundred dollars is
paid in. Interpreting that the capital stock paid in
must be treated as the sum by which must be tested
the solvency of the bank, Mr. Chambers saw but two
alternatives for compliance with the law, either to
cease to do business or to call on stockholders, which
last within sixty days would not be possible.
" The Butchers' and Drovers' Bank was organized
in 1867 with a nominal capital of two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars, of which thirty per cent, was
paid in. From time to time dividends were declared,
and were credited to stock on the books until fifty
per cent, was paid up, making a working capital of
one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. The
bank did a flourishing business from the start, and,
in addition to a heavy list of large depositors, became
popular with small depositors, of which it had a host.
This gave the bank such a prestige that two years
ago, when only forty per cent, of the stock was paid
up, shares were selling at from seventy to seventy-two
per cent., or a little over seventy-five per cent, pre-
mium."
American Bank, established in November, 1867 ;
officers : President, E. Miltenberger ; Cashier, Wash
Barrow ; Assistant Cashier, F. Siebeumann ; Directors,
E. Miltenberger, Wash Barrow, Henry B. Berning,
William Druhe, J. F. Schiefer, John F. Tolle, Joseph
Uhrig, Jacob Blattner, Clingan Scott, C. F. Orth-
weim, L. W. Burris, J. 0. Banks, R. D. Lancaster.
German Bank, organized in 1869, was located on
Market Street, between Second and Third, but re-
moved to Fifth and Market Streets. It transacted a
large business, having at one time deposits amounting
to one million six hundred thousand dollars, and in
December, 1869, established a branch office in " Hie-
menz's new building, at the northeast corner of Caron-
delet Avenue and Carroll Street." On the 10th of
July, 1877, the directors made an assignment of all
the assets of the bank to Charles Gr. Stifel for the
benefit of the creditors.
Broadway Savings Bank, established March 4,
1869. Officers: L. S. Bargen, president; J. P.
Krieger, Sr., vice-president; J. P. Krieger, Jr.,
cashier. For some years the bank transacted a flour-
ishing business, but on the 21st of May, 1879, it was
compelled to suspend, owing to the sudden crippling
of its resources. Less than two years later (Jan. 17,
1881) its founder, J. Phil. Krieger, Jr., committed
suicide at the Western Hotel, corner of Carr Street
and Broadway, The cause of the act is indicated by
the Republican as follows :
"The bank had a good run of business and did fairly well,
although it is said to have experienced at least two financial
storms, both of which it weathered under the guidance of
Krieger, Jr., its cashier. On the afternoon of May 21, 1879,
the bank closed its doors. The directors had discovered a
slight impairment, and decided it was the wiser plan to suspend,
though Krieger, Jr., was in favor of making efforts to tide over
the difficulty. At this date the liabilities of the bank were
about seven hundred thousand dollars, and its assets were then
figured at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Mr. John
Dierberger first, and afterwards Mr. John Lionberger became
assignee. Public feeling over the matter of the failure ran
very high, especially as there was a widespread opinion that
Krieger, Jr., and one Mayer Goldsoll had conspired together to
help themselves in their own speculations by using the money
of the bank. The grand jury after a grand jural investigation
indicted Krieger, Sr., the president of the bank, Krieger, Jr.,
its cashier, and Mayer Goldsoll, a beneficiary of the institution."
North St. Louis Savings Association, established
April 2, 1860, the directors being A. E. Erfurt,
Fran§ois Cornet, H. W. Winmann, John F. Wittee,
Caspar Stolle, C. L. Holthous, Julias Thamer, and
John C. Vogel. In 1864 the association reorganized
under a new charter, and commenced operations on
the 1st of February of the same year. Louis Espen-
schied was elected president, and John G-. Hermann
secretary. In 1866 the real estate at the southeast
corner of Fourth and Morgan Streets, part of which
was occupied by the building where the association
transacted its business, was sold at auction, and the
association having a fair surplus of profits, concluded
to purchase it, with a view to building a banking-
house on one of the two lots. The corner-stone of
the building was laid on the 3d of June, 1869. On
the 16th of July, 1877, the bank was compelled to
suspend and go into liquidation. At the time of the
suspension the officers were A. C. Erfurt, president ;
BANKS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, AND BANKERS.
1407
E. F. W. Meier, vice-president ; H. H. Wernse,
cashier; J. H. Dickmann, assistant cashier; Di-
rectors, F. Barklage, Theodore Becker, Henry Cor-
net, A. C. Erfurt, Joseph Kilpatrick, E. F. W.
Meier, Frederick Schiereck, J. W. Schloemann, A.
W. Schulenberg, William Hake, F. A. Witte.
The cause of the suspension was the depression in
the real estate market.
Traders' and Mechanics' Bank, established in Oc-
tober, 1872, suspended in February, 1876. C. L.
Kraft was president at the time, and was subsequently
appointed assignee.
S. B. Bullock, for twenty-seven years a resident of
St. Louis, and for fifteen years a banker, died Aug.
7, 1863.
Among the prominent bankers of St. Louis was ;
Capt. Mark Leavenworth, who died on Feb. 17,
1866, aged forty-one years. He was for a number
of years widely known as a river commander and
pilot, and for several years prior to his death was a
member of the banking firm of Gaylord, Leavenworth
& Co., of Olive Street.
The house of Donaldson & Fraley, brokers and
bankers, was established in 1868, at the corner of
Third and Olive Streets, where the firm has conducted
a general brokerage and exchange business ever since.
The house was established by John W. Donaldson
and Moses Fraley, both of whom are active members j
of the firm. A branch house in New York is com-
posed 'of Moses Fraley and Philip J. Goodhart, and j
transacts business under the firm-name of Fraley &
Goodhart.
The Old Banking-House of James H, Lucas
& Co. — In 1851, James H. Lucas established a j
banking-house in St. Louis, and in the following year
associated with him John Simonds, the firm-name
being Lucas & Simonds. Mr. Simonds was born on the
13th of March, 1800, in Windsor County, Vt. His
father removed to St. Louis in 1817, and for several
years filled the post of harbor-master, dying in 1839.
John Simonds received a common school education,
and in 1819 was appointed deputy constable. Two
years later he was made deputy sheriff, and in 1825
was appointed United States marshal, but owing to
his opposition to Gen. Jackson was removed in 1828.
He then became a steamboat captain, and between the
years 1828 and 1835 acted as commander of various
steamers on the Mississippi. In 1835 he established
a large commission house in St. Louis, and successfully
pursued this business until 1852, when he entered the
banking-house of James H. Lucas as a partner. In
1857 he retired from the firm and established the
banking-house of Simonds & Taylor. Capt. Simonds'
first wife was Miss Teresa Geyer, sister of Hon. Henry
S. Geyer, whom he married March 4, 1824, and his
second wife was Miss Susan M. Kennett, whom he
married May 5, 1852. For many years Capt. Simonds
was president of the Citizens' Insurance Company, and
for a considerable period president of the Board of
Underwriters.
In the autumn of 1852 the firm determined to
establish a branch banking-house in San Francisco,
and for that purpose selected as their agent on the
Pacific slope Maj. Henry S. Turner, assistant treas-
urer of the United States at St. Louis, the name de-
termined upon for the branch establishment being that
of Lucas, Turner & Co. A short time previous to
this decision, Capt. William T. Sherman, who after-
wards became so famous as a general in the Union
army, had been stationed at St. Louis as commissary
of subsistence, but in September of that year was
transferred to New Orleans. About Christmas of the
same year Maj. Turner laid before him the details of
the plan for the establishment of the branch house in
San Francisco, and proposed that he should become a
partner in the firm.1
1 Henry S. Turner was born on the 1st of April, 1811, in
King George's County, Va. In 1830 he was admitted as a
cadet at West Point, and in June, 1834, graduated from that
institution. He was at once appointed brevet second lieutenant
in the First Regiment of Dragoons, then a new arm in the
United States service. He served with his regiment on the
frontier, his quarters being at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. He
became second lieutenant in August, 1835, and was appointed
adjutant at the regimental headquarters in July, 1836. He
served in this capacity until November, 1838 (he became first
lieutenant on the 3d of March, 1837), when he was appointed
as aide-de-camp to Gen. Atkinson, and served as such until
July, 1839, when he was sent by the War Department with two
colleagues to the cavalry school of Saumur, France, to study
cavalry tactics and prepare a manual of instruction for that
arm of the service in the army of the United States.
On returning to the United States, two years later, he waa
married to Miss Julia M. Hunt, daughter of Theodore Hunt
and Anne Lucas Hunt, and granddaughter of John B. C. Lucas.
After his marriage he was stationed at Fort Leavenworth,
and served as adjutant of his regiment until June, 1846. In
the interval between these dates he was on duty at Fort Gibson,
at Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, as well as Fort Leavenworth,
as acting assistant adjutant-general of the Third Military De-
partment from July, 1844, to September, 1846, during which
time he was detailed on an expedition through the South Pass
of the Rocky Mountains. When the Mexican war broke out
Gen. Atkinson had died, and Col. Stephen W. Kearney, who
had been appointed brigadier-general, was placed in command
of the Army of the West, on an expedition to New Mexico and
California. Maj. Turner, who had become captain of the First
Dragoons in April, 1846, was the acting assistant adjutant-
general of the army, and his services in the arduous campaign
on which it immediately entered were brilliant and highly ap-
preciated by his gallant commander. At San Pasqual, Cal., on
the 6th of December, 1846, a fierce attack was made in the early
1408
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
James H. Lucas, the senior partner, subsequently
had an interview with Capt. Sherman, and also pre-
sented for his consideration the particulars of the
California project, desiring him to accept the position
of resident partner and manager in San Francisco.
The enterprise struck Capt. Sherman so favorably
that he obtained a leave of absence and visited San
Francisco. After carefully surveying the field, he
morning on a portion of the United States forces by a swarm of
mounted Mexican lancers, and in the combat which ensued Capt.
Turner received a painful flesh-wound from a lance; but none
of his comrades knew of his mishap until the enemy had been
routed. He was in the saddle at the skirmish at San Bernardo
on the following day, and participated in that action. The
passage of the San Gabriel River was effected on the 8th of
January, 1847. The skirmish on the plains of Mesa followed
on the 9th of the same month, and for his gallant and meri-
torious services in these engagements he was breveted major,
to date from the first of them.
The Army of the West returned to the United States by the
way of El Paso, in the summer of 1847, too late to engage in
the operations under Gen. Scott near the city of Mexico. That
place was captured in September, 1847. Maj. Turner, who was
an essential witness at the trial by court-martial of Col. Fre-
mont, was detained in attendance on that court at Washington
City until the treaty of peace in 1848. In July of that year he
resigned his commission and devoted himself to civil life. He
cultivated a farm about nine miles from the city of St. Louis,
and in 1850 was appointed assistant treasurer of the United
States in this city. He performed the duties of his office until
1852, when he embarked in the business of banking, in part-
nership with the late James H. Lucas and Gen. W. T. Sherman.
This partnership lasted until 1857. During part of this interval
Maj. Turner, together with Gen. (then Capt.) Sherman, resided
in San Francisco, where was established a branch of the bank
of Lucas, Turner & Co.
The firm was dissolved in 1857, and Maj. Turner returned to
his farm. In 1863 he was elected president of the Union Na-
tional Bank, and served in that capacity until 1869, when he
accepted the presidency of the Lucas Bank, which he held until
1874, when he insisted upon resigning the office and devoting
his whole time to the care of his large property. In 1858 he
had been elected to the House of Representatives of the State,
and served most acceptably for two years, declining a re-election.
In 1874, when a general uprising against municipal misrule
brought about the active participation in city affairs of men
who ordinarily refuse political duties, he was induced to be-
come a candidate for a seat in the Common Council, and was
elected by his fellow-citizens without distinction of party. The
duties of this office he performed not perfunctorily but con-
scientiously and laboriously for two years, but then insisted on
a discharge from further public service. Besides these public
duties, he was repeatedly selected as the depository of the most
important private trusts. Some of the largest estates that had
ever been administered in St. Louis passed through his hands
as executor. In every instance the performance of his duties
was above all challenge.
During the trying days of 1877, when riotous mobs threat-
ened the peace and good order of the leading cities of the
Union, he was conspicuously energetic in organizing and arm-
ing the citizens for the suppression of disorder. Muj. Turner
died on the 16th of December, 1881, universally regretted by
the citizens.
determined to accept the proposition of Messrs. Lucas
and Turner, and resigned his commission in the army,
to take effect on the 6th of September, 1853. On
the 20th of that month he left New York with his
family by steamer for the Pacific coast, and arrived
safely in San Francisco. Maj. Turner was associated
with him in the management of the branch bank until
1855, when he (Turner) returned to St. Louis, and
Capt. Sherman was left alone to tide the affairs of the
agency over the crisis of that year. Nearly every
other bank in San Francisco closed its doors, but the
house of Lucas, Turner & Co. survived the " run."
Early in 1857, however, he informed the parent
house in St. Louis that in his opinion the mainte-
nance of the San Francisco establishment was no
longer advisable. His suggestion was approved, and
he accordingly closed up the affairs of the branch
bank, and with his family removed to Lancaster,
Ohio. Subsequently Mr. Lucas and Maj. Turner
determined to establish a branch house in New
York, which was done on the 21st of July, 1857.
In the fall of that year the great financial panic ne-
cessitated a suspension of the St. Louis firm, but Mr.
Lucas assumed the liabilities and paid all the creditors,
with ten per cent, interest.
In Normandie of old, in what is now the depart-
ment of the Eure, at the head of navigation on the
river Brille, which empties into the estuary of the
Seine, stands the ancient town of Pont-Audemer, —
not a large place, but venerable, with a history -of its
own, as you will read in Thierry and in Martin ; with
seven thousand or eight thousand people, and manu-
factures of leather and cloth. Its leather products •
are quite famous in their way, and it is to the fact of
manufactures being of old establishment in Pont-Au-
demer that St. Louis owes the residence there of the
i Lucas family, who have done so much to improve and
adorn the town and city ; for manufactures must
have manufacturers, and these again their wives and
daughters, and thereby hangs a tale. The procureur
du roi (king's prosecuting attorney) of Pont-Audemer
from 1760 onward was Robert Edward Lucas. An
old Norman family, the Lucases, with a terribly long
pedigree, — Lucas, Lucie, Fitz-Lucas, De Lucy, Filius
Lucaj, — you will find their names in the roll of Battle
Abbey, in the English Domesday Book, in Holinshed,
in Joinville, in Camden, Leland, and Froissart, proud
they were accordingly, sticklers for rank and social dis-
tinction. Robert Edward Lucas married for his wife
la Mademoiselle de L'Arche. He had a fine old
family seat outside the town, and the office of pro-
cureur was in some sort almost hereditary in his family.
His wife bore him a son, Jean Baptiste Charles Lucas,
\H
BANKS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, AND BANKERS. 1409
Aug. 14, 1758, and this boy from the first was looked
upon as destined to be his father's successor. He was
educated with the position steadily in view, and with
the profession also in which it was intended he should
succeed his father, — an education at once liberal and
exact, classical and technical, received in part at the
university founded in Caen by King Henry VI. of
England, and in part at the Honfleur and Paris law
schools. At Honfleur, J. B. C. Lucas met his fate,
in the person of Mademoiselle Anne Sebin, daughter
of a manufacturer of cloth. Because her father was
in trade, while the family of Lucas were gens du droit,
Mademoiselle Sebin was not looked upon as his social
equal. But she was handsome, well educated, and
rich in mental endowments, and Lucas did not care
much for the social arrangements which not only stood
between him and the object of his affections, but also
proposed to marry him to quite another person. Be-
sides, in Paris he had become acquainted with Jacques
le Roy de Chaumont, son of the landlord at Passy
with whom Franklin and Adams sojourned during the
times of the Revolution, and through him was im-
bued with American ideas, becoming such a hot Re-
publican, in fact, that he and the king's attorney, his
father, could not agree at all. Le Roy was coming to
this country to buy land and settle in Western New
York. Lucas accompanied him, arriving in the United
States in 1784, having first married Anne Sebin. As
soon as he became sufficiently acquainted with the
English language, Lucas sent for his wife to join him
in the western wilds. Albert Gallatin, Lucas* lifelong
friend, who had come out in 1780, had bought land
in Virginia, but the Indians prevented him from oc-
cupying it, and he was settled near Pittsburgh. Thither
went Lucas also, and bought a farm, called " Mont-
pelier," on Coal Hill, on the Monongahela River, six
miles from Pittsburgh. Here some of his children
were born, — Robert, the eldest, who was cadet at West
Point by Gen. Wilkinson's appointment, and died in
the service of his country in 1813, on the Canada
frontier ; Charles, the lawyer, killed in a duel by
Thomas Hart Benton ; Adrian the planter, who was
drowned while crossing on the ice on Loutre Lake,
Mo., in 1804 ; Anne, born Sept. 23, 1796, widow
and survivor of Capt. Theodore Hunt, U.S.N., and
Wilson P. Hunt, the great fur-trader, who after-
wards kept store in St. Louis (Hunt & Hankinson) ;
James H., born Nov. 12, 1800 ; and William, born
in 1798, who died in 1837. Mrs. Anne Sebin Lucas,
who was born in Honfleur, Aug. 10, 1764, died in
St. Louis, Aug. 3, 1811.
J. B. C. Lucas, a man of great parts naturally and
of superior culture, began at once to take part in pub-
lic affairs, following the example of Gallatin. Like
Gallatin, he took the popular side in the excise trou-
bles of that section, acquiring great influence, and
being able to do much good by conservative and
moderate counsels. His next neighbor was Maj.
Ebcnezer Denny, a Revolutionary officer, and one of
Harmar's staff. The two were opposing candidates
in 1795 for the Pennsylvania Legislature. Denny
was a universal favorite, Lucas scarcely known, speak-
ing English with difficulty, and charged by partisan
maligners with being an avowed atheist, and with
permitting his wife, during his absence in France, to
have his land plowed on Sunday. Nevertheless
Lucas was elected, though next year, in a purely local
contest, Denny beat him badly for county commis-
sioner, receiving nearly every vote. Lucas himself
told this to Denny's son, years after. They were great
friends, went to the polls together, and Denny contra-
dicted on the stump the calumnies circulated about
his political opponent. Lucas had a chance to repay
this generosity in kind long years afterward. When
he was judge of the Territorial Court in St. Louis, a
case came before him in which Denny, who was not
present, was plaintiff, and Alexander McNair, first
Governor of the State, and a very popular and influ-
ential man, was defendant. Denny's case rested on
his own deposition and was likely to go against him,
when Judge Lucas charged the jury, both in French
and English, to this effect: " When I lived in Penn-
sylvania," he said, " I was the next neighbor to the
plaintiff; we differed in politics, we were opposing
candidates for office, but there never was a more hon-
est man. It is impossible that he could set up any
claim that was not just and true." The jury found
for Denny without leaving the box. Lucas was a man
of remarkable prudence and judgment. Jefferson
selected him, in the beginning of his administration,
to go West and ascertain the temper of the French
and Spanish residents of Louisiana. This was about
1801. He went incognito to St. Louis, and thence
to Ste. Genevieve and New Orleans, taking the name
of Pantreaux.
In 1803, Lucas was member of Congress from
Western Pennsylvania, and on the purchase of Lou-
isiana being completed, was at once appointed by Jef-
ferson commissioner of land claims and judge of
the Territorial Court. He sold his Coal Hill farm for
five thousand dollars and went West with his family,
arriving in St. Louis in September, 1805, and imme-
diately investing his money in land in and adjacent
to the tow.n. Mrs. Hunt, in her cheerful little
memoir of her family, after mentioning that a Pitts-
burgh lot, taken by her father for a bad debt, and
1410
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
afterwards traded for a horse, had sold for twenty-five
thousand or thirty thousand dollars, adds, " On the
advice of niy mother, who had learned experience
from the sale of the Pittsburgh lot, he invested his
salary in the purchase of land. He' bought mostly
outlets, facing on what is now Fourth Street, each
lot being one arpent wide by forty arpens deep. All
this land was used as a common field, each man culti-
vating what he pleased. There were no fences of any
kind on it. By purchasing a lot at a time, he at
length came to own all the land from Market Street
to St. Charles, and from Fourth Street to Jefferson
Avenue. He did not buy it as a speculation, but for
what it would produce ; it turned out, however, to be
an immense speculation, for the whole seven arpens
front did not cost him over seven hundred dollars, and
that property is now worth, I suppose, seventy millions !
A hundred dollars was what he usually paid for an
arpent in width by forty deep, though sometimes he
got it for less. The heirs to this vast estate need not
thank my father for it, for he was too much of a
politician to think of investing his money in land ; it
was my mother's foresight that suggested the invest-
ment which turned out so well."
This is rather a feminine way of looking at things,
perhaps. It needed the sagacity of a man, not the in-
stinctive security women feel in land-holding, to see the
possibilities of the future in the untamed and unpro-
gressive trading town of that day, with streets all
mud-holes, Chouteau's hill a barren waste, and wolves
prowling in the suburbs at Sixth and Chestnut Streets
when the snow fell. James Lucas, with his traps,
caught prairie-hens where the Laclede Hotel now
stands, and rabbits on the site of the Four Courts.
Judge Lucas, so far from being an " avowed
atheist," was, like all his family, a consistent mem-
ber of the Catholic Church. So far from being a
" confirmed poker-player," gambling away whole
blocks of houses, as some alleged "old inhabitants"
have gone out of the way to charge him with being,
he was a man of refined, scholarly tastes and domestic
habits, giving to his family all the time which he
could spare from his business, and looking in person
after the education of his only daughter, a lady of
peculiar graces both of mind and person. He was a
man of strong feelings, and grief for the untimely loss
of his sons, five of the six of whom died sudden
deaths in their youth and prime, bowed him under a
weight of affliction such as would have crushed a
less composed and resolute soul. These losses did,
indeed, drive him into retirement and seclusion in his
private life after the death of his accomplished wife
and his distinguished son Charles, but they never
1 distracted him from close attention to his affairs.
These were multifarious and complicated, as, besides
the care of his own immense estate, with all its various
interests, he had a large law business and a great
amount of fiduciary concerns for others, — trusteeships,
executorships, and administrations. It is related of
him that in spite of all the innumerable time sales
and leases made by him, through which he became the
creditor of thousands of persons, he never foreclosed
and sold up more than five mortgages, and the most
of these by request of the debtors.
In 1814, having occasion to go to Washington, a
journey then indeed, and scarcely to be made except
on horseback and in the course of months, he took
with him his son, James H., a frolicsome youth, full
of fun and humor and rather coltish in his high spirits
and free temper, naturally somewhat impatient of re-
straint, having lost his mother so young in life. Re-
turning West, James H. Lucas was sent to school at
the college of St. Thomas, Nelson Co., Ky., an insti-
tution in charge of the Dominican order of friars.
Among his schoolmates at this academy were Jeffer-
son Davis, with Louis A. Benoist, Bernard Pratte,
Gustave Soulard, and Bion Gratiot, all of St. Louis.
In 1816 he and his brother William were students
in Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pa., an institution
founded in 1802, and under charge of the Presby-
terians. He was still here when, Sept. 27, 1817, his
brother Charles died of the wound inflicted by Col.
Benton's pistol. It is said, we know not how truly,
that his father, disliking the lad's propensity for mis-
chief, sent him from here to a school in New Hamp-
shire. He may, perhaps, have been "rusticated."
At any rate, he did travel, about the time assigned,
in New England, and whether he sent his father a
" declaration of independence" or not, he studied law
in Hudson (or Poughkeepsie), N. Y., supporting him-
self the while by teaching French in a young lady's
seminary. In Hudson he studied in the office of
Elisha Williams, a leading lawyer. Afterwards he
went to the well-known law school of Judge Reeves,
in Litchfield, Conn., where he had for his fellow-stu-
dents men like Governor Ashley, Ichabod Bartlett, of
New Hampshire, and N. P. Talmage, of New York,
afterwards United States senator.
In 1819 he and Ashley, tiring of the "land of
steady habits," returned to the West, the two with a
companion forthwith embarking on a keel-boat with
the purpose of descending the Mississippi and seeking
their fortunes in South America, then in all the tur-
moil and excitement of revolution. Having got as
far as Montgomery Point, on the White River, they
seem to have changed their minds, took a pirogue up
XV
BANKS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, AND BANKERS.
1411
the river, passed through the " cut-off" to the Ar-
kansas, and landed at Arkansas Post, famous for its
founder Tonti, the companion of La Salle, and for the
connection of Laclede with the place. Here Lucas |
was fortunate enough to become acquainted with Mr.
Notrebe, the chief merchant and planter in that sec- j
tion, an elegant French gentleman of culture and re- j
finement, with whom Lucas sealed a lifelong friend-
ship. Doubtless this new acquaintance had a most
beneficial influence upon young Lucas, for he seems
at once to have settled down, resuming his law studies
with energy, determination, and persistence, support-
ing himself by teaching school, and giving all his
leisure hours to study. Here, and at Little Rock
later, he followed other means of livelihood also, set
type on the Arkansas Gazette, worked a plantation,
and ran a ferry opposite the place, charging twenty-
five cents' toll for his fares, foot passengers. He
secured the appointment of county clerk also, until
he passed the bar, when he took his saddle-bags and
began to ride the circuit. This industry was not
without its reward, for Governor James Miller, of the i
Territory, made him in 1825 major in the militia, and
afterwards judge of the probate court. In this posi-
tion Mr. Lucas remembered to have often performed
the marriage ceremony, and it was he who married
Albert Pike, the poet and general.
On May 10, 1832, he was himself married to
Marie Emilie Desruisseaux, a native of Arkansas
Post, but French in descent. The father of Miss
Desruisseaux was Indian agent at the post of Arkansas
at the time, — a man of consequence and ability, well
educated, and possessing great influence. He was a
Canadian by birth, French in his origin, and had
come to that remote station from Canada by way of
the ancient town of Cahokia. On the mother's side,
the late Mrs. James H. Lucas was more American in
blood. Her mother was a Van Noye, daughter of a
native of New Jersey (of Dutch descent) who had
married a Miss Anderson, of Virginia, and had seen
service during the war of the Revolution. Thirteen
children were the fruits of James H. Lucas' mar-
riage, of whom six sons and two daughters sur- '
vived him. Mrs. Marie E. Lucas died on the 24th
of December, 1878, after a married life of forty-
six and a half years, being then only in her sixty-
fourth year. At the time of her death a St. Louis
journal said that, " though occupying a position in
society which the advantages of wealth and refine-
ment entitled her to assume, she was unpretentious
and unassuming. She was ever the dutiful wife, the
indulgent mother, and faithful friend, devoted to
every duty which a religious faith and matronly qual-
ities called upon her to exercise. Surviving her hus-
band five years, she lived to see her numerous family
settled in life, enjoying the large portions which fell
to them from one of the largest estates in St. Louis.
Besides her six sons she leaves two sons-in-law, Dr. J.
B. Johnson, of St. Louis, and Judge Hager, of Cali-
fornia."
In 1837 his brother William died, and James H.
was the only living son of John B. C. Lucas, who
was already old, getting feeble, and feeling lonesome.
His daughter, Mrs. Hunt, had only at this time been
married a year to her second husband, Wilson P.
Hunt, and of course her own menage demanded all
her time. John B. C. Lucas wrote to his son James
to come home to him, and, prompted by filial duty,
the young man gave up his prospects in Arkansas
and removed with his family to St. Louis. He ar-
rived here in October, 1837, and settled on what Mr.
Lucas called "the farm," or home-place, which his
father gave him for his own. It consisted of fifty
acres of land, and was valued then at thirty thousand
dollars. His residence was near the fountain in Lucas
(now called Missouri) Park, and he soon took the en-
tire control and management of the extensive Lucas
property, the judge, now nearly eighty years old, hav-
ing become infirm and feeble. From 1837, therefore,
James H. Lucas is thoroughly and effectively iden-
tified with the progress of St. Louis, and its growth
in wealth and prosperity.
In 1842, on the 18th of August, John Baptiste
Charles Lucas died, full of years and honors, and
James H. Lucas and Annie L. Hunt, his sister, suc-
ceeded to the entire estate.
The original tract owned by the estate was bounded
north by St. Charles Street, on the east by Fourth,
south by Market, and west by Pratte Avenue. That em-
braced the Lucas property up to 1837. The last ac-
quisition made by the old judge was Cote Brilliante,
consisting of two hundred and forty acres, which was
bought for one hundred and fifty dollars in gold, and
comprised the undivided land owned by Mr. Lucas
and Mrs. Hunt. Mr. Lucas had also another farm,
the New Madrid location, his country-seat, called
" Normandy," on the St. Charles Rock road, nine
miles from the city. This portion, now belonging to
the Lucas estate, comprises eight hundred acres.
Also, at the mouth of the Missouri River, there are
six hundred and forty-three acres belonging to the es-
tate. This is an old Spanish fort, where the battle of
Bellefontaine was fought, in which fight Charles Lucas
participated as colonel. There is also the Courtois
tract, consisting of four hundred arpens, near Eureka
Station, on the Maramec, still undivided ; also twenty
1412
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
acres on the Clayton road, the old Barrett place. In
the management of the city portion of his vast estate,
in building and improvements, Mr. Lucas devoted
the remaining years of his protracted life, and but
rarely engaged in the turbulent excitement of politi-
cal affairs. He was, to be sure, State senator from
1844 to 1845, making a good serviceable member,
and in 1847 consented to run as the Whig candidate
for mayor in a triangular fight in which W. M.
Campbell, Native American, and Judge Bryan Mul-
lanphy, Democrat, were his opponents. Mr. Lucas
was pimply the color-bearer in a forlorn hope, and he
ran for the sake of his party, not to be elected. Mul-
lanphy triumphed over both the other candidates.
In business enterprises of a public character Mr.
Lucas took a conspicuous and leading part. He was
always ready to subscribe his money liberally and give
his time freely to the service of any undertaking which
he thought likely to promote the welfare and prosper-
ity of St. Louis. He subscribed thirty-three thousand
dollars at the start to the stock of the Missouri Pacific
Railroad Company, of which he was twice elected
president, promoting its success in many ways, and
especially by shaping and indorsing its financial exer-
tions. He helped to organize' the St. Louis Gas Com-
pany, of which he was also president ; was a director
in the Boatmen's Savings Institution, and a large
shareholder and director in nearly all the other promi-
nent moneyed institutions of this city. In 1851, as
hertofore stated, in order to promote his own exten-
sive financial operations, he established a banking-
house in St. Louis, branches of which were afterwards
established in New York and San Francisco. He was
now building very extensively, besides his ramified
connection with many joint-stock enterprises, and the
Lucas Market and the Lucas Place, both laid out by
him, are perpetual monuments of the liberality of his
great projects, and the taste which strengthened and
embellished his judgment. His bank enjoyed, as it
deserved, the confidence of the community, the vaults
of the St. Louis house sometimes containing deposits
to the value of two and a half millions.
In 1857 the banking firm of Lucas, Simonds &
Co.. of St. Louis, and the branch in San Francisco,
under the firm of Lucas, Turner & Co., went under
with the financial panic of that year. It was no re-
proach to the stability of any concern to yield tempo-
rarilv to the pressure of such convulsions. Mr. Lucas
gave his notes to all the creditors, some of whom
valued the security so highly, with the rate of interest
paid on them, that Mr. Lucas had not succeeded in
calling them all in three years afterwards. In these
financial troubles, Mr. Lucas, as we have seen, as-
sumed the entire liabilities, and paid off every credi-
tor with ten per cent, interest, the loss to him amount-
ing in the aggregate to about half a million of dollars.
The debtors of the banking houses he never sued, but
accepted whatever was offered.
In 1856, the year before this monetary cataclysm,
Mr. Lucas sought a temporary relaxation from his
labors in an extensive tour through Europe, his
traveling companions being his son William and his
daughter Elizabeth (now the wife of Judge Hager,
of California). He visited the home of his ancestors
in Normandy, and bought the old homestead near
Pont-Audeiner. Returning home he attended with
assiduous industry to the management of his business.
Under the transforming hand of time, and the rise in
the value of real estate, his riches increased with the
rapid progress of St. Louis.
Of this rapid growth and • unexampled progress
Mr. Lucas was at once the observant witness and the
sagacious promoter. He enriched himself by contrib-
uting wisely and largely to enrich and beautify the
city, and so freely did he employ his vast means that
he was generally in debt for ready cash, and com-
pelled to borrow money to help forward the innumer-
able enterprises with which he was associated. Some-
times his great estates made him " land poor," and
he once told a friend, at a meeting at the Planters'
Hotel, many years before his death, that while he was
worth, as he supposed, two million dollars, he fre-
quently had not money enough to go to market with.
It was not with many people that he became thus
confidential, for he was a quiet man, rather reserved,
and fond of keeping his own counsel, but at times,
in the company of a few friends, he unbent from his
usual reserve, and was eminently social and fond of
telling sketchy anecdotes of his early life and adven-
tures.
Mr. Lucas was a man of marked capacity and posi-
tive character, and of the most undoubted integrity.
He was modest and unassuming, in his deportment,
and retiring in his habits, with no disposition to put
himself forward, but in whatever position he was
placed he was emphatic and decided.
With all these elements of a strong character, he
was fitted to assume the responsibilities devolved upon
him by his father and to manage a great estate,
which by his prudence, foresight, and industry was
so largely increased in value and kept intact for the
benefit of his family.
His fortune was very large. He owned two hun-
dred and twenty-five dwellings and stores previous to
the division of his property in 1872. His taxes the
year before his death on his portion of the estate
BANKS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, AND BANKERS.
1413
were one hundred and twenty-six thousand dollars.
He had in all three hundred and odd tenants. Be-
fore the division of two millions to his wife and eight
children, the income was forty thousand dollars per
month, amounting to nearly half a million annually.
After giving away the two millions, the portion of
the estate left was estimated by good judges at five
millions. He was also largely interested in the Pilot
Knob Iron Company, owning one-fifth of the stock,
which he gave away to his children, being twenty-five j
thousand dollars to each, and not included in the two '
millions given them as before stated. At an early
day his father, Judge Lucas, lived in a stone house
on Seventh Street, between Market and Chestnut, and
he also had a farm residence in the woods, on the
site of the First Presbyterian Church, and one of the
apple-trees of the old orchard is yet standing.
The residence of Mr. Lucas was for many years
on the southwest corner of Ninth and Olive Streets,
but of late years he resided in an elegant dwelling
on Lucas Place, bought of John How in 1867.
Mr. Lucas gave as liberally as he subscribed. The
city owes him for a quit-claim deed for the old jail
lot; he built the Lucas Market, and gave the Histori-
cal Society real estate valued at ten thousand dollars.
He gave the ground upon which the Planters' Hotel
was built, and which was originally called " Lucas
Hotel."
He donated eleven thousand dollars towards build-
ing the Southern Hotel. He encouraged the new Ex-
change enterprise by selling a portion of the ground
to the association at a low price and by taking twenty
thousand dollars' stock, with assurances that the Fourth
Street front when built would be equal in elegance
and architectural design to the building of the Cham-
ber of Commerce Association. He gave to the city
Missouri Park. Two or three times he and Mrs.
Hunt gave lots for a cathedral, besides lots and dona-
tions of money to numerous charitable institutions.
The following instance of his liberality may also
be mentioned in this connection : At the close of the
war in 1865, a man came up here from Little Rock,
with three thousand dollars in "starvation bonds,"
which he endeavored to sell, in order to meet his
pressing wants. The only offer he received was
twenty cents on the dollar for the bonds. Mr. Lucas
took them at their face, making only one request, that
the party selling them would on his return to Arkan-
sas give " Old Larky," who was in indigent circum-
stances from the war and whom he knew, some meat
and flour. The bonds he subsequently gave away to
old Dr. Price to pay his taxes with, as they were good
in Arkansas for that purpose.
90
James H. Lucas died Nov. 11 ; 1873, at his resi-
dence, 1515 Lucas Place. His eight children survived
him, six sons and two daughters, all of whom are mar-
ried. He was buried with quiet but imposing cere-
monies from St. John's Church, corner of Chestnut
and Sixteenth Streets, Archbishop Kenrick officiating
and Bishop Ryan preaching the funeral sermon in
presence of nearly all the leading citizens of St. Louis,
assembled to do honor to the deceased good man and
honored fellow-citizen. The remains were interred in
Calvary Cemetery.
Mr. Lucas' sister, Mrs. Anne L. Hunt, the other
heir to the estate of J. B. C. Lucas, survived him for
several years, dying April 13, 1879, at her residence,
which, like her brother's, was also in Lucas Place.
In youth she was a bright and lovely girl, precocious
in intellect and a favorite in society. As has been
stated above, she married early and had two husbands.
Her large estate was managed by her with excellent
prudence and judgment, while of its income she
seemed to look upon herself as chiefly an almoner,
giving very largely to charities, some of which origi-
nated with others, but some were planned and con-
ceived by her alone. She gave in the most unosten-
tatious way, so, indeed, as she used to say, that only
she alone could see the fruits of .her beneficence. It
is said that in this way, in money and real estate, she
gave away nearly a million dollars. Among the in-
stitutions founded by Mrs. Hunt were the sisterhood
and house of the Good Shepherd, and the church and
school of St. Mary's. She also materially aided the
Little Sisters of the Poor.
Mrs. Hunt was her own executrix in a great meas-
ure, distributing her estate herself during the last four
years of her life. She was as charitable in thought
and speech as she was in deed, lived simply and
plainly, and had such an aversion to ostentation that
she particularly directed all the arrangements for her
own funeral, so as to prohibit everything like display.
She left two children, nineteen grandchildren, and
twenty-two great-grandchildren.
The St. Louis Clearing-House Association was
organized in the latter part of 1868, and began active
operations on December 24th of that year with the
following members :
Accommodation Bank, Bartholow, Lewis & Co., Boatmen's
Savings Institution, Butchers' and Drovers' Pank, Central
Savings-Bank, Commercial Bank, Exchange Bank, First Na-
tional Bank, Fourth National Bank, Fourth Street Bank,
Franklin Avenue German Savings Institution, Franklin Savings
Institution, German Bank, German Savings Institution, Has-
kell & Co., International Bank, G. H. Loker & Brother, Me-
chanics' Bank, Merchants' National Bank, National Bank
State of Missouri, National Loan Bank, North St. Louis Savings
1414
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Association, People's Savings Institution, Provident Savings
Institution, St. Louis National Bank, St. Louis Building and
Savings Association, Second National Bank, State Savings
Association, Third National Bank, Traders' Bank, Union
National Bank, Union Savings Association, United States
Savings Institution, Clark Brothers & Co., Western Savings- \
Bank. The original management was composed of: President, j
W. E. Burr, president St. Louis National Bank ; Vice-Presi- j
dent, Charles Hodgeman, cashier Boatmen's Savings Institu- j
tion; Committee of Management, J. H. Britton, president ;
National Bank State of Missouri ; Felix Coste, president St.
Louis Building and Savings Association; J. C. II. D. Block,
president Fourth National Bank ; W. H. Maurice, cashier
National Loan Bank ; John R. Lionberger, president Third
National Bank ; Manager, James T. Howenstein.
In 1873, Charles Parsons succeeded Mr. Burr as
president, J. R. Lionberger succeeded Mr. Hodge-
man as vice-president, and Edward Chase succeeded
Mr. Howenstein as manager.
On the 12th of July, 1875, an amendment (sec-
tion 18) to the constitution was adopted, providing
that
" no member shall be added to this association unless such mem-
ber shall have a paid up capital of $150,000, and no member hav-
ing a less amount of paid up capital than $150,000 shall be al-
lowed to make the exchanges through the Clearing-House for
any non-member, except under such contracts as are now exist-
ing."
The Clearing-House was originally located in the
Exchange Bank building, but is now situated at No.
528, Chamber of Commerce building.
The present government is as follows :
President, Charles Parsons, president State Savings Associa-
tion ; Vice-President, Thomas E. Tutt, president Third Na-
tional Bank; Committee of Management, Joseph O'Neil (pres-
ident Citizens' Savings-Bank), William H. Thomson (cashier
Boatmen's Savings-Bank), E. C. Breck (cashier Exchange
Bank), Richard Hospes (cashier German Savings Institution),
R. R. Hutchinson assistant cashier Mechanics' Bank) ; Committee
of Arbitration, C. B. Burnham (president Bank of Commerce),
S. E. Hoffman (president Valley National Bank), William
Nichols (cashier Commercial Bank), James E. Yeatman (presi-
dent Merchants' National Bank), George A. Baker (president
Continental Bank) ; Committee on Membership, T. A. Stoddart
(cashier Third National Bank), John Nickerson (cashier St.
Louis National Bank), F. W. Biebinger (cashier Fourth Na-
tional Bank); Manager, Edward Chase; Members, Laclede
Bank, Boatmen's Savings-Bank, Commercial Bank, Fourth
National Bank, Franklin Bank, German Savings Institution,
International Bank, Mechanics' Bank, Merchants' National
Bank, Continental Bank, Provident Savings Institution, St.
Louis National Bank, Bank of Commerce, State Savings As-
sociation, Third National Bank, Union Savings Association,
Citizens' Savings-Bank, Valle}' National Bank.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
INSURANCE, TELEGRAPH, POSTAL SERVICE, GAS,
AND HOTELS.
Fire, Marine, and Life Insurance. — During the
earlier portion of the city's history insurance was
effected through the agency of foreign companies which
had established branch offices in St. Louis, and it was
not until 1831 that an effort was made to organize a
home insurance company. One of the earliest in-
surance agents was Edward Tracy, of Tracy &
Wahrendorff, who, on the 14th of June, 1824, an-
nounced that he would insure St. Louis property as
the representative of the Farmers' Fire Insurance and
Loan Company of New York. In February, 1826,
announcement was made of the appointment of H.
C. Simmons as agent of the Protection Fire and
Marine Insurance Company of Hartford, Conn.,
which authorized him " to insure against the hazards
of fire and against the hazards of inland navigation
on the lowest terms." On the 15th of February
of the following year, John Shack ford informed
the public that he would insure against fire and
river risks. On the same day it was announced
that Edward Tracy, of Tracy & Wahrendorff, would
continue to act as the St. Louis agent of tho Farmers'
Fire Insurance and Loan Company of New York,
and that Wilson P. Hunt, agent, would effect insur-
ances in St. Louis on behalf of the Traders' Insurance
Company of New York. Mr. Hunt's advertisement
as agent of the Fire and Inland Navigation Insurance
Company was renewed in September, 1828, as were
also those of Edward Tracy, agent for the Farmers'
Insurance and Loan Company of New York, and H.
C. Simmons, agent for the Protection Insurance Com-
pany of Hartford, Conn. In March, 1829, Mr.
Tracy and Charles Wahrendorff were still conducting
a marine insurance business under the firm-name of
Tracy & Wahrendorff. On the 8th of February,
1831, notice was published to the effect that those
who wished to take stock in the Missouri Insurance
Company of St. Louis were informed that books had
been opened for that purpose under the supervision of
a committee appointed by the Legislature. This
committee was composed of George Collier, John Mul-
lanphy, Peter Lindell, James Clemens, Jr., Thomas
Biddle, Henry Von Phul, Edward Tracy, and AVilliam
K. Rule. About five weeks later (March 15, 1831)
it was announced that the company had gone into
operation with very favorable prospects. The follow-
ing were the directors for the year: John Mullanphy,
Thomas Biddle, George Collier, P. Lindell, James
INSURANCE, TELEGRAPH, POSTAL SERVICE, GAS, AND HOTELS.
1415
Clemens, Jr., Bernard Pratte, Henry Von Phul, and
William Hill. George Collier was president of the
company, and John Ford secretary.
In April following notice was issued that the capi-
tal, one hundred thousand dollars, having been se-
cured, the company was prepared to insure steamboats
and every other description of vessels against the
dangers of sea or inland navigation ; also stores, ware-
houses, dwelling-houses, mills, factories, and buildings
in general, merchandise, household furniture, vessels
building or in port, and their cargoes, and every de-
scription of personal property against damage by fire.
The office of the company was situated on Main
Street, near Vine, " in the south end of the late
dwelling of P. Chouteau." The business hours were
stated to be " from 9 until 1 P.M., and from 3 o'clock
until sundown." In February, 1837, a meeting of the
Missouri Life Insurance and Trust Company was held,
at which Edward Tracy was unanimously elected pres-
ident, and Martin Thomas vice-president and cashier.
On the 13th of February, 1837, notice was given
that the books of subscription to the capital stock of
the St. Louis Insurance Company would be opened
on the 20th of March, at the office of the Missouri
Insurance Company, under the supervision of Wil-
liam G. Pettus.
The commissioners whose signatures were appended
to this notice were Theodore Labeaume, Christopher
Rhodes, John W. Johnson, Thomas S. Stewart, Har-
dage Lane, William G. Pettus, Thomas Andrews,
John Ford, William L. Sublette, John Shade. On
the same day the commissioners of the proposed
" Union Insurance Company" announced that sub-
scription books would be opened " at 10 A.M. on
Monday next at the counting-room of Von Phul &
McGill, " and would be kept open for ten days, or
until the stock was subscribed for." The commissioners
were Augustus Kerr, Theodore L. McGill, William
Hempstead, J. G. Lindell, Daniel P. Page, and Ed-
ward Walsh. Similar notices with regard to the
proposed formation of the Citizens' and Marine Insur-
ance Companies were issued on the 16th and 20th
of February respectively. At an election for trustees
of the Missouri Life Insurance and Trust Company,
held in December, 1837, the following were elected:
Edward Trncy, Pierre Chouteau, Martin Thomas, George
Collier, Henry Von Phul, William Glasgow, Nathaniel Paschall,
John Walsh, Joseph Charles?, Daniel D. Page, Augustus Kerr,
George K. McGunnegle, M. Lewis Clark, all of St. Louis; John
M. White, of Selina, Mo.; John M. Derby, of Boston, Mass.;
David B. Ogden, C. T. Catlin, J. D. Beers, of New York;
George Hanly, of Philadelphia.
The subscribers to the stock of the St. Louis Float-
ing-Dock and Insurance Company were notified on the
25th of August, 1838, that a meeting would be held
at the counting-room of Messrs. Charless & Blow on
the 6th of September for the purpose of electing thir-
teen directors. The commissioners who gave this
notice were Robert Walsh, John D. Daggett, Thorn-
ton Grimsley, Hugh O'Neil, Joseph C. Laveille,
Thomas Andrews, John Shannon, and James S.
Thomas. In April, 1839, the Republican announced
that the St. Louis Perpetual Insurance Company had
purchased the lot then occupied by it for twenty
thousand dollars. The company had a capital of
three hundred thousand dollars, which, however, had
not at that time been paid in full, although it was
stated that the amount would be secured in a few
months. The institution had already begun to receive
money on deposit.
The Perpetual Insurance Company also transacted
a savings-bank business, as appears from a brief news-
paper mention of the fact in April, 1839. At the
election of directors of this institution held Jan. 4,
1841, John B. Camden, William M. Tompkins, Ken-
neth McKenzie, John J. Anderson, S. J. Bacon,
Joseph Stettinius, and H. A. Garstens were chosen.
March 30, 1843, the public was informed that the St.
Louis Perpetual Insurance Company had " fully re-
sumed its insurance business."
In the Republican of July 19, 1849, mention is
made of the fact that the St. Louis Floating-Dock
and Insurance Company, " which was revived a short
time previous to -the late disastrous fire," met with a
heavy loss on that occasion. Notwithstanding the
fact, however, that the losses amounted to one hundred
and twenty thousand dollars, it was able within sixty
days to adjust every loss, with the exception of one
which involved a legal doubt. The stockholders about
this time increased the capital stock one hundred thou-
sand dollars, and the company was reported to be
" doing a handsome business."
At the election of the St. Louis Insurance Com-
pany held in September, 1852, J. E. Yeatman, Charles
Miller, J. D. Osborne, E. Y. Ware, S. K. Wilson, J.
C. Rust, J. B. S. Lemoine, J. D. Houseman, L. Lev-
ering, George Knapp, George K. McGunnegle, Abner
Hood, and T. Grimsley were chosen directors for the
year.
On the 14th of July, 1853, the directors of the
Pacific Insurance Company organized at the office of
Leffingwell & Elliot by the election of A. B. Cham-
bers, president, and Walter B. Foster, secretary. It
was announced that the company would be prepared
to commence business " at an early day next week."
CITIZENS' INSURANCE COMPANY. — On the 16th
of February, 1837, a notice was published to the effect
1416
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
that the Citizens' Insurance Company was about to be
organized, the 27th being named as the day for open-
ing the subscription books at the counting-room of
Alfred Skinner. The commissioners were George W.
Call, James Clemens, Jr., Alfred Skinner, H. L. Hoff- \
man, John F. Darby, Henry Chouteau, David S. Hill, !
James S. Thomas, and John Shannon. The organi-
zation was duly effected, and the company, whose |
offices are located at the corner of Third and Chestnut
Streets, has had a flourishing career of more than ,
forty-five years' duration. Its actual cash capital is
$200,000; surplus, 8143,553.85 ; and its business,
which amounts to about $80,000 per annum, is con- j
ducted on sound and conservative principles.
The company transacts a general fire insurance
business, which is principally local, being confined
almost exclusively to St. Louis County. The officers
of the company1 during 1882 were E. 0. Stanard,
president ; H. D. McLean, vice-president ; John P.
Harrison, secretary ; Directors, E. 0. Stanard, George
H. Plant, Theo. Bartholow, H. C. Haarstick, Craig
Alexander, J. G. Chouteau, A. Nedderhut, H. D.
McLean, George Bain, J. B. M. Kehlor, VV. S.
Humphreys, A. T. Harlow, W. P. Howard, A. 0.
Grubb, and Theo. Booth.
THE MARINE INSURANCE COMPANY, located at j
212 North Third Street, was incorporated by the
Legislature on the 25th of January, 1837, and books
were opened for subscriptions to the stock on the
1 One of the most prominent officers of the Citizens' Company
was William Renshaw, Sr., who died at the residence of his son
at Fulton, Mo., on the 1-Hh of March, 1864, aged seventy-two
years. Mr. Renshaw removed to St. Louis in 1818, when the
future great city was an unpretentious town, and first estab-
lished himself in business as a member of the firm of Renshaw
& Hoffman, which continued in existence for a number of years.
At a later period he was made secretary and then president of
the Citizens' Insurance Company, which under his management
enjoyed, as it si ill enjoys, a large share of public favor.
Another active officer of this venerable company was Gen.
W. D. Wood, who died in St. Louis on the 2d of February,
1867. Gen. Wood was a native of Pennsylvania, but for twenty j
years had been a citizen and resident of St. Louis. He was
educated for the medical profession, but having a preference
for business pursuits, became a partner in a hardware house in
St. Louis. Subsequently and for several years prior to the war
he was secretary of the Citizens' Insurance Company. In
1861, on the breaking out of hostilities, he was appointed a
member of Governor Gamble's staff with the rank of colonel.
He commanded a regiment in Missouri during the early years
of the war, and in 1863 proceeded with the Union forces to
Arkansas. He was given command of a regiment, and some-
times of a brigade, until the close of the war. After the sur-
render of the Confederate armies he was promoted to the rank
of brigadier-general. In 1866 he obtained a charter for the
Occidental Insurance Company, and was elected president of
that corporation.
20th of February following at the counting-room of
Von Phul & McGill. The commissioners were
John W. Keel, Theodore McGill, George Sproule,
William Hempstead, James C. Way, William Finney,
Edward Walsh, Samuel S. Reyburn, Augustus Kerr,
and Edward Tracy. On the 15th of March, John
W. Reel was elected president, and Samuel Hough
secretary, and the company speedily entered upon a
prosperous career. The present capital stock of the
company paid up is $150,000. Among the assets
are real estate valued at $20,000 ; Kansas Pacific
Railroad bonds, $120,000; Missouri Zinc Company's
stock, $28,200. The company has a surplus, over
all liabilities, amounting to $46,799.68. The business
transacted by this company is a general fire, marine,
and inland insurance. The officers for 1882 were
Samuel M. Edgell, president; James A. Bartlett,
vice-president ; and S. G. Kennedy, secretary. Di-
rectors, S. M. Edgell, C. S. Greeley, R. P. Hanen-
kamp, Eben Richards, John H. Beach, R. B. Brown,
D. Treadway, W. H. Chick, H. W. Hough, John T.
Davis, Samuel Cupples, Abram Nave, John A. Bart-
lett, Hugh Rogers, C. Path, A. 0. Grubb.
THE HOME MUTUAL FIRE AND MARINE INSU-
RANCE COMPANY was chartered in 1846, and the
first annual meeting was held in May, 1847. It then
had about nine hundred members. The directors
chosen were B. F. Edwards, J. M. Krum, D. D. Page,
J. A. Eddy, I. L. Garrison, W. A. Nelson, J. Kern,
J. Whitehill, and Reuben Knox. The company con-
tinued in existence, doing a general fire and marine
insurance business, until the 9th of March, 1880,
when it was declared insolvent by decree of court, and
its affairs placed in the hands of the superintendent
of the Insurance Department of the State for settle-
ment.
THE MISSOURI STATE MUTUAL FIRE AND MA-
RINE INSURANCE COMPANY was incorporated in
1849. The first president was C. M. Valleau. The
headquarters of the company are at 712 Chestnut
Street. S. M. Edgell is president, and F. B. Holmes
secretary. The present directors are W. A. Harga-
dine, S. M. Edgell, B. W. Alexander, J. B. C. Lucas,
F. B. Holmes, C. S. Greeley, August Nedderhut,
James E. Kaine, and Adolphus Meier. The original
location of the company was on the southwest corner
of Pine and Second Streets. Later they occupied an
office in the old Exchange building, and in the Mer-
chants' Exchange building. From the latter place
they removed to their present quarters.
THE ST. Louis MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COM-
PANY was organized on the 22d of February, 1851,
under the name of the St. Louis Mutual Fire and
INSURANCE, TELEGRAPH, POSTAL SERVICE, GAS, AND HOTELS.
1417
Marine Insurance Company of St. Louis. The in-
corporators were John Kern, A. F. Hummitsch, E.
F. Thuemmler, Jacob Rosenbaum, Peter Pelizarro,
Adolph Kehr, Henry Kayser, Thomas Julius Meier,
John C. Mueller, and Louis Bach. Originally its
office was situated on the northeast corner of Second
and Market Streets, but subsequently it was removed
to the southeast corner of Seventh and Locust Streets.
The building now occupied by the company was pur-
chased in 1869. The company transacts a fire in-
surance business. Its first president was John Kern,
who held office until August, 1856. ' Its first secre-
tary was George Weinhagen, and its first treasurer A.
F. Hummitsch. The first board of directors was
composed of John Kern, Adolph Kehr, A. F. Hum-
mitsch, Henry Kayser, E. F. Thuemmler, Thomas J.
Meier, Jacob Rosenbaum, and Louis Bach. The
charter expired April 16, 1880, and the company was
reorganized under the general insurance statutes, and
received its charter for ninety-nine years, July 1,
1881, as the St. Louis Mutual Fire Insurance Com-
pany of St. Louis. The officers for 1882 were : Presi-
dent, John C. Vogel ; Vice- President, John G. Haas ;
Secretary, John J. Sutter ; Board of Directors, John
C. Vogel, Michael Voeple, Caspar Stolle, Charles L.
Stuever, John H. Mueller, John G. Haas, Charles
Branahl, John P. W. Thul, and Henry G. Sach-
leben.
THE AMERICAN CENTRAL INSURANCE COMPANY
was incorporated by an act of the Legislature approved
Feb. 23, 1853, under the name of the Atlantic Mutual
Insurance Company, the commissioners named in the
act being Derick A. January, Phocian R. McCreery,
John Caveuder, Phillips Crow, and William T. Essex.
In the following November the commissioners reported
that they had secured sixty-four subscriptions, amount-
ing to $126,000. A permanent organization was
effected Jan. 10, 1854, the following persons being
elected trustees: Wayman Crow, John Cavender, John
F. Darby, Phillips Crow, D. A. January, P. R. Mc-
Creery, William H. Pitman, John S. Cavender, James
Smith, Christopher Rhodes, George P. Doan, John
B. Carson, Samuel Russell, Charles P. Chouteau, 0.
W. Child, Samuel G. Reed, James A. Jameson,
George Partridge, George Robinson, D. J. Hancock,
and John J. Mudd. John F. Darby was elected first
president on the 13th of January ; Samuel Russell,
vice-president, and I. J. Welbourn, secretary.
1 John Kern died on the 27th of August, 1856, aged forty-
two years. He had been a resident of St. Louis for about
twenty years, and was one of its leading business men. In
April, 1856, he was elected a member of the Board of Alder-
men.
In 1869 the capital stock was increased and the
assets invested in United States securities. On the
22d of September of that year the name was changed
to the American Central, and the business was subse-
quently extended to large proportions, agencies being
established in other States. The losses of the company
by the great Chicago fire destroyed its paid up capital,
— $275,000, — but the corporation continued in busi-
ness and soon regained its former prosperity. At the
present time the American Central is one of the most
flourishing institutions of its kind in St. Louis, a sur-
plus of $255,295.49 having been accumulated. For
j a number of years the company occupied a portion
i of the St. Louis Life Insurance building at Sixth
and Locust Streets, but it subsequently removed
to 419 Olive Street, where it is now located. The
officers for 1882 were George T. Cram, president:
S. M. Dodd, vice-president ; W. H. Pulsifer, treasurer ;
and James Newman, secretary ; Directors, S. M.
Dodd, John Wahl, George 0. Carpenter, George A.
Madill, James Newman, John L. Blair, W. M. Senter,
W. H. Pulsifer, D. Rorick, George L. Joy, George
T. Cram, and G. W. Chadbourne.
THE COVENANT MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COM-
PANY was organized in 1853, under the General In-
surance Act of Missouri. Since its incorporation the
company has under careful and judicious management
grown steadily in popular favor, and now makes the
following showing: Real estate owned, $112,760;
loans on bonds and mortgages, $183,638 ; loans on
stocks and bond collaterals, $1100; loans on com-
pany's policies, $14,530 ; premium notes, loans, or
liens, $100,284.02 ; stocks and bonds owned, $41,925 ;
cash, $25,173.87 ; uncollected premiums, $6552.93 ;
all other property, $7813.38 ; making the total assets
$494,277.20.
The officers for 1882 were E. Wilkerson, president ;
A. F. Shapleigh, vice-president ; and Alfred Carr,
secretary ; and the board of directors was composed
of the following : Nathan Cole, S. H. Laflin, Isaac M.
Veitch, Herman Eisenhardt, E. Wilkerson, J. D. S.
Dryden, A. F. Shapleigh, A. G. Braun, Theodore
Betts, John W. Luke, M. L. Libby, G. A. Finkeln-
berg, Given Campbell, John Wahl, Joseph S. Nanson,
and John C. Moore. The general office is located at
No. 513 Olive Street.
THE MOUND CITY MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE
COMPANY was organized in May, 1855, under a
charter granted by the Legislature during the pre-
ceding month. The original incorporators were Wyl-
i lys King, Asa AVilgus, J. C. Harns, D. C. Garrison,
George S. Drake, R. J. Lockwood, James S. Watson,
Rollins Clark, and Robert Holmes. The officers in
HISTOHY OF SAINT LOUIS.
1855 were D. R. Garrison, president; II. J. Lock-
wood, vice-president; David H. Bishop, secretary ; and
John F. Darby, treasurer. The company transacts a
general fire insurance business, and issues policies vary-
ing in duration from thirty days to six years. The
general offices of the company are situated at the
southwest corner of Sixth and Olive Streets. The
present president, Ellis N. Leeds, was elected in 1867,
and has served continuously ever since. He is regarded
as being one of the ablest and most thoroughly posted
insurance men in the West.
Ellis N. Leeds was born in Burlington County, N. J.,
Sept. 28, 1814. His father was a farmer in moderate
circumstances, and the boy, after enjoying such school
privileges as were to be obtained in the neighborhood,
learned the trade of a brick-mason. In 1839, while
yet quite a young man, he removed to St. Louis, and
continued to work at his trade until 1848, when he
engaged in the lumber business, in which he contin-
ued until 1869, when he retired. Since then he has
not been actively employed in any business. Since
1862 he has been a director in the Merchants' Bank,
and for some years was a director in the Vulcan Iron
Company, the St. Louis Gas-Light Company, the St.
Louis Railway Supplies Manufacturing Company, and
the Cheltenham Fire-Brick Company. As a business
man, Mr. Leeds has been signally and uniformly suc-
cessful, and the bricklayer who came to St. Louis in
1839 now enjoys a handsome competence. Of Quaker
descent, he avoids all publicity and show, but notwith-
standing his unobtrusiveness, he has been associated
with many important business enterprises, and has
filled with credit a number of responsible positions.
Mr. Leeds enjoys the respect of a very large circle of
friends, and in his domestic and social relations is re-
garded as one of the most amiable and attractive of
men.
C. H. Alexander, the present efficient secretary of
the Mound City Mutual Fire Insurance Company,
first entered the company as a clerk in 1862, and his
close application, together with a thorough knowledge
of the business, soon gained him the confidence of
the stockholders. In 1875 he was promoted to his
present position.
The directors of the company are Ellis N. Leeds,
Daniel R. Garrison, William Booth, Matthias Dough-
erty, Francis L. Haydel, John Maguire, Charles
Hofman, Preston Player, and Joseph T. Donovan.
The company is one of special prominence in St.
Louis, from the fact that it has never faltered, its
obligations having always been fulfilled to the letter.
The total assets are $181,379.94, the total liabilities
$116,285.06, and the surplus $65,094.88.
THE HOPE MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY
was organized in 1857, and began to issue policies
early in March of that year. The first office was at
Main and Vine Streets, but it soon removed to the
basement of the Boatmen's Savings Institution, at the
northeast corner of Second and Pine Streets. Its
incorporators and first board of directors were Thos.
E. Tutt, A. F. Shapleigh, L. D. Baker, R. M. Re
nick, Gerard B. Allen, N. J. Eaton, Alexander Fin-
ley, Taylor Blow, Rufus J. Lackland, Edward A.
Filley, R. M. Park, W. H. Pritchartt, John A.
Brownlee, A. M. Waterman, Isaac S. Smith, W. H.
Tillman.
From Second and Pine Streets the office was re-
moved to 307 Olive Street, and thence to 419 Olive
Street. Its first and subsequent presidents were
Thomas E. Tutt, N. J. Eaton, C. S. Kintzing, and
Isaac M. Veitch. The present officers are : President,
Isaac M. Veitch ; Secretary, Henry Schmitt ; Direc-
tors, A. F. Shapleigh, T. E. Tutt, James M. Carpen-
ter, Anthony Ittner, Francis Carter, G. H. Loker,
William H. Thompson, W. C. Jamison, M. A.
Wolff, and Isaac M. Veitch.
The company has had a very successful career since
its organization, and furnishes exceptionally low in-
surance to its members on the mutual plan, its busi-
ness being mainly restricted to dwelling-houses and
furniture.
WASHINGTON FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. —
This company was chartered on the 23d of Novem-
ber, 1857, under the name of the Washington Mutual
Fire Insurance Company, the incorporators being C.
F. Becker, I. Kurlbaum, William Siever, John H.
Marquard, L. Roever, Herman H. Meier, William
Sei fried, P. WTeber, E. Menche, Charles Altinger,
Charles W. Gottschalk, John H. Burkhardt, Edward
Eggers, and F. Roever. Its first president was
Charles W. Gottschalk, who was succeeded by
Arthur Olshausen, who continues to hold the office.
Charles W. Horn was the first vice-president, and
Arthur Olshausen the first secretary. The officers at
present are : President, Arthur Olshausen ; Vice-
President, Philip Gruner, Jr. ; Secretary and Treas-
urer, Edward Breitenstein ; Assistant Secretary, Louis
J. Behrens. The office is located at the corner of
Market and Second Streets.
THE GERMAN MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COM-
PANY, located at the northeast corner of Second and
Market Streets, was organized in 1857, and chartered
November 23d of that year. The incorporators were
Edward Eggers, Frederick Bergesch, Francis Kren-
ning, Adolph Kehr, F. A. H. Schneider, Frederick
Hauck, Gottlieb Martin, Charles G. Stifel, Francis
0^
LIBRARY
iHE
UNIVt
INSURANCE, TELEGRAPH, POSTAL SERVICE, GAS, AND HOTELS.
1419
Saler, T. Thuemmler, George Gehrke, and Charles I
W. Horn.1
Its first and subsequent presidents were Charles \
W. Horn, Theodore Plate, Arthur Olshausen. Its i
first secretary was Arthur Olshausen. The officers i
for 1882 were: President, Arthur Olshausen; Vice-
President, Christian A. Stifel ; Actuary, Isidor Bush ;
Secretary, Edward Breitenstein ; Assistant Secretary,
Louis J. Behrens ; Medical Examiners, Drs. Charles
F. Hauck and P. J. Lingenfelder ; Agent, S. Kehr-
mann.
FRANKLIN INSURANCE COMPANY. — One of the
most successful institutions of its kind in the West is
the Franklin Mutual Insurance Company of St. Louis,
which was incorporated in March, 1859. Scarcely
any other fiduciary institution of St. Louis is more
closely identified with the interests of the com-
munity or has had a more uniformly successful
career. Among its officers at the present time are
a number of the prominent business men of the city.
Its office is at No. 400 North Third Street, and the
capital stock amounts to three hundred and twenty- |
two thousand dollars. Henry Meier is president of
the company ; John C. Nulsen, vice-president; Louis
Duestrow, secretary ; and the directors are Charles
F. Meyer, John C. H. D. Block, J. C. Nulsen, H. J.
Spaurihorst, Henry Meier, C. Fink, D. J. Blanke, and
L. J. Holthaus.
THE LACLEDE MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COM-
PANY was chartered on the 14th of January, 1860,
under the name of the Laclede Mutual Fire and Ma-
rine Insurance Company of St. Louis, the incorpora-
tors being Isaac Walker, William T. Gay, Levin H.
Baker, Joseph O'Neil, Charles H. Peck, Oliver Gar-
rison, Dwight Durkee, Louis A. Labeaume, and Rob-
ert W. Powell. The office of the company was situ-
ated originally at No. 217 North Third Street, but was
afterwards removed to 212 North Third Street, where
it is still located. The business transacted is that of
mutual fire insurance. R. W. Powell was the first
president, William T. Gay the first vice-president, and
John Baker the first secretary of the corporation.
The officers of the company for 1882 were : President,
R. W. Powell ; Vice-President, Joseph O'Neil ; Sec-
1 Charles W. Horn, president of the German Life Insurance
Company, died suddenly at his residence, 2426 Carr Street, St.
Louis, in June, 1872. Mr. Horn had filled a number of impor-
tant positions of trust and honor, and was regarded as being
one of the representative citizens of St. Louis. He served in the
City Council during the sessions of 1856, 1857, and 1858, and
was an energetic member of the Board of Health. Mr. Horn
was born in the Grand Duchy of Nassau, Germany, emigrated
to this country when a young man, and died at the age of about
fifty-six years.
retary, J. C. Bury, Jr. ; Directors, Joseph O'Neil,
Charles H. Turner, Trumbull G. Russell, R. W.
Powell, Oliver Garrison, John M. Sellers, G. Conzel-
man, Thomas Slevin, and J. B. C. Lucas.
Robert W. Powell, the president of the Laclede
Mutual Fire Insurance Company, arrived in St. Louis
in October, 1843. He was a tailor by trade, and at
once established himself in that business. In 1844 a
building was erected for him on Fourth Street near
Pine, where the Globe -Democrat is now printed, his
residence being situated on Market Street near Fourth.
He continued the business at Fourth and Pine Streets
for some time, and then removed to a store on Second
Street, where he remained until 1857, when he re-
linquished this occupation to engage in the produce
and commission business at No. 4 South Levee. In
1860 he withdrew from this pursuit, and on January
14th of that year, in company with several wealthy
and prominent citizens, obtained a charter for the La-
clede Mutual Fire Insurance Company. He was
elected its first president, and has been annually re-
elected ever since. The " Laclede" has long ranked
as one of the safest insurance companies in the city.
Mr. Powell was also one of the incorporators of the
Citizens' Savings- Bank, was elected a director, and is
now a vice-president of that institution.
In the management of his business as a merchant
tailor Mr. Powell was very successful. He syste-
matically invested his surplus in real estate, and with
such judgment that he soon acquired a generous com-
petence. He is a large owner of valuable real estate
in the central residence portion of the city, and has
improved much of it in a substantial and elegant
manner. He occupies a handsome residence at No.
2642 Locust Street.
In religion, Mr. Powell is an Episcopalian. He
was present at the organization of St. George's
Church, when Dr. E. Carter Hutchison preached
his first sermon at the Benton School, on Sixth Street
between Locust and St. Charles, and for a number of
years was connected with St. George's congregation,
which built a church on Locust Street near Seventh.
Subsequently he became a member of Trinity Church,
at Washington Avenue and Eleventh Street, and was
vestryman. Having (later) removed to Stoddard's
addition, he became one of the incorporators of the
parish of the Holy Communion, and was chosen
vestryman. When St. George's congregation sold its
church on Locust Street and removed to the new
church at Locust and Beaumont Streets, he rejoined
it, and is still a member. To the various benevolent
enterprises of the church he has always contributed
his full share.
1420
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
In private life Mr. Powell is retiring and amiable,
but in business is outspoken and decided, and his suc-
cess is mainly due to his prompt judgment and celerity
of action. His career has been singularly quiet and
uneventful, but it has been full of usefulness and
marked by uniform success.
THE JEFFERSON INSURANCE COMPANY was organ-
ized May 1, 1861, with a capital of 6300,000. The
total assets are $313,484.71 ; surplus, $125,248.71;
net cash received during the last fiscal year for pre- '
iniums and assessments, §52,880.58 ; aggregate income
for the year in cash, 855,457.07 ; net amount outstand-
ing risks, 88,163,901.66. The officers are : President, i
Hermann Eisenhardt ; Vice-President, Charles H.
Teichmann ; Secretary and Treasurer, C. R. Fritsch ;
Directors, H. Eisenhardt, F. W. Biebinger, Aug. C.
Mueller, Charles Wulfing, Charles H. Teichmann,
Adam Conrad, C. A. Stifel, George Schlosstein, G. H.
Bokenkump. Francis Cornet, F. E. Schmeiding, and
Abraham Kramer. The general offices are located at
No. 207 North Third Street.
EQUITABLE LIFE ASSURANCE SOCIETY. — The St.
Louis agency of the Equitable Life Assurance Society
of the United States, one of the largest corporations
of its kind in the world, was established in 1862, S. A.
Ranlett, since deceased, being the agent. The present
office is located in the " Equitable Building," at Sixth
and Locust Streets, one of the finest structures in
the city. Benjamin May is the manager, and J. S. j
Kenrick is the cashier for the Southwestern De-
partment. James M. Brawner, deceased, was the j
agent for twelve years. The main office of the Equita-
ble was originally at No. 92 Broadway, New York
City, but was afterwards moved to the imposing build- !
ing No. 120 Broadway. Branch offices, located in
handsome edifices owned by the company, have been
established in Paris (France), Boston, and Chicago,
and flourishing agencies exist in all the cities and
most of the important towns in the country. The
first president of the society was William C. Alexan-
der, and the officers for 1882 were : President, Henry
B. Hyde; Vice-Presidents, James W. Alexander,
Samuel Borrowe ; Secretary, William Alexander ;
Actuaries, George W. Phillips, J. G. Van Cise ;
Medical Examiners, Dr. E. W. Lambert and Dr.
Edward Curtis ; Superintendent of Agencies, E. W.
Scott. The company, which was organized on the
26th of July, 1859, ranked at the outset as No. 19
in the list of insurance societies as to magnitude, but
such has been its growth that the outstanding pol-
icies on its books are claimed to largely exceed the
amount of the outstanding insurances of any other
company organized since 1832. It now holds the sec-
ond place in size, but is said to have issued for many
years past a larger amount of new insurance than any
other company. The only other company whose
transactions have approached those of the Equitable
during recent years made a showing in 1881 of
about $11,500,000 less than the Equitable.
THE NORTH ST. Louis MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE
COMPANY was incorporated in February, 1864, the
incorporators being H. Overstolz, Theodore Koch, and
others. Since its organization the office of the com-
pany has been situated at the corner of Broadway and
Exchange Street. Henry Overstolz has been presi-
dent of the company from the beginning. The offi-
cers during 1882 were : President, H. Overstolz ;
Vice-President, L. Espenschied ; Secretary and Treas-
urer, Theodore Koch.
ST. Louis LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY. — The
Mound City Life Insurance Company, which after-
wards changed its name to that of the St. Louis Life,
was organized on the 14th of May, 1868, and its first
policy was issued June 10th of that year. Its first
president was Capt. James B. Eads, and the offices
were located at first at No. 318 North Third Street,
between Olive and Locust Streets. At the first an-
nual election, held at the office, 319 North Third
Street, on the 17th of May, 1869, the following offi-
cers were chosen : President, James J. O'Fallon ;
Vice-President, Alfred M. Britton ; Secretary, Aylett
H. Buckner ; Assistant Secretary, S. W. Lomax ;
Directors, James J. O'Fallon, James H. Lucas, Alfred
M. Britton, Samuel A. Hatch, William C. Sipple,
Augustus McDowell, A. M. Wakerman, and A. B.
Garrison. The first policy issued bore the date of
June 12, 1868. In less than a year nine hundred
and sixty-six policies had been issued, and one hun-
dred and twenty thousand one hundred and seventy
dollars and thirty-three cents received in premiums.
In 1872 the capital was increased from one hundred
and fifty thousand dollars to five hundred thousand
dollars, and two years later, in January, 1874, it was
again increased to one million dollars, and in February
of that year the name was changed from Mound City
to St. Louis. The company continued to transact a
large and profitable business, and at the beginning of
1876 its assets amounted to seven million four hun-
dred and six thousand eight hundred and fifty-two
dollars and fifty-four cents. Subsequently the cor-
poration went out of existence.
The old St. Louis Life Insurance building, at the
northwest corner of Sixth and Locust Streets, is one
of the handsomest business structures in the city. It
is in the renaissance style, constructed after designs by
George I. Barnett, architect, and the foundation is of
INSURANCE, TELEGRAPH, POSTAL SERVICE, GAS, AND HOTELS.
1421
red Missouri granite, and the walls of cream-colored
Missouri sandstone. The floors are constructed of !
brick arches supported by girders of iron, and the
ceilings of the first floor and corridors are richly
frescoed. The structure is fire-proof and supplied
with all the modern conveniences.
THE GERMAN MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COM- •
PANY was incorporated under the general insurance
act of Missouri, Oct. 9, 1868, with a capital of
$300,000. Its surplus at the present time is
$67,055.16, and the income for the past year was
$22,381.19. The management from its inception j
has undergone comparatively few changes. Frederick
Hill is president of the company, L. Ottenad is vice-
president, and Henry Hiemenz is secretary. The
board of directors is as follows : Jacob D. Hiemenz, i
F. Hill, Louis Ottenad, August Bohn, Jacob Gruen, j
August Gehner, Claude Juppier, Francis K. Kren- \
ning, Nicholas Berg, Christian Koeln, Henry Michel,
and Charles Stumpf. The offices of the company are
at the southeast corner of Market and Fifth Streets.
THE CARONDELET HOME MUTUAL INSURANCE
COMPANY is located at 7005 South Main Street, and
its officers during 1882 were John Krauss, president;
R. J. Kilpatrick, vice-president; Charles W. Hoff-
meister, secretary ; and Bernard O'Reilly, treasurer ;
Directors, W. C. Plass, Venust Spindler, Daniel Paule,
Abraham Herbel, John Krauss, R. J. Kilpatrick, and
B. O'Reilly.
THE BOARD OP ST. Louis MARINE UNDER-
WRITERS, office 314 Chestnut Street, was organized
Jan. 1, 1850, and was incorporated by act of Legis-
lature on the 14th of January, 1860, the incorpora-
tors being James H. Hughes, George K. McGun-
negle, John McNeil, W. W. Green, W. D. W. Bar-
nard, and B. M. Runyan. The object of the associa-
tion is the " better preservation from loss or damage
of property wrecked or stranded upon the navigable
rivers of the State of Missouri." In the latter part .
of April, 1861, at the beginning of the civil war,
George D. McGunnegle, " president of the Board of
Underwriters," announced that the insurance com-
panies of St. Louis had adopted a special clause to
" cover all future shipments, and to be attached to all
cargo policies, as follows :
"Warranted, by the assured, free from claim or loss or
damage arising from civil commotion, or from piracy, seizure,
sequestration, or detention and overpowering thieves, or the
consequences of any other hostile act of the government or
people, person or persons of any State or States claiming to
have seceded from this Union."
The companies also decided to cover the war clause by charg-
ing double rates net.
The officers of the board for 1882 were H. D. Mc-
Lean, president ; J. A. Waterworth, vice-president ;
James Barnard, secretary, adjuster, and agent; and
Silas Adkins, inspector of hulls.
INSURANCE EXCHANGE. — The Insurance Ex-
change building, situated at the southeast corner of
Fifth and Olive Streets, was erected during 1869-70,
after designs prepared by G. I. Barnett, architect.
It is built of Chicago limestone in the Roman style
of architecture, is five stories high, and is occupied
by stores and offices.
ST. Louis BOARD OF FIRE UNDERWRITERS. —
The present St. Louis Board of Fire Underwriters
was established in May, 1872, but previous to that
time similar organizations had existed.
On the 28th of September, 1866, a meeting of
insurance men was held at the office of the Marine
Board of Underwriters for the purpose of organizing
a Board of Fire Underwriters. All the agencies and
local companies were represented, and a constitution
and by-laws were adopted. A committee consisting
of George K. McGunnegle, Samuel E. Mack,1 and
George D. Capen, appointed at a previous meeting,
reported a tariff of rates which was a considerable ad-
vance over the rates previously in force. This action
was taken in accordance with similar action on the
part of the National Board of Underwriters, then re-
cently organized in the city of New York, who asserted
that " the experience of the past two years has demon-
strated that there has been no profit in the aggregate
business of fire underwriting throughout our country."
On the 6th of May, 1872, the present St. Louis
Board of Fire Underwriters was organized, and by Sep-
tember of that year was in active operation. One of
the first acts of the board was the selection of C. T.
Aubin, civil engineer, for the purpose of surveying
the buildings in the business section of the city, and
obtaining the details of their construction, — the thick-
ness of the walls, height of parapet walls, etc. Mr.
Aubin completed his work in 1874, and presented to
the board " a system of fixing adequate rates upon
each building according to construction, starting
with a moderate basis for standard buildings, and
making additional charges for deficiencies and all in-
flammable goods contained therein."2 The system
having received the approval of the St. Louis Board,
1 Samuel Ely Mack was prominently identified with the in-
surance interests of St. Louis for many years. He was a native
of Westfield, Mass., and a son of Gen. Mack, of that State. In
1858, when the Home Insurance Company of New York trans-
ferred its general Western agency from Cincinnati to St. Louis,
he was sent to St. Louis to supervise the Western and Southern
business of that company, and soon took rank among the busi-
ness men of the city. He died in December, 1866.
2 Pictorial St. Louis, p. 95.
1422
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
and subsequently of the National Board, went into
effect on the 1st of July, 1875. The office of the
board is at 508, Chamber of Commerce, and the offi-
cers for 1882 were J. A. Waterworth, president ; A.
C. Travis, vice-president; C. T. Aubin, secretary and
surveyor ; and William M. Lockwood, treasurer.
TELEGRAPH.
Notwithstanding the many impediments and em-
oarrassments encountered by the projectors of the
telegraph, its extension westward was wonderfully
rapid. The first line in actual operation in the
United States was established between Baltimore
and Washington in 1844. It was completed and
messages were transmitted on the 24th of May of
that year, and a little over three and a half years
later (Dec. 20, 1847) the lines connecting East St.
Louis with the Eastern cities were finished. When
we take into consideration the fact that telegraphy
was as yet in its infancy, this feat deserves to be ranked
with the great achievements of the age. The line
between Baltimore and Washington was the creation
of the general government ; but the development of the
telegraphic system in the West was due to the energy
and unflagging zeal of one man, Henry O'Reilly, who
after encountering many trials and discouragements
succeeded in forming a stock company for the estab-
lishment of telegraphic communication between the
great business centres of the East and Cincinnati, St.
Louis, and other Western points. Mr. O'Reilly met
with very little encouragement from the capitalists to
whom he applied, finding it almost impossible to con-
vince them that the telegraph would ever prove a pay-
ing investment ; but, finally, having procured the
necessary funds, he obtained control of the Morse
patents from the Atlantic seaboard westward ; Pro-
fessor Samuel F. B. Morse, who owned them, having
sought in vain to induce the general government to
purchase them.
As early as 1837, Professor Morse petitioned Con-
gress for assistance to enable him to demonstrate the
value of his invention by constructing a telegraph
line between Washington and Baltimore, but con-
gressmen " ridiculed his invention as a mere chimera,
and the bill was never called up." At the session of
1842, however, he renewed his application, and,
mainly through the efforts of Hon. John P. Kennedy,
of Baltimore, chairman of the House committee to
whom the bill had been referred, Congress was in-
duced on the 3d of March, the last day of the session,
to pass an act appropriating thirty thousand dollars
" to test the practicability of establishing a system of
electro-magnetic telegraph in the United States." The
expenditure of the appropriation was intrusted to the
Secretary of the Treasury, who appointed Leonard D.
Gale and James C. Fisher assistants to Professor
Morse. The original intention had been to lay the
wires under ground in leaden pipes along the line of
the Washington Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad, but the experiment proved a failure, and
was abandoned after an expenditure of fifteen thou-
sand dollars. Poles were then erected and a line of
wire constructed mainly after the present method be-
tween the two cities. The first trial was made on the
9th of April, 1844. A message was sent a distance
of six miles over the wire, which was of very indif-
ferent construction, and an answer received " in two or
three seconds." On the 7th of May the line was in
full operation for a distance of twenty-two miles.
" The fluid," we are told, " traversed the whole
twenty-two miles and back again, making forty-four
miles, in no perceptible part of a second of time. On
Friday, the 24th of May, 1844, the line was com-
pleted, and the first telegraphic message was sent from
Washington to Baltimore by Miss Annie Ellsworth,
daughter of the commissioner of patents. This mes-
sage was in these words : u WHAT HATH GOD
WROUGHT !" The first message of the President of
the United States to Congress ever transmitted over
the wires was sent to the Baltimore Sun, May 1 1,
1846. Of the thirty thousand dollars appropriated
by Congress for making the experiment, three thou-
sand five hundred dollars remained unexpended.
About July 10, 1844, Professor Morse, with the
concurrence of the Secretary of the Treasury, ap-
pointed Henry J. Rogers, of Baltimore, " the in-
ventor of the American telegraph," assistant super-
intendent " of the line of electro-magnetic telegraph
between Washington and Baltimore," with his office
in the latter city. Mr. Rogers made many improve-
ments in the telegraphic system, and was the inventor
of the Rogers commercial code of signals, afterwards
adopted by the United States and British govern-
ments. On the 15th of March, 1845, the first tele-
graph company was formed, with the name of " The
Magnetic Telegraph Company," the object of the in-
corporators being to construct a line from Washington
to New York, and in a little over a year (June 6,
1846) it was informally opened. It was not, how-
ever, in regular operation until several days after-
wards.
About this time the war with Mexico commenced,
Gen. Taylor having crossed the Rio Grande in May,
and there was intense anxiety throughout the country
for prompt and trustworthy intelligence from the
scene of hostilities. News was received at Washing-
INSURANCE, TELEGRAPH, POSTAL SERVICE, GAS, AND HOTELS.
1423
ton via the Southern mail, and telegraphed to Balti-
more, Philadelphia, New York, and intermediate
points. A Baltimore newspaper (the Sun}, in order
to obtain the war news at the earliest possible moment,
established a " pony express" from the steamboat
wharf to the telegraph-office in Washington. The
desire to procure the promptest intelligence from the
seat of war naturally suggested the extension of the
telegraph system in the Southwest. During the pre-
vious year (April 8, 1845) the first Southern contract
had been signed by Amos Kendall, agent for Professor
Morse, with H. H. O'Callaghan, of the New Orleans
Crescent City, for the extension of the line from
Washington to New Orleans, Mr. O'Callaghan having
established during the winter an exclusive private
express on a portion of the Southern route, by means
of which he was enabled to beat the United States
mail twenty-four hours in reaching New Orleans, but
it was reserved for Henry O'Reilly, aided by Assistant
Superintendent Rogers, to construct a complete line
of telegraph between the seaboard and the Missis-
sippi.
Mainly through the efforts of Mr. Rogers, a num-
ber of Baltimore capitalists were induced to subscribe,
and on the 12th of January, 1848, the American
Telegraph Company was formally organized, the in-
corporators being H. McKim, Zenus Barnum, Moor
N. Falls, William McKim, D. Pain, Josiah Lee,
Henry J. Rogers, and George C. Penniman. The
manager of the new company was Mr. O'Reilly, and
the office was in the depot of the Baltimore and Sus-
quehanna Railroad. Some time previously, however,
the construction of a line between Baltimore, York,
Columbia, and Harrisburg, Pa., had been commenced.
Another company, known as the Western Telegraph
Company, was organized Nov. 11, 1848, with John
F. Pickell, president ; Thomas J. McKaig, treasurer ;
and Howard Kennedy, secretary and superintendent.
The lines extended from Washington to Frederick,
Md., and thence to Wheeling, Va., Pittsburgh, Pa.,
Louisville, Ky., Cleveland, Ohio, and from these points
to the South and Southwest. Prior to the organiza-
tion of the above companies the lines westward had
been constructed, and the first telegraphic dispatch
received in Baltimore from the West reached that city
from Cincinnati on the 20th of August, 1847, by
way of Philadelphia.
Henry O'Reilly, to whom the people of the West
are primarily indebted for the extension of the tele-
graph, was a native of New York, and was a printer's
apprentice about the time that Horace Greeley and
Thurlow Weed were learning the rudiments of the
craft. Subsequently he was employed in the editorial
department of various newspapers printed in New
York City, Albany, and different points in the west-
ern portion of the State. At that early day the mails
were transported by canal, and Mr. O'Reilly often
met the canal-boat, received his package of Eastern
newspapers, and hurried back on his horse to give
his readers " the latest intelligence." He subse-
quently removed to Rochester, where he established
the Daily Advertiser, the first daily newspaper be-
tween the Hudson River and the Pacific coast, and
while pursuing his vocation in Western New York
strenuously urged the enlargement of the Erie Canal,
and incidentally attacked the inefficient management <
of the State authorities with great force and vigor.
The first call, issued by Murray Hoffma^ for the
State Constitutional Convention of 1846, was brought
about by him. In company with one other gentle-
man, Mr. O'Reilly " held a meeting, organized, passed
resolutions, and then waited upon Mr. Hoffman as a
delegation, asking his acceptance of the post of leader."
Mr. Hoffman consented and wrote the declaration of
wants, " and so carefully was the matter conducted by
Mr. O'Reilly, that the first intimation the ' regency'
had of the uprising was the pouring in of the journals
from all parts of the State filled with glowing articles
on the new movement."
Mr. O'Reilly was keenly alive to every public im-
provement, and when the permanent success of the
Morse telegraph was demonstrated, he was among the
first to appreciate its wonderful possibilities. About
this time, as previously stated, the Morse patentees
were endeavoring to sell the exclusive right to that
invention to the United States government, the price
being fixed at one hundred thousand dollars. Con-
gress, however, delayed action on the proposition, and
in the mean time a contract was closed with Mr.
O'Reilly and others, giving them the right to put in
operation the Morse patents from the seaboard west-
ward. The contract was general in its character, and
the franchises conferred were extremely valuable. It
covered not only the original patent to Morse, but all
subsequent improvements. Mr. O'Reilly was not a
practical electrician, but he went to work with an en-
ergy and determination which were finally crowned
with success. He had been informed by experts that
to cross rivers with the electric current it was only
necessary to sink a copper plate on each bank. He
followed their directions, but discovered that the cop-
per plates were practically worthless, and substituted
for them great poles or masts and stretched the wire
from one to the other across the stream. The Morse
patentees considered copper the best material for the
wires, but finding that No. 16 copper wire was so
1424
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
ductile that when wet it " sagged" down between the
poles low enough to catch pedestrians under the chin,
he replaced it with iron wire, and, in fact, was the
first person to use iron for that purpose. He intro-
duced many other improvements, and was not deterred
by obstacles which must have disheartened a less reso-
lute man. His experience with capitalists was any-
thing but encouraging. " Jacob Little, then king of
Wall Street, told the canvasser that the telegraph was
a chimera, and put his name down for one hundred
dollars as a matter of charity. Banks refused to lend
a dollar on the security of ' a bit of wire,' and it was
only by his personal enthusiasm that Mr. O'Reilly was
able to get money enough to put his lines up." The
first section was from Harrisburg to Lancaster, Pa.,
and when this line was at last in successful operation,
capital became less coy and the necessary funds were
soon obtained for completing the line to Pittsburgh.
This was done during the winter of 1846-47, and the
working parties suffered great hardships from cold and
exposure during their passage over the Alleghenies.
On the 1st of January, 1847, a message was flashed
over the wires from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, and
on the 20th of August in the same year Cincinnati
was placed in telegraphic communication with Phila-
delphia and other points in the East. On the 18th
of September, 1847, the St. Louis Republican made the
following announcement :
" An effort is now being made to test the practicability of con-
necting St. Louis with the Eastern cities and New Orleans by
means of the magnetic telegraph. Mr. O'Reilly, who has re-
cently constructed and put into operat'on the line from Pitts-
burgh to Cincinnati and Louisville, and is forming a connection
with his lines along the lakes, and is also rapidly extending the
line from Louisville via Nashville to New Orleans, proposes to
give the citizens of St. Louis the benefit of this lightning speed
by the first week in December, provided they will take from
twenty thousand to twenty-five thousand dollars stock in that
line, say from Louisville or Indianapolis to this city."
On the llth of November following it said, —
"We are informed on reliable authority that Mr. O'Reilly is
rapidly progressing with the construction of the telegraph in
this direction. It is now completed and in operation to Vin-
cennes, and it is expected that the wires will be put up and the
communication completed from Louisville to the east bank of
the Mississippi in the month of December."
On the 26th of the same month a meeting in aid
of the enterprise was held at Mechanics' Hall. " The
attendance," remarks the Republican,
" was large, but not so large as we think the importance of the
occasion should have called forth. We are really surprised at
the apathy and indifference which a large portion of our mer-
chants and men of business evince towards measures which are
almost exclusively for their own benefit. Col. Robert Campbell
was called to the chair, and John J. Anderson appointed secre-
tary. Judge Ellis, of Vincennes. one of the trustees of the
subscribers for the stock, made several explanations concerning
the manner of taking the stock, how it was held, etc., after
which Mr. O'Reilly addressed the meeting in explanation of
his contracts, the extent to which he had carried his lines, their
connection, their influence, and the purposes he had in view.
I A committee of five, consisting of Messrs. McGunnegle, Si-
monds, Rosier, Clarke, and Yeatman, was appointed to wait
upon the citizens to procure subscriptions."
The President's message, delivered to Congress
Dec. 6, 1847, was transmitted from Philadelphia to
Vincennes by telegraph, and thence by " pony ex-
press" to St. Louis.
On the 8th of the same month announcement was
made that the subscriptions for stock in the " St.
Louis and Louisville Telegraph Company" would be
closed " until Thursday, at least until trustees are
elected and they shall determine what further meas-
ures are necessary." Three days later (Dec. 11,
1847) the Republican congratulated Mr. O'Reilly
and Mr. Moore, agent of the mail contractor, on the
speed and accuracy with which the President's mes-
sage had been delivered at St. Louis. The time oc-
cupied in the transmission was three days. The
message was sent to Congress on Tuesday, and the
telegraphing from Philadelphia to Vincennes and
intermediate cities commenced at seven o'clock on
Tuesday evening and was concluded at a quarter be-
fore nine P.M. Wednesday. An interruption of sev-
eral hours occurred, owing to derangement of the
wires between Louisville and Cincinnati. When the
operators were through with the message they were so
exhausted that they refused to transmit any more tele-
grams.
The Republican pronounced the feat to be " one of
the greatest triumphs of the age." From Vincennes
to St. Louis, between which points there was as yet
no telegraph line, the message was transmitted by a
special express organized by Mr. Eastman, of East,
man's line of stages, and the "senior editor [of the
Republican'] went to Vincennes to receive the copy
and bring it to St. Louis." Including stoppages and
delays, the time of transmission by telegraph from
Philadelphia to Vincennes was twenty-six hours and
fifty minutes ; the time actually employed, about nine-
i teen hours. The " pony express " left Vincennes for
St. Louis shortly after eight o'clock A.M., and reached
Belleville, about one hundred and twenty-five miles,
in twenty-four hours and fifty minutes. The message
" was placed in the hands of our compositors, and in
two hours and a half it was in type, and in a few
minutes afterwards was delivered to thousands of
S people." The Republican was the only paper in
St. Louis to receive the message by telegraph.
On the 18th of December the Republican an-
INSURANCE, TELEGRAPH, POSTAL SERVICE, GAS, AND HOTELS.
1425
nounced that the posts and wires had been erected
as far as the east bank of the river, and that in a
short time the connection with the city proper would
be established. A trial of the wires from the point
of completion on the Mississippi to Vincennes was
made, and resulted satisfactorily. Two days later
(Doc. 20. 1847) the same paper informed its readers
that " the most extraordinary undertaking of the age,
the completion of a line of communication by mag-
netic telegraph from the Atlantic cities to the east
bank of the Mississippi," had been accomplished.
The time consumed in the work of construction was
less than eighteen months. The company's offices
were located on the third and fourth floors of the
St. Louis Insurance Office, at the corner of Olive and
Main Streets, and it was announced that business
would be transacted there as soon as the wires were
extended across the river to the city. In the mean
time an office was established in a house in the upper
end of East St. Louis, and messages were transmitted
thence to Eastern points. On the 20th of December
the regular operation of the line commenced, and the
Republican announced that in a day or two it would
begin the publication of the proceedings of Congress
and all important events transpiring in the East,
" almost to the very moment of putting the paper to
press." On the 22d the Republican published the
following :
" Dispatches by telegraph for the Republican.
" LOUISVILLE, December 21st, 9 P.M.
" W. N. Haldeman's respects to the St. Louis press, and con-
gratulates them on the crowning feat of Henry O'Reilly's en-
terprise, the instantaneous communication of the Mississippi
with the Atlantic.
" The river here has fallen two feet. It came within eight
inches of the flood of 1832. The weather is cold. No news
this morning. Chancellor Kent died on the 13th inst.
" (This is the only dispatch from Louisville, and we have
nothing from the Atlantic cities. The flood has deranged the
wires between Madison and Cincinnati, and communication by
telegraph is cut off; but still we ought to have later dates from
New York and Philadelphia, if there was not some defect on a
more distant part of the line. Nothing is said of the foreign
news.)"
On the 10th of January, 1848, telegraphic com-
munication was established between the cities of St.
Louis and Alton by the indefatigable O'Reilly, who
announced his intention, in view of the approaching
completion of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, to
extend the line to Galena and Chicago. About this
time Mr. O'Reilly began what was destined to be a
tedious and only partially successful series of attempts
to introduce the telegraph into the city of St. Louis.
He proposed to do this by erecting two lofty poles on
either bank of the river and stretching the wire across
from one pole to the other. One of these poles was
erected in front of the St. Louis Insurance office, and
a large lamp was placed on top of it to serve as a
beacon for boats on the river and " for persons travel-
ing by night." On the 24th of January the Repub-
lican stated that an unsuccessful attempt had been
made to extend the wire from Bloody Island to the
western shore. When near the shore the reel got fast
and the wire broke.
On the 30th of January the citizens of St. Louis
tendered Mr. O'Reilly a public dinner in testimony
of the energy and skill with which he had prosecuted
the construction of the telegraph from the East to St.
Louis. The letter of invitation was as follows :
"To HENRY O'REILLY, ESQ.:
"SiR, — The undersigned, citizens of St. Louis, as a slight
testimonial of their sense of obligation for the efficiency and
perseverance displayed by you in the extension of the tele-
graphic line to this city, and for the very favorable estimate
they have formed of you personally, beg leave to tender to you
a public dinner at such a time as may suit your convenience.
"John O'Fallon, Helfenstein, Gore & Co., J. E. Yeatman,
Berthold, Ewing & Co., John Simonds, William T. Reyn-
olds & Co., G. K. McGunnegle, John J. Anderson & Co.,
Luther C. Clark, Kenneth, McKenzie & Co., G. K. Eudd,
Smith, Brothers & Co., T. II. Larkin, P. Chouteau, Jr., A
Co., U. Rasiu & Conn, Wilson & Brothers, Keith, Ray &
Co., Samuel Treat, G. Matthews & Brother, Houseman &
Lowry, W. Barton, J. Lemon, Charles P. Chouteau, Thomas
T. Gantt, T. B. Dutcber, S. M. Buy, King & Fisher, Bryan
Mullanphy, Anderson & Conn, John M. Wimer, W. W.
Greene, Bogy & Miltenberger, Chouteau & Valle, John M.
Kruni, Carson & Voorhies, William Milburn, Roe & Ker-
chev'il, Kirtly & Ryland, Henry Von Phul, Keernle &
Field, A. Miltenberger, Peake & Baker, James Bryan,
John R. Hammond. Lawrason Riggs, M. L. Clark, Robert
Campbell, D. D. Mitchell, B. B. Dayton, James B. Clen-
denin, Lj'inan Farwell, J. C. Tevis, L. A. Benoist & Co.,
Edward Tracy, II. S. Geyer, D. II. Armstrong, Thomas
1 O'Flaherty, Henry M. Shreve, George Knapp, C. Ladew &
Co., Jesse Woodruff, Ferd. Kennett, Wayman Crow, Leslie
<fe Lord, John 0. Agnew, N. E. Janney, II. MacShnne, M.
Blair, Sproule & Keys, Francis P. Blair, Jr., Patrick Gor-
man, A. P. Ladew & Co., Bernihoud & Son, James II.
Lucas.
"Sr. Louis, Jan. 30, 1848."
Mr. O'Reilly replied^as follows :
"Sr. Louis, Jan. 31, 1848.
"GENTLEMEN, — I have already participated so largely in your
hospitalities, and have been honored with such manifestations
of your confidence in connection with the enterprise which has
excited your attention, that no formal testimonial of your kind-
ness, such as you now propose, could impress me more deeply
] with a sense of indebtedness for your favor, and while I would
rejoice to participate in the festivities with which you propose
to commemorate an event that you consider of puUio import-
ance, circumstances compel me respectfully to decline your
proffered invitation."
On the 8th of February the following notice was
published in the St. Louis papers :
1426
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
" To THE PEOPLE OF MISSOURI, WISCONSIN, AND IOWA :
"I deem it my duty to give you notice that the claim of
Henry O'Reilly to construct and use Morse's telegraph on any
line in any direction beyond St. Louis is utterly fraudulent.
He has no such right, and never had. Equally fraudulent are
his pretences that he has other systems which he can use be-
sides Morse's. They are either pure humbugs or direct viola-
tions of Morse's patents. His object is to fill his pockets with
your money, and then leave you exposed to lawsuits and triple
damages in the United States courts for violating Morse's
patents. If any of your towns and villages want a telegraph,
they can get it without the danger of lawsuits or damages by
application to the undersigned at Washington City, or to Wil-
liam Tanner, Esq., Frankfort, Ky., or to Josiah Dent, Esq., St.
Louis, Mo. AMOS KENDALL, Agent for Proprietors.
" LOUISVILLE, Jan. 24, 1848."
Thus was inaugurated a contest which resulted in
a long and expensive litigation. O'Reilly became
involved in lawsuit after lawsuit with the Morse
patentees, and after a stubborn resistance was forced
to yield. His Western telegraph franchises were
transferred to a combination of capitalists, who organ-
ized the Western Union Telegraph Company, which
has since absorbed a number of similar enterprises,
until now it has become one of the great telegraphic
corporations of the world, its lines radiating in every
direction throughout the United States. During his
control of the Western franchises O'Reilly constructed ,
about eight thousand miles of line. Comparatively \
little, if any, of the original line remains, as it was !
crudely and hastily built, and has long since -been
replaced by a more reliable system of wires. O'Reilly
was impoverished by his lawsuits, and for a number
of years held the position of store- keeper in the New
York Custom-House, from which he retired in 1878
at the age of seventy years. His chief occupation in
recent years, aside from his official duties, has been
the revision and classification of his papers for the
use of the future historian of telegraphy in the
United States. His memoirs, exhibits, papers, and
books, in print and manuscript, number one hundred
and fifty volumes, and are now in the collection of the
New York Historical Society. On one occasion, after
his removal from the custom-house, Mr. O'Reilly, it
is stated, said, —
" I seek now only a quiet retirement, and would
prefer to keep entirely out of the public view, but
when the real history of the discovery and the devel-
opment of the telegraph system of this country is
written many misplaced honors will fall away from
those who have won them."
On the 14th of March, 1848, the St. Louis Repub-
lican congratulated its readers on the fact that the
wires would be brought across the river " this week."
Two tall masts, it added, " have been erected, each
about one hundred and seventy-five feet high, one on
the bank of the river in the water-works lot, and the
other on Bloody Island opposite. The span at this
place is considerably less than where the original at-
tempt was made to carry it over the river."
On the 20th and 21st of the same month meetings of
the stockholders of the " Louisville, Vincennes and St.
Louis Telegraph Company" were held for the purpose
of organizing under a charter granted by the Indiana
Legislature. A temporary organization was effected
in order to enable Mr. O'Reilly to transfer the lines to
the company previous to his contemplated departure
from that section of the country. The following were
chosen temporary directors : Henry O'Reilly, William
Bratch, George T. M. David, Samuel Wise, Sanford
J. Smith, William R. McCord, John Ross, Thomas
Bishop, A. T. Ellis.
The directors subsequently met and completed the
organization of the " Ohio and Mississippi Telegraph
Company" by electing the Hon. A. T. Ellis presi-
dent, John Ross secretary, and Sanford J. Smith
treasurer. The transfer of the line between St. Louis
and Louisville, as also of the extension from Illinois-
town to Alton, was then made by Mr. O'Reilly to the
company. Steps were also taken for the engraving
of appropriate certificates for stock.
During a heavy gale on the 4th of May, 1848, the
tall mast near the shot-tower, upon which the tele-
graph wire was suspended, was blown down, and the
operation of the telegraph interrupted. In conse-
quence of this accident the company was forced to
resort to the old system of sending the messages
across the river, and transmitting them from Illinois-
town. On the 1st of June following it was an-
nounced that the line of O'Reilly's telegraph had
been extended from St. Louis to Springfield, 111., and
that in a short time it would be completed to Peoria,
Chicago, Galena, Quincy, Burlington, and other ini-
portant towns on the Illinois and upper Mississippi.
The announcement of the completion of the line to
Springfield was accompanied by the following dispatch
from the editors of the Springfield Register to the
editors of the St. Louis Republican :
"SPRINGFIELD, ILL., May 31st.
" The editors of the State Register shake hands with the edi-
tors of the Republican, with a slight variation, as the preacher
said about the creation of women. Strike out Whig candidates
and insert Cass and Butler and we are with you, but whatever
the result may be, we hope always to remain friends."
On the 12th of August, 1848, the telegraph was
completed to Dubuque, Iowa, and on the 19th of
January, 1849, notice was given that O'Reilly's line
of telegraph had been opened through from Louisville
to New Orleans " day before yesterday," — i.e., on the
INSURANCE, TELEGRAPH, POSTAL SERVICE, GAS, AND HOTELS.
1427
17th ; that dispatches had been received at St. Louis
from Baton Rouge, and that it was expected that
dispatches would be received direct from New Orleans
in a very few days. On the 21st of March, 1850,
telegraphic communication was opened between St.
Louis and Cape Girardeau. This was the last north-
ern link on the St. Louis and New Orleans telegraph.
On the 22d of the following month, April, 1850,
Henry O'Reilly invited the attention of the people of
St. Louis to a scheme for constructing a telegraph
from St. Louis to San Francisco. Mr. O'Reilly de-
clared that he would ask no aid from the government,
except in building stockades at intervals along the line
to serve as telegraph stations, and for the protection
of immigrants and the property of the telegraph com-
pany. One of the arguments advanced in favor of
the project was that the stockades would form the
nucleus of settlements for the supply of persons trav-
eling to and from California. On the 27th of July
of the same year a telegraph line from St. Louis to
New Orleans was completed under the direction of
Mr. O'Reilly, and dispatches passed over the wires be-
tween the two cities. It was known as O'Reilly's or
the " People's Line of Telegraph."
The use of masts for supporting the telegraph wires
across the Mississippi River having proved unsatis-
factory, it was determined on the 23d of September,
1850, to lay wires cased in gutta-percha at the bottom
of the river from Bloody Island to the St. Louis
shore. The work was completed by the 7th of Oc-
tober, and the telegraphic instruments were removed
from East St. Louis to St. Louis. The submerged
wire was found to be a marked improvement on
the system previously in use. In the Republican
of October 8th the announcement was made that the
wire for Morse's Southern telegraph had been sus-
pe.nded across the Mississippi, and that " the ' Bos-
tona' passed under it with the greatest ease." In
the summer and fall of 1850 the work of extending
the telegraph from St. Louis to St. Joseph, Mo., was
actively prosecuted by T. P. Shaffner & Co., and on
the 8th of October it was announced that the posts
for the line had been put up to within thirty miles of
Jefferson City. On the 4th of October, 1851, a tele-
graph-office was opened at Weston, and it was an-
nounced that the line would be completed to St. :
Joseph in the course of a week or two. Wade's tele-
graph line from Cincinnati to St. Louis, by way
of Indianapolis, Terre Haute, and Alton, was com-
pleted during the same year to the east side of the
Mississippi opposite St. Louis, and it was announced
that " gutta-percha wire upon a new principle would
be immediately laid across the river."
On the 6th of December, 1851, the Republican
mentioned that the delay and inconvenience to which
the Morse Telegraph Line had been subjected at
Cape Girardeau had been remedied by the use of
gutta-percha wire across the river at that place.
" Messages can now be sent without interruption at
that point to Nashville, and from thence to New
Orleans by one line, and to Louisville and all the in-
land and Atlantic cities by other connected lines."
In the same issue of the paper appears a notice of a
" sumptuous supper" with which the O'Reilly Tele-
graphic Lines " celebrated their triumph last Thurs-
day night in successfully crossing the river." This
celebration marks the third attempt to solve the
problem of safely transmitting telegrams across the
Mississippi. Two wires belonging to the Northern
and Eastern O'Reilly Telegraph Companies, as the
corporations were styled, were successfully laid across
the river above Bissell's Ferry landing, and the con-
nection with the lines on either shore was soon per-
fected. For nearly four years the company had been
experimenting in the hope of securing a permanent
submarine telegraph. It never quite succeeded, but
to St. Louis probably belongs the honor of having
first utilized, with comparatively satisfactory results,
the gutta-percha wire for laying telegraph cables below
the surface of the water. The idea of a submarine
telegraph was not a novel one, the electrician Salva-
having, it is said, suggested as early as 1797 that a
line be laid between Barcelona and Palma, in the
island of Majorca.
On the 18th of October, 1842, Professor Morse
laid a copper wire, insulated by means of a hempen
strand coated with tar, pitch, and India rubber, from
Governor's Island to the Battery, N. Y., and next
morning was beginning to receive messages over it,
when the wire became entangled in the anchor of a
vessel and was hauled on board. In 1 843, Samuel
Colt laid a submarine cable from Coney and Fire
Islands at the entrance of New York Harbor up to the
city, which was operated with success. On the 28th
of December, 1844, at Washington, D. C., Mr. Colt
exhibited a submarine battery, of which he was the
inventor, and succeeded in exploding several of his
" combustible substances" at a considerable distance
under water. He proposed to the government to per-
manently fortify any harbor by this means at a cost
not exceeding that of a steamship of war. In 1845
gutta-percha became an article of commerce, but its
insulating qualities had not then been discovered. In
that year Professor Morse attempted to insulate a
wire with a composition of beeswax, asphaltum, and
cotton yarn, and failed. In 1848, Ezra Cornell and
1428
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Professor Morse endeavored to lay a cable across the
Hudson River to Fort Lee, by the use of a mixture of
asphalt and hemp, and afterwards strung the wire
with glass beads and inclosed it in a lead pipe, but
without success in either case. Professor Faraday
first made public the insulating properties of gutta-
percha in 1848, and the first submarine telegraph
thus insulated was laid across the Rhine from Deutz
to Cologne by Lieut. Siemens, of the Prussian Artil-
lery. On the 22d of November, 1847, some months
before Faraday's patent was granted in England,
George B. Simpson drew up an application for a
patent for the insulation of telegraph with gutta- j
percha. It was filed in the United States Patent
Office in January, 1848, more than a month before i
Faraday's announcement. In November, 1848, Simp-
son exhibited his invention at the Washington Hall
Fair in Baltimore, where it was tested and found suc-
cessful, and received the unanimous commendation of
the press of that city. As early as December, 1847,
he had exhibited his invention to the late Amos
Kendall and F. 0. J. Smith, in Cincinnati. His
patent was rejected by the Patent Oifice in 1850, and
a long litigation ensued, which resulted in Simpson's
favor in 1867, shortly before his death.
H. W. Cleveland, an assistant of Professor Morse in
the Baltimore office, invented a submarine telegraph in
April, 1847, which he tested across the bed of the
stream at Gunpowder River drawbridge, between
Baltimore and Havre de Grace, and it was eminently
successful. In 1850 a copper wire covered with gutta-
percha was laid from Dover to Calais by the electrician
Brett. It was in the same year that the first sub-
marine wire was laid across the Mississippi.1
1 Following are the St. Louis Republican's accounts of var-
ious attempts to overcome the difficulties in the way of main- I
taining constant communication with the eastern bank of the '
Mississippi :
" In October of last year a wire was sunk from the shore, near
the termination of the Biddle Street sewer, to the opposite side.
This wire had been first insulated with gutta-percha, and after-
wards placed at distances of every thirty feet in leaden cylin-
ders eleven inches long by four inches in diameter, and weigh-
ing each about twenty-five pounds. These cylinders, the manu-
facture of Mr. E. W. Blatchford, while partially protecting the
wire, afforded great resistance to the current, and weighed the
wire securely to the bed of the river. In this manner the line had
worked well for a time, when the agents of the city, in prosecu-
ting some work on the Levee, broke the wire. It was taken i
up and the damage repaired, but a second accident again put a
stop to its usefulness. Several plans of sub-river telegraphic
connection were afterwards considered by the directors and
agents of our companies, but the dangers of a swift current, of
snags continually appearing, and the large quantities of sedi-
ment continually shifting its locality made it difficult to sug- j
gest one adapted to every emergency. The one finally adopted i
Early in November, 1852, the stockholders of the
St. Louis and Missouri Telegraph Company elected
the following officers :
and put into use yesterday appears the best calculated for effec-
tive resistance to every obstacle, and will, we trust, afford a
reliable means of communication. It is this : A wire of the
ordinary size is encased in three heavy coats of gutta-percha,
and the whole protected with a sheeting of lead — continuous,
and water- and air-tight — a little less than the eighth of an
inch in thickness.
"To cross the river twice at the point mentioned required
six thousand five hundred and seventy feet of gutta-percha
wire, allowing eighteen hundred feet for the irregularities of the
bed of the river, drifting, etc. Mr. Blatchford encountered
many serious and annoying difficulties in the accomplishment
of his task, by the breakage of dies, etc.; but after an assiduous
application he finally succeeded in manufacturing the whole.
The lead sheeting was turned out in pieces sixty feet long, and
afterwards turned and soldered on the gutta-percha and secured
together. The weight of the whole when finished was ten thou-
sand pounds.
" The wire was placed on a ferrj'-boat, and at an early hour
in the day taken to the north end of the city, to be laid under
the direction of Mr. J. N. Alvord, superintendent of the ' Ohio
and Mississippi' Line, Mr. C. F. Johnson, of the ' Illinois and
Mississippi Company,' and Mr. Blatchford. Numerous doubts
existed as to the practicability of running the wire on the plan
proposed, but the result has set them at rest. One end having
been secured to the Missouri shore, the process of laying the
first line commenced precisely at twelve o'clock, and was termi-
nated at sixteen minutes past twelve. The boat then returned,
and the second line was laid in precisely twelve minutes, no ob-
stacle whatever having been experienced either time, and a
little over three-fourths of the wire only having been used. To
assure themselves that the wires had sustained no injury in de-
positing it, Mr. Alvord and Mr. Johnson, in the afternoon, com-
municated with them from the opposite shores with perfect
success.
" The operators on the Northern and Eastern Telegraphic
Lines have received and sent their reports to Illinoistown for the
past ten months. The difficulty of sending or receiving reports
after night has proven an annoyance to every one. It is ex-
pected, and certainly it is much hoped, that this inconvenience
is entirely removed." — St. Louis Republican, Dec. 5, 1851.
"The first lines that were constructed to this city were sus-
pended across the river by the erection of high masts, but owing
to the distance from shore to shore and consequent weight of
the wire between the masts, they were constantly breaking from
sleet, storms, and even by birds alighting thereon in great quan-
tities. This plan has then, owing to its imperfection and ex-
pense, been abandoned, and the lines were laid across the bed
of the river by wire insulated with gutta-percha, and sunk by
means of leaden weights. This, too, soon failed, and at the
time Mr. A. Wade came to the city for the purpose of finishing
the Cincinnati and St. Louis line, all our telegraphing was done
on the Illinois side and brought across by ferry. Since that
time, however, there have been two wires laid across the river
by the O'Reilly Telegraph Company, insulated with gutta-
percha, and then inclosed in lead pipes, but from some unknown
cause one ef them has already failed.
"Amid all these discouraging circumstances Mr. Wade has
devised and executed a plan which, in the opinion of scientific
men and those best acquainted with telegraphing, will prove as
effectual in resisting every obstacle with which it may have to
INSURANCE, TELEGRAPH, POSTAL SERVICE, GAS, AND HOTELS.
1429
Isaac M. Veitch, president: John W. Morris, secretary;
Directors, T. P. Shaffner, G. B. Allen, John How, S. H. Laflin,
E. K. Woodward, St. Louis ; E. B. Cordell, Jefferson City ; Wil-
liam H. Trigg, Boonville; Robert Aull, Lexington; William
McCoy, Independence : Hon. Sol. P. McCurdy, Weston ; E. Liv-
erniore, St. Joseph.
In 1859 a new cable was laid across the Mississippi.
" The Western Union Telegraph Company," says a St.
Louis paper of August 22d of that year,
"some time since deputed Mr. Ed. Creighton to superintend
the making and laying of a new electric cable across the Mis-
sissippi River at this point. The cable is now finished, and will
be laid to-morrow. . . .
"Formerly a wire was stretched from a very tall pole on the
island, but there were frequent accidents, which rendered com-
munication uncertain and irregular. The flood of 1852 washed
down the giant mast on the island, and since that time suspen-
sion wires have been abandoned and subaqurttic cables substi-
tuted. But here, too, were obstacles to be met, for the impulsive
current of the Mississippi presented difficulties in the way of
telegraphic intercourse between this city and the opposite shore
which have never to this day been overcome successfully. A
great many cables have failed from breaking, loss of insulation,
etc., and this sometimes after but a few months' — sometimes
weeks' — service. Mr. Creighton thinks he has made a cable
which will now withstand the force of the rushing waters and
endure for years.
"The cable to be paid out to-morrow is manufactured of four'
pieces of the Atlantic cable purchased of Tiffany, New York, . . .
together with twenty-one strands of No. 9 iron wire, and all
securely bound every six inches with the same (No. 9). Karh
piece of the Atlantic cable has fifty-six strands of wire, so that
in the present cable there are two hundred and forty-five wires.
Two miles of the Atlantic cable are used in the Mississippi
'cord,' and the whole length of the latter is two thousand six
hundred and fifty feet. Its diameter is something over two
inches. The total weight is five tons and a half, and the cost
is about three thousand dollars. It is now coiled in an immense
contend as it has thus far proved perfect in its working, and if
so, must supersede all others now in use. ... A No. 9 wire of
the best quality, well connected and annealed, is covered with
several coatings of gutta-percha to the thickness of about three-
fourths of an inch. To protect this from driftwood, snags,
floating ice, sand, chafing against rocks, and other like causes,
the whole outer surface of the gutta-percha is covered with No.
10 annealed iron wire, running parallel with and confined
thereto, in a round cable formed by iron-wire bands, within six
or eight inches of each other, the whole weighing about eight
thousand pounds to the mile, and possessing a strength equal
to a three-quarter inch bar of solid iron.
"Great care has been taken to give to the outer wires the
greatest tension, so as to protect the gutta-percha from any sud-
den wrench or strain. This cable is laid so as to touch the bed
of the river in any part, and in such a way that should the
channel become deeper at any one place than it now is, it will
settle to the bottom.
" It is imbedded in the earth at each shore to the depth of
six feet, extending from extreme low-water mark to a pole two
hundred feet distant, where the inside wire alone is connected
with the main wire of the line, while the outside wires are
firmly attached to the pole. The length of this cable is but
little over half a mile, and upwards of ten miles of wire were
used in its construction." — St. Louis Republican, Dec. 20, 1S52.
91
reel, and will be stretched by one of the Higgins ferry-boats,
the termination on this side being near the foot of Biddle
Street."
In the early part of 1859 a few gentlemen of St.
Louis formed an association for the purpose of extend-
ing the then existing line running westward from St.
Louis, and also for the purpose of building other lines
with the view of inducing the California trunk lines
I to converge at St. Louis. This enterprise finally be-
came of sufficient importance to justify the formation
of an incorporated company. A charter was granted
i by the Legislature which was very liberal in its pro-
visions. It had fifty years to run, and permitted a
capital stock of a million dollars. The style of the
company was the " Missouri and Western Telegraph
1 Company," which was formed for the purpose of
" building, buying, leasing, maintaining, and operating
S a telegraph line or lines west of the Mississippi River."
Messrs. S. H. Laflin, J. H. Lightner, A. C. Goddin,
Charles M. Stebbins, J. H. Wade, Isaac R. Elwood,
and Anson Stager, the persons named as the cor-
porators of this company, met at the Planters' House
in August, 1860, and perfected their organization by
the election of Charles M. Stebbins, of St. Louis,
| president; Edward Creighton, of Omaha City, general
agent'; and R. C. Cloury, of St. Louis, secretary and
superintendent.
This company absorbed the " Missouri River Tele-
graph Line," extending from St. Louis to Kansas City ;
the "Kansas Telegraph Line," extending from Kansas
City through Leavenworth and Atchison to St. Jo-
seph ; and the " New Line," finished a short time
before to Springfield, Mo. It had already raised
nearly enough money to complete a line to Omaha
City and Council Bluffs. It owned the exclusive
right to use the Morse, Hughes, and House telegraph
I patents in all of Missouri south of the Missouri River,
in all of Kansas Territory, and in all of Nebraska Ter-
ritory south of the Platte River, with the right to ex-
tend to Sante Fe", Fort Smith, St. Joseph, Omaha
City, and Council Bluffs.
On the 30th of May, 1865, the " United States
Telegraph Line" commenced operating at the Mer-
chants' Exchange.
In 1879 the American Union Telegraph Company
was incorporated, and began operations in St. Louis
as an auxiliary to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
telegraph system. In 1881 the corporation was ab-
sorbed by the Western Union Telegraph Company,
since which time the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Company has been conducting a telegraph business on
its own account. It has a large number of offices at
the principal business points of the city, and has lines
1430
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
in successful operation running to all the leading cities
of the world.
UNITED STATES MAILS, POST-OFFICE, AND CUSTOM-
HOUSE.
At the time of the transfer of Louisiana to the United
States the mail facilities of the then French village of
St. Louis and its modest neighbor, Vide Poche (or Ca- 1
rondelet), were quite inconsiderable. A weekly pair
of saddle-bags from the East, that had run the gauntlet j
of the Indian tribes of the Northwest, brought New j
York and Philadelphia letters and papers from one to
six months old. To the west of St. Louis the mail
was mostly transported in the hats and breeches-pockets
of hunters, trappers, courriers du bois, and occasional
immigrants from Kentucky going into the central
portions of Missouri. For many years the largest
portion of the letters for people in central Missouri
were brought by travelers or explorers, generally
directed to some one in the " Boone's Lick country,"
and were stuck up in the bar-room or some log tavern
to be called for by the owners. As the " Boone's
Lick country" embraced a territory equal in size to
some of the smaller States, it was esteemed a fortu-
nate chance if a letter reached the person addressed.
After remaining stuck up and uncalled for for a num-
ber of months they were considered " dead letters,"
and settlers in the neighborhood who were anxious to
get news from their old homes in Kentucky would
peruse them for the benefit of whom they might con-
cern. The delays and disappointments occasioned by
the lack of a regular mail system were naturally a
source of much inconvenience, and long periods elapsed
— quite frequently many months — before a reply could
be obtained from any distant point. Such was the
gay, contented character of the French residents,
however, and such their happy, careless abandon, so
thoroughly absorbed were they in the occupations,
interests, and amusements of their comparatively
isolated frontier life, that delays which in our day and
generation would be considered altogether monotonous
and unbearable were tolerated by them not always
with patience, to be sure, but with a mild and good-
humored resignation. The introduction of saddle-
bags as a means of transporting letters was a note-
worthy innovation, and was hailed as a marked advance
in providing facilities for postal communication. When
the transfer to the United States, however, had been
effected, the new government at once proceeded to
establish a regular mail service for St. Louis and
other important points in the newly acquired territory,
and post-offices were speedily established at St. Louis,
St. Charles, and Ste. Genevieve. From 1804 until
about 1823 there was only one mail line from St.
Louis to Philadelphia, running through Cahokia,
Vincennes, New Albany, Louisville, Limestone (now
Maysville), Wheeling, Pittsburgh, and Chambersburg,
the two latter places in Pennsylvania. The distance
traversed from St. Louis to Chambersburg was ten
hundred and fifty miles, on which portion of the route
the mail was carried on horseback, and from St. Louis
to Philadelphia the distance was about twelve hundred
miles. Between Chambersburg and Philadelphia there
was a stage line making two trips a week.
There were two mails a week from Philadelphia to
Pittsburgh, and one mail a week from Pittsburgh to
the Western settlements. Letters from the East and
from Europe were respectively six weeks and three
months in reaching St. Louis. In 1804 a turnpike
had been built between Philadelphia and Lancaster,
Pa., a distance of sixty-five miles, and a few years
later it was finished to Harrisburg. In 1819 it was
extended to Pittsburgh, and for a long time was the
only turnpike that crossed the Alleghenies. As the
building of this and other great highways progressed
there was of course a corresponding improvement in
the transportation of the mails, which was still fur-
ther accelerated by the introduction of steamboats on
Western waters. At first steamers were six weeks in
making the trip from Louisville to St. Louis, but as
early as 1825, such had been the progress made {in
steam navigation that a letter could be sent from St.
Louis to Philadelphia in twenty days. Subsequently
the time was reduced to fifteen days. After the Na-
tional road had been completed to Columbus, Ohio,
and graded to Indianapolis, stages ran through from
St. Louis to Philadelphia in ten days, and this was
the most rapid transit prior to the introduction of
railroads.
The first postmaster at St. Louis was Col. Rufus
Easton, who was appointed Jan. 1, 1805, and held
the office for ten years. Col. Easton was a prominent
and influential citizen, and represented the Territory
as a delegate in Congress from 1814 to 1816, succeed-
ing Edward Hempstead. By the regulations of the
postal department, Col. Easton was required to publish
a quarterly statement of letters which remained un-
claimed in the post-office, and until the establishment
of the first newspaper in 1808 he posted a written
notice, giving the quarterly list of unclaimed letters,
on the post-office door. On the 2d of August, 1808,
the following list was advertised :
" A list of letters remaining in the post-office at St. Louis,
quarter ending June 30, 1808: James Ashley, Charles Apple-
gate, William Bradley, William Bonham, James W. Coburn,
John Chitwood, John Calaway, William McDaniel, John Davis,
Samuel H. Dunn. Cornelius R. French, Samuel Gibson, Lieut.
Daniel Hughs, Philip Leduc, Jacob Horine, John Mullanphy,
INSURANCE, TELEGRAPH, POSTAL SERVICE, GAS, AND HOTELS.
1431
Philip Miller, Robert Owens, Louis Pre Fillet, Joseph Perkins,
William Rodgers, George G. Rooney, Hannah Radcliffe, Moses
Riddle, Messrs. Raugh & Ermatinger, Antony Sanders, William
Shay, George Smith, Solomon Townsend, Thomas Vinson, Simon
Vanarsdale, Daniel Walker, James Ward, Robert Westcott,
Anne Wolfort, William R. Willis, Hezekiah Warfield, John
Zomwale.
"R. EASTON, P.M."
The irregularities, delays, and uncertainties of the
mails about this time are set forth in the following
from the Missouri Gazette of Aug. 10, 1808 :
"The failure of the mail from Ste. Genevieve to Cahokia,
and from Vincennes to the same place, has long since been a
fact of serious complaint, and more so to the inhabitants of this
Territory since the establishment of a Gazette at the town of
St. Louis, it being impossible for the printer to give to his pa-
trons early and correct accounts, either of foreign or domestic
news. The fault is certainly not to be imputed to the contrac-
tors, yet there is a radical defect in the law which does not en-
able the postmaster-general to remedy the evil, the contrac-
tor only being liable to the forfeiture of five dollars for the
loss of a trip, and the postmaster-general cannot annul the
contract until there have been five failures. The carrier will
make a speculation. Say, for instance, it costs fifteen dollars to
make a trip between Vincennes and Cahokia; the carrier, by
his failure, saves ten dollars on the loss of each trip, from the
tenor of his contract; and after five forfeitures, and before the
information can reach the proper department, the tenor of the
contract will have nearly expired, and even in fact so before a
new contractor could be had and he enter upon his duties."
The mails were transported in 1808 from Vincennes
and Ste. Genevieve to Cahokia, from which place
another rider brought them to St. Louis and St.
Charles. These were then the only mail routes west
of Indiana and Kentucky.
The list of letters remaining in the post-office at
St. Louis for the quarter ending Dec. 21, 1808, was :
Richard Bibb, Jr., John Brown, James Byrnside, John Car-
son, John Calaway, Vincent Calico, Isaac Darnielle, William
Danis, care of M. Butcher, Peter Detchler, Robert Finfey,
Jacob Faill, John Finley, John Gribum, William C. Greenup,
Garrot Di Grinelimour, care of A. Chouteau, Jacob Harry, Ben-
jamin Johnson, James Leonard, care of A. McNair, Mr. Mc-
Kinsey, William Miller, James McFarlane, Uriah Musick,
James Mackay, Hezekiah O'Neil, John Patterson, William
Patterson, James Reid, Moses Riddle, Mr. F. Regnier, Esck
Sterry, Paskell Sary, Abram Teter, Peyton Thomas, Robert
Westcott, Thomas Welsh, Jacob Wagner, White Warner.
During the winter of 1809 there was another vex-
atious interruption of the mails, none being received
for over nine weeks, and Mr. Charless did not fail to
call attention to the fact and denounce it in his Ga-
zette.
"We are compelled," he said, on the 4th of January, "to
complain of the wretched state of the post-office department
in this quarter ; by especial grace we sometimes receive one
mail in two or three weeks, and then perhaps receive only one
or two papers. Where this pillage of papers exists we cannot
learn ; we sincerely wish that all the postmasters on the line
from Washington to this place would only do their duty and
send on such papers as are committed to their charge."
Again, on the llth of January, he stated that there
had been no mail from the East for more than two
months. " Excessively cold weather, and no ther-
mometer in the place to record the degree," he added.
On the 31st of May, 1809, an advertisement ap-
peared inviting proposals for carrying the mails (the
proposals to be received " at the general post-office in
Washington City"), as follows :
"194. From Louisville, Ky., by Jeffersonville and Clarks-
ville, to Vincennes, once a week. Leave Louisville every Sun-
day at 6 A.M., and arrive at Vincennes the next Wednesday by
10 A.M. Leave Vincennes every Wednesday at 2 P.M., and ar-
rive at Louisville the next Saturday by 6 P.M.
"195. From Vincennes to Kaskaskia, once a week. Leave
Vincennes every Wednesday at 2 P.M., and arrive at Kaskaskia
on Saturday by 6 P.M. Leave Kaskaskia every Sunday at 6
A.M., and arrive at Vincennes the next Wednesday by 10 A.M.
" 196. From Kaskaskia, by St. Philip, Prairie du Rocher,
and St. Louis to St. Charles, once a week. Leave St. Charles
every Thursday at 2 P.M., and arrive at Kaskaskia on Saturday
by 6 P.M. Leave Kaskaskia every Sund ly at 6 A.M., and arrive
at St. Charles on Tuesday by 10 A.M.
" 197. From Cape Girardeau to New Madrid, once in two
weeks. Leave Cape Girardeau every other Tuesday at 6 A.M.,
and arrive at New Madrid on Friday by 10 A.M. Leave New
Madrid same day at 2 P.M., and arrive at Cape Girardeau on
Monday by 6 P.M.
" 198. Kaskaskia, by Geneva, Cape Girardeau, Tywappety,
and Wilkinsonville, to Fort Massac, once a week. Leave Kas-
kaskia every Sunday at 6 A.M., and arrive at Fort Massac on
Wednesday by 10 A.M. Leave Fort Massac every Wednesday
at 1 P.M., and arrive at Kaskaskia on Saturday by 6 P.M."
The mails announced on the 14th of November,
1810, were " from St. Louis to Cahokia east, once a
week ; to Herculaneum, Mine & Breton, and Ste.
Genevieve, once in two weeks ; to St. Charles, once
a week."
The following extracts from the diary of Mr. Fred-
erick L. Billon forcibly illustrate the vexatious delays
which attended travel and the transportation of the
mails in those early days :
"I came to St. Louis in the year 1818, and was just two
months on my way from my native city, Philadelphia. I left
that city Sunday morning early, August 30th, in the mail-stage
for Pittsburgh, where I arrived at 4 P.M. on Friday, September
4th, the sixth day from Philadelphia. There being then no
stages west of Pittsburgh, we remained there some four or five
days, waiting for a keel-boat to descend the Ohio, keels and flat-
boats (then called ' broad-horns') being the only conveyances by
water west of that point. Meeting with a Capt. Fellows, then
coming to the marine settlement in Illinois with his family in
a keel-boat, we took passage with him, and left Pittsburgh on
Wednesday, September 9th, and after several groundings on
account of the low stage of water, reached Louisville on Mon-
day, the 21st, being twelve days on our voyage to that point.
We remained there four days while the boat was discharging
her cargo, to be drayed around the Falls of the Ohio to Shipping-
port below. The boat was then taken over the falls and reloaded,
and we left again on Friday, September 25th. After six or seven
days' run from the falls, we grounded on a bar at the head of
Green River Island, and the water falling rapidly, soon left us
1432
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
high and dry on the bar. We lay here seven or eight days, dis-
charged the freight on the bar, cut skids on the island to slide
the boat to the water, reloaded her, and started again on Thurs-
day, October 8th, and in three days more reached Shawneetown.
Here we left the boat, being persuaded that she would never
reach St. Louis until the following spring, having yet over one
hundred miles to reach the Mississippi, and two hundred more
up that stream against a strong current. We were here several
days seeking a conveyance for ourselves and trunks to Kaskas-
kia, one hundred and twenty miles from Shawnee, on the way to
St. Louis. Finally we induced an old man who possessed the
only wagon in the place, for the sum of fifty dollars (five dol-
lars per day for ten days he would be in going and returning),
to take our few trunks, and we to have the privilege of riding
if we thought fit. There were then but some four or five houses
between these two places. We left Shawnee on Thursday, Octo-
ber 15th, and arrived at Kaskaskia on Tuesday, the 20th ; crossed
the Mississippi to Ste. Genevieve in a large canoe on Wednesday,
the 21st; remained here some five or six days; left for St. Louis
on Tuesday morning early, the 27th ; recrossed the Mississippi,
and cauie up in a French cart that night to Waterloo, and on
the following morning, AVednesday, the 28th of October, came
through the heavy timber in sight of St. Louis at ten o'clock
A.M. ; crossed in a flat that landed us on a large bar extending
out several hundred yards from the main shore, reaching St.
Louis in just two months from Philadelphia."
Mr. Billon descended the Ohio at the season of the
year when the water was lowest, and his journey was
lengthened on that account some twelve or fifteen
days.
The perils encountered by the mail-carriers of that
early period are only suggested by the announcement
made on the 6th of September, 1810, that the post-
master-general had offered a reward of five thousand
dollars " for the apprehension and securing of the
robber or robbers who murdered the post-rider be-
tween Vincennes and Kaskaskia and carried away
the mail portmanteau with its contents ; to be paid
upon the conviction of the offender."
Such was the alleged mismanagement of the mail
department, or that portion of it in which St. Louis
was interested, that on the 28th of November, 1812,
it was announced that the grand jury of the district
had presented it as a nuisance. The postmaster at
St. Louis at this time was Col. Rufus Easton, a cap-
able officer and gentleman of high standing, and the
fault lay not with him, but with the mail contractors
or "post-riders," who, as we have already seen, were
often lax and negligent in the discharge of their duties.
Col. Easton was succeeded in the postmastership by
his brother-in-law, Dr. Robert Simpson, who was ap-
peinted by President Madison Jan. 1, 1815, the va-
cancy having been created by Col. Easton's election to
Congress. Dr. Simpson retained the position nearly four
years, and in the autumn of 1818 was succeeded by
Capt. A. T. Crane, of the United States army. After
a brief and popular administration of less than twelve
months Capt. Crane died, on the 26th of September,
1819. The next postmaster was Col. Elias Rector,
who retained the office until his death in 1822.
During Col. Easton's incumbency the post-office was
located at his residence and law-office, on the south-
west corner of Third and Elm Streets. Dr. Simpson
established it at various points from time to time, first
on the east side of Main Street above Elm, then on
the east side of Main below Elm, then on the west
side of Main Street, at the southwest corner of Elm
Street. Under Capt. Crane it was situated in the
back part of the old stone building occupied by the
Bank of St. Louis, and under Col. Rector was re-
moved to the old stone mansion of Mrs. Chouteau,
at the southwest corner of Main and Chestnut Streets,
and subsequently to the frame building on the south
side of Chestnut Street below Second.
Proposals were invited Aug. 10, 1816, for carrying
United States mails in Missouri, from St. Louis, by
Potosi and Lawrence Court-House, to Arkansas, once
i in four weeks ; to leave St. Louis every fourth Satur-
j day, commencing on the first Saturday in November,
and arrive at Arkansas in ten days, on Monday at six
! P.M. ; leave Arkansas the next Wednesday at six A.M.,
and arrive at St. Louis in ten days, on Friday at six
P.M.
Nathaniel Simonds made the following announce-
ment to the public Nov. 20, 1818 :
" The subscriber intends running a stage-coach between St.
Louis and St. Charles three times in each week, to commence
1 on the first Monday in December, in the following order, viz. :
" Leave the ferry-house opposite St. Charles at ten o'clock
A.M. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
"Leave Pitzer's brick livery-stable in St. Louis at ten A.M.
on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and pass the boarding-
houses of Mr. Pitzer, Mr. Paddock, and Mrs. Snow."
"We understand." said the Missouri Gazette of March 17,
1819, "that it is contemplated to establish a regular line of
stages between this town and Franklin, Howard Co. A stage
runs regularly once a week to and from St. Louis to Knska.*ki:i,
another runs three times a week to St. Charles, another twice a
week to Edwardsville, to which will, we hope, shortly be added
the stage to Franklin. We have also understood that it has
been in contemplation to establish a line from Edwardsville to
Vincennes. It will only remain to have it continued from Vin-
cennes to Louisville; a direct communication by stage will then
be opened from the Atlantic States to Boon's Lick, on the Mis-
souri. It is one of the most advantageous investments of
money in the Eastern States, where the price of conveyance is
much cheaper than it is west of the Allegheny. Seven cents to-
the mile is the usual price in the former, while ten cents, and
sometimes 12J, are charged in the latter."
R. Smith announced, Dec. 15, 1819, that " the
great Western stages start every morning from the
door, and on the premises is one of the best livery-
stables in the city, conducted by Mr. John Tomlinsonr
where travelers' horses will be faithfully attended to."
The following advertisement, under date of Dec.
INSURANCE, TELEGRAPH, POSTAL SERVICE, GAS, AND HOTELS.
1433
27, 1827, shows the arrangements for transporting
passengers and mails at that time :
" United States mail stage from St. Louis, Mo., to Louis-
ville, Ky., passing through the States of Illinois and Indiana,
via Vincennes. Through in five days ; no night driving; twice
a week each way. Arrangements : Leaves St. Louis every
Tuesday and Saturday at four o'clock A.M., and arrives at Vin-
cennes every Monday and Thursday at four o'clock P.M. ; leaves
Vincennes at four o'clock A.M. next morning, and arrives at
Louisville by way of New Albany in two days; leaves Louis-
ville every Sunday and Wednesday at four o'clock A.M., and in
returning the same time is occupied ; arrives at St. Louis every
Sunday and Thursday at six o'clock P.M. All baggage at the
risk of the owner. Fare, from St. Louis to Vincennes, one
hundred and sixty miles, ten dollars; from Vincennes to Louis-
ville, one hundred and twelve miles, seven dollars."
As late as 1835 the arrangements for distributing
the mails were still of a primitive character, and our
present carrier system was then of course unknown.
Among the expedients resorted to the following (de-
scribed in a local journal) is rather unique :
" In 1835, Mr. R. D. Watson was a merchant on
Main Street, near Olive, and lived on his farm, about
seven miles from the court-house. He generally
came into town on Monday morning, bringing in with
him a little black pony, and this pony was his letter-
carrier. Any correspondence that might have ar-
rived for Mrs. Watson or any member of the family
was fastened to the pony's mane, and he was then
turned loose on Olive Street, and would make straight
tracks for home, where a servant would be waiting for
him. In those days there were but few houses be-
tween St. Louis University and Mrs. Watson's resi-
dence, on the western part of Watson's Fruit Hill
sub-division."
The question of expediting the mails between St.
Louis and Baltimore, in accordance with the suggestion
of the Baltimore Board of Trade, was the subject of
a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce on the 17th
of April, 1851. It was thought at the time that
there was no reason why the mail should not be re-
ceived in St. Louis in five days from Baltimore, and
that it could be done if the merchants of the city
would set themselves about it in earnest.
The first overland mail from California arrived in
St. Louis Oct. 10, 1858. and the occasion was cele-
brated by a demonstration in honor of Mr. Butterfield,
who had been mainly instrumental in putting it into
successful operation. A procession was formed in
front of the Planters' House about eight o'clock
in the evening, and, headed by the St. Louis Silver
Band in Arnot's band-wagon drawn by six horses,
marched to the Pacific Railroad depot. Mr. Butter-
field was received with an address on behalf of the
citizens and of the reception committee by Hon. John
F. Darby, to which he responded.
Upon leaving the depot the carriages proceeded to
their starting-point on Fourth Street, preceded by the
band-chariot, and passing around Pine, did not draw
up until they reached the post-office, when the mail
was turned over to the proper officials. Some extra
bags, containing the San Francisco Evening Bulletin,
the special edition of the Alta California, and other
papers, were retained and put out at the hotel. Here
they were opened, and the papers handed around to
the assembled spectators, who read them with great
apparent interest. The Alta California was most in
demand, as it displayed a fine special head of " By
the Overland Mail," and an imposing picture of a mail-
coach with four horses in full gallop. A journal,
showing the route taken by the overland mail on its
first trip from San Francisco to St. Louis, and also the
distances between the different points and the time
required for the performance of the trip, states that
at least four days' time was lost on this trip. The
record is as follows :
"Memorandum of distances between the stations on the over-
land route from San Francisco to St. Louis via Arizona, and of
the time made on the first trip : San Francisco to Clark's, 12;
Sun Water, 9; Redwood City, 9; Mountain View, 12; San
Jose", 11; Seventeen-Mile House, 17; Gilroy, 13; Pacheco
Pass, 18; St. Louis Ranch, 17; Lone Willow, 18; Temple's
Ranch, 13; Firebaugh's Ferry, 15; Fresno City, 19; Elk Horn
Spring, 22; Whitmote's Ferry, 17; Cross Creek, 12; Visalia,
12; Pack wood, 12; Tule River, 14: Fountain Spring, 14;
Mountain House, 12 ; Posey Creek, 15; Gordon's Ferry, 10;
Kern River Slough, 12; Sink of Tejon, 14; Fort Tejon, 15;
Reed's, 8; French John's, 14; Widow Smith's, 24; King's, 10;
Hart's, 12; San Fernando Mission, 8; Canuengo, 12; Los An-
geles, 12. Total, 462 miles. Time, 80 hours.
"Los Angeles to Monte, 13; San Jose", 12; Rancho del
Chino, 12; Tyinascal, 20; Laguna Grande, 10; Temecula, 21;
Tcjungo, 14; Oak Grove, 12; Warner's Ranch, 10; San Felipe,
16; Vallecito, 18; Palm Springs, 9 ; Carisso Creek, 9 ; Indian
Wells (without water), 32; Alamo Mucho (without water),
Cook's Wells (without water), 22; Pilot Knob, 18 ; Fort Yuma,
10. Total, 282 miles. Time, 72 hours and 20 minutes.
"Fort Yuma to Swiveler'g, 20 ; Filibuster Camp, 18; Peter-
man's, 19; Griswell's, 12; Flap-Jack Ranch, 15; Catman Flat,
20; Murderer's Grave, 20; Gila Ranch, 17; Maricopa Wells,
40 ; Socatoon, 22 ; Peeacho, 37 ; Pointer Mountain, 22 ; Tucson,
18. Total, 280 miles. Time, 71 hours and 45 minutes.
"Tucson to Seneca Springs (without water), 35; San Pedro
(without water), 24; Dragoon Springs (without water), 23;
Apache Pass (without water), 40; Stein's Peak (without
water), 35; Soldier's Farewell (without water), 42; Ojo de
Vaca, 14; Miembre's River, 16 ; Cook's Springs, 18; Peeacho
(without water), 52; Fort Fillmore, 14; Cottonwoods, 25;
Franklin, 22. Total, 360 miles. Time, 82 hours.
"Franklin to Waco Tanks, 30; Canodrus, 36; Pinery (with-
out water), 56; Delaware Springs, 24; Pope's Camp, 40; Emi-
grant Crossing, 65; Horse-Head Crossing, 55; Head of Concho
(without water), 70; Grape Creek, 22; Fort Chadbourne, 30.
Total, 428 miles. Time, 126 hours and 30 minutes.
1434
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
" Fort Chadbourne to Station No. 1,12; Mountain Pass, 16;
Phantom Hill, 30; Smith's, 12; Clear Fork, 26; Francis', 13;
Fort Belknap, 22 ; Murphy's, 16 ; Jackboro', 19 ; Earhart's, 16 ;
Connolly's, 16; Davidson's, 24 ; Gainesville, 17 ; Diamond's, 15;
Sherman, 15; Colbert's Ferry (Red River), 13J. Total, 282J.
Time, 65 hours and 25 minutes.
"Colbert's to Fisher's, 13; Wail's, 14; Boggy Depot, 17;
Gary's, 17; Waddell's, 15; Blackburn's, 16 ; Pusley's, 17 ; Rid-
dell's, 17; Holloway's, 17; Trayon's, 17; Walker's, 17; Fort
Smith, 15. Total, 192 miles. Time, 38 hours.
"Fort Smith to Woosley's, 16; Brodie's, 12; Park's, 20;
Fayetteville, 15; 's Station, 12; Callaghan's, 22; Har-
burn's, 19; Conch's, 16; Smith's, 15; Ashmore, 20; Spring-
field, 13; Evan's, 9; Smith's, 11; Bolivar, Hi; Yost's, 16;
Quincy, 16; Bailey's, 10; Warsaw, 11; Burns', 15; Mulholland,
20; Shack elford's, 13; Tipton, 7. Total, 318^. Time, 48 hours
and 55 minutes. Tipton to St. Louis, 160 miles. Time, 11 hours
and 40 minutes.
" Recapitulation.
Miles. Hours.
San Francisco to Los Angeles 462 80
Los Angeles to Fort Yuma 282 72.20
Fort Yuma to Tucson 280 71.45
Tucson to Franklin 360 82
Franklin to Fort Chadbourne 428 126.30
Fort Chadbourne to Red River 282i 65.25
Red River to Fort Smith 192 38
Fort Smith to Tipton 318$ 48.55
Tipton to St. Louis 160 11.40
Total 2765 569.35
" 24 days, 20 hours, and 35 minutes ; 2 hours and 9 minutes
allowed for difference in longitude, leaves 24 days, 18 hours,
and 26 minutes."
The first effort to secure the erection of a building
for a post-office, custom-house, land-office, etc., was
made in 1838, a meeting being held at the court-house
November 12th of that year, for the purpose of taking
into consideration the propriety of memorializing
Congress on the subject. The meeting was organized
by calling William Renshaw to the chair, and appoint-
ing John H. Watson secretary, after which, Gen. N.
Ranney having explained its object, the following
resolutions were submitted by the secretary :
" Resolved, As the sense of this meeting, that a building for
a custom-house and other public offices is highly necessary for
the convenient transaction of the public business in this city,
and that such measures as may be deemed essential to the fur-
therance of this object should be prosecuted without delay.
"Resolved, That a committee, to consist of five members, be
appointed by the chair, for the purpose of drafting a memorial,
to be addressed to Congress in behalf of the object contemplated
in the foregoing resolution, and that an additional committee,
to consist of ten members, be appointed in like manner, whose
duty it shall be to present said memorial to the citizens for their
signatures."
The resolutions were unanimously adopted, and the
chairman, pursuant to their provisions, announced the
appointment of the following committees : Committee
to prepare a memorial, Messrs. N. Ranney, William
Milburn, J. B. Bowlin, A. Wetmore, and A. J. Davis ;
committee to obtain signatures, Messrs. N. Ranney,
John B. Sarpy, James Clemens, Augustus Kerr, Ab-
ner Hood, H. L. Hoffman, S. S. Rayburn, Edward
Walsh, William Glasgow, C. Garvey, Robert Rankin,
and Edward Tracy.
The latter committee was increased to twelve mem-
bers, on motion of Maj. Wetmore that the chairman
and secretary be added to the last-named committee.
In 1851 it was proposed to locate the post-office
temporarily in the court-house buildings, and a local
journal, under date of May 6th, referring to the pro-
ject, said,' —
" In the course of the present year the construction of the
eastern wing of the court-house will be commenced and prob-
ably finished. We stated some time since that it was contem-
plated to erect two other buildings separate from the court-
house building, one of which is to stand on the northeast and
the other on the southeast corner of the lot, and both of which
are to be used as offices or court rooms, or by persons in the
employ of the county. It was designed that these buildings
should be thirty-two feet front by sixty feet on Chestnut, and
the same dimensions on Market Street. A proposition is now
before the county court which may cause a change of these
plans. Mr. Gamble, the postmaster, proposes that these ad-
ditional buildings shall be constructed of sufficient capacity to
be employed temporarily for post-office and custom-house pur-
poses. For the post-office alone Mr. Gamble asks that one
apartment be set aside, forty feet front by one hundred in
depth."
On the 9th of October, 1851, it was announced
that
"an association of gentlemen of this city have leased from
Mr. D. D. Page a portion of the ground at the corner of Second
and Chestnut Streets, with the intention of erecting thereon a
building suited to the wants of the St. Louis post-office. For
this purpose a front of sixty-five feet on Second by ninety-six
on Chestnut has been obtained. It is contemplated to erect a
building three stories high, and to appropriate the whole of the
first floor for the uses of the post-office; the interior will be
arranged with direct reference to the accommodation of the office
and of its customers."
In the following year the old St. Louis Theatre
property, at the corner of Third and Olive Streets,
was purchased by the government, and the erection
of a custom-house and post-office building commenced,
after plans prepared by George I. Barnett, architect.
In addition to the custom-house and post-office,
Mr. Barnett has prepared the plans for many other
public buildings, and occupies a deservedly high place
among the architects of the country. He is an Eng-
lishman by birth, and his father, who was a clergy-
man and a writer of some note on questions of political
economy, gave him careful home training, supple-
mented by a course in the grammar school at Not-
tingham. Leaving this institution at the age of six-
teen, young Barnett spent three years with a practical
builder, and then studied architecture in some of the
best schools in England and under the best preceptors
INSURANCE, TELEGRAPH, POSTAL SERVICE, GAS, AND HOTELS.
1435
until he was twenty-four, when he determined to
emigrate to America. After spending a few months
in New York, he removed to St. Louis in the latter
part of 1839. Here he opened an office, and soon
obtained a most lucrative business. For nearly twenty
years he was the only educated architect in the city,
and his genius and enterprise naturally secured for
him an extensive clientage. He was employed in
nearly every great work of that period. In later
years St. Louis has had highly accomplished archi-
tects, but Mr. Barnett still retains a leading position.
It is a well-known fact that Mr. Barnett has erected
a much larger number of buildings than any other
architect in St. Louis, and
to his skill and genius are
due the architectural beau-
ties of many of the pub-
lic buildings, fine business
houses, and elegant resi-
dences of the city. It
would be impossible to enu-
merate all his achievements
in this direction, but the
following may be cited as
prominent specimens of his
work : The Southern and
Lindell Hotels, the St.
Louis Mutual Life Insur-
ance building (Sixth and
Locust Streets), the post-
office (Third and Olive),
the granite building Fourth
and Market, Barr's build-
ing (Sixth and Olive), and
the old Merchants' Ex-
change. In the competition
with the most eminent ar-
chitects of the country in
designs for the new Mer-
chants' Exchange, his draw-
ing secured the first prize of fifteen hundred dollars.
Mr. Barnett also enjoys a high reputation as a hotel
architect, and in addition to the splendid fruits of his
genius in this department in St. Louis, has built many
famous structures throughout the West, notably the
Maxwell House at Nashville, Tenn.
In 1850, Mr. Barnett made a professional tour of
Europe, and examined with well-trained and culti-
vated faculties the monuments of art which the great
masters left for the instruction of their followers.
St. Louis gained much from the results of his observa-
tion and comparison at this period, and his career from
that time forward was one of constantly-increasing
honor and influence. While impressing his individ-
uality on the most noted and beautiful of the struc-
tures of an ambitious and growing city, he has estab-
lished a stainless record as an architect of incorruptible
character. He is a kind-hearted, modest, and unpre-
tentious gentleman, of genial nature and rare social
qualities, and while honored as an artist he is also
loved as a man.
Mr. Barnett has two sons, who have been bred to
his profession. George (the younger) is associated
with his father in business, and is a young man of
extraordinary proficiency for his age, who in the judg-
ment of those who have watched the development of
his youthful powers, must
ultimately take rank among
the architects of the coun-
try.
" The removal of the
post-office," it was stated in
a newspaper of May 20,
1852, " has had the effect
to turn the attention of cer-
tain classes of dealers to
property in its present vi-
cinity, and the consequence
has been to increase ma-
terially its value."
The erection of the build-
ing proceeded until April,
1859, when the post-office,
which occupied the whole
of the main floor, was estab-
lished in its new quarters.
The building is one hun-
dred and thirty-nine feet
three inches long, eighty
feet nine inches wide, and
sixty-six feet seven inches
high on the west front,
and seventy-seven feet seven
inches high on the east front. It is of the Roman
Corinthian order, and in all its details is in strict con-
sonance with that style of architecture. The entire
structure is faced with a peculiar stone known as the
" Barrett stone," selected for the purpose by Capt.
Bowman, United States supervisor of public buildings,
and containing a large proportion of silex, rendering
it almost time- and fire-proof. On the west or princi-
pal front are six massive rusticated stone piers, con-
nected by large arches the height of the first story,
and forming a sub-base, which supports the six fluted
columns of the portico, which is two stories high.
The building has been used for the post-office,
1436
HISTOHY OF SAINT LOUIS.
custom-house, United States courts, and government
offices generally, but for a number of years has been
inadequate for those purposes, and in 1872 the gov-
ernment determined to erect a new building for the
custom-house, post-office, etc., which should not only
provide ample space and facilities, but should be an
ornament to St. Louis commensurate with the dignity
and importance of the city. A site was accordingly
determined upon, comprising what was known as the
Crow block, bounded by Olive and Locust, Eighth
and Ninth Streets, which was condemned and pur-
chased in the autumn of 1872, and plans were pre-
pared by A. B. Mullett, United States supervising
architect.
The structure, which is now in course of completion,
has a frontage on Olive and Locust Streets of two
hundred and thirty-two feet, by a depth on Eighth
and Ninth Streets of one hundred and seventy- seven
feet. It is three stories in height with an attic, and
the central compartment of four stories is crowned by
an immense convex dome, the distance from the
ground to the apex of the dome being one hundred
and eighty-four feet. The height of the cornice of
the wing building is ninety-six feet. Each fa§ade of
the building is divided into three parts, each central ;
division being crowned by pitched pediments, over
which are ornamented windows of corresponding style.
The main front on Olive Street is surmounted by the
immense dome, and so decorated as to produce a grand
and imposing effect.
This floor is but two feet higher than the sidewalk
on Olive Street, and is easy of access, a decided im-
provement on the present post-office building in that
particular. The whole of the first story will be used
for post-office purposes, and is lighted not only from
the four fronts of the building, but from the interior
court or quadrangle, thus avoiding the necessity of
burning gas during the day, as is the costly and un-
healthy experience with the old building.
The facilities for the reception of mail matter are
to be made a chief feature. They will be unequaled
by any building, either in this or any other country,
from the fact that the mail-cars will be carried across
the St. Louis bridge into the tunnel, and so on until
they are switched off in front of the basement of the
post-office. For this purpose the tunnel will be
widened opposite the post-office so as to afford a broad
platform between the two tracks for the delivery and
receipt of all mail matter, and from every direction.
The mail matter is then to be placed on elevators and
run up into the distributing-room, and there classified.
The same course is to be pursued with reference to
all bonded goods, and all this immense business is
made easy of transaction without the distraction or
I disturbance in the slightest degree of the ordinary
business of the railroad through the tunnel, or the
business above or on the streets.
The height of the basement from its flooring to
the sidewalk is twenty-eight and one-half feet, di-
vided into two stories, to be known as basement
and sub-basement. The foundation of the sub-base-
ment extends eight feet below the floor, which makes
the entire depth from Olive Street to the bottom of
the foundation thirty-six and one-half feet.
Over the first story or post-office floor will be ar-
ranged the United States District Courts, with suitable
apartments for associate judges, clerks, district at-
torneys, marshals, and deputies, grand and petit juries,
etc., with ample room for all other government offices
demanding accommodation. These offices are ap-
proachable from the main Olive Street front, as well
as from others, affording spacious stairway to every
part of the building. The main staircase is colossal
in its proportions, and elaborate and beautiful in its
design, with return flights, continued from floor to
floor to the upper story. Exclusive of this principal
stairway are two of the largest passenger elevators,
placed one on either side of the staircase, and acces-
sible from the same vestibule as the Grand or Olive
Street stairway.
The imposing edifice has already influenced the
erection of handsome business houses in its immediate
vicinity and for blocks around. The basement of the
building is of red granite blocks with a plain finish.
The color of the stone is a pale, delicate red, not usu-
ally employed in buildings in St. Louis. The mate-
rial employed above the basement is Maine granite
throughout. The principal stone-work was done on
Hurricane Island, the lower story being rusticated and
having orders above, in style of composition so fre-
quently employed by the Venetian school during the
renaissance period, and which owes its origin to San
Micheli. The second and third stories, of the Corin-
thian order, have pilasters resting on moulded bases, the
intercolumniations being filled in with square-headed
windows, having arched pediments in the second story
and in the third triangular ones. Of the triple divis-
ions and facades, the central one on either side, which
forms a projection, is adorned by porticoes and crowned
with a pediment. Two porticoes, one above the other,
over the grand entrances have very elegant proportions
and details wrought with extraordinary care. The
porticoes are formed by a couple of granite columns
resting on massive plinths and having Corinthian cap-
itals. In each portico are four fluted columns, with
balustrades between the couples.
INSURANCE, TELEGRAPH, POSTAL SERVICE, GAS, AND HOTELS.
1437
Piers supporting statuary stand at the base corners
of the lower portico, which is that of the second story.
Over the upper portico the fourth-story windows are
semi-circular headed, have finely-moulded cornices,
and are surmounted by a massive pediment enriched
with sculptures. A finely-wrought entablature is sur-
mounted by a balustrade, and above this appears the
quadrangular dome, having its windows encased with
grooved and coupled pilasters, and their richly-designed
cornices furnishing support for statuary.
The building when completed will be one of the
most elegant and perfect in its interior arrangements
in the country, and although not as complicated in
letters advertised, 32,515 ; total number registered
letters received for distribution, 213,311 ; total num-
ber registered letters handled, 350,175 ; total number
of packages made up and forwarded, 66,042 ; number
packages received in transit, 566,430 ; total number
of registered packages forwarded, 632,472; through
registered pouches made up and dispatched, 19,775 ;
registered packages in pouches made up and dis-
patched, 540.949 ; total number of registered pack-
ages in pouches received and dispatched, 1,019,638;
total amount money orders issued, 1852,771.68 ; total
amount money orders paid, $4,520,090.58 ; amount
received from depository offices, $6,240,986.22 ; re-
CrSTOM-HOUSE AND POST-OFFICE,
Corner Eighth, Ninth, and Olive Streets.
architectural design as other post-offices, notably those
of New York and Boston, it will undoubtedly exceed
them all in the simple grandeur of its architectural
proportions and the quiet beauty of its general details.
The following ^statistics were returned by the St.
Louis post-office in 1881 :
Annual cash receipts from sale of stamps, stamped
envelopes, etc., $730,539 ; letters delivered at general
delivery, 124,465 ; letters delivered at daily call,
21,514; mail letters delivered by carriers, 13,119,988;
mail postal cards delivered by carriers, 3,008,926 ;
drop letters delivered by carriers, 2,366,852 ; letters
and postal cards delivered from boxes, 1,852,375;
mitted to New York, $2,489,000. The total number
of packages handled during the year ending Dec. 31,
1881, containing letters, was 78,578, amounting to
47,797 pounds. During the same time there were
13,941 sacks of .papers handled.
The following is a list of the postmasters of St.
Louis, with the dates of their appointment, from the
establishment of the office in 1805 :
Postmasters. Date of Appointment.
Rufus Easton Jan. 1, 1805.
Robert Simpson Jan. 1, 1815.
Aaron T. Crane Sept, 11, 1818.
Elias Rector Jan. 1, 1820.
Wilson P. Hunt Oct. 10, 1S22.
Thomas Watson June 26, 1840.
1438
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Postmasters. Date of Appointment.
Samuel B. Churchill July 9, 1842.
John M. Wimer June 14, 1845.
Archibald Gamble April 24, 1849.
David H. Armstrong April 3, 1854.
John Hogan March 30, 1858. .
Peter L. Foy April 1, 1861.
Joseph S. Fullerton Feb. 21, 1867.
Andrew J. Smith April 6, 1869.
Chauncey I. Filley March 12, 1873.
Samuel Hays Sept. 4, 1878.
GAS COMPANIES.
St. Louis Gas-Light Company. — In 1837 the
Legislature of Missouri granted a charter to the St.
Louis Gas-Light Company, vesting in it the power to
erect works and necessary apparatus for lighting St.
Louis and its suburbs with gas. This charter was
amended in 1839 and again in 1845. Under the
original charter and the acts of Assembly amendatory
thereof the company had the exclusive right to
manufacture and vend gas in the city of St. Louis,
and was also authorized " to receive on deposit or
loan, and upon such terms as the parties interested
may agree upon, any funds, the temporary or perma-
nent use of which may be offered them, and the
use of which may be beneficial to the company."
By these acts it was also provided that the city of St.
Louis should have the right, at the expiration of a
period of either twenty or twenty-five years after the
1st of January, 1840, if it should so resolve, to pur-
chase the gas-works from the St. Louis Gas-Light
Company, upon the terms and conditions and by the
means (the appointment of arbitrators, etc.) men-
tioned in these acts, and that the charter should con-
tinue in force for twenty-five years from Jan. 1, 1840,
unless the company should convey to the city its prop-
erty, etc., but should the city not determine to purchase
at either of the times provided for, then the charter
was to remain in force another twenty-five years. In
1839, after the first amendment to the charter was
passed, an office was opened on Chestnut Street near
Main for the purpose of engaging in the business of
a general deposit and savings institution. At this
time the officers and directors of the company were :
President, N. Paschall ; Secretary, A. Chadwick ; and
Directors, Theodore L. McGill, John D. Daggett, R. S.
Tilden, J. T. Swearingen, N. E. Janney, M. L. Clark,
L. B. Shaw, and P. R. McCreery. In 1840 negotia-
tions were entered into between the company and the
city with reference to lighting the streets with gas,
and a bill authorizing the city to subscribe to the stock
of the company to the amount of fifty thousand dollars
passed the City Council and was approved by the
mayor. In 1841 the construction of the works was
commenced on ground between Second Street and the
river, nearly opposite the bridge. Only a beginning
was made, however, the banking branch of the busi-
ness continuing to engage the entire attention of the
directory.
This soon proved unsuccessful, and it was not until
1846 that the company bent its energies to the con-
struction of its works and the business of making and
selling gas. At this time it found itself, with im-
paired capital, unable, unless extraordinary efforts
were made, to complete its undertaking. Looking to
this end, and for the common benefit of the contracting
parties, an agreement was entered into between the
city and the company Jan. 9, 1846, in which the
comply engaged to furnish gas, etc., at a stipulated
price, and the city agreed to relinquish its right to pur-
chase the gas-works, etc., at either twenty or twenty-
five years from Jan. 1, 1840, provided it should
have the right to purchase at a period of thirty years
after Jan. 1, 1840, and at the period of every five
years thereafter. On June 17th, G. F. Lee, of
! Philadelphia, entered into a contract with the com-
pany to build the needed works and furnish the city
with gas. The whole cost was to be $130,000, the
contractor agreeing to take the bonds of the company,
payable three years after the completion of the con-
tract, for $50,000, and to subscribe for and pay $40,-
000 of the capital stock, leaving $40,000 to be raised
by subscription, the real estate and personal effects of
the company being valued at $40,000. The old
stock was scaled down and new stock to the amount
of $40,000 issued, making a total capital of $170,-
000. The work was pushed rapidly forward, and the
city was lighted with gas for the first time on Nov. 4,
1847. During 1848 about 6,600,000 cubic feet of
gas was consumed, and in 1868 the consumption had
increased to 247,480,000 cubic feet. The success of
the company was assured. The city, through its
counsel, notified the company on Feb. 27, 1869, that
it had resolved to purchase the gas-works on the 1st
of January, 1870, under their agreement of 1846.
The city appointed arbitrators, etc., as required by the
i company's charter, but the company made no move
; in the matter, and failed to appoint arbitrators to
agree upon the price, etc. The city instituted action
against the company in May, 1870, in the Circuit
Court of St. Louis County, to compej the company to
comply with the terms of the agreement.
Pending the litigation, in 1873 a compromise was
effected between the city of St. Louis, the St. Louis
1 Gas-Light Company, and the Laclede Gas-Light
Company (then recently organized), in which it was
agreed that the Laclede Company should furnish gas
to all that part of the city lying north of Washington
Avenue, and that all litigation between the city and
(Mf/i
INSURANCE, TELEGRAPH, POSTAL SERVICE, GAS, AND HOTELS.
1439
the St. Louis Company should cease. This compro-
mise, however, failed to put an end to the litigation,
which was renewed in 1875, and in 1876, under a de-
cree of court, the company's property was placed in
the hands of a receiver, Socrates Newman, and the
company was restrained and enjoined from manufac-
turing or selling gas. From this decree an appeal was
taken to the Missouri Supreme Court. While awaiting
the decision of the court, the affairs of the company
prospered greatly in the hands of the receiver. In No- ;
vember, 1879, the opinion of the Supreme Court was
delivered adverse to the claim of the city and com-
pletely overruling the decisions of the lower courts.
On Dec. 24, 1879, Mr. Newman, under an order of
the court, delivered the entire property of the com-
pany to R. J. Lackland, its president. Later in the
month, at the election for directors, the following '
gentlemen were chosen : Gerard B. Allen, E. N.
Leeds, Rufus J. Lackland, and John R. Lionberger, i
who with Oliver A. Hart, Charles H. Peck, E. A.
Manny, George S. Drake, and W. F. Ferguson, who
held over, constituted the board.
The capital stock of the company is six hundred
thousand dollars, divided into twelve thousand shares
of fifty dollars each. The present board of directors
is composed of R. J. Lackland, president ; G. B.
Allen, vice-president; George A. Madill, Samuel
Hays, E. A. Manny, W. H. Ferguson, Dwight
Durkee, and Charles H. Peck. George M. Paschall
is secretary, and Socrates Newman assistant manager.
The boundaries of the company are from Washing-
ton Avenue to Keokuk Street and from the river to
the city limits.
On Sunday afternoon, Dec. 13, 1874, Thomas
Pratt, chief engineer of the St. Louis Gas- Works,
was killed in an explosion. He had gone into one
of the purifier-rooms to examine a purifier tank,
when an explosion was heard ; and the employes,
rushing in, found him lying on the floor, having
been thrown some twenty feet with such violence
against one of the tanks that his chest was crushed
in, and he was then quite dead.
Mr. Pratt was one of the oldest and best-known
gas experts in the country, and one of the most
popular citizens St. Louis ever had. He was born at
Longborough, county of Leicester, England, in
1802 ; was of humble parentage, and had to rely
entirely on his own resources in waging the battle of
life. In 1827 he came to America, but during the
same year returned to Europe, settling at Calais,
France, where he remained five years. He then
went to London, where he resided nearly two years,
working in both places at gas-fitting.
In November, 1834, he again came to America,
and having spent some time in New York, removed,
in 1837, to Pittsburgh, where he worked for the gas
company. In 1842 he went to Cincinnati, and be-
came superintendent and chief engineer of the gas-
works there. He arrived at St. Louis in 1848 to
accept a similar position, which he held until his
violent and sudden death.
Mr. Pratt was a prominent builder of gas-works,
having planned and constructed the works at Pitts-
burgh, Cincinnati, Quincy, St. Louis, Peoria, Bloom-
ington, Denver, and Kansas City, and was a large stock-
holder in the gas companies in several of these cities.
He possessed business talents of a high order, and
although on coming to this country he had practically
nothing, his ability enabled him to command the
highest salaries, and his management was such that
at the time of his death his fortune had reached a
handsome sum. Although nearly seventy-three years
of age, he was to the last a youth in energy, and had
in contemplation several schemes of great interest to
his profession. One of his projects of a public nature
was the revival and working of the Chihuahua silver-
mines of Mexico.
Mr. Pratt was a deacon in the Second Baptist
Church, and for many years was classed, with the
honored McPherson and Gale, as one of the pillars of
that society. He loved his church, and cheerfully
and generously contributed to her support, he and his
wife being among the largest subscribers to the beau-
tiful edifice which the Second Baptist Church now
occupies. He also gave liberally to various charities.
In church work he was one of the most aggressive of
men, and while old in years was youthful to the last
in ideas, fervor, energy, and zeal. In the funeral dis-
course his pastor, the Rev. Dr. Burlingham, summed
up his character as that of a " well-balanced, con-
scientious, considerate, and devout member and officer
of the church." After his death the board of direc-
tors of the gas company adopted resolutions eulogizing
his integrity and other estimable qualities, and de-
claring that his capacity and efficiency in the eco-
nomical management of the gas-works made his loss
severely felt.
The Laclede Gas-Light Company was chartered
under an act of the Legislature in 1858, and reor-
ganized in 1871. The works, situated on Main, be-
tween Mullanphy and Mound Streets, were erected
in 1872-73, and gas was first supplied in June, 1873.
The original incorporators were S. L. Husted, H. Y.
Attrill, Frederick Cromwell, J. H. Porter, Henry
Fitzhugh, S. B. Chittenden. and Charles Gibson.
o ' *
The first board of officers was composed of S. L.
1440
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Husted, president ; Frederick Cromwell, vice-pres-
ident ; and J. F. Magoreen, secretary. The territory
occupied comprises all that portion of St. Louis north
of Washington Avenue. The company has about
one hundred miles of pipe laid, and supplies light for
over four thousand public lamps. The works have a
capacity for making one million feet per day. The
officers at the present time are Erastus Wells, presi-
dent; John H. Maxon, vice-president; and J. D.
Thompson, secretary. The directors are Erastus
Wells, John H. Maxon, Charles Gibson, John J.
Mitchell, Samuel Simmons, Frederick Cromwell, and
J. H. Porter.
The present capital stock is one million two hun-
dred thousand dollars. The offices of the company
from 1873 to 1881 were located at No. 701 Wash-
ington Avenue, but during the latter year they were
removed to the present commodious quarters at No.
1100 Washington Avenue.
Carondelet Gas Company. — On March 3, 1857,
a charter was granted to the Carondelet Gas-Light
Company, the object of which was to light that city
with gas, but for some reason the provisions of the
charter were not complied with. In April of 1874
the company was reorganized with John M. Krum as
president, T. C. Hogan secretary, and A. C. Judge
superintendent, with a capital stock of two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars. The incorporators were
Frederick Hill, Henry T. Blow, Louis C. Picot,
Madison Miller, William Taussig, Francis Kellerman,
Joseph Taussig, Michael Conrad, Delphy Carlin, Ber-
nard Poepping, August Blumenthal, Jacob Stein,
and Michael Jod.
Its presidents have been, in order, Frederick Hill,
John M. Krum, John H. Terry, Charles H. Thorn-
ton, Frank Erskine, and John R. Lionberger. Its
first officers were Frederick Hill, president ; William
Taussig, treasurer; and Madison Miller, secretary.
After the extension of the city limits so as to include
Carondelet, the latter grew quite rapidly, and the de-
sire of the people to have their streets and dwellings
lighted with gas was of such a character as to induce
the company to erect works to supply that want.
Ground for this purpose was broken June 17, 1874,
and on December 31st gas was lighted for the first
time in Carondelet.
The present officers and board of directors are John
R. Lionberger, president; Charles Green, vice-presi-
dent ; Nelson F. Constant, superintendent ; Henry
C. Scott, secretary ; Directors, John R. Lionberger,
Charles Green, George A. Madill, John Scullin,
Erastus Wells, Thomas E. Tutt, and J. H. Lion-
berger.
HOTELS.
In the matter of hotels St. Louis enjoys facili-
ties not surpassed by any city in the West, and
from the old Missouri of half a century ago, with its
many historical traditions and reminiscences, down to
the celebrated Lindell, Southern, Planters', and others
of to-day, its fame for conveniences and hospitable en-
tertainment to the traveler has been justly proverbial.
; In the earlier days of the city, when it was but a little
town, some of its best citizens were tavern-keepers,
but the term tavern-keeper had a different meaning
; then from that which attaches to it at the present
time. The ancient tavern-keeper was in some sense
a public benefactor, and often occupied a most honor-
able position in the community.1
Among the earliest notices of taverns is that
of the Missouri Hotel, in the old government man-
sion, southeast corner of Main and Walnut Streets,
kept by Maj. William Christy for several years
prior to 1808. In the latter year he engaged in
farming and grazing, and was succeeded in his
hotel business by Maj. Richard Webster, who
changed the name of the house to the Eagle Tavern.
; In 1810, tiring of farming, Maj. Christy assumed
charge of his tavern again, and renamed it the Mis-
souri Hotel. He continued to operate it until 1816,
when Thomas Pechels (or Peebles) bought it and
called it Union Hall. In September, 1809, James
H. Audrian opened the Grove Tavern at the upper
end of Main Street, nearly opposite P. Chouteau. In
1810, Joseph Charless kept a "boarding-house" on
North Main Street. In 1811, Frederick Weber,
baker, notified the public that he had commenced
keeping a house of entertainment. In 1811, Maj.
Delauney kept a boarding-house in St. Louis, and in
the following year Horace Austin opened a tavern " in
the house lately occupied by Madame Robidoux."
In July, 1816, Hugh C. Davis opened the Green
Tree Tavern on Second Street. The Green Tree was
taken in 1820 by John Simonds, Jr. About this
time the Mansion House was also started, and at the
beginning of 1823 became the property of George S.
Greene, who changed its name to the City Hotel. In
1829 it passed into the hands of Ephraim Town, and
in 1840, Col. Theron Barnum, who had just reached
St. Louis, bought it. Col. Barnum kept it for twelve
1 At the time of the transfer of the province of Louisiana to
the United States there were but two little French taverns in
the town, one kept by Yostic, and the other by Landreville,
chiefly to accommodate the conrriers du bois (hunters) and the
voyagcurs (boatmen) of the Mississippi. Both of these taverns
stood upon the corners of Main and Locust Streets. — Edwards'
Great West, pp. 288-89.
INSURANCE, TELEGRAPH, POSTAL SERVICE, GAS, AND HOTELS.
1441
years, and then disposed of it to William R. McClure.
Subsequently A. S. Merritt, formerly of the Pacific
Hotel, operated it.
The first hotel of any prominence in St. Louis was
the old Missouri, which stood on the southwest corner
of Main and Morgan Streets. It was built in 1819
by John McKnight and Thomas Brady, and subse-
quently became the property of the latter, who retained
it until his death in 1822. It was a two-story stone
structure, built in the old French style, its side front-
ing on Main Street, and its steep roof studded with
dormer-windows. After Mr. Brady's death, Maj.
Thomas Biddle bought it, and owned it until he was
killed in a duel with Spencer Pettis, in October, 1831.
Maj. Biddle built an addition to the hotel by which
the accommodations were greatly increased. He sent
to the East and procured a hotel-keeper, who opened
the house with conveniences never before known west
of the Mississippi River. After the death of Maj.
Biddle, the hotel was sold to John F. Darby, who in
the year 1835 sold it to Isaac Walker. Subsequently
the following persons kept it as tavern and hotel :
Abijah Hull, Ephraim Town, and Messrs. Mitchell,
Johnson, Louis Oldenburg, Scudder, Hubbard, Sey-
mour, and others. In 1873 the building was torn
down, and gave place to the tobacco-factory of Chris-
tian Peper.
The old Missouri Hotel was the scene of many his-
torical incidents. The first Legislature that met
under the State Constitution convened there in the
year 1820. There also the first Governor and Lieu-
tenant-Governor of th'e State were sworn into office
and delivered their inaugural addresses, and there
the two first United States senators ever elected in
Missouri, David Barton and Thomas H. Benton,
were chosen. It was also a favorite place for the
arrangement of duels, trials by courts-martial, and
rendezvous for army officers. Gen. Scott, Gen. Wil-
liam Henry Harrison, Gen. Zachary Taylor, Gen.
Leavenworth, and the celebrated Indian-fighter and
soldier, Gen. Henry Dodge, and many other eminent
and distinguished men made it their stopping-place.
St. Glair Hotel. — In 1829 the growing wants
of St. Louis seemed to demand a more commodious
and pretentious hotel than the Missouri, and accord-
ingly Col. Thornton Grimsley purchased the Baptist
Church property on the southwest corner of Market
and Third Streets, and remodeled it into a neat four-
story hotel, which he called the National, placing his
brother William G. in charge of it. The National
at once became the principal hotel of St. Louis.
Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Gen. Zachary Taylor,
Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and others who
were then or have since become prominent, made it
their stopping-place when visiting St. Louis. In
1837, Messrs. Stickney & McKnight leased the house
from Grimsley, and fully maintained its popularity
until 1841, when they retired to take charge of the
Planters', then just built. They were succeeded by
Col. Scott, and a close rivalry existed for some time
between the National and Planters'. In 1846 or
1847 a fire partly destroyed the National, and bad
luck seemed to hang about the house for some time
thereafter. A number of changes occurred. Mr.
Scott leased and ran it a few years as Scott's Hotel,
and was followed by William Chesley, who changed
its name to the St. Clair. By this name it has been
known since that time, with one or two brief inter-
vals. From 1860 to 1877 the following persons
have managed the St. Clair : Col. Gannett, Jeremiah
Wood, George C. Wales, Jonathan Chesley, Valentine
Gerber, William Baird, M. W. Quinn, Trumbull B.
Raymond, and McDonald & Rochester. In 1877 the
house was closed, but was afterwards leased by Judge
George Williams, who remodeled and newly fur-
nished it, since which time it has been managed suc-
cessfully on the moderate price plan.
Planters' Hotel. — In November, 1817, Evarist
Maury announced to the public that he had opened
the Planters' Hotel on Second Street, opposite Maj.
Douglass' office, where a few boarders could be ac-
commodated. He proposed to go into the business on
an extensive scale, and announced that he would en-
large the capacity of his house and erect additional
buildings. This was not, however, the forerunner of
the present hotel known as the Planters'. In 1836 a
number of prominent citizens thought that it would
be advisable to erect a larger and more commodious
hotel than any the city then contained. To consider
this proposition a meeting was called in October, at
which Judge J. B. C. Lucas presided and Bernard
Pratte acted as secretary. A committee consisting of
Messrs. McGunnegle, Morton, Kerr, and Brant was ap-
pointed to select a suitable site and report to an adj ourned
meeting. The committee reported a week afterward,
and the location immediately north of the court-
house, having a front on Fourth Street and bounded
by Chestnut and Vine, was almost unanimously se-
lected, and a committee was appointed to obtain the
subscription of the necessary amount of stock. The
liberal offer of Judge Lucas, who owned the site
selected, unquestionably had much to do with bring-
ing about this result. At a meeting of the share-
holders on Dec. 6, 1836, Messrs. Alexander R. Simp-
son, D. D. Page, D. Lamont, J. C. Laveille, E. Tracy,
J. Charless, and G. W. Call were elected directors of
1442
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
the company for the first year. Application was made
to the Legislature of 1836-37, and a charter with a
capital of one hundred thousand dollars was obtained.
In March, 1837, ground was broken, but owing to the
embarrassments of the times the work was not com-
pleted until March, 1841.1
The following announcement, made upon the eve of
its opening, will explain why an intended compliment
was not conferred : " We would briefly observe, fur-
ther, that the title of the house is that given in the
charter. After the house had been taken by the
present enterprising proprietors, Messrs. Stickney &
McKnight, and after they had ordered their furniture,
part of which, the porcelain, cutlery, etc., was manu-
factured in England, and the name of the establish-
ment impressed or otherwise fixed on every piece, the
board of managers altered the title to that of ' The
Lucas House,' in honor of the liberal patron of the
same, the Hon. Judge Lucas, but on account of the
above previous arrangement of the proprietors they
have felt themselves bound to open under the title of
1 The Planters' House.' " On the 1st of April, 1841,
the hotel went into operation. Stickney & McKnight,
the lessees, had previously conducted the National
Hotel, and were experienced hotel-keepers. Mr. Stick-
ney subsequently bought out Mr. McKnight's interest,
and afterwards associated with him Leonard Scolly.
The latter died in the fall of 1860, and Mr. Stickney
kept the house until April, 1864, when he retired
with a competency. Benjamin Stickney was one of
the leading citizens of St. Louis, and tilled the po-
sitions of director in the St. Louis Gas-Light Com-
pany, the Missouri Pacific Railroad, and the St. Louis
National Bank. He died on the 14th of November,
1876. After his retirement the house was reopened
by J. Fogg & Co., Mr. Fogg having previously been
associated with Theron Barnum in Barnum's Hotel.
1 A curious circumstance connected with the land on which
the Planters' Hotel was built is this : A Frenchman, Francois
Gunell, in 1834, had the contract for grading Fourth Street four
feet in front of the present court-house and Planters' Hotel.
He had six yoke of oxen engaged to plow up the hard pan,
for which he paid six dollars per hour ; the fact that an hour or
two's plowing loosened dirt enough to keep his hands at work
shoveling the remainder of the day will account for the high
price extorted for the labor of the oxen, as they were employed
but a short time. He had a contract with Judge J. B. C.
Lucas to fill up the gully on which the Planters' Hotel stands
with the excavated dirt, for which he was to receive three cents
per cubic yard. The hole was about thirty feet deep, and the
dirt dumped in amounted to sixty dollars. When he came to
settle up with Judge Lucas the latter offered him a deed to half
the block on which the Planters' House now stands in lieu of
the sixty dollars, which Mr. Gunell refused to accept, as he
needed the money.
Glasgow House. — On the 3d of March, 1843,
the Glasgow House was opened at the corner of Olive
and Second Streets.
Barnum's Hotel was erected in 1854 by George
R. Taylor. The building stands at the corner of
Walnut and Second Streets, and extends ninety-two
feet on Second Street and one hundred and sixty feet
on Walnut, with an interior court one hundred by
sixteen feet. The building is six stories above the
pavement and one story below, and its exteme height
from pavement to cornice is ninety feet six inches.
The architectural style of the exterior fa§ades is mod-
ern Italian. The first or basement story supporting
the structure is composed entirely of finely- wrought
St. Louis limestone. " Barnum's" was unquestion-
ably the finest hotel then in St. Louis, and was built
by Mr. Taylor expressly for Theron Barnum. On the
28th of September, 1854, the hotel was opened under
the proprietorship of Barnum & Fogg, and at once
gained a wide reputation. In April, 1864, Mr. Bar-
num retired, and the hotel was continued under the
management of Fogg, Miles & Co.
Theron Barnum, the senior member of the firm,
was born April 23, 1803, in Addison County, Vt.,
and in 1808 moved with his father to Susquehanna
County, Pa. There he worked on the farm, also
getting such instruction as could be obtained in a
country school. At the age of seventeen he began to
teach school, and pursued that avocation for several
years, in the mean time cultivating his mind in the
advanced branches of English education. In 1824
he went to Wilkesbarre, Pa., 'and filled the position
of clerk in a store until 1827, when he removed to •
Baltimore at the request of his uncle, David Barnum,
and became associated with him in the management
of Barnum's Hotel, then enjoying a well-deserved fame
as one of the best hotels in the United States. He re-
mained with his uncle in the capacity of confidential
clerk, and became under his able instruction well
versed in the art of conducting a first-class hotel.
He then opened the Patapsco Hotel at Ellicott's
Mills, fifteen miles from Baltimore, and the terminus
of the first fifteen miles of the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad. While there, in 1832, he married Mary
Lay Chadwick, daughter of Capt. Chadwick, of
Lime, Conn., and captain of one of the large packets
between New York and Liverpool. The fruit of this
marriage was two sons, Freeman and Robert. In
1835 he removed to Philadelphia, and bought the
Philadelphia Hotel on Arch Street, but having long
thought of going .to the West, he sold out in 1838,
and determined to settle in St. Louis. On his way
he was induced to stop at Terre Haute, Ind., where
INSURANCE, TELEGRAPH, POSTAL SERVICE, GAS, AND HOTELS.
1443
he opened the new Prairie House. He remained
here only until 1840, becoming satisfied in the mean
time that Terre Haute could never support the kind
of hotel which he was desirous of establishing. In
March, 1840, he removed to St. Louis, and rented the
City Hotel, 'at Third and Vine Streets. This hotel was
for a long time the favorite house of the public, and
became the headquarters of the army officers residing
in or visiting St. Louis. Among the distinguished
officers who made the City Hotel their home were
Gen. Gaiues and Col. Croghan. Mr. Benton also
stopped here. Mr. Barnum managed the hotel for ;
thirteen years, and in September, 1852, sold out.
After a short retirement the present Barnum's Hotel ,
was built for him by George R. Taylor, and for many
years he had charge of it. During his supervision
the Prince of Wales, George Peabody, William H. ;
Seward, Abraham Lincoln, and many other distin- j
guished persons stopped at it. In 1877 he took the j
Beaumont House, which he put in successful opera- i
tion. He died there on the 17th of March, 1878, of i
pneumonia. Mr. Barnum was a cousin of P. T. Bar- |
num, and seems, with the other prominent mem- i
bers of that family, to have followed his peculiar bent
with a pertinacity and energy that deserved if it did
not always achieve success. He filled at different j
times responsible positions, and was a director in the
Home Mutual Insurance Company for thirty years.
Lindell Hotel.— On the 5th of March, 1855,
the Governor of Missouri approved an act of the
Legislature chartering the " Laclede Hotel Company
of St. Louis." Directors were elected by the corpo-
rators, and a practical organization was effected in
1857, and work commenced on the lot bounded by
Washington Avenue and Green Street and Sixth
and Seventh Streets, part of which had been selected
for a site. Jesse G. and Peter Lindell, brothers, con-
tributed the ground and took in exchange for it eighty
thousand dollars in the company's stock ; they also
subscribed ten thousand dollars in money. The mon-
etary panic in 1857 obstructed the progress of the
work. In 1859 an act was obtained revising the
charter, and permitting the erection of a larger and
finer structure, and the expenditure of more than five
hundred thousand dollars, the limit in the original
act. The name was also changed to " Lindell Hotel,"
in compliment to the brothers who had so largely in-
terested themselves in the enterprise. In 1863 the
hotel was completed and leased to Messrs. Sparr &
Parks, who had recently been the proprietors of the
Olive Street House. The board of directors at this
time were Levin H. Baker, president, J. T. Swearin-
gen, Charles H. Peck, Gerard B. Allen, S. H. Laflin,
D. K. Ferguson, and Derrick A. January. Thomas
Walsh and James Smith were the architects. The
design was Italian of the Venetian school. The hotel
consisted of two parallel buildings, extending east and
west the length of the whole front, with a space of
forty-five feet between them, and connected only in
the centre and both extremes by wing buildings run-
ning north and south, leaving between them two
courts. The Lindell was six stories high exclusive of
basement and attic. The height from sidewalk to
basement was one hundred and twelve feet. The
stone used was a rich cream-colored magnesian lime-
stone from the Grafton quarries. The east and south
fronts were of this stone, and showed much elaborate
carving. The north and west fronts were faced with
the finest stock brick, ornamented by cut-stone win-
dow-trimmings. In every respect the hotel was a
model one. On the 25th of November the formal
opening was marked by an immense ball and banquet,
which was attended by about four thousand guests.
On December 17th the hotel was sold at trustees' sale
to Henry Ames & Co., for one hundred and fifty-
three thousand dollars, subject to first mortgage bonds
and accrued interest amounting to two hundred and
twenty thousand dollars, but Sparr & Parks were not
disturbed in their lease.
About half-past eight o'clock on the night of the
30th of March, 1867, fire was discovered in the
upper story of the hotel, and in a short time the
flames burst through the roof and spread on all sides
with great rapidity. The alarm was conveyed to the
fire department, and the engines arrived without
much delay. They were powerless, however, to stay
the progress of the flames, the great height of the
building rendering it impossible to throw water on
the roof. In a short time the entire top of the hotel
was on fire ; the flames gradually worked downward,
and it was soon evident that the magnificent structure
was doomed. Fortunately, owing to the earliness of
the hour, very few of the guests, of whom there were
about four hundred, had retired. Those who were
sick were carried out and conveyed to places of
safety. As soon as it was known that the building
could not be saved efforts were made to secure the
stock in the different stores and the furniture and
portable property of the hotel, much of which was
saved. Within three hours the fire was at its height,
the heat being so intense that water thrown upon the
flames flew upward in sheets of steam. The firemen
desisted from their fruitless efforts and devoted their
attention to saving the surrounding buildings. About
twelve o'clock the walls fell, and all that remained of
one of- the finest hotels in the world was a shape-
1444
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
less mass of ruins. The loss on the building was
about nine hundred thousand dollars, and on the
furniture between two hundred thousand and three
hundred thousand dollars.
The destruction of the Lindell was regarded as a
public calamity. Impromptu meetings of the citizens
were held almost before the smoke had ceased ascend-
ing from the ruins to take measures for the erection
of a new building, but it was not until five years had
elapsed that these efforts were crowned with success.
It became frequently, during this time, a question
whether the new Lindell should be erected on the old
and the numerous contractors, and within two years
from the breaking of ground the structure was com-
pleted. For two months more the process of fitting
and furnishing went on, and on the 28th of September,
1874, the whole establishment in complete running
order was thrown open to the public.
The exterior of the new building presents a very
different aspect from the old one, being less ornate
but much handsomer.
The first story is flush with the sidewalk, instead
of having a basement elevating it several feet above
the pavement. The principal front, as in the old
LINDELL HOTEL,
Corner Washington Avenue, Sixth Street, and Lucas Avenue.
site or at a point farther west on the same thorough-
fare. The matter was finally determined by Mrs.
Vincent Marmaduke (formerly Mrs. Henry Ames),
who resolved to build on the spot made historical by
the old Lindell. A company was formed consisting
of Messrs. William Scudder, Levin H. Baker, and
Charles Parsons, who engaged the well-known architect
George I. Barnett to design the proposed building.
About the 1st of September, 1872, the work wa.s com-
menced by removing the rubbish from the old foun-
dations for the purpose of constructing the new. The
work was pushed forward without intermission through
the untiring efforts of Messrs. Scudder and 'Barnett
building, is on Washington Avenue, with a frontage
I of one hundred and eighty-two feet, and a depth of
two hundred and twenty-seven feet to Christy Avenue.
The height of the building is one hundred and five
feet, and the architecture is of the modern Italian
school, the first story being of the Tuscan order and
constructed of iron. The five upper stories of the
facades on Washington Avenue and Sixth Street are
composed of Warrensburg gray sandstone that hardens
with age until it becomes almost as capable of resist-
ing the elements as granite. The second story is
composed in the principal compartments of Corinthian
columns supporting semi-circular arches over the win-
INSURANCE, TELEGRAPH, POSTAL SERVICE, GAS, AND HOTELS.
1445
dows. The intermediate windows have semi-circular i
arches with caps, supported by carved trusses. This '
story is surmounted by a fine cornice, and the four
upper stories are divided by five moulded water-tables.
All the angles of the building are finished with heavy j
quoin-stones. There are three capacious stores on
each side of the main entrance, and six equally so on
Sixth Street. A striking feature of the front is a
massive two-story portico immediately in front of the
main entrance, forty-five feet wide, and projecting
fifteen feet from the building, with six Tuscan columns
below and six Corinthian columns above. Massive
iron railings of unique designs inclose each floor.
The ladies' entrance on Sixth Street has also an elegant
but smaller portico, one story high, with six columns.
The whole building is crowned with a massive iron
cornice eight feet high. On the first floor is a splendid
hall or exchange, one hundred and fifty-five feet long,
forty-one feet wide, and eighteen feet high. The
ceiling is elegantly frescoed in intricate and tasteful
designs and harmonious colors. The floor is laid in
tessellated marble, and the walls are pleasantly tinted.
On the west side of the exchange is the oflice, ele-
gantly fitted up with all the modern appliances. Im-
mediately west of the office is a spacious reading-room,
comfortable and well lighted. Opposite the office is
the grand staircase, an elaborate and stately structure.
The walls and ceilings are elegantly frescoed, and a
view upwards presents a most pleasing effect.
There is not a dark room in the hotel, and the
ventilation is excellent. There are two hundred and
seventy guests' rooms, which is about a score less than
the old building had, but there are many more rooms
devoted to public use, and the floor-room is much
greater. Everything that forethought could devise for
the comfort of the guest and the facilitating of busi-
ness has been provided, and that, too, in the best pos-
sible manner. The proprietors of the Lindell were
Messrs. Felt, Griswold, Clemmens & Co., being W.
W. Felt, of the old Lindell ; J. L. Griswold, formerly
superintendent of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad ;
H. H. Clemmens, formerly one of the proprietors of
Congress Hall, Saratoga ; and Charles Scudder. The
chief architect was George I. Barnett ; assistant archi-
tects, Furlong & Taylor; general carpenter and builder,
Charles H. Birch.
The present proprietors of the Lindell Hotel are
the members of the Lindell Hotel Association ;
Charles Scudder, president ; Henry Ames, vice-presi-
dent ; William F. Haines, secretary. Mr. Scudder
is a brother of Capt. John A. Scudder (of whom a
full biographical sketch is given elsewhere), and, like
his brother, is one of the most active and influential
92
citizens of St. Louis. Maj. William F. Haines was
born at Buffalo, N. Y., Nov. 5, 1829. He was the
son of Samuel Haines, of Lancaster County, Pa.,
and his mother was formerly Miss Anna Lengeker,
of the same county. At the age of sixteen William
F. Haines served as ordinary seaman on the brig
" Odd Fellow." After nearly a year " before the
mast" he was employed in Robinson's banking-house,
and at the age of seventeen was cashier of the Mer-
chants' National Bank of Erie County, N. Y. Sub-
sequently young Haines returned to school until Sep-
tember, 1849, when he removed to St. Louis, where
his first occupation was that of book-keeper in the
commission house of David Tatum. In the spring
of 1851 he accepted the position of chief clerk on
the steamer " Josiah Lawrence," plying between St.
Louis and New Orleans, and was identified with
various river steamers as chief clerk and master until
the opening of the civil war, when he entered the
Confederate service as private in Capt. James Pritch-
ard's company, First Missouri Regiment. He was
afterwards appointed quartermaster of the regiment,
with the rank of captain, and after the promotion of
Col. Bowen, of the First Missouri, to brigadier-gen-
eral, Capt. Haines was made brigade quartermaster on
his staff, with the rank of major. He participated in
i all of the engagements in which Gen. Bowen's several
; commands took part, and was in Vicksburg during
the siege.
On being exchanged, Maj. Haines was sent to serve
with Gen. L. S. Baker, in North Carolina, where he
• remained until the close of the war. Gen. Baker's
command being cut off from the main army of Gen.
Joseph E. Johnston, Maj. Haines was sent to Raleigh
to arrange terms of surrender with Gen. W. T. Sher-
man. Having previously known Gen. Sherman in St.
Louis, Maj. Haines secured the same terms given to
Gen. Lee, and was designated as paroling officer of
Gen. Baker's command. After the war closed, Maj.
Haines returned to St. Louis and resumed his river
occupation, becoming captain of the steamer " Stone-
wall," plying between St. Louis and New Orleans. In
December, 1865, he married Miss Abbie Kennerly,
youngest daughter of Capt. George H. Kennerly, for-
merly of the United States army, and whose mother is
a daughter of the late Col. Pierre Menard, of Kaskas-
kia, 111. The fruits of this marriage were four daugh-
ters and three sons. Maj. Haines was for twelve years
general freight agent of the Mississippi Valley Trans-
1 portation Company, which position he held until Feb-
ruary, 1882, when he became one of the proprietors
of the Lindell, and of the Hotel St. Louis, at Lake
Minnetonka, Minn.
1446
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
The Pacific Hotel was completed in January,
1857. It was located at the corner of Poplar and
Seventh Streets, was three stories high, and had a
front on Seventh Street of more than eighty feet.
The ground-floor was divided into stores ; the second
floor contained the office, dining-room, and some
sleeping apartments ; and the third floor was divided
into small rooms separated by lath and plaster parti-
tions. The capacity of the house was about one hun-
dred guests. George B. Field, who was the owner, j
leased the hotel to Daniel W. Strader, who opened it
in June following, with Jacob Lyons as his partner.
Its career was destined to be a short one, and to ter-
minate with the most appalling catastrophe that had
ever befallen St. Louis. On the morning of Saturday,
Feb. 20, 1858, between three and four o'clock, the
building was discovered to be on fire, and before the
lodgers on the third floor could be aroused the flames
had cut off all means of egress by the stairways.
The terrified guests, finding no safety except in
leaping to the ground, did so in many instances and
escaped more or less injured. So rapid was the spread
of the flames, owing to the combustible nature of the
building, that many were unable to escape from their
rooms. There were about seventy-five persons in the
hotel at the time the fire broke out. Of these forty-
four escaped uninjured. The killed numbered nine-
teen, of whom only ten were identified, as follows:
Henry A. Rochester and T. Hart Strong, of Roch-
ester, N. Y. ; infant child of J. Jones, Bruce McNitt,
Paul Steinestel, and Miss H. Hunter, of St. Louis ;
Evans J. Watkins, Columbus, Ohio ; Ephraim Doane,
Chicago; Mrs. H. Hubbard, Boston; and J. Wag-
oner.
James Francis Geary, local reporter of the Leader,
and Elihu Hays died on February 24th from injuries
received at the fire, making the entire number of
deaths twenty-one. A meeting of citizens to provide
for the burial of the dead and the relief of the
wounded was immediately called. Col. Thornton
Grimsley presided, and committees were appointed to
provide for the interments and to obtain subscriptions
for the survivors. Twelve of the dead were buried
in Bellefontaine Cemetery, their remains being fol-
lowed to the grave by the largest procession ever seen
in St. Louis. The survivors, so far as they could be
discovered, were handsomely cared for and assisted.
The Southern Hotel.— Early in 1857 efforts
were made by public-spirited citizens to erect a finer
and larger hotel than any that St. Louis could then
boast of. Meetings were held, propositions submitted, a
company formed, a charter obtained, and subscription
books opened. A site was purchased and the cellar
walls built, but the scheme languished, and in 1859
it was seriously proposed to divide the property into
lots and sell it. This was not done, however, and in
the early part of 1860 the company obtained from
the Legislature an act exempting its property from
city and county taxation for ten years. New life was
infused into the project, and Thornton Grimsley, John
A. Brownlee, George Knapp & Co., Henry T. Blow,
John J. Anderson, Charles McClaren, Robert K.
Woods, B. M. Runyan, Belt & Priest, and Taylor
Blow associated themselves together to finish the
hotel. The work was resumed, and continued with
long and frequent intervals of delay until 1865. The
hotel fronted on Walnut, Fourth, Fifth, and Elm
Streets, — on Walnut Street, two hundred and seventy
feet ; Fourth and Fifth Streets, one hundred and thir-
teen feet six inches each ; and on Elm Street, sixty
feet, and was six stories high, in the Italian style of
architecture. On Dec. 6, 1865, it was opened with
a ball, with Messrs. Theodore Laveille, Charles P.
Warner, and George W. Ford as proprietors. It was
sold in August, 1866, to Col. Robert Campbell.
The hotel was destroyed by fire early on the morn-
ing of April 11, 1877. The fire was discovered at
twenty minutes past one o'clock in the basement of
the hotel. The inmates were aroused as far as possi-
ble, and an alarm was sounded through the agency of
the district telegraph. This brought out the salvage
department, but the key of the fire-alarm telegraph-
box having been lost or mislaid, it was ten minutes
before the city fire department could be notified. On
the first call six engines and two hook-and-ladder
companies responded, but, the fire gaining rapid head-
way, two subsequent alarms were sent in, calling out
the entire department. To the natural progress of
the flames was added the flood of gas from the large
pipe used in supplying the hotel, and it was soon
found impossible to save the building, which was
totally destroyed. When the department reached the
scene the flames had gained such headway that the
efforts of the firemen were directed particularly to
saving the lives of the inmates. Of these there were
several hundred, including a number of female do-
mestics, who slept on the sixth floor of the hotel.
The fire was first discovered in the store-room, which
was in the basement near the passenger elevator, and
the flames, ascending through the elevator shaft,
spread immediately over the two upper floors, and
filled all of the halls and corridors above the ground-
floor with dense smoke, which rendered escape a mat-
ter of the greatest difficulty. The loss of life was ex-
clusively among the occupants of the fourth, fifth, and
sixth floors, who, their means of escape being cut off
INSURANCE, TELEGRAPH, POSTAL SERVICE, GAS, AND HOTELS.
1447
by the fire, either fell or jumped into the streets and
•were killed. Many, however, were saved through the
agency of the fire department and citizens by means
of ladders, and there were scores of rare instances of
heroism on the part of rescuers, whose efforts were
rendered peculiarly dangerous owing to the height of
the burning building and the inaccessibility of the
upper floors.
The conflagration was made the subject of an inves-
tigation by the proper authorities, the jury consisting
of John McNeil (foreman), Sylvester H. Laflin,
Walter C. Carr, Jacob Tanim, Charles W. Irwin, and
George Bain. Ninety-two witnesses were examined,
and in rendering their verdict the jury said, " As to
the cause of the fire, we have no testimony sufficient
to base an opinion on, but from the dryness of the
woodwork and the inflammable material iu the store-
room, wine-room, and carpenter-shop, all situated in
the basement of the hotel, it would have required
only the slightest spark in a very few minutes, if not
discovered, to have caused a fire of such magnitude
as to be beyond ordinary control."
The victims of the fire were George F. Gouley, of
St. Louis, secretary of the Grand Lodge A. F. and
A. M. of Missouri, who was killed by falling from
a fourth-story window on the Walnut Street side.
Henry Hazen. of New Castle, Pa., assistant engi-
neer Missouri Pacific Railroad, killed by falling from
a third-story window.
Mrs. Abbie Moran, Mary Dolan, and Kate Reilly,
all domestics employed in the hotel, killed by falling
from a fifth-story window of the south wing.
Rev. A. R. Adams, vicar of the parish of Stock -
ross, Berkshire, England, killed by falling from a
fourth-story window on the Fourth Street side.
Mrs. Jennie Stewart, wife of W. S. Stewart, of St.
Louis, killed by the breaking of an improvised rope
while being lowered by her husband from a fifth-
story window.
Charles A. Tiernan, a well-known St. Louis sport-
ing man, killed while forcing his way into the burninir
hotel to rescue the inmates.
Andrew Einstraan, of Teichmann & Co., St. Louis,
killed by falling from an improvised rope while de-
scending from the fifth floor at Fifth and Elm Streets.
H. J. Clark, formerly of North Adams, Mass., an
ex-railway conductor, found in the ruins after the fire.
Mrs. Abbie E. Clark, wife of H. J. Clark, and
child, found in the ruins after the fire.
In addition to the above, the body of an unknown
man was found in the ruins, and William F. Munster,
of England, committed suicide a few hours after
escaping in safety from the hotel.
Two policemen reported that during the earlier
progress of the fire, while engaged in rescuing people
from the burning building, they heard two pistol-shots,
and on entering the room where the reports came
from saw the dead bodies of a man and woman.
There were also several persons missing who were
never successfully traced, but whose death at the time
of the fire has never been clearly demonstrated.
The hotel building was owned by Robert Camp-
bell, who estimated his loss at three hundred and
seventy thousand four hundred and twenty dollars,
which was ninety-two thousand dollars above the total
insurance.
The blackened ruins and the crumbling walls re-
mained a ghastly memento of this awful disaster for
two years, when, through the untiring energy and
perseverance of the prominent members of the Mer-
chants' Exchange and other leading business men
and citizens, chief among whom was George Knapp,
senior proprietor of the Missouri Republican, a pro-
ject for rebuilding the hotel took definite shape, and
was speedily urged to a successful termination. Hon.
Thomas Allen assumed the leading part in the
movement, and to him more than to any other per-
son was due the erection of the present magnificent
building. For the construction of the hotel building,
Mr. Allen engaged Messrs. George I. Barnett and
Isaac Taylor, architects, to carry out his plans, and
selected his son George W. Allen as general super-
intendent of the whole work. The Southern Hotel
occupies the block between Walnut and Elm, two
hundred and twenty-six feet, and Fourth and Fifth
Streets, two hundred and seventy-five feet, has three
fronts of stone on Walnut, Fourth, and Fifth Streets,
and is six stories high, with an additional basement
as highly finished as any floor of the house.
Mr. Allen obtained possession of the block on the
21st of May, 1879, when the preliminary work was
commenced, and the building was begun in August,
1879. Mr. Allen's first and most solicitous object
was to erect a thorough fire-proof house from base-
ment to roof. To this end he bent all his energies,
and enlisted the ingenuity of the architects and
builders. On the principle that a building is only
as strong as its weakest part, he resolved that there
should be no weak place, and was constantly on his
guard against a flaw. Enough of the heaviest rail-
road iron to lay seven miles of track was used as
support for the floors, which are laid on solid cement.
Besides the interior brick walls necessary to give
strength to the structure, the apartment partitions are
of gypsum, sand, cement, and pulverized coke, with
no particle of wood in them. The doors, window-
1448
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
frames, and other necessary wood-work are of gum,
cypress, and ash, hard wood, and of the finest finish.
Should fire occur in any of the rooms it would neces-
sarily stop with the furniture and upholstery of the
one room, as there is no chance of its eating through
or crawling out. There is no exception to this
thorough fire-proofing in any part of the building.
The builders pronounce the Southern the most thor-
oughly fire-proof hotel structure in the world.
Among the additional features of special interest
are two engines, basement fixtures, running machinery
for elevators, electric light, and the latest improved
vators, two for passengers and three for freight and
other purposes. It will thus be seen the means for
ingress and egress are abundant.
The rotunda hall, extending from Walnut to Elm
Streets, is two hundred and twenty-six feet long and
sixty feet wide ; the cross hall, from Fourth to Fifth
Street, is two hundred and seventy-five feet long and
twenty-six and a half feet wide, and the rotunda ter-
minates in a skylight at the roof, the several floors
being guarded by balusters. A terrace-garden on the
roof over the grand dining-hall is ninety-eight by fifty-
eight feet in extent, and safely guarded by an iron
J. H. Breslin, President.
C. P. Warner, Vice-President.
Thos. Breslin.
THE SOUTHERN HOTEL.
G. W. Allen, Secretary and Treasurer.
W. R. Allen.
Chas. P. Warner, General Manager.
smoke-consuming furnaces in thebasement and kitchen,
which also make drafts for carrying off all impure
air. There are three hundred and fifty rooms for
guests, connected with the office by a system of elec-
tric bells, and there is hot and cold water throughout
the house. The building is heated with steam, and,
besides, there are fireplaces and grates in every room
for coal- or wood-fires. The public parlors are also
thus supplied.
There are three main stairways of iron and slate,
extending from the ground-floor to the upper story,
for the uso of guests, ajid two iron stairways for
servants. Besides these there are five hydraulic de-
railing. The garden is laid out with paths and prom-
enades, and flowers and shrubbery watered by foun-
tains. The furniture was ordered and selected wholly
by James H. Breslin and Robert M. Taylor, and the
entire outfit, including carpets, drapery, silverware,
etc., cost two hundred and twenty-five thousand dol-
lars. On May 11, 1881, the Southern Hotel was
formally opened with a ball and banquet. Hon. E. O.
Stanard, chairman of the committee of arrangements,
introduced Hon. Thomas T. Crittenden, Governor of
Missouri, who made a brief address. On the following
day the new " Southern" began to receive guests.
The first non-residents to register were Governor and
BENCH AND BAR.
1449
Mrs. Crittenden. The entire block was owned by
Thomas Allen.
The Southern is managed by the Southern Hotel
Company, as follows : James H. Breslin, presi-
dent ; George W. Allen, secretary and treasurer ;
Charles P. Warner, W. R. Allen, Thomas Breslin.
Of these, James H. Breslin and Charles P. Warner
were identified with the management of the old
" Southern," and have a wide public acquaintance.
The various departments are in charge of the fol-
lowing persons : W. M. Bates, general manager ;
John E. Mulford, private office and head book-keeper ;
E. V. Williams, cashier, late of Tift House, Buffalo,
N. Y. ; M. W. Quinn, chief room clerk ; Charles E.
Myers, room clerk, Tift House, Buffalo ; F. W. Lee, key
clerk ; William A. Gilbert, key clerk ; William Patton,
night clerk ; Horace M. Clark, steward. W. M. Bates,
general manager, was placed in 1859 in a responsible
position in the office of the famous St. Nicholas, New
York, where he remained for years. Then he connected
himself with the Ocean House, Newport, R. I., when
he subsequently became a partner in the business. In
1877 he leased Congress Hall, Saratoga Springs,
under the firm-name of Bates, Rogers & Farnsworth,
and since has been connected with the Fifth Avenue,
New York, and the Ocean House, Newport, R. I.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
BENCH AND BAR.
IN a large sense it may be said that the history of
a community is written in the records and traditions
of its courts of justice. If it has grown rapidly, and
from small beginnings ; if difficulties have beset its
path, and a stirring, energetic people wrought great
things with courage and foresight ; if, above all,
diverse elements of language and society have min-
gled and struggled there, the bench and bar will in-
evitably reflect these characteristics and meet these
needs, it will be strong, brilliant, and original, offer-
ing high prizes to genius, but little place for medi-
ocre talent. A glance at the political history of Upper
Louisiana, from which Missouri was carved, shows that
to this battle-ground young giants of the law found
their way. Its ownership first by France, then by
Spain, and afterwards again by France, .introduced
into its colonial practice peculiarities of both the
Spanish and the French codes, and formed customs
which in later times had to be interpreted and regu-
lated by the principles of English law. When, in
March, 1804, at St. Louis, Commandant Delassus
transferred the territory to Capt. Stoddard, represen-
tative of the United States, the throbbing current of
American life flowed unimpeded into the quiet and
almost Arcadian communities of Upper Louisiana.
A wise policy prevented difficulties and harmonized
conflicting interests, but for years Missouri courts had
tasks before them which required the utmost tact,
judgment, firmness, and acumen. It is easy to see
why this should have been so. Three distinct classes
of emigration had, previous to 1804, flowed into the
Territory, attracted by its fertile soil, its abundant
game, its mild laws, and the picturesque simplicity of
its customs. From Canada by way of the great
lakes and the network of streams that cross Illinois,
or floating down the upper Mississippi, many French
voyageurs had found their way, so that in some dis-
tricts a French patois was almost the only language
spoken. French and Spanish families from New Or-
leans ventured the voyage northward, and in some
districts the Spanish element predominated. Sturdy
Western hunters, trappers, traders, and farmers were
beginning to occupy points of vantage and invest in
lands, timber, and town property. The rude border
life developed a race of plainspoken frontiersmen,
who afterwards carried into their innumerable legal
battles that necessarily grew from conflicting land
grants and titles the same courage and tenacity that
they showed in their Indian wars. The able and
courageous lawyers who won their way to fame and
fortune in the earlier days of Missouri were not only
trained athletes of the judicial forum, but their lives
were crowded with romantic incident and adventure.
It was absolutely essential to professional success that
a lawyer should be thoroughly acquainted with the
Spanish language and civil law. As Hon. W. V. N.
Bay, late judge of the Supreme Court of Missouri,
says in his interesting reminiscences of the bench and
bar of that State, " A want of knowledge of either
unfitted the claimant to legal honors to cope with
those who had devoted years of laborious study to
their acquirement."
The St. Louis bar was from the first a centre of
legal activity in the Territory, and many of its mem-
bers won national reputation. Among its character-
istic leaders were such men as Benton, the Lucases,
Geyer, Easton, Gamble, McGirk, Hempstead, Petti-
bone, Tompkins, Darby, Spalding, the Bartons, Law-
less, Bates, Allen, Mullanphy, Leslie, Wright, Blen-
nerhassett, Polk, Gantt, Williams, Bowlin, Leonard,
Field, and others who belonged in the same brilliant
coterie. The student of the bench and bar of St.
Louis in its early days will search long for a parallel
in points of force and originality. The lawyers of
1450
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Kentucky, of Southern Ohio, and of Indiana had
the same extensive practice in profitable land litiga-
tion, and developed the same rough and ready wit,
terse, epigrammatic speech, and Western eloquence ;
the lawyers of Texas, and at a later date those of the
southern portion of California and of New Mexico
had to struggle in like measure with the difficulties of
the Spanish code and Spanish language ; but only in
Missouri were all these complex and varied elements
mingled in stormy confusion, in a conflict of diverse
creeds, systems, and languages, whose struggle and
final harmonious union are written in the pages of
court records and legislative enactments of Territory
and State.
There were a few capable and efficient lawyers, mostly
French, in St. Louis previous to 1804, and they soon
found that the American purchase meant for them
only increased business activity and infinitely broader
opportunities, which they were not slow to embrace.
In many cases the wise policy of the United States
retained the former alcaldes as justices of the peace
under the new government. The Chouteaus, the
Chauvins, the Prattes, and the Leducs were leaders
among the French citizens. In 1764, Col. Auguste
Chouteau landed at what is now the foot of Market
Street, St. Louis, and camped there. In 1799, when
a census was taken, both St. Charles and Ste. Gene-
vieve exceeded St. Louis in population, and drew
much legal talent to their courts. Of the four legal
and military districts of St. Charles, St. Louis, Ste.
Genevieve, and Cape Girardeau, no one could in 1804
foresee which would contain the metropolis. In that
year Col. Rufus Easton and Edward Hempstead
came to the Territory.
At this time the district of Louisiana, in which St.
Louis was situated, was attached to the Territory of
Indiana, whose courts exercised jurisdiction over the
newly-acquired country. The Governor and judges
were instructed by the act of Congress of March 26,
1804, to hold two courts a year at St. Louis and enact
such laws for the immediate government of the dis-
trict as they might find necessary. Accordingly, Wil-
liam Henry Harrison, Governor, and Thomas Terry
Davis, Henry Vanderburgh, and John Griffin, judges I
of the Territory of Indiana, adopted a code of laws
for the government of the district. The first law in i
the code established the office of sheriff, the second
was one for regulating boatmen, the third established
recorders' offices, the fourth was entitled " a law
respecting slaves," the fifth was " a law of defalca-
tion," and the sixth " regulating the oath of office."
A copy of the Republican Register, a newspaper
published at that period in Rushville, Ky., dated June
20th, contains a letter, dated Vincennes, May 29, 1805,
which thus describes the holding of the first general
court in St. Louis :
" The first general court in and for the district of Louisiana
was opened in the town of St. Louis on Tuesday, the 6th of May
inst., at about eleven o'clock A.M. The judges, Vanderburgh and
Griffin, being attended by the sheriff and his deputy, the bar,
and a respectable number of citizens, proceeded to the house of
Monsieur Chouteau. After the grand jury (which was composed
of twenty odd of the most respectable citizens) were sworn, his
Honor Judge Vanderburgh delivered a charge of some length,
in which he congratulated them upon the happiness and pros-
perity they would experience from the change of government.
The grand jury continued their session from Tuesday until Fri-
day morning. They found an indictment against one Davis for
murder, without malice, of his father-in-law, and one against
one Hunter and Dennis for the willful murder of one Clark, a
presentment against the inferior court, and one against John
Mullanphy, Esq., as presiding justice of the inferior court of
the district of Louis. Hunter, upon traversing the indictment,
was acquitted ; Dennis was found guilty of manslaughter and
punished; Davis was acquitted, and so was Mullanphy. The
Indian prisoner, who was some time in confinement in the gar-
rison at St. Louis, in endeavoring to make his escape (a few
days previous to the arrival of the President's pardon), was shot
by the sentinel, and from the wound he received was enabled to
get about six miles, where he was found dead some time after.
During the sitting of the court the Sioux nation of Indians
brought down a prisoner for having killed two Canadians.
There was no confession by which he was justified in the
commission of the act. The court, after a session of fifteen
days, during which a variety of business was done, adjourned
till court in course."
The letter mentions an " inferior court," which ap-
pears to have been formed of a quorum of justices of
the peace, over which John Mullanphy presided.
Courts of Quarter Sessions, to hold four terms each
year, were established for the five sub-districts into
which the district was divided, with a sheriff and
recorder for each sub-district, the court at St. Louis to
meet on the third Tuesday of June, September, De-
cember, and March. The first session of this court
in St. Louis, as stated elsewhere, was an Oyer and
Terminer held Dec. 18, 1804, at the tavern of Etnil-
ien Yosti. The justices present were Auguste Chou-
teau, Jacques Glamorgan, David Delaunay, and James
Mackay, and the sheriff was James Rankin. Charles
Gratiot was presiding justice, and Edward Hemp-
stead was deputy attorney-general pro tern.
By the act of March 3, 1805, Congress provided
for the appointment of three judges, who* with the
Governor should constitute the Legislature of the
newly-created Territory of Louisiana. These judges
were J. B. C. Lucas, John Coburn, and Rufus Easton,
who constituted what was known as the Superior
Court. Before the new government was organized,
however, the Court of Quarter Sessions had held
another term, March, 1805, Charles Gratiot presiding.
BENCH AND BAR.
1451
In addition to those already named, Alexander Mc-
Nair, of St. Louis, and Richard Caulk, James Rich-
ardson, and John Allen, from the other sub-districts,
( occupied seats on the bench. In 1806 the judges of
. the Superior Court were J. B. C. Lucas, R. J. Meigs,
and Otho Strader. In June of this year the Terri-
torial Legislature provided for a general court to be
held in St. Louis twice a year, which exercised the
functions of a Court of Appeals or Supreme Bench,
and in October of the same year for a clerk of the
General Court, Joseph V. Gamier being appointed to
the position. In 1807 the Legislature passed an act
reconstructing the courts, which provided that judges
of the Common Pleas should be appointed by the
Governor for each district for four years, two being a
quorum to hold court. There were to be three terms
a year in St. Louis, on the first Mondays of March,
July, and November. The act also provided for a
Court of Oyer and Terminer (criminal), to consist of
the judges of the General Court and the Common
Pleas judges of the respective districts when the pun-
ishment involved life or death. Other criminal cases
were to be tried in the Quarter Sessions, with a clerk
for each district. It was further provided that a
Supreme Court, called the General Court, should sit
in St. Louis on the first Mondays of May and Oc-
tober.1
In the mean time the Common Pleas Court had been
in active operation. At the March term, 1806,
Joseph Browne was presiding justice, with Messrs.
Chouteau, Delaunay, and Mackay associates ; Andrew
Steel, prothonotary. At the special term of Quarter ;
Sessions, in October of the same year, Jacques Cla- j
morgan, Bernard Pratte, and William Christy were the
justices in attendance. The sheriff at this time was '
Jeremiah Connor. In June, 1807, Silas Bent as- j
sumed the duties of presiding justice of the Common
Pleas, having been appointed to that position by act- i
ing Governor Bates. On the 19th of September, {
1808, a Court of Oyer and Terminer was held, J. B. j
C. Lucas presiding, with Judge Chouteau as associate.
At the February term in 1809, Judge Lucas' associ-
ates were Judges Pratte and Labeaume.
The act of Congress of June 4, 1812, provided that
there should be three judges of the Superior Court, to
serve four years, and by the act of the Legislature
Aug. 20, 1813, the old courts were abolished, and it
was provided that three judges of Common Pleas for
each county should be appointed by the Governor for
four years. These courts were to hold three terms a
1 For a full account of the proceedings of this court see
Chapter XIV. of this work, vol. i. p. 331-34.
year, those for St. Louis on the third Monday of
February, first Monday of June, and third Monday
of September. The clerks of these courts were also
to be recorders of deeds. On the 4th of January,
1815, county courts were established for each county
except Arkansas ; the term in St. Louis commencing
on the second Monday in March, June, September,
and January, the clerk for each to be recorder. The
Territory was divided into two circuits, — St. Louis, St.
Charles, and Washington constituting the northern
circuit, and Ste. Genevieve, Cape Girardeau, and New
Madrid the southern, with three terms a year, com-
mencing in St. Louis on the second Mondays in Feb-
ruary, June, and October. The old courts were
abolished, and a clerk for each county was to be ap-
pointed by the judges. The Superior Court was to
hold one term annually in St. Louis, commencing on
the first Monday of July. On the 15th of the same
month the office of attorney-general of the Territory
was abolished, and a circuit attorney for each circuit
provided for. An act of Jan. 21, 1816, directed that
the Superior Court should hold two terms annually in
each circuit (commencing in St. Louis on the third
Monday of March and September), and that a clerk
for each circuit should be appointed. The same act
abolished the county courts and transferred their duties
to the Circuit Courts. The latter met in St. Louis on
the first Monday in May, August, and November,
and the Superior Court on the third Monday in March
and September. On the 1st of February, 1817, the
Legislature passed an act changing the time of hold-
ing the courts, — Superior Court in St. Louis, northern
circuit, fourth Monday in March and August ; Cir-
cuit Court in St. Louis, second Monday in February,
June, and October. In 1818 the Circuit Court of St.
Louis met on the first Monday in April, August, and
December, and the Superior Court on the fourth Mon-
day in April and the third Monday in September.
The following is a list of the presiding justices,
clerks, sheriffs, etc., of the Courts of Common Pleas
under the old organization :
PRESIDING JUSTICES.
Charles Gratiot, appointed December, 1804, by Governor Har-
rison.
Joseph Browne, appointed March, 1806, by Governor Wilkin-
son.
Silas Bent, appointed June, 1807, by Secretary Browne.
William Christy, appointed March, 1813, by Governor Howard.
CLERKS OP THE COMMON PLEAS.
Rufus Easton, appointed December, 1804, by Governor Har-
rison.
Thos. F. Riddick, appointed March, 1805, by Governor Har-
rison.
Andrew Steele, appointed March, 1806, by Governor Wilkinson.
1452
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
William Christy, appointed March, 1807, by Secretary Browne.
Thomas F. Riddick, appointed July, 1807, by Secretary F.
Bates.
SHERIFFS.
James Rankin, appointed December, 1804, by Governor Har-
rison.
Josiah McLanahan, appointed June, 1805, by Governor Har-
rison.
Jeremiah Connor, appointed September, 1806, by Governor
Wilkinson.
Alexander MeNair, appointed November, 1810, by Secretary
F. Bates.
John W. Thompson, appointed July, 1813, by Governor Clark.
Joshua C. Browne, appointed April, 1819, by Governor Clark.
DEPUTY ATTORNEYS-GENERAL.
Edward Hempstead, appointed December, 1804, by Governor
Harrison.
Rufus Easton, appointed March, 1805, by Governor Harrison.
Edward Hempstead, appointed June, 1805, by Governor Har-
rison.
James L. Donaldson, appointed December, 1805, by Governor
Wilkinson.
Edward Hempstead, appointed May, 1809, by Governor Lewis.
Thomas T. Crittenden, appointed November, 1810, by Governor
Howard.
Robert Wash, appointed November, 1811, by Secretary Bates.
David Barton, appointed March, 1813, by Secretary Bates.
CORONER AND CONSTABLE.
William Sullivan, appointed December, 1804, by Governor Har-
rison.
In 1825 the Legislature passed a law establishing
judicial districts and circuits, which prescribed the
following as the times of holding the several courts
in St. Louis County : The Supreme Court in the city
of St. Louis on the fourth Mondays of May and No-
vember ; the Circuit Court on the fourth Mondays in
March, July, and November; the Probate Court on
the first Mondays of March, June, September, and
December.
The St. Louis Criminal Court was established in
1839 (the first term to be held in March of that year),
with a view of giving the Circuit Court full time to
transact the civil business of the county, criminal
business having before that time attached to that
court alone. In progress of time the Common Pleas
Court, and even the land commissioners' court, was
created with the design to relieve the Circuit Court
of a portion of its labors.
Soon after the admission of Missouri into the Union
the entire State was made one United States district,
with a District Court which sat twice a year, usually
for a very few days, at Jefferson City ; and a Circuit
Court for that district sat twice a year at St. Louis,
the district judge holding it either alone or in conjunc-
tion with the United States Supreme Court justice
assigned to the circuit of which Missouri composed a
part. Prior to 1852 the admiralty jurisdiction of the
United States District Courts had been so strictly con-
strued that very few " steamboat suits" were brought
in that of Missouri, and litigation of that description
was almost entirely confined to the State tribunals.
But at its December term of 1851 the United
States Supreme Court made a decision, in the " Genesee
Chief" case (12 Howard, p. 443), by which the admi-
ralty jurisdiction of the United States courts, pre-
viously regarded as confined to tide-waters, — the
" navigable waters" at common law, — was held to ex-
tend to the great lakes and rivers, navigable in fact.
As such jurisdiction was superior, in most cases, to
that of any State court, the Missouri District Court
began to be crowded with cases affecting steamboats
and other river-craft and river men. As the trial of
these cases at Jefferson City occasioned great incon-
venience and expense to litigants residing at St.
Louis, there soon arose a very general demand for the
establishment of a United States District Court in St.
Louis.
But various difficulties in the way of it were soon
discovered. The first suggestion, as of the most
economical plan, and therefore that most easily and
promptly to be got through Congress, was that sessions
of the District Court should be held in St. Louis as
well as at Jefferson City, or that the court should be
entirely transferred to the latter place. To either of
these plans there were serious objections. As the en-
tire Indian country between the western boundaries
of Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota was then annexed
', for certain purposes to the Missouri district, and offen-
ders against the laws in that country were tried
I in that district, the administration at Washington
objected to the additional expense and trouble which
would arise from the transfer of trials to St. Louis,
! and the steamboat interests of the upper Missouri
River and its tributaries joined in the objection.
I Against the holding of terms at St. Louis by the
district judge, who resided at Jefferson City, it was
objected that, as an admiralty court is always in
session, and the great bulk of admiralty business in
Missouri arose at St. Louis, either the judge would
have to remove to St. Louis, or the lawyers would still
have to go to him at Jefferson City, not then connected
by railroad with St. Louis, to attend to the business
constantly arising between the regular terms of court.
The opinion of the bar and of the commercial public
therefore soon settled upon the plan of dividing Mis-
souri into two districts and establishing a separate Dis-
trict Court at St. Louis.
Senator Stephen A. Douglas had about that time
suggested a reorganization of the Federal judiciary,
and a part of his plan was to compose the Circuit
BENCH AND BAR.
1453
Court of all the district judges within the circuit, sit-
ting together, as an appellate court. This suggested
the plan which was finally adopted for the organ-
ization of the United States Circuit Court at St.
Louis. A bill was drafted by which the old district
was divided into the Eastern and Western. Judge
Wells was assigned to the Western, in which he had
so long resided, a new district judge was to be ap-
pointed for the Eastern, and both judges were to sit
in the Circuit Court at St. Louis, the senior in com-
mission to preside in the absence of the Supreme
Court justice.
The bill above described was introduced into the
United States Senate by the senior Missouri senator,
Henry S. Geyer, and with the support of his col-
league, Senator James S. Green, and of Senators
Seward, Fessenden, and Douglas, promptly passed
that body. It ran some risk of delay under the rules
in the House of Representatives, but through the par-
liamentary skill and great personal influence of Hon.
John S. Phelps it was taken up and promptly passed
by that body on the last day of the session, March 3,
1857. It was at once approved by President Pierce.
The Missouri delegation in Congress presented to him
its unanimous recommendation of Hon. Samuel Treat
for the new judgeship. The President at once made
the nomination, with the complimentary remark that
Judge Treat was also his own choice. Indeed, so
general had been the recognition of his especial fit-
ness for the distinguished position, that the name of
no other person had been mentioned in connection
with it. The Senate unanimously confirmed the
appointment, and his commission was signed by
President Pierce.
After devoting the necessary time to finishing up
the pressing business of the St. Louis Court of Com-
mon Pleas, Judge Treat took the oath of office on
March 23, 1857, and on the next day organized his
District Court. At the next term of the new United
States Circuit Court, on April 6, 1857, he took his
seat with Judge Wells on the bench.
Up to 1877 the courts of St. Louis exercised jur-
isdiction over both city and county, but in that year
a separate county court was organized, and a new
court-house for the county was erected at Clayton in
the following year.
From 1804 to 1812 the courts provided an abun-
dance of work for members of the St. Louis bar. The
treaty of cession stipulated that the " inhabitants of
Louisiana should be protected in the free enjoyment
of liberty, property, and religion." Congress passed
various acts to enforce these rights, but, as John F.
Darby, one of the leading lawyers of early St. Louis,
says, there were not, up to 1811, three perfect land
titles in all Upper Louisiana. Spanish grants and
conflicting claims of every sort, growing out of surveys
of a primitive kind, and judicial decisions under
French, Spanish, and American law gave the lawyers
1 enough business. A similar state of affairs in Cali-
i fornia has produced corresponding results, some of
j the famous land cases there being still in court after
twenty years of conflict among opposing claimants.
Lawyers who won renown in these entangled civil
cases were fit to cross weapons with the best legal
talent of the country, and their fees were correspond-
ingly large. It was a time when " homespun ways"
ruled everywhere, and judges who presided at the
Circuit Courts and young lawyers who pleaded before
them were trained in a hard, healthy school that de-
veloped manhood and originality.
Old files of the St. Louis papers throw consider-
able light upon the state of society in these earlier
years. Sept. 23, 1808, the trial of George Duillard
for the alleged murder of Antoine Bissonette came off
in the District Court. Hon. J. B. C. Lucas presided,
and Hon. Auguste Chouteau was associate justice.
Attorney-General John Scott prosecuted the case, and
Edward Hempstead, W. C. Carr, and Rufus Easton
were the prisoner's counsel. The facts were briefly
these : Manuel Lisa, a wealthy St. Louis trader, and
the prisoner had, in 1807, joined forces and embarked
merchandise which, with their outfits and equipments,
were worth $16,000, as a venture on a trading voyage
to the sources of the Missouri. They had engaged
the deceased to serve for three years, and to do duty
not only as a hunter, but also to mount guard, and to
obey his employers in every particular. Bissonette
also agreed that he would not leave their service on
any pretext whatever. But while near the mouth of
the Osage River he deserted, and Mr. Lisa, com-
mander of this party of traders in a hostile Indian
country, sent Duillard and others in pursuit, saying,
" Bring him, dead or alive." Duillard found him,
and, after calling on him to surrender, shot him in the
shoulder, from which wound he died the next day,
after saying that " no one had treated him ill, and he
did not know why he deserted." Every possible care
was taken of him. The jury in fifteen minutes re-
turned with a verdict of acquittal.
All the lawyers who took part in this case became
noted afterwards. John Scott, prosecuting attorney,
was born in Virginia in 1782, graduated at Princeton
in 1802, first located in Indiana, but went to Mis-
souri in 1804.
Judge William C. Carr, son of Walter Carr, was
born in Albemarle County, Va., April 15, 1783;
1454
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
studied law, and came to St. Louis March 31, 1804,
at the age of twenty-one years, being only twenty-five {
days on the trip by water from Louisville.1
After remaining a month here he went to Ste. Gen- |
evieve, then a larger place, to settle. Here he mar- j
ried his first wife, Ann, daughter of Aaron Elliot, j
and remained one year, when he returned to St. Louis
to settle permanently.
He was appointed circuit judge by Governor John
Miller, and held the first term of his court July 24,
1826. Judge Carr retained this office about eight
years, and then resigned it, retiring to private life,
and died March 31, 1851, aged sixty-eight years.
Judge Carr left a numerous progeny, — by his first
wife three daughters, who all married ; and by the sec-
ond, Dorcas, a daughter of Silas Bent, Sr., whom he
1 Charles Carr, brother of Judge William C. Carr, and father
of Walter C. Carr, at one time president of the Boatmen's
Savings Institution, and R. E. Carr, at one time president of
the Exchange Bank of St. Louis, died near Lexington, Ky.,
Nov. 14, 1868. He was born in Spottsylvania County, near
Fredericksburg, Va., on the 29th of October, 1774. His father,
following the footsteps of Daniel Boone, removed to the wilder-
ness of Kentucky in 1777, leaving Charles, only three years old,
with his relatives till 1785, when he accompanied a family over
the mountains to his father's house, not far from Lexington,
then containing only a few log cabins.
At the age of nineteen he volunteered as a soldier, in com-
pany with Samuel R. Combe and other neighbor boys, in a Ken-
tucky regiment under Gen. Wayne, and was in all his opera-
tions against the Northwestern Indians, terminating in a bloody
and decisive victory at the foot of the Maumee Rapids, some
ten miles above the present city of Toledo. He was married in
1801 to Miss Elizabeth Todd, daughter of Gen. Levi Todd, also
an early emigrant to Kentucky, and one of the most distin-
guished of her Indian-fighters and hunters. He was for some
years a merchant in Lexington, and about the year 1808, in
conjunction with William R. Morton, bought out the sheriff's
office from the oldest magistrate for two years, and continued in
that office for eight or ten years by successive purchases from
senior justices, who had the right to sell, as the law then stood.
In the discharge of his various official duties he was always
polite and courteous.
While holding this office the disastrous battle of River Raisin
was fought by Gen. Winchester on the 22d of January, 1813,
in which so many gallant Kentuckians lost their lives. A call
was made for more troops, and Mr. Carr was among the first to
volunteer in Col. William Dudley's regiment. His high char-
acter and business habits induced Col. Dudley to appoint him
paymaster, which office he held throughout the campaign and
until the troops were paid off according to a special act of Con-
gress. He was taken prisoner at Dudley's defeat opposite Fort
Meigs, on the 5th of May, 1813, robbed of his hat and coat, as j
all the prisoners were, and forced to run the gauntlet into old
Fort Maumee, long before given up by the British, and then ;
rotted to the ground. In this terrible exploit many were killed
and wounded, but Mr. Carr was fortunate in escaping without
an injury. Mr. Carr returned home and resumed his official ,
duties, in which he continued several years, and at the close |
was elected to the Legislature. In 1827 he removed to the farm
on which he died.
married in 1829, several sons and daughters. His
fifth daughter, Eliza B., was married to William H.
Ashley, Lieutenant-Governor and member of Con-
gress ; the sixth, Harriet, to Capt. James Deane,
United States army ; and the seventh, Virginia, to
the late Dr. E. Bathurst Smith.
The St. Louis Circuit Court, of which Mr. Carr
was judge, embraced five large counties, and extended
nearly to the Arkansas line. So large was it that it
was commonly called from its largest county the
" State of Gasconade," and Dr. David Waldo, clerk
of the courts, was usually called " Governor" of this
State.2 There were many saw-mills in the then ex-
tensive pineries, and the lumber was rafted to St.
Louis. Circuit Court was held at Mount Sterling in a
log court-house. Although Judge Carr stood high at
the bar, he had personal enemies, and they succeeded
in having articles of impeachment presented by the
Legislature. In the winter of 1832 the trial occurred,
he being charged with neglect of duty, incapacity,
and favoritism, but he was acquitted after a protracted
investigation. Among the lawyers who practiced in
this Circuit Court were Gamble, Bates, Geyer, Darby,
Cole, and others.
Upon the death of Judge Carr the members of the
bar, with some of whom he had been associated ior
over thirty years, passed the usual resolutions of re-
spect. He had been fortunate in his investments at
a time when it required little money to purchase
property in what is now the heart of the city.3
Edward Hempstead was another of the distinguished
arrivals of 1804, and the high place he at once took
is sufficient proof of his ability. His biography will
be found in full elsewhere.
But the man whose advent in the struggling St.
Louis of 1804 was, perhaps, of the greatest import-
ance to the community was Rufus Easton, one of the
most profound lawyers of that brilliant era, when such
2 This Dr. Waldo, afterwards companion of the Bents and
Sublettes, was an unusual man in an age of original characters.
He was self-taught, but his acquirements would have been re-
markable anywhere. At one time he was clerk of Circuit
Court, ex officio recorder of deeds, clerk of the county court,
justice of the peace, deputy sheriff, postmaster, major in the
militia, and a practicing physician. He accumulated a large
fortune, and was almost the idol of the community in which he
lived.
1 Alfred W. Carr, a nephew of Judge Carr, was born in 1804,
in Kentucky graduated at Transylvania University, began
practice in Missouri in 1828, in the St. Charles Circuit, Hon.
Beverly Tucker judge, and soon became widely known, but died
in his early manhood, leaving a young wife, daughter of Maj.
Graves, of Kentucky. She afterwards married Col. Chambers,
a lawyer, who became editor and part proprietor of the Mis-
*onri Bevbliea*,
** <&-^fr ^& i
BENCH AND BAR.
1455
luminaries as Geyer, the Bartons, Gamble, Spalding,
Allen, Lawless, Mullanphy, Bates, and Leonard were
leaving their impress upon the laws, statutes, and in-
stitutions of Missouri. The fame of these men filled
the State, and any one of them would have held a
place in the front rank of any professional brother-
hood in this country. Rufus Easton was born in
Litchfield, Conn., May 4, 17*74. His parents were
of English descent, and some of the family rendered
important services in the Revolutionary war. He re-
ceived a good education before entering upon the
study of the law. In February, 1791, he became a
student in the law-office of Ephraim Kirby, a promi-
nent lawyer of Litchfield, and remained with him two
years, completing his studies elsewhere, and obtaining
a license to practice law. To what extent, if any, he
practiced in Connecticut does not appear ; but at the
opening of the present century he is heard of at
Rome, N. Y., where he soon became known as a
promising young lawyer. Here he attracted the at-
tention of the leading men of the Republican party,
and was so deep in their confidence as to be consulted
regarding Federal appointments in Western New York,
as appears from letters addressed to him by Gideon
Granger, Mr. Jefferson's Postmaster-General.
Mr. Easton spent the winter of 1803-4 at Wash-
ington. The subject of the approaching Presidential
election was beginning to attract attention, and De
Witt Clinton was prominently mentioned as a candi-
date, and was in communication with the leading
Republicans. Just before Mr. Easton's departure for
the seat of government, Mr. Clinton addressed him a
note, requesting him to watch the progress of measures
and act accordingly.
While in Washington Mr. Easton determined to
remove to New Orleans, and left for that purpose
early in March, armed with a letter from Aaron Burr
to a gentleman in Louisiana. Th,e young lawyer evi-
dently had strongly impressed Burr, for the latter
showed him many attentions, and did much to make
his stay in Washington a pleasant one.
Mr. Easton did not, however, visit New Orleans,
but decided to locate at Vincennes, Ind. His stay
there was short, for in the same year he settled at St.
Louis, which became his permanent residence.
He again visited Washington in 1804-5, and re-
ceived attention from men of prominence. It was
during this winter that Burr completed arrangements
to carry out his favorite project of establishing a
Western empire on the banks of the Mississippi, with
New Orleans for its capital. It is probable that he
then resolved upon securing the co-operation of
Easton ; and in order to increase Easton's influence
with the people of the Territory, as well as to place
him under obligation to himself personally, he pro-
cured for him, in March, 1805, the appointment of
judge of the Territory of Louisiana; and a few days
later addressed him a letter, courteously phrased, and
recommending him to make the acquaintance of Gen.
Wilkinson, the newly-appointed Governor of the Ter-
ritory, and others who, Burr said, were about to re-
move to the Territory. In the light of subsequent
events this letter was of importance as foreshadowing
Burr's conspiracy against the government, but there
was nothing in it that then excited the suspicions of
Easton, who interpreted it as merely one of the many
civilities which he had received from Mr. Burr.
That Burr and Wilkinson had formed an unpatriotic
alliance fully appeared upon Burr's trial for treason ;
but Easton was not and could not then have been
aware of the fact.
Burr spent that summer in a trip down the Ohio,
visiting Blennerhasset's Island, etc., and in June,
1805, was at Massac, where, in anticipation of visit-
ing St. Louis, he wrote Judge Easton a letter de-
signed to establish the most intimate relations be-
tween him and Governor Wilkinson, which indicates
that he hoped to find him, when he arrived in St.
Louis, not only in harmony but on terms of confi-
dence and friendship with that official.
Burr came to St. Louis in September, and the ob-
ject of his visit was undoubtedly to secure the co-op-
eration of Easton and other prominent men of the
Territory in his scheme. He soon had a conference
with Easton, and broached the subject of the empire,
but received a decided and spirited refusal, and at
once broke off all communication with him. After
Burr left St. Louis, Wilkinson expressed a strong dis-
like for Easton, and circulated charges of official cor-
ruption against him, which came to the ears of
President Jefferson, who, when Easton's commission
expired, nominated another person to the office.
Easton at once repaired to Washington, and sought
an opportunity to meet the charges against him. He
was granted a personal interview with Mr. Jefferson
for that purpose, and the latter, being satisfied that
Wilkinson's allegations were unfounded, appointed
Judge Easton United States attorney. When Burr's
conspiracy was officially disclosed to the President (in
October, 1806), Judge Easton was appealed to for
information on the subject, and frankly revealed all
he knew. His own skirts were certainly clear of
complicity in the matter, for as early as January,
1805, he wrote to Gideon Granger, stating his belief
in the existence of a traitorous project to divide the
Union, and in the following October informed the
1456
HISTORY OP SAINT LOUIS.
President that " Gen. Wilkinson has put himself at
the head of a party of a few individuals who are hos-
tile to the best interests of America." Judge Easton
was violently attacked by witnesses in Burr's trial for
withholding certain important information regarding
the plot from the government, but he filed a deposi-
tion disclaiming any knowledge beyond what has been
related, and was completely acquitted in the judgment
of the leaders of the administration. He enjoyed a
friendly and interesting correspondence with Mr.
Granger and many of the leading men of his time,
and was honored with letters from Jefferson, Clinton,
Calhoun, Granger, and many others.
In 1805 a post-office was established in St.
Louis, and Judge Easton was appointed the first
postmaster, a proof that the government reposed the
utmost confidence in his patriotism and integrity.
His popularity and influence in the Territory grad-
ually increased, and in 1814 he was elected delegate
to Congress and served four years. Upon the organ-
ization of the State government in 1821 he was ap-
pointed attorney-general, and continued in that office
until 1826. He died at St. Charles, Mo., July 5, 1834.
During this long and varied career Mr. Easton was
actively engaged in the practice of his profession, and
was indisputably the leading lawyer of the Territory.
He was noted more for the soundness and vigor of
his intellect than for eloquence, although he was not
without many of the graces of oratory. He expressed
himself with extraordinary clearness and force, and
would have been esteemed a strong debater at any
bar in the country. But his chief excellence con-
sisted in his fine executive and administrative talents.
He discharged the duties of every one of the many
and important offices he held with distinguished
ability and unimpeached fidelity.
Judge Easton was a man of very kind heart, and
was charitable to the full extent of his means. He
and his accomplished wife (who was a native of New
York) dispensed a most generous hospitality, and
few strangers of note visited St. Louis without re-
ceiving an invitation to his house.
He left a large family. The oldest son, Col. A. R.
Easton, is still living. There were seven daughters ;
one married the Hon. T. L. Anderson, of Palmyra,
Mo. ; another became the wife of the Hon. H. S.
Geyer ; the third married Archibald Gamble, a brother
of Governor Gamble ; another was the wife of Major
Sibley, of St. Charles. Mrs. Sibley was a lady of
fine literary taste, and with her husband founded and
endowed the Lindenwood Female Seminary at St.
Charles, which became and is yet noted as an insti-
tution of learning.
Judge Easton engaged largely in real estate specu-
lation, his partner being William Russell, father-in-
law of the late Hon. Thomas Allen. They owned
j the ground on which the present city of Alton, 111.,
j is situated. The city was named after Judge Easton's
oldest son, and several of its streets after members of
his family.
Col. Easton was a man of fine appearance. The
portrait which accompanies this sketch is an excellent
likeness, and is from a miniature taken when he was
about forty years old.
Col. Alton R. Easton, the oldest son of Rufus
Easton, was born in St. Louis, June 23, 1807. His
early education was received at a private school con-
ducted by Rev. Salmon Giddings, after leaving which
he spent two years with the Rev. Dr. Townsend, a
cultivated gentleman, who kept a select school on his
farm on Shoal Creek, a tributary of the Kaskaskia
River, Illinois. Here young Easton was instructed
in the ordinary English branches and the classics.
In 1823, in company with a son of Dr. Townsend, he
was sent East to complete his education. The journey
was made by carriage, but the usual rate of travel was
so slow that the boys walked most of the way, and
actually traversed the greater part of the distance
through Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio on foot. At
Cleveland, desiring to enjoy a new phase of travel,
they took a sloop for Buffalo, and there rejoined their
escort. The trip ended at Bloomfield, N. J., where
for a year young Easton attended an academical school
taught by the Rev. Dr. Perrine, and then in 1824
entered the Military Academy at West Point. At
the end of two and a half years, however, owing to
a misunderstanding with the authorities of the insti-
tution, he resigned, and in the winter of 1827 re-
turned to St. Louis and engaged in the study of medi-
cine with Dr. Samuel Merry. This well-remembered
gentleman was also receiver of public money, and as
he was in poor health, Easton was often left in charge
of the office, and ultimately became practically the
receiver himself.
Several years of this confining service affected his
health unfavorably, and he left the office and for four
years was engaged almost exclusively in hunting and
fishing. He is wont to say that this was the most
pleasant and interesting period of his life. This
regimen and his campaigning in the Mexican war
fully restored his health, and since the latter period
he has scarcely known what sickness is.
In 1832 he started with his rifle, a solitary volun-
teer, to engage in the Black Hawk war, but peace was
concluded before he reached the field of action.
About the year 1833 the " St. Louis Grays" were
BENCH AND BAR.
1457
organized and became the crack company of the city,
and Mr. Easton was for many years their captain.
The organization of other companies in due season
necessitated the formation of a regiment, and Capt.
Easton was chosen colonel of the famous " St. Louis
Legion." In May, 1846, when Gen. Taylor, after the
brilliant battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma,
appealed to Gen. Gaines for reinforcements, the Legion
promptly responded to the requisition of Gen. Gaines.
Within three days the regiment was recruited to about
nine hundred men and was on its way down the river
for Mexico, with Col. Easton in command. The Legion
spent the summer at Bureto, on the Rio Grande, far
from the theatre of war, and in the fall returned to
St. Louis, without having participated in any engage-
ments.
Early in the following year a requisition for volun-
teers was made, and St. Louis raised a battalion, with
Col. Easton in command, and dispatched it southward.
The force crossed the plains from Fort Leavenworth
to Santa Fe". While on the march Col. Easton in-
dulged his passion for hunting, and won much renown
among the men of his command by shooting buffalo
and other game. One of his adventures resembled,
but greatly eclipsed, Putnam's exploit with the wolf.
A wolf which he was pursuing suddenly disappeared
in a cavern in one of the " salt licks" common to the
West. He fired and killed him, and sent a companion
down who dragged him out. A growl indicated the
presence of another animal, and he shot, killed, and
dragged out another. To his great surprise another
savage demonstration was heard in the cavern, and a I
third shot resulted in the death and dragging forth of i
a third wolf.
On arriving at Santa Fe affairs were found in an >
extremely unsettled condition, and Col. Easton took ;
the reins as military Governor and restored order.
On being relieved by Gen. Sterling Price, he led his
command to Chihuahua, arriving there in March,
1848. The rumors of an armistice then prevailing
prevented the battalion from engaging in any military
movements, although there was brisk fighting at '
Santa Cruz, only sixty miles away. Peace having '
been declared the regiment was ordered home, and
was mustered out of the service in October, 1848.
Though in the service for a considerable period be-
fore war was declared, and long after the war was
over, it so happened that Col. Easton saw no fight-
ing whatever, notwithstanding the fact that in his
two periods of service he probably traveled farther
for a chance to fight than any officer in the army.
Upon returning from Mexico, Col. Easton resumed
his field sports, and was a familiar figure in all the l
unsettled portions of St. Louis and the adjacent coun-
ties. He was particularly expert with the rifle, and
there were few men in the Southwest who were better
marksmen. It is still his delight to talk of his ex-
ploits with rod and gun, and even yet he often in-
dulges in his favorite pastimes. It is his custom
annually to go into a " fall encampment" with certain
of his sporting friends, who have built club-houses
near Grand Tower, Mo., and on the Black River,
Ark.
When the Territory of New Mexico was organized,
President Fillmore offered him the secretaryship, but
he declined the honor. In 1853, Mr. Fillmore ap-
pointed him assistant treasurer of the United States,
at the request of Maj. H. S. Turner, who had re-
signed, and he retained this office until removed by
President Pierce. After the war Col. Easton was
strenuously urged to run for Congress, but declined.
From 1860 to 1864 he was a member of the
county court. During his term the court-house was
finished, and the insane asylum was in process of
building.
When the street railway system was established in
St. Louis, Col. Easton subscribed to the stock of
several companies, and succeeded B. Gratz Brown in
the presidency of the Citizens' Railway. From 1861
to 1864 he was inspector-general of the State of Mis-
souri, under the celebrated " Order No. 96," which
authorized the equipment and maintenance of a body
of troops raised in Missouri under the authority of
the Federal government, and bearing allegiance there-
to, but to be employed exclusively for the defense of
the State. In this capacity Col. Easton showed great
ability as an organizer, and rendered the Union cause
the most indefatigable and efficient service, his duties
at times leading him into situations of extreme per-
sonal peril. His commission was signed by Governor
Gamble, and he subsequently learned with pride that
it was the first one issued by that official undor the
order in question.
For several years Col. Easton was the agent of Mrs.
Tyler, of Kentucky, and efficiently managed that
lady's vast estate. In 1873 he was appointed assessor
of internal revenue by President Grant, of his own
motion, and without the customary consultation with
the Missouri delegation. When Grant lived in St.
Louis and was but a retired ajrmy captain, Col. Easton
had rendered him many services. Notably when a
member of the county court he had advocated (though
unsuccessfully) Grant's appointment as county engi-
neer. Col. Easton held this office until it was legis-
lated out of existence, aiJd soon after that event was
appointed pension agent by President Grant, who was
1458
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
still anxious to show his regard for an old and trusty
friend. He was often consulted by the President
concerning appointments in St. Louis, and his recom-
mendations were usually concurred in. To show the
estimation in which he was held by the administration
the following graceful note is appended :
"TREASURY DEPARTMENT,
" WASHINGTON, May 7, 1875.
"DEAR SIR, — The President directs me to tender you the
office of collector of internal revenue at St. Louis, vice Maguire,
resigned, and I beg to add an expression of my official and per- j
sonal desire that you may see proper to accept the same.
" Please regard this communication as confidential, and answer
by telegraph. The word ' yes' will be regarded as acceptance.
" Very truly yours,
"B. H. BRISTOW, Secretary.
"ALTON EASTON, ESQ., St. Louis, Mo."
Col. Easton did not accept the position, but at the
expiration of his term as pension agent, in 1877. re-
tired to private life, and has spent the succeeding inter-
val in the enjoyment of well-earned ease. His years
considerably exceed the Psalmist's limit, but he is
yet vigorous in body and mind. When in the prime
of life he wandered and hunted over the very spot
where his large but modest residence now stands
in West St. Louis, on a busy avenue called by his
name, and so designated because of the respect which
his townspeople entertain for him personally and their j
appreciation of his many and distinguished public ser-
vices. Col. Easton is one of the few remaining links
that connect the present with the Territorial period
of the State, and in a long and singularly interesting
career he has won and retained the high regard of
two generations of his fellow-men.
Incidental reference has been made to Judge Silas
Bent as a lawyer of eminence. His father, also named
Silas, was born in Sudbury, Mass., in 1744, and was
commander of the " Boston Tea Party." The sub-
ject of this sketch, one of seven children, was born
in 1768, educated at Rutland, moved to Ohio in
1788, and afterwards to Virginia, where he married
Martha Kerr. In 1804, after holding various sur-
veyorships and associate judgeships, he was appointed
chief deputy surveyor for Upper Louisiana by Albert
Gallatin. In 1807 he was made first judge of the
Court of Common Pleas for the district of St. 1
Louis. The next year he became auditor of public
accounts. In 1809, with Bernard Pratte and Louis
Labeaume as associates, he was appointed presiding
judge of the St. Louis court, and signed the first ;
town charter. In 1811 he was again public auditor
and first judge of the courts, and in 1813 became
supreme judge of the Territory, was recommissioned,
and held the office until it was abolished by the
admission of Missouri. Then he was appointed
clerk of the St. Louis County Court, which place he
retained until his death in November, 1827. His
public duties were most onerous, and were ably and
honestly performed. Of his seven children, the third,
John, born in 1803, and admitted to the Missouri
bar in 1824, gave great promise, and was very popular
in St. Louis, where he held the office of circuit attor-
ney, and at one time represented the district in the
Legislature. He died in 1845. Charles Bent be-
came Governor of New Mexico, and was murdered in
a Mexican outbreak at Taos in 1847.1 Julia mar-
ried Governor Lilburn W. Boggs, during whose term
the "Mormon excitement" occurred, and who in 1849
moved to California, settling in the Sacramento valley,
where he died a few years later. The other children
were Lucy, Dorcas, WTilliam W., Mary, George, Rob-
ert, Edward, and Silas.
Thomas Hart Benton came to St. Louis in 1813,
and began the practice of the law. How large a part
he played at the bar of St. Louis and in the councils
of the nation his biography, on another page, relates
in full. The mention of Benton recalls the Lucases,
his lifelong enemies, whose lives are also given in full
in another place. Charles Lucas, the son, who fell
beneath Benton's pistol, was of great promise as a
young lawyer, and seems to have been his father's
favorite child up to the time of his unhappy fate.
He, like his brother James, began his education at
Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, passed the bar in
1814, was at once elected to the Legislature, and soon
after appointed United States attorney for the Terri-
tory. It was his rapid advancement in political honors
which probably earned him the hatred of Benton,
who saw in him a formidable rival for that senator-
ship which was the goal of his own ambitions. Judge
Lucas at least seemed to think so, and never relented
1 Charles, William W., and some of the younger brothers were
among the bravest of the mountain men who fought Indians,
led parties across the plains, pierced the loveliest valleys and
climbed the steepest slopes of the Rocky Mountains. Their
deeds are forever a part of those stormy days of warfare with
Blackfoot, Comanche, and other tribes of fierce warriors. They
rank with Milton Sublette and his brothers Andrew, Saul, and
William, with St. Vrain and Bonneville. They were traders,
explorers, heroes, and the men whom they led were absolutely
fearless, infinitely fertile in resource* Capt. Charles Bent was
once seen to charge alone and check fifty Indians. His genius
in Indian warfare was of the first rank. In 1829, with sixty
men, he defeated over five hundred well-armed Indians on the
Cimaron River. William W. Bent and two companions, while
trapping beaver in New Mexico, were once attacked by tw6
hundred warriors, but built a breastwork of stones, fought them
for three day*, and finally drove off their assailants. It was a
time when the sons of the best families of St. Louis were on the
frontiers. William W. Bent died in Colorado, May 19, 1869.
BENCH AND BAR.
1459
in his bitter hostility to and his relentless scorn of
Benton. An instance of this occurred at a ball at the
Planters' House, when Col. Benton was one of the
invited guests. Judge Lucas was standing with his
daughter at the head of the room when he saw Ben-
ton. Anxious friends endeavored to prevent a " scene,"
with no avail. Making his way to where Col. Ben-
ton stood, he coolly and deliberately surveyed him
with the most contemptuous expression of counte-
nance, and turning to his son James, in a distinct
tone, and in his slightly broken accent, said, " It is a
con-so-la-shion, my son, that whoever knows Measter
Col. Thomas H. Benton knows him to be a rascail, —
eh, my boy ?" Col. Benton thought it wiser to brook
the insult than to resent it, and shortly after left the
room. There are many stories told of Judge Lucas.
He was a man of faultless integrity, of immovable
opinions, and of a haughty imperiousness. Old citi-
zens speak of him as a little, bent old man, with snow-
white hair and sparkling jet-black eyes.
James H. Lucas assumed care of the extensive es-
tate left by his father, and filled many positions of
trust and honor.
Of J. H. Lucas' family, the eldest daughter married
Dr. J. B. Johnson ; another married Silas Hicks, of
New York, and some years after his death Judge
Hagar, of San Francisco; J. B. C. Lucas possesses
much of his father's business capacity ; Robert mar-
ried Miss Clara Kennedy, daughter of Dr. Kennedy,
of the United States army; William, the eldest son,
married a daughter of ex-Governor Horner, of Wis-
consin, and is of a decided literary turn ; James,
Joseph, and Heury are the other children. His do-
mestic life was in all respects a fortunate and happy
one. In 1870, Wilson McDonald, the sculptor, exe-
cuted a bust of Mr. Lucas, which was formally pre-
sented to him with a speech by Hon. John H. O'Neil.
In the Territorial days of Missouri three brothers,
Joshua, David, and Isaac Barton, sons of a Baptist
minister, were distinguished for their knowledge of
the law, though David possessed the most talent, and
was unquestionably one of the greatest men of his
time. They were from the mountains of East Ten-
nessee, where they had studied English law. Alex-
ander Gray, James Peck, afterwards United States
district judge for Missouri, and the three McGirk
brothers, Matthias, Andrew, and Isaac, were also from
this rugged region. The father of the Bartons, Rev.
Isaac Barton, was born in Maryland in 1746, removed
to North Carolina, and settled near Greenville, where
David was born in 1783. Isaac Barton, the elder,
afterwards moved to Jefferson County, Tenn., where
he died in 1831 ; his wife Keziah survived until
1845, dying at the age of ninety-one. This worthy
couple had twelve children born to them. One son
was killed in the war of 1812. David began his
education at Greenville College, now in Tennessee,
but then in North Carolina, Tennessee being a part
of that State up to 1796. The inscription on the
monument to his memory erected by the State says
he " came to Missouri in 1800," but this is a
mistake, as he was admitted to practice in 1810
in Tennessee, and reached St. Louis the following
year. In the war of 1812 he was an Indian ranger,
as were many of the most noted lawyers of the day
in the West. The memory of Jo Daviess, of Ken-
tucky, yet lingers in the State made famous by his
eloquence and consecrated by his life-blood. The
leaders of the St. Louis bar in 1804-15 were no less
brave, though more fortunate. Some of them were
as familiar with the rifle, the sword, and the dueling
pistol as with their Blackstone and Kent, and were
notable figures at hunts in canebrake and forest, and
at turkey shoots in the villages. Shortly after David
Barton's arrival, Col. Easton remarked that he would
become a famous orator, and in a few years he was
one of the best stump-speakers of his party. When
the first Territorial Legislature met, of which sev-
eral Tennessee lawyers were members, an act was
passed making the common law of England and
British statutes, so far as not inconsistent with the
Constitution of the United States, the law of the
Territory. David Barton was immediately appointed
circuit judge for St. Louis. In December, 1817, he
found he could make more money in his private prac-
tice, and resigned his office. The Superior Court and
the Circuit Courts of St. Charles, Washington, and
St. Louis often thereafter rang with his eloquent
pleadings. At this time, and for some years after, he
was the most popular man in the State. When the
Constitutional Convention met in June, 1820, David
Barton was elected presiding officer by a unanimous
vote, and so many of the provisions of the State Con-
stitution were framed by him that the instrument is
still known as the " Barton Constitution." That au-
tumn, while his courtesy and administrative ability
were still fresh in the public mind, the General As-
sembly met, and the election of David Barton as
United States senator was by acclamation. Then
followed that remarkable contest between Benton and
Lucas, elsewhere more fully described. As is well
known, Barton and Benton did not take their seats in
the Senate until the passage of the Missouri Compro-
mise, but in 1821 their first speeches gave them high
rank as debaters, which they afterwards maintained
throughout their public life.
1460
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
In 1823 a correspondent of the New York Adver- \
tiser gave the following graphic description of these :
famous men : " It is striking to see the shyness which j
these two distinguished senators exhibit with regard !
to each other. On every political subject they are
antipodes, and they seem to have for each other no
great personal friendship. They never converse or
associate either in public or in private. In debate
they are uniformly opposed on every subject, but
still they never, even in direct and sharp replication,
allude to each other in the ordinary way, as ' my
honorable colleague,' or ' my friend, the senator from
Missouri.' In no way are they ever known to recog-
nize each other, either in friendship and courtesy or
in avowed hostility. In person and mind they also
differ. Benton is tall, large, and erect. Barton is
thin and of rather low stature. Benton's education
and genius fit him for activity and stirring life ; Bar-
ton's for quiet and sedentary pursuits. The former
is the more laborious, the latter is the more highly
gifted. Both are literary, but the learning of the
former is the result of the hard study of his later
years, while that of the latter grew with the growth
of his own mind, and is affiliated with it. Benton's
speeches, and particularly his writings, remind one of
extracts, abridgments, and labored compilations,
while Barton's words and ideas flow easily from a
native and inexhaustible fountain. Benton is am-
bitious and aspiring ; his colleague, on the other hand,
is careless of political fame and advancement. Ben-
ton is lofty and imposing in his manner, and in
temper high-toned, fierce, and contentious, while
Barton is modest and unpretending, but dignified,
cool, and resolute. Both of these gentlemen were
born and educated in the old States, but have passed
their lives chiefly in the new regions of the West,
where they have filled with reputation the highest
offices. Of the State of Missouri, which they now
represent, they are eminently the founders, having
been among the first to settle it, having framed its
Constitution and established its laws, and having, as
it is to be presumed, imparted much of their own
strong and original character to its institutions and
its population." It is evident from this that the per-
sonal friendship which in 1820 made Barton throw
the whole weight of his influence for Benton's elec-
tion had greatly waned, and that the way was open-
ing for the estrangement of 1825, and his subsequent
philippic against his colleague. In reference to the
quotation just made the St. Louis Republican com-
mented as follows : " Col. Benton \vas not a member
of the convention which formed the present Constitu-
tion of Missouri, nor has he ev&r-^qited in a legislative
capacity since his removal to the State. He never
was what is termed a popular man with the people.
They have always viewed him with distrust, and time
in developing his character has not served to do away
their apprehensions. The same feeling which has
heretofore existed would now prevent his elevation to
any office which depends upon a manifestation of the
popular will."
In describing Barton's eloquence, Judge Bay, author
of the " Bench and Bar of Missouri," says that his
wit, sarcasm, and invectives were terrible, and even
overpowering. Benton was the best logician, but was
far inferior in pathos, vehemence, and imagination.
For ten years Barton served in the United States
Senate with zeal and efficiency, but the support he
gave to Adams in 1825, as against Jackson, urging
John Scott, Missouri's representative, to vote for the
former, was fatal to his political future, and he retired
from public life for some years. Before this, how-
ever, he delivered his great speech, which was ranked
at the time with Webster's famous reply to Hayne.
Wrought up to the passionate heights of fearless and
torrent-like oratory, he spared none of his opponents,
not even Benton, whom he arraigned for official mis-
conduct. The speech remains to this day a model of
masterly invective and denunciation, and at this time
he received the title of " Little Red," which clung to
him the rest of his life. It was a rough-clad back-
woodsman from Western Missouri who, after hearing
this great speech, shouted through the Senate galleries
and the streets in wild excitement, " Hurrah for the
Little Red!" and when asked for an explanation, said
he once owned a little red rooster which whipped all
its opponents, and that " was like Dave Barton !"
When public feeling turned so strongly against Bar-
ton that he was defeated, the opposition press called
it a national calamity. The earnest leaders who after-
wards organized the Whig party spoke with universal
regret of his retirement.
St. Louis journals of July 13, 1830, contain ac-
counts of a dinner given in his honor by his personal
friends and those who approved of his public course.
A preliminary meeting had been held July 7th, and
the following gentlemen were appointed the managing
committee : George Collier, Josiah Spalding, D. Hough,
Jesse G. Lindell, Henry S. Geyer, W. R. Grimsley,
F. L. Billon, W. H. Hopkins, D. B. Hill, C. Wahren-
dorf, M. Tesson, J. Baum, William K. Rule.
On Saturday, July 10th, two hundred persons sat
down to the banquet at the old Missouri Hotel. Mayor
Daniel D. Page acted as president, and William Rus-
sell, Thomas Forsythe, James Clemens, and Thomas
Cohen were vice-presidents. David Barton delivered.
BENCH AND BAR.
1461
an address that occupied more than an hour. His
friends in 1831 persuaded him to run for the Lower
House as candidate against Spencer Pettis, of the
Jackson party, but the latter was so overwhelmingly
in the majority at that time that all Barton's eloquence
could not turn the scale. In 1834-35 he was sent
to the State Senate, and assisted greatly in compiling
the " Revised Statutes." This ended his -public life.
Many stories are told about David Barton's witty
remarks. Once, when pleading a case before the Su-
preme Court, the judge (George Tompkins) stopped
his argument with " Do you call that law ?" " No,
your Honor," he replied, with suavity, " but I did not j
know but that the court would accept it as law." He
was short in build, broad-shouldered, and had a high
forehead, and was very careless in his dress. His
conversational powers were great. After his death,
on the 26th of September, 1837, the State named a
county after him, and also placed a marble shaft over
his grave, whose inscription characterized him as a
profound jurist, an honest statesman, and a just
and benevolent man. The saddest fact in regard to
his life is its close, which was clouded by an impaired
judgment and by an intellect reduced almost to imbe-
cility. The St. Louis Republican of Oct. 9, 1837,
says, " Such has been the melancholy condition of
his mind, from which for some time past there has
been no hope of his recovering, that we cannot but
look upon his death as a relief from a worse condi-
tion. The deceased was one of the most distinguished
lawyers and politicians of the West. His name is
particularly identified with the history of Missouri
from the organization of the State government to the
present time. He was alike distinguished for his
eloquence and profound legal acquirements, and un-
aided by fortune or alliance, rose by dint of an in-
domitable spirit and his own capacious mind from rustic
obscurity to fame and affluence. During the session j
of the Legislature of 1834-35, Judge Barton was
observed to be unusually abstracted and moody; a
slow but desponding melancholy seemed to be preying
upon his faculties, which continued to assail him until
he sunk at last into hopeless and desperate insanity,
the inevitable symptoms of which were first recog-
nized by his friends in a series of numbers which ap-
peared in this paper during the past winter over the
signature of ' Cornplanter.' His malady increased
with the most frightful effects, leaving naught of the
once highly -gifted statesman and critical jurist save
an emaciated frame and a ruined and distracted
mind."
Joshua Barton, brother of the preceding, was much
less of a public speaker but far more of a jurist. He
93
was born in East Tennessee about 1788, though the
exact date is unknown. His earlier law studies were
pursued in the office of Rufus Easton, St. Louis, and
Edward Bates, afterwards his partner, and Attorney-
General of the United States during Lincoln's adminis-
tration, studied under the same profound jurist. After
the State government was formed he became Secretary
of State, but resigned to accept the United States dis-
trict attorneyship. He was then in the prime of his
powers, and Judge Edward Bates used afterwards to
say that " he had the best legal mind at the St. Louis
bar, and was the most accomplished lawyer he had
ever met."
At this time also the third Barton brother, Isaac,
was holding the position of clerk of the United States
Court of Missouri, which he obtained in 1821, and
kept till his death in 1842. The star of the Bartons
seemed in the ascendant. David was winning laurels
in Washington, and few could contend with Joshua in
the St. Louis courts ; but in 1823 a communication
appeared in the Missouri Republican charging Gen.
William Rector, surveyor-general of Missouri, Illi-
nois, and Arkansas, with corruption in office. He was
absent, and his brother Thomas called on the editor,
learned that Joshua Barton wrote the letter, and chal-
lenged him. In their correspondence Barton refused
to fight unless Rector would first admit the truth of
the charges, and this being done they met on Bloody
Island, where so many duels had occurred. It was
June 30, 1823, weapons pistols, distance ten paces.
At the first fire Barton fell dead, shot through the
heart. His body reposes in St. Charles, near where
the old round stone fort stood. On the 2d of July
the St. Louis bar met, Alexander Stuart being chair-
man, and it was unanimously resolved that, in testi-
mony of their respect for his memory, each member
should wear crape on the left arm for thirty days.
On March 6, 1859, the chords of public sorrow
were deeply touched by the announcement of the
death, on the previous night, of Henry S. Geyer, for
more than forty years one of the very foremost at
the St. Louis bar. All the records of that time give
evidence of the respect and admiration he had inspired,
and his fame as an acute jurisconsult was national.
The principal arguments and authorities presented in
the Dred Scott case were submitted by him. He was
born of German parents in Frederick County, Md.,
Dec. 9, 1790. His early promise attracted the attention
of Gen. Nelson, with whom he studied law. Another
early friend was his uncle, Daniel Sheffie, of Virginia,
a prominent lawyer and politician. He began prac-
tice in 1811, but entered the army in 1812 as first
lieutenant, and rose to the rank of captain in active
1462
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
duty on the frontier. In 1815 he re-entered the legal
field in St. Louis, and almost immediately won recog-
nition. At that time the laws of the Territory were
in a rudimentary condition, and the inchoate titles
granted by Spain were being examined and readjusted,
and the most intricate problems were involved in their
settlement. Capt. Geyer applied himself so assidu-
ously to this department of law that for over forty
years hardly an important land case was settled in
Missouri without his aid. But he also possessed a
variety of legal accomplishments, and was perfectly at
home in the subtile distinctions of commercial law, in
complex details of chancery cases, and in the skillful
management of jury trials, when his examination of
witnesses and of the evidence was unequaled. A
writer says of him, " His
vigilance, dexterity, and
perfect presence of mind
were indescribable." But
we will let his old associ-
ates describe his valuable
services to jurisprudence.
When, March 8, 1859, the
St. Louis bar met to pass
resolutions regarding their
loss, their sorrow was mani-
fested in the most marked
degree. Edward Bates was
president, and Albert Todd
and F. A. Dick vice-presi-
dents. C. D. Drake, J. M.
Krum, J. K. Shepley, C.
Gibson, and T. C. Reynolds
drew up the resolutions,
which contained the fol-
lowing:
" Through a period of more
than forty-three years his clear,
acute, and logical mind, unim-
paired to the last, dealt with all the great questions which have
arisen in connection with the peculiar jurisprudence of this
State, and none has been more distinctly felt by our State and
Federal judiciary in their elucidation and final determination.
" His influence upon the statute law of Missouri has been no
less marked. When he had been but two years in the then
frontier town of St. Louis he compiled, with rare accuracy and
system, and published a digest of the laws then in force in the
Territory of Missouri, which still bears his name, and has al-
ways held a position of unquestioned authority. In 1818 he
was a member of the Territorial Legislature of Missouri. In 1821
he was elected a representative in the First Legislature of this
State, and on taking bis seat was chosen Speaker of the House.
He held the same position with distinguished ability in She
Second and Third General Assemblies. Upon that which con-
vened in 1824-25 devolved the difficult duty of making the first
revision of the statute law of Missouri. He had been by the
HENRY S. GEYER.
preceding Legislature appointed one of the revisers, and he
thus had an opportunity to do much in moulding the legisla-
tion of a young State, where few men could be found having
the peculiar qualities which he possessed in a very eminent de-
gree for such a work. Again in 1834-35 he participated labori-
ously and with great ability in the enactment of the second
revision of the statutes. His last legislative service was in the
session of 1838-39. In 1843 he was again appointed one of the
revisers of the statutes, but declined the appointment. Through-
out his legislative career he was distinguished for comprehen-
sive views, for independent and accurate judgment, for clear
perception of what was required in general legislation, and for
a remarkable adaptation to the laborious and ill-understood work
of framing laws.
" In his service as senator of the United States in 1851 he ex-
hibited the same mental qualities which had distinguished him
at home. His mind was logical, acute, fertile, elastic, analyti-
cal, and vigorous. His legal learning was varied and profound,
and he wielded it with a skill and power equaled by few. His
forensic efforts, whether before
a court or a ju*y, were always
impressive, and often exhibited
the highest order of ability."
The members of the bar
voted to wear mourning for
the usual period, and the
resolutions were presented
to the Supreme Court and
to the inferior courts.
It is impossible within
the limits of this brief
sketch to fully describe the
unique legal position of
Henry S. Geyer. In the
Supreme Court of the
United States he came into
contact with such men as
Webster, Ewing, and Rev-
erdy Johnson, who enter-
tained the highest respect
for his ability. Politically,
he was a firm Whig, and
an ardent admirer of Henry
Clay. When that party disappeared he returned to
the Democratic ranks. When elected to the Senate
(1851) it was as the successor of Thomas H. Benton.
His greatest reputation as a criminal lawyer was
gained in the trial of Darnes for the murder of Davis,
publisher of a St. Louis paper, in 1840. After
Dames' acquittal, Mr. Geyer's profound argument,
which occupied two days in its delivery, and turned
upon the closest analysis of surgical evidence, was
published in book form in Boston. Rufus Choate
expressed the highest admiration for its ability. In
one cpf his noted land cases, that of Strother vs. Lucas,
William Wirt was his associate, and Chief Justice
Marshall, who presided, afterwards expressed his as-
BENCH AND BAR.
1463
tonishment at Geyer's legal acumen. Indeed, the
entire history of the times makes evident the fact that
he was a formidable opponent whom few could safely
encounter, and throws into strong relief the admirable
singleness of purpose and devotion to any cause in
which he is enlisted that marks the great lawyer. Many
stories might be told of his sparkling, graphic sarcasm
and pungency of retort, and he wielded a good con-
troversial pen, writing many articles for the St. Louis
journals of the day. His religious beliefs were de- •
cided, and he was a consistent member of the Epis- i
copal Church. Personally he mingled but little with
the people, being reserved and not intimate with any
one, but he showed a great fondness for practical
joking, and there are some capital stories of his sue- j
cess in that line. Some time in 1816 he exchanged
shots with Capt. Kennerly, and the latter was wounded
in the leg. The exact cause of the duel has never
been understood, but the difficulty was amicably set-
tled, and they continued friends.
Benjamin B. Dayton was for years a partner of
Henry S. Geyer. He was born in New York State
in 1817, graduated at Union College in 1838, reached
St. Louis, and at first was with Ferdinand W. Risk.
About 1844 he married Miss Mary Jennings, of Phil-
adelphia. In 1855 the dreadful Gasconade bridge
disaster occasioned his death. He was a hard student,
and a man of most exemplary habits. The firm of
Geyer & Dayton did a large business in land cases.
One of the first judges of Missouri was Mathias
McGirk, a contemporary of the Bartons. His col-
leagues were J. D. Cook and John R. Jones. They
were appointed in 1820. Judge McGirk was born in
1790, in Tennessee, and reached St. Louis about 1814.
In 1827 he removed to Montgomery County, and
there married a Miss Talbot. In 1816 he was author
of the bill to introduce the common law into Mis- «
souri, and he framed other important bills while a !
member of the Legislature. In 1841 he retired from
the bench, devoting himself to agriculture. He was
not a brilliant jurist, but had practical sense, a reten-
tive memory, and an admirable style, both as conver-
sationalist and writer. In politics he was a Whig.
Little information is obtainable about Andrew and
Isaac McGirk, relatives of the preceding, who prac-
ticed law in St. Louis. Isaac died in 1830. John
D. Cook, Judge McGirk's associate on the bench, was
a member of the State Constitutional Convention, and
a jurist of excellence. When Judge R. S. Thomas1
1 This Richard S. Thomas reached Upper Louisiana in 1815.
In 1817 he was appointed a circuit or district judge, but in
1824 was impeached and removed. He is said to have been
was removed from the Circuit Court, Judge Cook was
appointed, preferring that place. He presided there
many years, and was a noted nisi prius judge. He
had great ability, but was too indolent to take a com-
manding place. Judge Cook was always a pleasant
companion, and widely known for his benevolence and
friendliness to younger members of the profession.
Another of the noted lawyers of the formative era
in Missouri was Judge Rufus Pettibone, who was
born in Litchfield, Conn., in May, 1784, and grad-
uated at Williams College in 1805, taking high
honors. Adopting the legal profession, he studied
in Central New York, and afterwards in Albany,
where he was admitted in 1808. In 1812, Oneida
County elected him to represent it in the Legislature,
and the next year he married Louise Esther De Rus-
sey. Five years later he removed to St. Louis, and
on his arrival was offered and accepted a partnership
with Col. Rufus Easton, then one of the leaders of
the bar. Even at this early date numbers of persons
in the Territory were opposed to slavery, and a ticket
was by them presented when the admission question
became prominent. J. B. C. Lucas, Rufus Easton,
Rufus Pettibone, Robert Simpson, and Caleb Bowles
were on that ticket, though well aware they were in a
hopeless minority. When the State government was
organized Rufus Pettibone was appointed judge of the
Second Circuit, embracing the counties of Gasconade,
Callaway, Montgomery, St. Charles, Lincoln, Pike,
and Rails. In 1823 he was appointed to the Su-.
preme Bench. In the winter of 1824-25, in con-
junction with Henry S. Geyer, he also revised the
State laws, and prepared the same for legislative
enactment. On the last day of July, 1825, in the
fullness of his powers, he died, and the State lost one
of its most valued citizens. Mr. Geyer announced his
death in the St. Louis Circuit Court, and it, as well
as the Supreme Court, adjourned with the usual
marks of respect.
Now and then, in every profession, there are lives
that tradition sets apart and crowns with peculiar
sacredness, seemingly without definite reason, except
that they were brief, brilliant, and tragical. Such a
life was that of Horatio Cozens, whom the common
opinion of his time ranked as a phenomenon of rapid
and fervent eloquence. But little is known of his
boyhood, birthplace, and education. After the ad-
mission of Missouri he came to that State from Vir-
ginia, and in a few years built up a large and lucra-
disagreeable and tyrannical, and to have become very intem-
perate. Some years after his removal from office he was thrown
from a horse and killed.
1464
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
tive practice. In July, 1826, being then but about
twenty-six years of age, he was stabbed and instantly
killed by French Strother, a dissipated young lawyer,
with whose uncle Cozens had had some political con-
troversy. It was a brutal, unprovoked murder, and
caused the wildest excitement. The murderer broke
jail a few days later, fled to Mexico, and died of de-
lirium tremens. Mr. Cozens left a- young wife and
two children. The members of the bar met a few
days later, Thomas H. Benton being in the chair,
and Henry S. Geyer secretary. Resolutions express-
ing the deepest regret were adopted, and crape was
worn for thirty days. At a much later day the fa-
mous Edward Bates was wont to express unbounded
admiration for Cozens, and
call him the worthy rival of
Geycr himself. The memory
of the gifted, attractive ora-
tor is forever linked with the
story of his early, deplorable
death.
Incidentally, heretofore,
we have mentioned the name
of Edward Bates. His ca-
reer covered the most event-
ful period of Missouri's his-
tory, and no member of the
legal fraternity stood higher
or was more esteemed. He
was widely known and loved,
perhaps more so than any
of his contemporaries, for all
unite in admiration of the
gentleness, kindness, and
perpetual, overflowing cheer-
fulness that made him a
universal favorite. Edward KDWARD BATES
Bates was born on a farm in
Goochland County, Va., Sept. 4, 1793, and received
an academic education, but, being the youngest of
twelve children, and his father dying, his scholastic
training was defective through lack of means. His
brother Fleming, clerk of Northumberland County,
aided him as far as possible. He was offered a posi-
tion as midshipman in the United States navy, which
he declined, but while still a lad he served as a private
in the war of 1812. It is also on record that his
family had been Quakers, but his father disobeyed
their doctrines and joined the Revolutionary patriots.1
1 It was related of the father of Mr. Bates that when Lord
Cornwallis offered him British protection, he carefully folded up
the papers and returned thetn, disdaining to accept the prof-
fered advantage.
In 1814 young Bates came to St. Louis, without
a profession, and with very small means. His elder
brother, Frederick Bates, was then living in St. Louis,
being secretary of the Territory of Missouri, to which
position he had been appointed by President Jeffer-
son, after holding a United States judgeship in Mich-
igan, in order to thwart and counteract the supposed
schemes of Gen. Wilkinson, then Governor, in aid of
Aaron Burr's designs. He was also first recorder of
land titles when the office was created in 1806, and
secretary of the first board of land commissioners in
1807. After the formation of the State government
Frederick Bates was elected the second Governor of
the State, and died in office in 1825.
The first thing Edward
Bates did was to enter Col.
Rufus Easton's law-office,
where he remained until
admitted to practice in 1816.
In 1818 he was appointed
district attorney of the Ter-
ritorial government, and
commissioned by Governor
Clark. He was chosen a
delegate to the Constitu-
tional Convention in 1820,
attorney- general the same
year, member of the Legis-
lature in 1822, United States
attorney for Missouri district
in 1824, and was sent to
Congress in 1827 over John
Scott, but was defeated for
re-election by Spencer Pettis.
After returning from Con-
gress he was elected a mem-
ber of the Legislature from
St. Charles. Immediately
after this Mr. Bates removed to St. Charles, and lo-
cated on a farm in the county of St. Louis, on Dar-
denne Prairie. He still had an extensive and profit-
able practice, but used to say that it took all the money
that Lawyer Bates could make to support Farmer
Bates. He resumed practice in St. Louis in 1842,
until he was elected judge of the Land Court by popu-
lar vote, a position which he filled with great ability.
In 1850 he was offered the secretaryship of war
in Fillmore's cabinet, but declined it ; was elected
presiding officer of the great National Whig Conven-
tion at Baltimore in 1856; was honored by Harvard
with a degree in 1858 ; and was chosen Attorney-Gen-
eral in Lincoln's first cabinet. In these various capaci-
ties his useful life broadened into many channels. Ill
BENCH AND BAR.
1465
health caused him to leave the cabinet, and he died in
March, 1869. It would be difficult to find a more
rounded, complete, satisfactory record of public ser-
vice. During all these years he was indefatigable in
his study of law and literature, and had the conduct
of many important cases.1
1 Mr. Bates' labors in behalf of the public schools of St.
Louis are especially worthy of mention, and are thus described
by Col. T. T. Gantt in an address before the United States Court
on the occasion of Mr. Bates' death :
" The first cases in the trial of which he became conspicuous
in the eyes of the younger members of the bar, unfamiliar ex-
cept by tradition with his merits as a barrister, were those which
tested the title of the Board of President and Directors of the
St. Louis Public Schools to lots of ground in the township of
St. Louis equal in area to one-twentieth of all the land included
in a survey comprising the town, its common fields and common.
The litigation thus inaugurated was, from every point of view,
most interesting, not only by reason of the immense value of
the endowment given to the public schools of St. Louis by the
act of 1812, but on account of the difficulty of the questions to
be decided before the title could be settled: the subject engaged
the attention of the profession as scarcely can be predicated of
any other head of titles to land. The first decision on the title
of the schools was given by our Supreme Court ip 1843. Even
at this day the school corporation is still engaged in the asser-
tion of a doubtful claim to some lands in this city. But it is
believed that all matters of substance in this connection were
determined by the court of last resort in 1861. With the earlier,
more difficult, and precarious strife of the first cases Mr. Bates
was intimately connected. He was the leader of the counsel
for the schools, and obtained from a court, one of the judges of
which was irreclaimably hostile to the pretensions of that cor-
poration, the decision which, after long dispute, has at length
become the accepted law of the land. I shall not, I think, as
long as I remember anything, forget the impression made upon
me by the argument which Mr. Bates made before Judge Engle,
then presiding in the Court of Common Pleas, upon the general
merits of the school title to lots of ground in St. Louis under
the act of 1812 and the acts supplementary to it. The theme
was a vast one. The discussion was new to the judge before
whom it was carried on, for. though a man of great learning
and ability, he had been trained in a school which had not
familiarized him with our peculiar system of land titles, and
there was, especially at that day, a complexity about these
which few, if any, were able to master who had not an acquaint-
ance with our local history, impossible of attainment except
after years of residence among us. The immense advantage
of this perfect acquaintance was, of course, enjoyed by Mr.
Bates, who had almost been an eye-witness of the most impor-
tant events involved, and the matchless order in which he
grouped these events and traced their bearing upon the case at
the bar made an abiding impression upon a young lawyer who
felt keenly his own want of the peculiar knowledge which en-
abled Mr. Bates to shine so brightly. After that argument it
was my privilege to see and hear him over and over again, both
at the bar of the Circuit and the Supreme Courts, sometimes ex-
hibiting the tact which enabled him to extract from even un-
willing witnesses the facts which it concerned his client to have
in evidence, sometimes dealing, with an ability altogether his
own, with a mass of conflicting testimony in his appeal to a
jury, and sometimes wringing from a reluctant court, by irre-
sistible argument, a reconsideration and overruling of a hasty
decision."
In politics he was in early life a Jeffersonian Re-
publican; in 1825 he supported Adams ; afterwards
he was a strong Whig, but when that party perished
did not join any other, though in the Republican
Convention of 1860 he was strongly supported for the
Presidency. When the civil war broke out he was
intensely loyal, and advocated the most decisive meas-
ures for its suppression. Brought up as a member of
the Society of Friends, he adhered to many of their
doctrines, but joined the Presbyterian Church in 1842,
and was for years a presiding elder.
In 1823 he had married Miss Julia D. Coalter, of
South Carolina, one of five sisters, all of whom were
united in marriage to men of note. One became the
wife of William C. Preston, of South Carolina ; an-
other of Chancellor Harper, a distinguished judge of
the same State ; and a third married Dr. Means, a
| wealthy South Carolinian, whose brother was Gov-
j ernor. One of them, in 1827, became the wife of
Hamilton R. Gamble, afterwards provisional Governor
of Missouri in war times. It is of this lady that
several biographers relate a romantic story, stating
that Edward Bates fell deeply in love with her and
proposed, but was refused. He continued his suit,
and her high regard for him then led her to disclose
to him the fact that she loved Hamilton R. Gamble,
but would never marry him because of his dissipated
habits. With characteristic magnanimity Bates then
sought Gamble, pleaded with him, stood by him, got
him to sign the pledge and keep it, and in brief re-
formed him, so that he afterwards, in 1827, married
Miss Coalter. If the story is not true it ought to be,
for such devotion to duty and friendship was a marked
trait of Edward Bates. At his death he left six sons
and two daughters. He never sought wealth, and in
f fact owned hardly any property. Though he held so
I many public offices, he was always poorer when he left
than when he entered them ; though he earned such
large sums in his practice, the demands of charity and
friendship kept equal pace with his income.
As a lawyer, Judge Bates was an earnest, practical
reasoner, and a hard student upon his cases. The
finer graces of oratory were his, and though Geyer,
Easton, Gamble, and 'Joshua Barton probably pos-
sessed a more strictly legal analysis, no lawyer of his
time was more persuasively eloquent. Some of his
forensic efforts may well be classed among the fairest
blossoms of eloquence. In public life Mr. Bates was
not a violent factionist, but he was a strong adherent
of whatever cause he espoused. For many years he
was a liberal contributor to the columns of the Mis-
son ri Republican, and his discussion of public questions
always attracted and commanded attention from the
1466
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
force and vigor of his writings, which were character-
ized by a fresh, original, and captivating style. He
despised the arts of the mere politician ; a demagogue
found no toleration in his sight. Indeed, Mr. Bates,
by his great abilities, his profound reflection, his com-
prehensive views of political economy, had entitled
himself to be regarded as a just and eminent states-
man. In his youth he published a violent denunci-
atory pamphlet against Col. Benton, but in after-life
expressed his regret. His old friend, John F. Darby,
says, " Mr. Bates won great distinction by presiding
at a meeting held at Chicago for commercial and in-
ternal improvement purposes. Men of genius and
cultivated talents were there, and they were astonished
to find a man of such splendid eloquence and elegant
elocution and force of delivery among Western dele-
gates. It is said, so thrilling was his address, that
the reporters themselves, pausing for a moment, were
so charmed that they forgot to take down his words."
He presided over the national Whig Convention in the
year that President Buchanan was nominated by the
Democracy. He then returned home and followed
his professional pursuits, and in a measure retired
from politics, but he was never withdrawn so far as
to cease to write occasional essays and make public
speeches. Though always in a popular minority, he
did more during the Jackson days to shape affairs
than any other man in Missouri. He was small in
figure, wore the customary broadcloth coat with gold
buttons, and ruffled shirt, and seemed a notable per-
son in any assemblage.. With all his modesty, tact,
and suavity, there were times, in the heat of party
conflict, when he was threatened with violence, but
his courage never faltered, and in every instance he
quelled the rioters.
Mr. Bates never fought a duel, but when in Con-
gress, when Missouri was still a Territory, he promptly
resented a supposed slight to the constituency repre-
sented by him by challenging George McDuffie, the
eminent Democratic orator and leader, of South Car-
olina, who was at that time chairman of the Commit- i
tee of Ways and Means. " I see," said Bates, rising ',
in his seat, " that the chair has not the will to protect
Missouri from insult in my person ; let the gentleman
avow himself, and I will protect myself, sir." Mc-
Duffie rose and the challenge forthwith passed. The ,
South Carolinian made handsome explanations, show-
ing that he had no purpose of insulting Missouri or
aggrieving Mr. Bates, but was simply giving effect to a |
parliamentary stratagem, and so the hostile meeting
was avoided.
The action taken by the St. Louis bar on Mr.
Bates' death evinced the greatest regard for his mem-
ory. Two meetings were held, and speeches were
made by Col. James 0. Broadhead, Samuel T. Glover,
Judge S. M. Breckinridge, John F. Darby, and others.
All were glowing eulogies, called forth by his long
and splendid career ; all dwelt with especial affection
on his personal virtues. One speaker closed by say-
ing, " He was a bold, brave, good man. In all re-
lations of life it may be said of Mr. Bates that he
performed his duty to his family, as a citizen,
and to his God. It is well to record the fact that
here was a man without advantages, without, as I am
told, a classical education, without any adventitious
aid, a mere youth seeking his fortune in the West,
without pretensions, without assumption or arrogance,
but by the native force of his intellect, and by an
honest, conscientious, upright life, mounting up from
the lowest to the highest round of the ladder of
fame."
With all this evidence regarding the character and
achievements of this great man, it is a pity that a
record of his most famous speeches has not been
kept. There was, for instance, the celebrated Mon-
tesquieu trial in 1850, one of the most dramatic and
widely-known cases of modern times. Judge J. B.
Colt presided. James R. Lackland and Uriel Wright
represented the State, and Edward Bates, H. S.
Geyer, Wilson Prirnm, and Charles Gibson the defense.
The latter, in 1878, being then the only surviving
counsel, contributed an account of the trial to the
Missouri Historical Society.1
1 No event in the criminal annals of St. Louis ever created
such an intense feeling in the community as the Montesquieu
murder, or City Hotel tragedy, as it was popularly called. On
the morning of Sunday, Oct. 28, 1849, two young French noble-
men, Gonsalve and Raymond de Montesquieu, arrived in St.
Louis and stopped at Barnum's City Hotel. They had come to
this country the preceding June for recreation and pleasure,
and had traveled leisurely westward, Chicago having been the
last stopping-place. Gonsalve was about twenty-eight years
old, and his brother was two years his junior. Both were lib-
erally supplied with money. Among their effects were capa-
cious wardrobes, a number of guns, and an extensive hunting
equipment. They were assigned a room situated on a hall
leading from a back piazza. Directly opposite, but in a room
opening directly on the piazza, Albert Jones, H. M. Henderson,
and Capt. Wm. Hubbell slept, and in another room, the window
of which overlooked the piazza, were T. Kirby Barnuin, nephew
of the proprietor of the hotel, and Mr. Macomber, the steward.
Between eleven and twelve o'clock on the night of Monday,
October 29th, while young Barnum and Macomber were pre-
paring for bed, they were startled by a tapping on the window-
pane, and the curtains being drawn aside they saw the two
young Frenchmen on the piazza, one of them armed with a
gun. Simultaneously with the discovery one of the Frenchmen
fired, the contents mortally wounding Barnum and giving Ma-
comber a flesh-wound on the wrist.
Aroused by the report of the gun, Jones, Henderson, and
Hubbell opened the door of their room, and were immediately
BENCH AND BAR.
1467
A bronze statue has been erected to Edward Bates'
memory in Forest Park, and the St. Louis Law Library
has a fine portrait of this distinguished advocate. In
his long life many persons afterwards noted were his
fired upon, Jones being instantly killed, and the others slightly
wounded. The brothers returned to their room after the shoot-
ing, and were subsequently arrested there.
The homicide was at first regarded as a mystery, as the Mon-
tesquieus were perfectly sober, and had had no intercourse or
communication whatever with the five men who were shot. At
the time of their arrest the younger brother stated that Gon-
salve had recently displayed symptoms of insanity, and the
latter, exculpating his brother from all blame, said he was con-
trolled by an irresistible inclination to kill two men ; that he
started out to do so, and that his brother merely followed to
prevent a tragedy, but it was consummated before he (Ray-
mond) could interfere.
After the tragedy public indignation ran so high that the
jail was surrounded, and efforts were made to obtain possession
of the Montesquieu brothers, but these were foiled by the jailer
and sheriff, who, between seven and eight o'clock on the even-
ing of the day succeeding the homicide, and while the crowd
were assembling around' the jail walls, deeming it unsafe to
keep the prisoners longer in jail, quietly took them from their
cells, conveyed them over the back wall, through the church-
yard to Fifth Street, where cabs were in waiting, and conveyed
them to Jefferson Barracks. On the way to the barracks the
elder of the two seemed perfectly composed, and when they
reached the gate took advantage of the sheriff's a.bsence from
the cab, sprang from his seat, and made a slight effort to es-
cape. The younger appeared very much frightened, and used
every precaution while being conducted from the jail to avoid
recognition. Between one and two o'clock A.M. on the Friday
following they were returned to the jail.
At the time of their arrest the statements of the Montes-
quieus as to their birth and social position in France were re-
ceived with incredulity, it being generally believed that they were
desperadoes, but a few weeks later their claims were substan-
tiated, as the following extract from the Missouri Republican
will show :
"The deplorable and almost incomprehensible event which
produced so much sensation in the public mind a few weeks
ago, and so much grief in several families, seems to have ex-
cited equal sensation and grief in France. The last steamer
brings out from Mr. Rives, our minister at Paris, a letter of his
own to Senator Benton, with many letters and official docu-
ments to himself and others to Senator Benton, Senator Cass,
and the Hon. Mr. Winthrop, on the subject of this most melan-
choly occurrence. The letters make known the fact that the
father of these young gentlemen (the late Count Montesquieu)
labored under insanity, and destroyed his own life two years
ago, and that their elder brother is now insane in Paris, and
hence raise the irresistible inference that inherited insanity
must have broken out in the two brothers at St. Louis. All the
letters speak of them in the same terms as being remarkable
for the amiability of their characters and their ' mild and inof-
fensive manners;' that they came to the United States for in-
formation and recreation, and especially to see the Western
country, and with ample means and credit. They descend from j
a family in France not only of great historic fame, but dis- |
tinguished for private virtues.
" The celebrated Duke de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, author
of the ' Maxims,' is their grandfather on the mother's side; the I
present Duke de la Rochefoucauld writes in their behalf as '
students, as will be seen hereafter. One of these was
Col. Jo Davis, of Fayette, born in 1804, who died in
1871.
The Gamble brothers, Hamilton R,. and Archibald,
were distinguished for character and ability, and upon
the first fell the burden of state in those " times that
nephews; the Gen. Oudinot, Duke of Reggio, and Gen. Arrigri,
Duke of Padua, also in their behalf as relations. The Count
Montesquieu himself belonged to the distinguished family of
that name. Many Americans in Paris, among them Mr. Wil-
liam H. Aspinwall, of New York, also writes, and with all the
deep feeling which the view of the agonized condition of the
unhappy mother and relations so naturally inspires. These
letters and official attestations have all been forwarded to St.
Louis, to have their effect in explaining a transaction which
seemed to be incomprehensible."
In the latter part of December, 1849, Lewis Borg, vice-consul
of France at the port of New York, and Justin Paillaird, of
Paris, arrived at St. Louis, M. Borg being commissioned to in-
vestigate the Montesquieu tragedy, and his companion being an
intimate friend of the young men involved in the melancholy
affair. The effect of the letters from abroad and the visit of
Messrs. Borg and Paillaird was to change public sentiment in
regard to the guilt and character of the accused, and it was not
strange that in each of two trials the juries failed to agree upon
a verdict. In the first trial the jury stood seven for acquitting
and five for convicting Gonsalve, and eight for acquitting and
four for convicting Raymond. In the case of Gonsalve the jury
divided upon his insanity, and in the case of Raymond they
divided upon the dying declaration of Barnum and Macomber's
testimony as given before the coroner and recorder. Barnum
and Macoinber identified Raymond as the person who fired into
their room, but the fact that at the time of the shooting Bar-
num and Macomber were in a lighted room, the defendants in
the dark upon the piazza, and the alarm of the persons in the
room when they saw a man approach the window with a gun in
his hand, their hasty observation and precipitate retreat, the
similarity in the appearance of the two brothers, the excite-
ment of Barnum and Macomber at the time of recognition on
the night of the occurrence, the fact that both were identified
at different periods on that night a,s the "man" who shot, that
but one gun, double-barreled, was discharged, and if both shot
they would necessarily have had to use the same piece, that at
the time of the arrest Raymond denied he had shot, and stated
that his brother did it, that Gonsalve admitted he killed both
men, and exonerated his brother, were all considered by the
jury, and caused the division upon the conviction of Raymond.
This first trial occupied four weeks, and was concluded April
20, 1850. On the next trial, which took place two weeks later,
the jury, after being out forty hours, also disagreed, the vote
being nine for conviction and three for acquittal in the cases of
both of the brothers.
A few weeks after the second trial the Governor pardoned
Gonsalve on the ground of his insanity at the time of commit-
ting the murder, and shortly thereafter he pardoned the younger
brother on the ground of " a general belief that he did not par-
ticipate in the homicide whereof he stands indicted, and that a
further prosecution of these indictments will not accomplish
any of the objects of public justice, but will result only in re-
newed trouble and increased expense to the State." The
brothers Montesquieu sailed for France from New York imme-
diately after being set free. Gonsalve afterwards died a raving
maniac.
1468
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
tried men's souls" in the early period of the civil
war. Their ancestry was of sturdy Virginian stock.
The grandfather emigrated from Ireland in 1752, set-
tling in Pennsylvania, but ten years later returned to
Europe. His eldest son came back to America, fought
in the Revolutionary war, and afterwards was Pro-
fessor of Latin and Greek in the University of Penn-
sylvania. A younger son, Joseph, was the father of
the subjects of our sketch. He, while in Ireland,
married Anne Hamilton, and in 1784 reached Amer-
ica, settling in Winchester, Va., where seven children,
of whom Hamilton Rowan was the youngest, were
born and reared under the strictest religious influences,
Joseph Gamble being ruling elder in the Presbyterian
Church. Hamilton's birth occurred Nov. 29, 1798.
His education was chiefly obtained at Hampden-Sid-
ney College, and he was admitted to practice when he
was but eighteen years of age ; before he was twenty-
one he had been licensed as a lawyer in three States,
Virginia, Tennessee, and Missouri, arriving in Mis-
souri in 1818. Some time previously his elder brother
Archibald, a well-trained and successful young lawyer,
had located in St. Louis, was then clerk of the Circuit
Court, and appointed Hamilton as his deputy. At
that time the entire territory north of the Missouri
River was divided into two counties, Howard and St.
Charles, and young Gamble soon removed to Old
Franklin, the chief town of the former, where he was
appointed prosecuting attorney for the circuit. His
official duties required thousands of miles of travel
on horseback each year, his only law-books being such
as he could carry in his saddle-bags. Social tempta-
tions in this frontier life were natural, and for a time
the brilliant attorney yielded to them, but, as related
elsewhere, the influences of love and friendship caused
a complete reform. Ri 1824 he was appointed by
Governor Frederick Bates Secretary of State, and
removed to St. Charles, the temporary seat of govern-
ment. After the death of Governor Bates, which
soon occurred, he settled in St. Louis, and his great !
success as a lawyer dates from that period. He at j
once became engaged in active competition for profes-
sional honors and rewards with such men as Benton,
Geyer, the Bartons, Robert Wash, and others, and
was fully their peer. Devoting his attention chiefly
to land cases, he seldom addressed a jury, but was re-
tained in all the important land suits, followed them
to the Supreme Court, argued them in person, and
became widely known as a jurist. He was slow of
speech and not eloquent, but no man had greater ca-
pacity for clear, brief, and logical statement of facts
and law. Herein lay his strength and his reputation.
In 1832-33 he aided to defend Judge Carr, then
under impeachment ; in 1846 he was sent to the
Legislature to assist in revising the laws, and his
services were extremely useful. Five years later (in
1851) a place was vacant on the Supreme Bench of
the State, and Mr. Gamble, though belonging to the
Whig party, then hopelessly in the minority, was
elected, receiving over forty thousand Democratic
votes, and, to still further emphasize this tribute to
his worth, his associates on the bench chose him as
presiding judge. Ill health led to his resignation in
1855, after which he only appeared in a few import-
ant cases in the United States Supreme Court. His
opinions, delivered while presiding judge, were note-
worthy both in style and matter. About 1858, Gov-
ernor Gamble removed to Philadelphia to educate his
children, and was still there when the war-clouds began
to gather. When the Legislature of Missouri passed
an act to call together a "State Convention," Judge
Gamble hastened home, found anarchy impending
and dissension everywhere, addressed a meeting of the
citizens at the court-house the very next evening after
his arrival, and proclaimed his unswerving fidelity to
the Union. It is impossible to estimate the value of
this one man's words at such a crisis ; they rallied the
Union men and strengthened their cause immeasurably.
When the convention met the Unionists had a ma-
jority. Judge Gamble took a prominent part in the
deliberations, and was unanimously chosen provisional
Governor after the flight of Governor Claiborne Jack-
son. This was in July, 1861. The eyes of all Union
men turned to Hamilton Rowan Gamble as their
surest and wisest counselor. He shrank from the
difficult task, and accepted it only when convinced
that it was his duty. This period properly belongs
to the political history of the State. It is sufficient
to say that Governor Gamble won fitting place in the
list of " war Governors."
In 1827, Mr. Gamble was married at Columbia,
S. C., to Miss Caroline J. Coalter, sister of Mrs.
Edward Bates. He died on Jan. 31, 1864, worn
out by arduous duties and anxiety. The city build-
ings, stores, and many residences of St. Louis were
draped in mourning, and business was suspended.
The funeral cortege was over a mile long. Rev. Dr.
Brooks delivered the sermon, aud pulpit and the press
united in expressing the general sorrow. The St.
Louis bar assembled en masse, paid every possible
tribute (Thomas T. Gantt pronounced the eulogy),
and went in a body to his funeral. His full-length
portrait hangs in the Mercantile Library. Lieuten-
ant-Governor Willard P. Hall assumed the duties of
chief magistrate, and proved faithful and efficient.
The Missouri Republican said editorially, after
BENCH AND BAR.
1469
Governor Gamble's death, " A purer patriot, one
more devoted to his country, a more sincere man, a
better Christian has rarely taken his departure from
among us. If he had not possessed these attributes
it is unlikely that he would have endured the fiery
ordeal with which embittered political malice pursued
him to the last hour of his life, for he was not a
politician. But he took upon himself the cares of
State and the drudgery of office at a time when he
might well be excused from it, and devoted all his
energies, his life, to the redemption of the State from
the troubles which encompassed it.:'
Governor Gamble's brother Archibald was born in
Winchester, Frederick Co., Va., in 1791 or 1792, and
came to St. Louis in 1816. He was a lawyer ; served for
a year as clerk of the St. Louis Bank, then as deputy
clerk under Clerk Marie P. Leduc in Judge David
Barton's court. Governor William Clark appointed
him clerk of Circuit Court and ex officio recorder of
deeds of St. Louis County, an office he held for
eighteen years, when J. F. Ruland succeeded him.
In 1822 he married Louisa, third daughter of Col.
Rufus Easton. He was long the efficient and active
legal agent of the public schools. When Lafayette
visited St. Louis in 1825, he was one of the alder-
men, and aided in the reception. In 1836 he was a
leading spirit in the railroad building movement. At
one time he had charge of the St. Louis post-office,
and was secretary of the Barton Convention in June,
1831. During the last twenty years of his life, which
closed in September, 1866, he lived in comparative
retirement, possessing abundant means. Like his
br6ther,,he was a strict and worthy member of the
Presbyterian Church. When in the full vigor of his
manhood no person was more closely identified with
business enterprises and the growth of the community.
Hon. John F. Darby, who flourished so long and so
genially, might be treated as the contemporary of
almost any group of lawyers in St. Louis. His
period of greatest activity, however, was from 1830
to 1842. Mr. Darby's name occurs in numerous
places in this chapter, and a full biography of him
will be found in the record of municipal history, dur-
ing his administration as mayor of St. Louis.
Numbers of distinguished lawyers have been
schcol-teachers in their early career. The comparative
leisure afforded in small country schools makes this
occupation a favorite stepping-stone from college to
the bar. Even now the schools of the West contain
many bright, ambitious young teachers who are
spending their evenings and Saturdays in reading law,
and who may be heard from hereafter as noted jurists.
The Missouri bar has had several shining lights whose
earlier manhood was passed in pedagogic work. One
of these was George Tompkins, for many years the
presiding justice of the Supreme Court. Born in
Caroline County, Va., in March, 1780, of sturdy
Saxon stock, and in a family which was one of the
earliest to settle in that region, he seems to have
lacked a college training, but was a great reader and
a hard student. About 1801 or 1802 he left Vir-
ginia with but one hundred dollars, and removed to
Kentucky, teaching school, and reading such books
as he could obtain. He remained six or seven years
in this State, most of the time in Jefferson County.
Then he came to St. Louis, and was the second teacher
in the public school, having succeeded a man named
Ratchford. The school was in a room on Market
Street, between Second and Third Streets. The popu-
lation of the town was not over fourteen hundred,
chiefly Creole French, there being only two American
families there. He still read law in his leisure hours,
and made diligent use of the few books obtainable.
To train himself and others in the art and practice of
public speaking he organized a debating society, the
first on record west of the Mississippi. Joshua and
David Barton, Edward Bates, Maj. O'Fallon, and
other young men who afterwards did good public
service participated in the. discussions. It is a pity
that a full report of these meetings has not been pre-
served. In school and in debating club young Mr.
Tompkins exercised influence over many who after-
wards became leading citizens of the metropolis.
About 1812 or thereabouts his father's death left
him heir to a share of the ancestral estate, but there
were thirteen children, George being the youngest
but one, and he refused to receive any portion of it.
In the expressive phrase of the West, he could easily
"paddle his own canoe."
The law career of Mr. Tompkins began in 1816,
when he was admitted and settled in Old Franklin,
Howard Co. In those days young attorneys found
that their surest road to fame lay through politics.
They could in no other way form so wide a circle of
friends nor better display their latent capacities. We
find that Lawyer Tompkins was twice sent to the Ter-
ritorial Legislature, then meeting at St. Charles. In
1824 he was chosen judge of the Supreme Court, and
remained in that important office until he passed the
constitutional limit of age (sixty-five years), and was
therefore forced to resign. Two years later, in April,
1846, aged sixty-seven, he died on his fine farm near
Jefferson City. No incompetent or weak person could
so long have held such a position. Judge Tompkins
was eminent for ability, integrity, and close legal re-
search, as all his decisions evince. Judge W. V. N.
1470
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Bay, late of the Supreme Court of Missouri, in his
able book upon the bench and bar, says that Judge
Tompkins was too great a stickler for precedent, and
in the case of Lecompte vs. Seargent held that " an
executor or administrator is for every purpose owner
of the moneys of his testator or intestate which have
come into his hands ;" in other words, such funds are '
liable for the administrator's personal debts. The |
judge was misled by a reference in an old English ]
digest he carried in his saddle-bags. This will serve
to show some of the difficulties for lack of books
under which the lawyers and judges of an early day
labored. At a later date Judge Bay himself reversed
this decision. There are many amusing stories afloat
about Judge Tompkins ; he was a whimsical, original
genius, eccentric, kindly, and prone to indulge in a
dry humor all his own. Sometimes it took the form
of sarcasm, as when a backwoods lawyer named Men-
dell, attired in the most slovenly manner, was arguing
a case before him. Just before the usual adjournment
hour the judge said, " Mr. Mendell, it is impossible i
for this court to see any law through as dirty a shirt
as you have on. We will adjourn to give you an op-
portunity to change your linen." Sometimes, how-
ever, the judge received back as good as he gave, as !
in a tilt with Peyton R. Hayden, one of the finest
lawyers in Central Missouri. He was arguing a case
in the Supreme Court, and Judge Tompkins, becom-
ing tired, said, " Mr. Hayden, why do you spend so
much time on the weak points of your case, to the
exclusion of the more important ones ?" Hayden was
equal to the emergency, and replied on the instant
that it was because he had found during his long
practice before that court that the weak points won
fully as often as the strong ones.
Like many professional men, the judge was an ardent
lover of horticulture. His orchards were noted for
the fine fruit they bore, and he became quite an
authority on the subject. It is often the case that
men's thoughts turn as old age approaches to quiet
scenes and rural pursuits. They cannot quite take off ;
the armor, but they hunger for the garden, the orchard, i
the wide landscape, the rolling pastures, the glades
and forests and well-tilled fields. Almost everywhere
the leaders of the bar have owned and improved rural
estates, introduced thoroughbred stock, and aided
largely in the advancement of agriculture. Bates,
McGirk, and Scott all owned fine farms. A number
of other instances might be given, but two must suf-
fice. In 1868, May 10th, the St. Louis Republican
noticed the death of Adolphe Renard, aged sixty-five,
for many years United States recorder of land titles,
and afterwards in the surveyor-general's office, but
during the later years of his life engaged in horticul-
ture and grape culture near St. Louis. In 1846 the
same journal speaks of the death of Col. Justus Post,
at one time judge of the St. Louis County Court,
afterwards in the Missouri Senate, and still later holder
of a staff appointment in the Mexican war. A native
of Vermont, he came to Missouri in 1816, practiced
law, and owned a large farm in St. Louis County.
In 1831 he removed to Pulaski County, 111., where
he died on the fine farm which he owned there.
Another of the representative lawyers of Southern
Missouri, who is nevertheless entitled to notice here,
was Gen. Nathaniel W. Watkins, born in Kentucky
in 1796, and a half-brother of Henry Clay. Reach-
ing St. Louis in 1820, he soon established himself at
Jackson, Cape Girardeau Co., served several terms in
the State Legislature, and was speaker of the Sixteenth
General Assembly. He also served as a member of
the St. Louis Convention of 1861. During these years
he was a noted horticulturist, and divided his time be-
tween his office and farm. His greatest successes were
before juries, as he was a forcible speaker and a most
adroit manager. He died March 20, 1875.
Returning to the characteristic men of the early
St. Louis bar, we find Nathaniel Beverly Tucker, who
was born at Mattox, Chesterfield Co., Va., on Sept.
6, 1784. He was the third son of J. St. George
Tucker, from the island of Bermuda, who settled in
Virginia previous to the Revolutionary war, and mar-
ried in the year 1778 the widow of John Randolph.
Mr. and Mrs. Randolph were the parents of the cele-
brated John Randolph of Roanoke, who was thus the
half-brother of N. B. Tucker.
Mr. Tucker came to St. Louis in 1815, at the age
of thirty-one years, to practice his profession of the
law, and was appointed by Frederick Bates, the secre-
tary, and then acting Governor, of the Territory,
judge of the Northern Circuit, and he held the first
term of his court at St. Louis on Monday, Feb. 9,
1818. This position he held for about five years, ex-
cept during a brief absence, and was succeeded on the
bench by Judge Alexander Stuart in June, 1823.
He lived for a time in Saline County, about 1831-32.
After a residence in Missouri for some eighteen years
or so he returned to Virginia, about 1833 or 1834, to
accept the chair of law professor in William and
Mary College at Williamsburg, James City Co.,
which position he filled about eighteen years until
his death at Winchester, Va., Aug. 26, 1851, at the
age of sixty-seven years.
Alexander Steuart, from Virginia, practiced law for
a short time at Kaskaskia about 1806 or 1807, and
then came over to St. Louis.
BENCH AND BAR.
1471
He was appointed by Governor McNair judge of
the Circuit Court to succeed Judge Tucker, and held
the first term of his court in St. Louis, June 2, 1823,
which place he filled for three years, being succeeded
on the bench by Judge W. C. Carr. He died on his
farm in the upper part of the county near Bellefontaine.
Here, too, belongs the name of Robert Wash. He
was born in Virginia, Nov. 29, 1790, was well edu-
cated, graduating from college at the age of eighteen,
pursued a wide range of legal studies, and after the
war of 1812 removed to St. Louis, where he began
the practice of law. He was United States district
attorney during Monroe's administration, afterwards
a member of the City Council, and became a judge
of the Supreme Court shortly after the State govern-
ment was organized. His death occurred on the last day
of November, 1856. In May, 1837, he had resigned
his seat on the Supreme Court. Judicious real estate
investments secured him a large fortune. He was
very fond of the chase, and always kept a pack of
hounds. At the usual bar meeting after his death
the Hon. Edward Bates presided, and in the course
of his remarks said, —
"Judge Wash was one of the oldest members of the St. Louis
bar, much older, as a member of the bar, than any man that
any one of you have seen in practice here. When I came to
this place, in the spring of the year 1814, Judge Wash was
then one of the junior members of the bar. He was a na-
tive of Virginia, from the county of Louisa. He was an ed-
ucated man, having all the benefits of scholastic instruction,
being of the ancient college of William and Mary, and having
perfected in that honorable institution by teaching in the ca-
pacity of a college tutor for some time. He then studied law,
and looked westward. When I came here I found him in a re-
spectable and honorable position, a rising member of the St.
Louis bar, having but some four his seniors at that day. I
presume that if he had devoted himself exclusively to the pro-
fession that he would have risen to much higher rank and
have attained even a greater and better fame than he did. He
served under Gen. Howard as an aide-de-camp in his expedi-
tion from St. Louis to Peoria, in the Indian war, and he served
for years after peace was practically restored as secretary to
the commissioners. He rose also in his profession, for he has
had the honor of holding a seat for some time on the Supreme
Bench of the State. His decisions are good, though he did not,
perhaps, rank higher than his colleagues."
Hon. J. F. Darby spoke of the late judge as one
of those who signed his certificate in 1827. The
chair appointed Hon. J. F. Darby, Willis L. Wil-
liams, Charles E. Whittelsey, Philip C. Morehead,
and Albert Todd to draft appropriate resolutions,
which were then adopted. H. R. Gamble, John M.
Krum, Judge Ryland, and Willis L. Williams were
appointed to act as pall-bearers.
Judge Wash was twice married. His first wife,
Mrs. Berry, daughter of Maj. William Christy, bore
him a daughter, afterwards wife of G. W. Goode, of
the St. Louis bar. His second wife, Eliza, was Col.
Taylor's daughter, and she bore him four sons and
several daughters.
George W. Goode, born in Virginia in 1815, finely
educated and associated in law with Hon. James A. Sed-
don at Richmond, settled in St. Louis, in partnership
with Tully R. Cormick. His fees in the land case of
Bissell vs. Penrose were over sixty thousand dollars.
He died from softening of the brain in 1863, and had
some years previously been compelled to give up his
profession and retire to a farm. The litigant here re-
ferred to seems to have been James Howard Penrose,
born in Philadelphia, a son of Clement B. Penrose,
! one of the board of commissioners appointed by
: President Jefferson in 1806 to adjudicate the titles to
j the lands granted by the Spanish government, and
who removed to St. Louis with his family the same
year, or else an older brother of James H., Charles
Biddle Penrose, who returned to Philadelphia and
became a prominent politician. James Howard Pen-
rose also left St. Louis for parts unknown, and died
unmarried.
About 1817, Josiah Spalding graduated from
Yale with the highest honors of his class, and in the
winter of 1819-20 settled at St. Louis. The two
years intervening had been spent in studying law,
during which he supported himself as a tutor in
Columbia College, New York. The bar of St. Louis
was not an easy one for a young man to enter, for
its standards were high and its requirements exten-
sive. Mr. Spalding began a series of articles in the
city papers, whose literary merit attracted attention
to him. The Republican of May 15, 1852, a few days
after his death, thus drew attention to his editorial
career : " In 1822, when the Constitution of the State
was disregarded, and the real interests of the people
jeoparded by the enactment of the ' Loan Office' and
' Stay Laws,' Mr. Spalding became the editor of the
Missouri Republican, which then passed into the
hands of Mr. Edward Charless, and he continued to
occupy that position until the good sense of the people
and the wisdom and integrity of the judges combined
' to put down the whole series of mischievous measures.
When this was accomplished Mr. Spalding ceased to
have any control of the paper as editor, and after that
time wrote little for political or other journals."
On the occasion of his death the members of the
bar met and passed resolutions of regret. The speak-
ers all referred to the high moral character of the de-
ceased. He was a consistent Christian and very
benevolent, devoted to his family, and almost idolized
by them. As a lawyer, he was profuse in authorities,
and his briefs always attracted attention. He was
1472
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
not an orator, but few men were equally regarded as
an adviser when important interests were involved.
One of his characteristics was an unquenchable
optimism. Most of his cases were of a commercial
nature, though he did not make a specialty of that
department. Judge Bay calls attention to the case
of Hamilton and Treat, judges, vs. St. Louis County
Court, which was tried in 1851 ; the point involved
being a constitutional question as to the legality of a
legislative act requiring the payment of additional com-
pensation to judges of certain courts out of the county
treasury. The case went to the Supreme Court, and
Messrs. Spalding and Field were for the relators, and
Messrs. Bates and Gantt for the county court. The
brief filed by Mr. Spalding is considered a choice ex-
ample of his fine powers of research.
One of the eminent jurists and pleaders of Central
Missouri was Abiel Leonard, born at Windsor, Vt.,
in May, 1797.1 He spent three years at Dartmouth
College, injured his sight by hard study, and left be-
fore graduation. His law studies began at White-
boro', N. Y., in 1816; in 1818 he was admitted, and
the next year floated down the Ohio in a skiff, and
paddled up the river to Sfc. Louis. Old Franklin then
had about eighteen hundred inhabitants, and was
thought the best place for a young lawyer, and so
Leonard turned his footsteps thither, but his funds
gave out, and he taught a country school for six
months. He afterwards practiced law at Boonville,
Old Franklin, and New Franklin, but his eyes again
failed, and for some time he employed a person to read
to him. He soon moved to Fayette, the county-seat
of Howard, began to take high rank in his profession,
and measured steel with the best lawyers of the State.
In 1823 he became State attorney for his judicial
district, filling out H. R. Gamble's unexpired term.
Judge Bay, from whose valuable work these partic-
ulars are obtained, says that the only law partner
Mr. Leonard ever had was Gen. S. M. Bay, and this
continued until the latter removed to St. Louis. Some
time about 1820, Mr. Leonard had a personal diffi-
culty with Maj. Berry, who, under some pretense,
1 Judge Leonard's grandfather, Rev. Abiel Leonard, gradu-
ated at Harvard, and preached at Woodstock, Conn. He wished
to enter the army as chaplain when the Revolution broke out,
but his church would not consent. The brave and persistent
pastor then visited Washington's Cambridge camp, and pro-
cured a joint letter from Gens. Putnam and Washington (March
24, 1776), begging the "congregation of Woodstock to cheer-
fully give up to the public a gentleman so very useful," which
they did without more ado. Nathaniel Leonard, his son, and
Judge Leonard's father, was born in this ancient town in 1768.
Serving in the war of 1812, he was commander of Fort Niagara
when the British took that pln< e.
cowhided him and was challenged. In the duel
which followed Berry was killed. Mr. Leonard was
debarred and disfranchised, but public opinion justi-
fied him, and the next Legislature restored him to
citizenship. In 1830 he married Miss Jeannette
Reeves, of Kentucky. In 1834 he assisted to revise
the Constitution. When Governor Gamble resigned
from the supreme bench, Judge Leonard took his
place, and rendered decisions which compare well with
the best of his time. His death occurred March 28,
1863. One of his warmest personal friends and asso-
ciates was Peyton R. Hayden, of Boonville, Cooper
Co., whom he met for the first time in 1819 at a
small wayside tavern. The acquaintanceship thus
begun grew year by year till Mr. Hayden's death in
1855. This gentleman was born in Kentucky, at
Paris, Bourbon Co., in 1796, came to Missouri in
1817, taught school a year, and was admitted to the
bar in 1819. Cooper County then had a frontier
population of about seven thousand. David Todd was
judge of the Circuit Court, and no less than six of
the lawyers who practiced there afterwards sat in the
Supreme Court.
Judge John F. Ryland, afterwards of the Lexing-
ton bar, belonged to this circuit, and was a familiar
figure in early days in St. Louis, making frequent
visits to that city. He used to say that once in 1825
he was offered forty arpens of land now in the heart
of the city, and worth millions of dollars, in trade for
the horse he was riding. The judge was of Vir-
ginian birth. In 1809, when he was twelve years of
age, his father moved to Kentucky. He attended
Forest Hill Academy, afterwards opened a successful
private school, read law with Judge Hardin, obtained
a license, and removed to Missouri in 1819. From
1848 to 1857 he was a judge of the Supreme Court.
His death occurred in 1873, and was deeply lamented
throughout the State. Three of his sons became
lawyers. He was an old school Presbyterian. For
two years he held the Grand Mastership of the Mis-
souri Masonic fraternity.
Still another of this noted Franklin Circuit was
Charles French, born in New Hampshire in 1797,
where he studied law. Coming to Missouri in 1817
or thereabouts, he obtained his license. He was
well read, and a first-rate special pleader. About
1839 he settled in Lexington, and about 1862, at-
tacked by melancholia and mental derangement, he
took his own life.
One of the marked characters of early St. Louis
was Judge Frederick Hyatt, of the county court,
afterwards for many years a legislator, and as such
taking active part in the most exciting political events.
BENCH AND BAR.
1473
Born in Madison County, Ky., in 1790, and enjoy-
ing only common school facilities, he came to Missouri
in 1815 or thereabouts, and became engaged in flat-
boating on the river. He settled in St. Ferdinand
township, St. Louis Co., about 1819, and was one of
the first to cultivate the soil in that garden-spot, the
beautiful Florissant valley, now so blooming with
flowers, overflowing with abundant crops, crowded
with homes of wealth and refinement. He had not
wasted his time. Reading and study gave him power
among men, and his associates in those earlier years
of the century were among the best of the region
roundabout. He was the friend and companion of
the Chouteaus, the Leducs, the Chauvins, the Prattes,
the Bissells, the Grahams, the Stuarts, and the Mul-
lanphys. Barton, Bates, Gamble, Geyer, Cozens, and
Col. O'Fallon were also among his intimates, not only
at this time, but later in the State Legislature. As
a farmer, he realized his duties to the community,
taking active part in neighborhood improvements,
roads, bridges, school-houses, churches. Governor
Alexander McNair appointed him justice of the peace
in St. Ferdinand township. This was in 1822 or
1823. He afterwards became collector of revenues
and taxes for St. Louis County, and still later judge
of the county court, performing all these duties
efficiently. While judge, the courts all being held
in a dilapidated old building on the southwest corner
of Second and Walnut, he took steps to build a court-
house on the present Court-House Square, which at
that time was vacant, uninclosed, and unoccupied
save by a public whipping-post, on which malefactors,
both male and female, were publicly whipped, receiv-
ing generally thirty-nine lashes on their bare backs,
the sheriff in every instance being sworn to lay on
the lashes to the best of his ability, without " fear,
favor, or affection." Judge Hyatt, with the assist-
ance of the other two judges, removed that obnoxious
emblem of the administration of justice, and had the
contractors, Laveille & Morton, erect what was then !
considered not only the finest court-house, but also j
the finest building in the State, the predecessor of !
the present edifice. Judge Hyatt afterwards, as a
legislator, helped to change the law from stripes, as a
relic of barbarism unworthy of a highly-cultivated
Christian people, to the present penitentiary system.
In 1828 he ran for county sheriff, but was defeated
by Dr. Robert Simpson. Judge Hyatt's character
was never better shown than in the turmoil which
followed the Constitutional Convention, whose work
was adopted by the people June 12, 1820. For four-
teen months the State was kept out of the Union. It
was one of the great premonitory struggles on the
slavery issue, and the battle-ground was at the capital of
the nation. Turbulent spirits among the frontiersmen
threatened "to fight their way into the Union," but
Hyatt and many like him opposed and crushed these
rebellious schemes. When the " First General Assem-
bly" met in the famous old Missouri Hotel, Hyatt
saw Barton elected, saw the struggle against Benton,
and took part in these eventful occurrences.
When the first Legislature met at St. Charles and
passed the " solemn public act," on the 26th of June,
1821, as a pre-requisite for the admission of Missouri,
on the proclamation by the President of the United
States, as required by the act of Congress, and under
which Missouri was admitted as a State on the 10th
of August, 1821, Judge Hyatt supported the measure.
The Legislature was afterwards convened to pass relief
laws, there being no money in the country and the
people in great distress, unable to pay their taxes.
This was done by establishing a " loan office," to issue
paper money in the name of the State of Missouri,
based on the credit of the State, and to lend the same
to enable the people to pay their taxes. Frederick
Hyatt was a member of the Legislature, and helped
to pass this law, but it was afterward declared void
by the Supreme Court of the United States as
being a violation of the Constitution of the United
States. After the Legislature removed to Jefferson
City, Frederick Hyatt was a member from St. Louis
County, when the attempt was made to remove
Judge William C. Carr from the Legislature. Fred-
erick Hyatt denounced the proceeding as "unjust
political persecution." When the State-House was
burned down in Jefferson City and the archives of
the State destroyed, Frederick Hyatt, again as a mem-
ber from St. Louis County, took his seat in the
Senate. In all Judge Hyatt was a member of the
Legislature for about twenty years, sometimes as
senator, sometimes as representative. He was no
speaker, but helped to shape important legislation of
the State during these busy years under six Gov-
ernors. He was always a Whig, and in the great
campaign of 1840, when " conventions, log cabins,
coon-skins, and hard cider emblems were the order
of the day, when paintings, banners, mottoes, proces-
sions, barbecues, songs, and speech-making ruled and
swept over the land with unobstructed sway, Fred-
erick Hyatt was always on hand in the procession,
marching in the ranks of his party." It is also said
that during the forty years in which he served the
State in various capacities he performed jury service
under Judges Tucker, Stuart, Carr, Lawless, Mullan-
phy, Krum, Hamilton, and other judges of the State
courts, and under Judges Peck, Wells, Catron, and
1474
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Treat of the Federal courts. He was married four
times, his first wife being Miss Hume, of Florissant
valley, his second wife a widow lady from Kentucky,
his third wife the widow of Maj. Whistler, and his
fourth wife the widow of Thomas J. Ferguson. His
own death occurred Sept. 10, 1870.
A lawyer of widespread fame was Judge Luke E.
Lawless, born in Dublin in 1781. His life was
checkered and romantic. At an early age he en-
tered the British navy, serving there till after the
treaty of Amiens. Afterwards he graduated at the
Dublin University, was admitted to the bar in 1805,
and seemed likely to win high standing. But he
was a Catholic, and the restriction laws, then in force,
presented what seemed insuperable obstacles in the
way of .his gaining the prizes of the profession. He
therefore, in 1810, entered the French service under
his uncle, Gen. William Lawless, acted as military
secretary for the Due de Feltre, and was promoted to
a colonelcy. Napoleon's final defeat caused him to
seek America, scarred with honorable wounds, and in
1824 he settled in St. Louis, where he soon built up
a large practice, which he enjoyed till his death in
1846. For three years he was judge of the St. Louis
Circuit Court, following Judge W. C. Carr. Judge
Lawless was slender, dignified, and always interesting,
thoroughly versed in his profession, supreme in his
judicial analysis, never eloquent, but terrible in his
pungent sarcasm. Taking part in a duel in France,
he was rendered lame ; he also acted as Benton's
second in the Lucas duel. His wife was a French
lady.
The most remarkable judicial incident in Judge
Lawless' life was his leadership in the famous im-
peachment of Judge James H. Peck, of Missouri,
before the United States Senate. This Judge Peck
was a noted man, an accomplished scholar, and a
thorough lawyer. Little is known of his early life,
but he began the practice of law in Tennessee. He
came to Missouri about 1820, and was presently
appointed judge of the Federal court, it is said, at
the instance of Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky.
In 1826 the difficulty with Judge Lawless began,
the latter being counsel for certain Spanish land
claims. In April of that year he printed over the
signature " A Citizen" a respectful criticism upon
one of Judge Peck's decisions on a case similar to
those he represented. The judge ordered the pro-
prietor of the paper to show cause why an attachment
should not issue against him for contempt of court.
A reply was made denying jurisdiction, as an appeal
had been taken in the case criticised, affirming that
it was a fair and correct statement of the decision,
and saying that Luke E. Lawless was the author.
An order was then made on Lawless, who replied re-
spectfully, though denying jurisdiction, but was sen-
tenced to twenty-four hours' imprisonment in jail, and
to eighteen months suspension from practice. De-
cember 8th of that year John Scott presented in
Congress a memorial from Lawless, charging Judge
Peck with tyranny, oppression, and usurpation of
power. The House committee reported charges of
impeachment, which came before the Senate at the
following session. It was one of the most important
and became one of the most celebrated cases ever
brought before that body, the question of the liberty
of the press being so closely involved. The House
of Representatives chose five of its prominent mem-
bers, including Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, to man-
age the prosecution, and William Wirt and Jonathan
Meredith, of Baltimore, appeared for the defense.
Among the eminent jurists who were members of
the high court of impeachment were Webster, Clay-
ton, Livingston, King, Poindexter, Grundy, White,
Forsyth, Chase, and Tazewell. Half the St. Louis
bar were summoned as witnesses, the trial occupied
six weeks, and the pleadings, which were prepared by
Judge Peck and Mr. Lawless respectively, showed
the highest ability and the most exhaustive research.
Judge Peck was acquitted, and the decision authori-
tatively settled many questions relating to the powers
of courts to punish for contempt.1
1 Hon. John F. Darby gives the following version of this in-
teresting controversy : "Richard M.Johnson and his brother
came here with some steamboats, which were seized for debt,
and he could get no lawyer to defend him except Peck, who was
not a regular lawyer. When Johnson went back to Washing-
ton he caused Peck to be appointed judge of the District Court.
Peck soon after went blind, and would sit on the bench with a
handkerchief over his eyes, an animated imitation of the
heathen figure of justice. He passed upon the land claims
presented, and Edward Bates was the United States district
attorney. When the court met in the old building at the
corner of Second and Walnut Streets, the people would come
and present their claims. Judge Peck on one of these occasions
asked some one to explain the modus operandi of proceeding.
Judge Lucas undertook to explain to the judge. Lawless, who
had filed a claim for ten thousand acres for the Soulards, pro-
tested against Lucas being allowed to make the explanation to
the court. Judge Lucas said he was licensed by an act of
heaven, which gave him a tongue to speak and explain ; that he
had taken his degree in France, his native country, and had
been invited to emigrate to America by Franklin ; that when
Mr. Lawless had applied for admission to the bar he was one of
the three to examine him, and had voted to pass him, while one
of the others had voted against him, and it might be that he
had done wrong in doing so. Lucas was very severe upon
Lawless, who had anted as the second of Col. Benton ki the
duel with the son of Judge Lucas, and it was said that Lawless
had fled from Ireland to escape the penalty inflicted upon those
engaged in the rebellion. Judge Peck decided against the claim
BENCH AND BAR.
1475
An idea of the feeling that prevailed in some quar-
ters may be obtained from a statement in the Missouri
Republican of Feb. 3, 1837, to the effect that in the
previous December some members of the St. Louis
bar met and passed a resolution to the effect that their
objection to the "reappointment of Luke E. Lawless
to the office of judge of the Third Judicial District be
expressed to the Governor." The following lawyers
were present: Henry S. Geyer, Hamilton R. Gamble,
Beverly Allen, Gustavus A. Bird, John F. Darby,
James L. English, Harris L. Sproat, Charles F.
Lowry, Wilson Primm, Charles D. Drake, Ferdinand
W. Risque, Alexander Hamilton, William F. Chase,
Thomas B. Hudson, John Bent, Singleton W. Wilson.
Henry S. Geyer was chairman.
Judge Lawless died in September, 1846, aged
sixty-five years, leaving no children. The bar met
and expressed their sense of his fine talents, and
of the loss to the profession. Bryan Mullanphy was
chairman, and Hon. A. Hamilton secretary. Lewis
V. Bogy, Edward Bates, Alexander Hamilton, Thos.
T. Gantt, and W. M. Campbell drew up the resolu-
tions. The Dublin Nation, the exponent of " young
Ireland," published a history of the professional and
military life of this distinguished man, and reprinted
the proceedings of the St. Louis bar in memory of
his services. Tradition reports that he ranked among
the half a dozen best lawyers of his time, but few
persons knew him intimately, as his manner was re-
served and almost cold. He was called the most
absent-minded man in St. Louis, and if half the
stories to that effect be true richly deserved the
title. One of his peculiarities was a habit of carrying
into the court-room a large green bag in imitation of
the English and Irish barristers.
John Delafield, a graduate of Columbia College
(1830), studied law with Judge Arius Nye, Marietta,
Ohio ; was admitted in 1833 ; married Miss Edith
Wallace, of Cincinnati, and in 1849 settled in St.
Louis. Here he gained considerable reputation in
of Lawless, and the latter published an article in a newspaper
reflecting upon the judge. Peck had the editor brought into
court and made to divulge the name of the writer. Peck had
Lawless arraigned for contempt, and fined and debarred him
from practice. On his way to jail Lawless used the most violent
language against Peck. For this conduct Congress impeached
Peck, and he was prosecuted in the Senate by McDuffie, of
South Carolina, and James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, and
was defended by William Wirt and Mr. Meredith, of Baltimore.
Clay, Webster, Calhoun, and other senators of the day sat as
the jury, and the trial was conducted without regard to polit-
ical prejudices. Peck was acquitted because there was not a
majority of two-thirds against him, but Congress passed the
claim of Lawless for ten thousand acres of land, a matter of
great exultation to him."
land cases, but turned his attention to literary pursuits,
and wrote several essays and published books on
archaeological topics. His death occurred in Liver-
pool in 1865, at the age of fifty-three. He left a wife
and four children. The three daughters married, and
the son became a prominent business man in St.
Louis.
One of Mr. Delafield's contemporaries was L. M.
Kennett, whose biography will be found in the mu-
nicipal chapter, as he was mayor of St. Louis in 1852.
Another was Judge J. M. Krum, a biography of
whom finds place in the same chapter for the same
reason.
Joseph B. Wells was a brother of Judge Carty
Wells, of the Lincoln Circuit, who was born in 1805
in Virginia, and died in 1860. Joseph, born in 1806,
studied law with his brother, practiced in Warren
County, went to the Legislature, and in 1845 moved to
St. Louis, where he became WilRam M. Campbell's
partner. Iij 1849, after Mr. Campbell's death, he
was in partnership with Judge Buckner. His health
failing, he went to San Francisco, and practiced there
with Judge J. B. Crockett, since and for many years
judge of the State Supreme Court, and afterwards
with Hon. Henry H. Haight. His health became
worse, and he died while visiting relatives in Missouri
in 1858. He was a good lawyer and a genial gen-
tleman. His best work, professionally speaking, was
done on the Pacific coast, where he is still remem-
bered with affection and respect. Some extremely
important land cases were in his hands.
Judge Robert W. Wells (not a relative of the
preceding) ranked with the best jurists of the State,
and was born in 1795 in Winchester, Va. His early
education was defective, but he was ever an indefati-
gable student, and became a good classical scholar.
About 1818 he began practice in St. Charles ; in 1821
was made prosecuting attorney for that circuit under
Judge Rufus Pettibone, and in 1826 was made at-
torney-general of the State, an office which Bates and
Easton had held with credit, and which Judge Wells
occupied with equal success for ten years. Then he
became judge of the United States District Court, re-
maining in this office until his death, April, 1865,
while visiting his married daughter at Bowling Green,
Ky. Twice married, his first wife was Miss Bancroft,
daughter of Maj. Barcroft (State auditor, 1823-33) ;
' after her death he married Miss Covington, of Ken-
I tucky. Five children were left to mourn his loss.
Hon. Thomas T. Gantt presided over the meeting of
the St. Louis bar which was held in honor of Judge
Wells. His tribute was a memorable one. Judge
Wells, said he, " illustrated and adorned the judgment
1476
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
seat." " He has done more than any other judge,
living or dead, for the elucidation and correct exposi
tion of the United States statutes on which land titles
in Missouri depend." " The State is impoverished by
his death." Such and of similar import were the
utterances of his long- tried associates in honor of
Judge Wells. Politically he was a Democrat, sup-
ported the Union, and advocated a gradual system of
emancipation years before the war. He was presid-
ing officer of the State Constitutional Convention of
1845.
A genial and popular gentleman, for many years
clerk of the United States Circuit and District Courts,
was Col. B. F. Hickman, born in Frankfort, Ky., in
1810, afterwards a deputy in Francis P. Blair, Sr.'s
office, then law student with Judge Saunders; ad-
mitted to the bar in 1832, and representative from
Anderson County for two terms. Miss Cunningham,
his first wife, was killed by being thrown from a buggy,
and Mr. Hickman was severely injured. Years after
he married Miss Moore, of Kentucky. In 1841 he
located in St. Louis, and afterwards in Jefferson
City, but in 1848 assumed the court clerkships,
which he retained until February, 1871, the time of
his death. He could not, of course, in his brief
practice win much reputation as a lawyer, but his
faithful efficiency as clerk received and retained the
friendship of every practitioner in the Federal courts,
and the usual tributes to his memory were more than
ordinarily earnest. Judge Samuel Treat was one of
the speakers on this occasion.
In 1826 irregular living hastened the death of a
brilliant young lawyer, Capt. Alexander Gray, who
fought in the war of 1812, and reached Missouri in
1816. Soon after coming to St. Louis he became
judge of the Circuit Court, and was afterwards judge
of the Northern Circuit (St. Charles, Montgomery,
and Howard Counties). As an advocate, particularly
in criminal cases, he won a great reputation. Judge
James Evans reached Missouri in 1816, and secured
a large practice in Southeastern Missouri. In 1842
he was appointed judge of the Ninth Circuit Court,
but his career was short.
The list of the leaders of the bar who were born pre-
vious to the present century is nearly complete, and
some glimpses of the lesser currents of activity have
been afforded. One of the really strong men of that
early bar, of which Gamble, Spalding, Geyer, Bates,
and Darby were exponents, was Beverly Allen, native
of Virginia, as were so many of the best Missouri
lawyers. He was born in the year 1800, in Richmond,
and having graduated at Princeton, he began his law
studies with Judge Upshur, who gave him letters of
the highest value when he removed to St. Louis in
1827. For a while he had been located at Ste. Gene-
vieve, and was John Scott's partner there. In St.
Louis he was for a time a partner of Hamilton R.
Gamble. President Adams appointed him United
States district attorney, but the next administration
removed him for political reasons. He was afterwards
in the State Legislature, was member of the City
Council, and was for a time city attorney. In 1838
he canvassed the State as a Whig congressional nomi-
nee. His death occurred Sept. 12, 1845, on which
occasion the Republican said, —
" Mr. Allen was a distinguished member of the
bar of Missouri, eminent for his talents and profes-
sional abilities, and universally admired and esteemed
for his sound social, moral, and Christian principles
and virtues. In a life not prolonged beyond the
medium age he had won for himself, by uniform up-
rightness of conduct, a reputation which will long
make his memory cherished by all who knew him.
A few months ago Mr. Allen, accompanied by his wife,
made a visit to the south of France and Italy, in the
hope of effecting the restoration of his health. He
had reached New York on his way home, when his
course was arrested and his usefulness cut off by
death."
Judge Thomas T. Gantt, whose memory is an un-
failing fund of interesting reminiscences, has said of
Mr. Allen that in 1839 he was one of the five lead-
ing lawyers of St. Louis. His acquaintanceship with
land titles was vast and exact. One of his ablest
reports was that in justification of the title of Caron-
delet to the common south of the Reviere des Peres,
which had been unsettled by claims of the War De-
partment.
Capt. Edward E. Allen, for many years a justice
of the peace in St. Louis, afterwards clerk of the
law commissioners' court, and then a successful
lawyer, fought through the civil war, receiving wounds
which ultimately caused his death at the age of sixty-
one (in 1878). He was born in Norfolk, Va., and
educated in Richmond.
Judge James H. Birch, another of the "Virginians
of the ancient regime" was born in March, 1804.
His early life was spent in Kentucky, where he studied
with Judge John Trimble, of the Supreme Court. He
married a daughter of Daniel Halstead, of Lexington ;
removed to St. Louis in 1826, and assisted in editing
the Enquirer, Col. Ben ton's paper. The next year
he established the Western Monitor at Fayette. In
1828 he was clerk of the Lower House, and soon after
was sent to the State Senate. From 1849 to 1852
he was a judge of the State Supreme Court. Twice
BENCH AND BAR.
1477
he served as register of the Plattsburgh land office.
His great ambition was to go to Congress, but he failed
in accomplishing this object. Stately, commanding,
dignified, conservative, possessed of a clear, ringing
voice and a graceful delivery, he might have been a
marked and useful public servant ; but the times were
ripe for partisans, and the days of compromises had
long gone by. In one of his speeches in 1861 he
appealed eloquently to " the people of the North
against the politicians of the South," though the
civil war had already begun.
The Bay family furnish examples of inherited
tastes and faculties that would have delighted Francis
Galton. Judge Elisha Bay was for forty-nine years
judge of the highest court in South Carolina, and
declined a seat in the Supreme Court of the United
States in Jefferson's administration. His brother
was law partner of Ambrose Spencer, chief judge of
the New York Supreme Court. A son of this brother
was very successful at the Columbia County, N. Y.,
bar, ranking with Van Buren, Morrell, and Edmonds,
and his grandsons, Samuel M. Bay and W. V. N.
Bay, became noted in Missouri as talented advocates
and learned jurists. Judge Samuel M. Bay, born in
Hudson, N. Y., in 1810, studied some time under
Salmon P. Chase, in Washington, engaged in mercan-
tile business, took up law, and in 1833 settled in
Franklin County, Mo. He was soon sent to the
Legislature, and was afterwards appointed attorney-
general of the State, proving a vigorous and successful
prosecutor. Removing to Jefferson City, he formed
a partnership with Abiel Leonard, of Howard County,
and this lasted until 1846, when he changed his resi-
dence to St. Louis, and became attorney for the State
Bank. In July, 1849, he fell a victim to the cholera.
A career of rare promise was thus cut short. He
left a widow and four children. His brother, Judge
W. V. N. Bay, late of the Supreme Court of Missouri,
is the author of the able work on the " Missouri Bench
and Bar," from which we have before quoted.
Sept. 12, 1839, a young lawyer of note, Albert G.
Harrison, died in Fulton. He was born in June,
1800, in Kentucky, educated there, and removed to
Missouri in 1827. For a time he was register of the
St. Louis land office, and in 1836 was elected to
Congress, and re-elected in 1838.
A man of multifarious eccentricities was William
M. Campbell, who died in December, 1849, aged
forty-five, a native of Virginia, and a graduate of
Washington and Lee University. In 1829 he reached
Missouri, settled in St. Charles, became very popular,
and was sent to the Legislature and State Senate, but
in 1844 moved to St. Louis to edit a Whig news-
paper. In a few years he went to the State Senate
again from St. Louis County, and remained in that
body until his death. His talents were of the high-
est order, and his reputation for honesty was unques-
tioned. Never seeking for office, it was forced upon
him in every case. He was absolutely indifferent to
dress and money, and nothing ever ruffled his temper.
Physically he was as lazy as possible, mentally a giant
of industry. He could listen to a speech an hour
long, and then write it out from memory, a feat
almost beyond belief. As an editor he was invalu-
able,— he could do the work of a dozen ordinary men.
His political editorials were always of a high order.
Though seldom appearing in court, his power over a
jury was notable.
Another diamond in the rough, full of eccentrici-
ties and talents, was James Winston, born in 1813.
His mother was the youngest daughter of Patrick
Henry, and James was the youngest of twelve chil-
dren. He had little education, but became a success-
ful practitioner, though he seemed to have no definite
purpose in life. He represented the Benton district
in the State Senate in 1850. Two years later he was
the Whig nominee for Governor, and, though defeated,
the wit and fluency which he exhibited in the canvass
greatly increased his popularity.
In 1857 the bar lost one of its efficient members
by the death of Richard S. Blennerhassett, a noted
criminal lawyer, who was born in County Kerry, Ire-
land, in 1811, and who was related on his mother's side
to Daniel O'Connell and to theSpottswoods of Virginia.
His father was first cousin of Herman Blennerhassett,
concerned in the Burr conspiracy. In 1831 he married
Miss Byran, great-granddaughter of Rousseau, came
to America, taught school, studied law, was admitted
j in 1835, and in 1841 reached St. Louis. In 1848,
| '49, and '50 he was city counselor. It is asserted
that he never had a superior in criminal cases at
the St. Louis bar. He was not as eloquent as Uriel
Wright, but was a better reasoner, and his self-pos-
session was perfect. His social qualities and un-
bounded generosity made him a universal favorite
among his associates and in private life. In one of
his most important cases — the defense of McLean
for murdering Col. Floyd — he obtained four suc-
cessive trials between 1842 and 1845, at the last
saving his client from the gallows. No record has
been kept of his most eloquent speeches, but they
seldom failed to win the jury. His management of
witnesses and analysis of testimony still live in
tradition as unsurpassed among the lawyers of his
time.
Robert P. Farris was born in Natick, near Boston,
1478
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Mass., in the year 1*794. He came to St. Louis about
1815-16, and entered upon the profession of the law.
About the time of the admission of Missouri as a
State, in 1820-21, he was lieutenant-colonel of the
First Regiment Missouri Militia, and upon the office
of colonel becoming vacant, he was elected to the
same May 25, 1822, by a vote of four hundred and
three over his competitor, Col. Rene Paul, who re-
ceived one hundred and thirty-one votes. Col. Farris
was appointed circuit attorney for the St. Louis Circuit
by Governor Alexander McNair, and entered upon the
discharge of his duties at the term of the court held
on the first Monday of June, 1822, N. B. Tucker
then judge. He held the office nearly seven years,
being succeeded by Hamilton R. Gamble, March 23,
1829, William C. Carr being then judge of the circuit.
Col. Farris was married to the daughter of Capt.
Joseph Cross, formerly of the United States artil-
lery. A contemporary journal says, —
" Married at Potosi, Washington Co., on the 31st
March, 1824, by the Rev. Mr. Donnelly, Col. Robert
P. Farris, of this city, to Miss Catharine Anne Cross,
step-daughter of Samuel Perry, Esq., of the above
place."
The notice of his death reads as follows :
" Died in this city on the 27th December, 1830, |
Col. Robert P. Farris." He was buried in the Prot-
estant graveyard in North St. Louis, where now stands
Grace Church.
His wife died some years previously.
His only son, the Rev. Robert P. Farris, was born
in 1826.
One of the most eccentric, liberal, and widely-known
lawyers of St. Louis was Bryan Mullanphy, of whom
the genial John F. Darby, in his chatty reminiscences,
has an abundance to tell. He was born in Baltimore
in 1809, and his father, John Mullanphy, who settled
in St. Louis in 1804, accumulated an immense for-
tune, and did much to develop the material resources
of the West. Determined to give his son every ad-
vantage, he sent him to France, then to England,
whence he returned at the age of eighteen, began the
study of law, was admitted to practice, and soon took
a creditable position. At his father's death it was
found that most of the property was willed to his
sisters, but they at once admitted him to an equal
share. One of these sisters married Gen. Hartley,
another became the wife of Judge Boyce, of Louisi-
ana, and a third of Maj. Thomas Biddle, while the
other two married Charles Chambers and James
Clemens, Jr., influential business men of St. Louis.
Bryan Mullanphy became a fluent and impressive
though not eloquent speaker. Though wealthy, he
enjoyed the practice of law, and his wide range of
reading on literary topics rendered him an agreeable
companion. He was in several noted trials the an-
tagonist of the best men of the time, and showed fine
legal capacity. In 1840 chosen judge of the St.
Louis Circuit Court, he served until 1844 with great
fidelity, and few of his decisions were reversed. His
successor was John M. Krum. In 1847 came an
interesting and difficult period of his life, resulting
from his election as mayor of the city. The cholera
prevailed shortly after, and the dreadful sufferings of
poor emigrants suggested to him the disposition he
afterwards made of his wealth. His death occurred
June 15, 1851, when he was forty-two years of age.
For twelve years or more he had filled important
offices, and for some time he had been director of
the Bank of Missouri. The bar met two days after
his death, and Messrs. L. V. Bogy, J. M. Krum, M.
Blair, S. Treat, C. D. Drake. H. R. Gamble, and J.
F. Darby drafted the resolutions, which closed as fol-
lows:
" As a member of the profession, the deceased was
distinguished for every quality which makes the gen-
tleman in his intercourse with his brethren, and never
for a moment forgot, in the excitements which are
inseparable from the practice of the law, his habitual
decorum, either to the highest or to the lowest among
us, whilst his great legal attainments and varied
knowledge made him an ornament to the profession."
Nevertheless, this life, so useful and full of deeds of
kindness and of charity, was curiously marred by
eccentricities of many sorts, instances of which abound.
He seems to have been a quaint, humorous oddity,
and dressed with extreme carelessness. His countless
gifts to the poor were marked in nearly every instance
by some strange provision. His own likes and dis-
likes were strongly shown. On one occasion he
invited a noted actor to take a drive, but drove off and
left him twelve miles or so from St. Louis, being, it
is supposed, angry at something the latter had said.
But all his oddities, and they were many, are but as
dust in the balance when weighed against the upright-
ness of his life and the succession of his charities,
crowned at last by his munificent gift to the great city
where that wealth had been accumulated by his father.
His property was valued at six hundred thousand
dollars.
The St. Louis Republican of June 17, 1851, gives
an interesting account of the character and provisions
of his will, which was contested, but fully sustained
after a protracted litigation. It seems that after
Judge Mullanphy's death many rumors prevailed re-
garding the disposition of his property, and at first no
BENCH AND BAR.
1479
will was found. But it was known, however, that a
sealed package had been deposited by him with one of
the city officers. This instrument, it was suggested,
might be his will, and as it was supposed, if so, that
it might contain instructions as to his funeral, the
mayor notified the relatives of the deceased that
at twelve o'clock the package would be opened in
the presence of a portion of them, thus summoned,
and of other citizens. The package was produced by
the city register and opened. The outside envelope
contained a memorandum of the circumstances under
which the package was received, signed by the then
mayor, James Gr. Barry, and D. H. Armstrong, then
comptroller. The will was then opened, on the out-
side of which was a memorandum in Judge Mullan-
phy's handwriting, directing that it should not be
opened until after his death. This memorandum
bore date Aug. 31, 1849. The will itself was as fol-
lows :
" I, Bryan Mullanphy, do make and declare the following to
be my last will and testament :
" One equal undivided third part of all my property, real, per-
sonal, and mixed, I leave to the city of St. Louis, in the State
Of Missouri, in trust and to be and constitute a fund to furnish
relief to all poor emigrants and travelers coming to St. Louis
on their way bonafide to settle in the West.
" I do appoint Felix Coste and Peter G. Camden to be execu-
tors of this my last will and testament, and of any other will or
executory devise that I may leave. All and any such document
will be found to be olograph, all in my own handwriting.
"BRYAN MULLANPHY. [Seal]
" Witnesses who have all signed in presence of the testator
and each other, and saw the testator sign in presence of them
and each of them.
" ADOLPHUS WISLIZENUS.
"JOHN WOLFF.
" M. W. WARNE.
" AUGUSTUS SCHNABEN."
This instrument was written on the first page of a
sheet of letter-paper, which was folded in letter form
and sealed with three separate wafers, over each of
which was written the word " wafer." On the outside
it is indorsed as follows :
" ST. Louis, 31st August, 1849. — I leave this document in the
hands of the city of St. Louis by delivering the same to the
mayor. It is not to be opened until after my death. It was
left with the comptroller, the mayor being absent.
" BRYAN MULLANPHY."
June 19th, Judge Ferguson admitted this will to
probate, and P. G. Camden was appointed executor.
The remaining two-thirds of his estate he left by
another will to be disposed of according to law. In
1855 the Republican remarked that no legal division
of the estate had then been made, though commis-
sioners had been appointed, had completed their labors,
and had valued the estate at one million five hundred
and sixty-one thousand one hundred and fourteen
dollars, or two and a half times the estimate placed
upon it at the time of his death. In 1860 the liti-
gation which grew out of this case was decided ; the
heirs had appealed to the Circuit Court, hoping to ob-
tain all, but were defeated, and took the case to the
Supreme Court, where the judgment below was
affirmed, thus securing to the city of St. Louis this
trust fund. Hopes were then entertained that mat-
ters would not be longer delayed, but in 1867 the
committee still complained of the slowness with which
the Mullanphy trust fund was being made available.
At that time it amounted to over six hundred thou-
sand dollars. The City Council created a board to
take charge of the property, and so managed it as to
produce a satisfactory annual income, to be spent in
accordance with the donor's plan. Thus used the
fund has become one of great usefulness, and hun-
dreds of persons on their way to the vast Rocky
Mountain region have experienced its benefits. It
may here be noted that some of the most valuable
gifts, in the way of real estate, libraries, and works of
art, which American colleges and schools have received
came from members of the legal profession, but no
more generous gift than this of Judge Mullanphy is
on record anywhere.
Charles B. Lord, who died in St. Louis Nov. 15,
1868, was the successor of Edward Bates as judge of
the land court. At the time of his death he was
one of the Circuit Court judges. He had held the
important land court judgeship for two terms, begin-
ning in 1855. Judge Lord was a native of Thomas-
ton, Me., born in 1810, was educated in Onondaga
County, N. Y., studied law at Buffalo, was admitted
in 1833, and removed to St. Louis in 1843. Mean-
while he had married Miss Wiley, of Philadelphia.
His first law partner in St. Louis was Myron Leslie,
and when the latter died, in 1848, he was associated
with Isaac Kiem. From 1855, as noted, he held
judicial offices, and always with credit to himself. In
the laws pertaining to real estate he was particularly
strong. A leading journal, in announcing his death,
said, —
" Judge Lord was a man of no ordinary qualities of
mind. Even had he never occupied a public position,
his eminence in his profession would have given him
a reputation extending beyond local limits. But he
was peculiarly fitted for the bench. He possessed a
clear, analytical, unwarped judgment and a remarkable
perception. We would not assert that his decisions
as a jurist were invariably correct, but undoubtedly
they were always based upon his best and most con-
scientious interpretation of the law."
In court he was often severe towards young law-
1480
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
yers, but his uprightness and anxiety to deal out
justice impartially were proverbial.
Abram Beck came to St. Louis from Albany, N. Y.,
in 1819, as a lawyer and land agent, and was associ-
ated for a brief period with Josiah Spalding. He
died Sept. 4, 1821, a young man, unmarried.
A son of the Old Dominion, who honored the best
traditions of the courtly and cordial past, was Judge
Henry Shurlds, born in Gloucester County, Nov. 21, !
1796. He was educated at college, and had the ad-
vantage of studying law at Richmond under the cele-
brated William Wirt, then standing at the head of
the Virginia bar. In 1819 this thoroughly-equipped j
young lawyer came to St. Louis, this year being, as j
the reader will notice, a time when the attention of .
many who afterwards won high reputation was at-
tracted to the brisk, growing, and impetuous commu-
nity being organized on the banks of the mighty
Mississippi. Much has been said of the land litiga-
tion in which many lawyers won fame, but it must
not be forgotten that there were great lead, iron, and
coal interests beginning to develop, and law cases in
that connection were abundant. Potosi, Washington i
Co., was in the midst of the mines, and here Judge
Shurlds settled, and in 1822 married Miss Jane Jami-
son Bush, of that place ; in 1821 he had been ap-
pointed circuit judge of that district, which office he
resigned to become Secretary of State. In 1832 the
General Assembly elected him secretary of the Senate,
and the following year the Governor and Senate made
him public auditor, which office he held till March,
1837. Meanwhile the State Bank had been organ-
ized, and as the times were financially gloomy great
caution and skill were needed to conduct it. Judge
Shurlds became its cashier, and for fifteen years con-
tributed greatly to its financial success. His death
occurred in 1852 near St. Louis, and his only son
Edward died in 1865. Of his five daughters one
married G. W. Dent, of San Francisco, and the others
were all united to gentlemen of position in St. Louis.
The early files of Missouri papers contain many in-
cidental references in advertisements and brief notices
which throw light upon the bench and bar of that
time. One of the first to be found is an advertise-
ment in the Gazette of May 3, 1810, which says, j
" William 0. Allen, Esq., will continue to practice
law in all the districts of this Territory except Ar-
kansas, and he will also attend the Illinois General
Courts." Four years later, October 24th, was an-
nounced the death of Gen. Howard, Governor of the
Territory, and a man thoroughly well versed in law,
a summary of whose life is given elsewhere. Another
of the well-known men of this era was Gen. Ruland, •
a sociable and kindly man, who had hosts of friends.
His death, which occurred March 1, 1849, was noted
at the time as follows : " Gen. John F. Ruland was
born in the year 1789, on the banks of the river Raisin,
in what is now the State of Michigan. At the age
of nineteen he entered the Northwestern army under
the command of Gen. Harrison, and served with repu-
tation for several years, as was proved by his having
passed rapidly through several grades of military station.
At the termination of his military career, and when
twenty-eight years of age, Gen. Ruland removed from
Detroit to St. Louis, and engaged in the business of
surveying afterwards. He was the chief clerk in the
office of the superintendent of Indian affairs in this
city by appointment of Gen. William Clark. On re-
tiring from this position in 1835 he was then elected
clerk of the Circuit Court and recorder of deeds of
St. Louis County for a term of six years, and being
re-elected, was in office for more than twelve years,
and was the incumbent at the time of his death."
David Thomas was brought to St. Louis from
Maryland about the time the post was turned over to
the United States, being then but three years old.
His father died on the journey, and was buried by
the wayside. His education was such as the city
schools afforded. He practiced law some years, and
about 1848 became county judge, filling the office
with satisfaction to the public. He had much pro-
bate business in later years. His death occurred in
December, 1874. Another judge of the county court
in early days was Peter D. Barada, born in 1798, and
a pioneer of Carondelet. He served at various times
as justice of the peace and member of the City Coun-
cil. His death occurred in August, 1877.
The saddest chapter of a complete history of the
bench and bar of any city would be that which tells
how men fail in their early struggles and fall by the
wayside. Every old lawyer crowned with deserved
honors will remember many and painful instances.
Usually, but not always, " the fittest survive." Prom-
ising young attorneys came to the West full of ardent
hopes that perished without fulfillment. The Gazette
of Sept. 19, 1811, says, "Died at Cape Girardeau,
after an illness of six days, George C. Harbison,
attorney, aged thirty-one." July 16, 1833, the same
paper says, " Died in this place, in the twenty-fifth
year of his age, Charles T. Parker, a native of Boston,
and a member of the Missouri bar." On the 30th
of the same month it says, " Died, after a short
illness, William F. Duncan, a member of the Missouri
bar. Endowed with a highly-cultivated mind, he was
gifted with all those endearing and social qualities
which never fail to render their possessor an object
BENCH AND BAR.
1481
of love and admiration." Jan. 12, 1833, the sudden
death of Bethel S. Farr, a young member of the bar,
called forth the following : " Resolved, That the death
of Mr. Farr has deprived the bar of a member who
gave every indication of future usefulness and bril-
liancy."
The most notable loss of the bar in 1839 was that
of Joseph M. White, October 19th. A bar meeting
was called, Judge Bowlin presiding, and G. A. Bird
acting as secretary. The resolutions closed by saying,
" The bar of St. Louis has lost one of its brightest
ornaments, society one of its most valued members,
and the country one of its most gifted and patriotic
sons."
Another lawyer who already had made considerable
reputation died in 1840. The Republican of No-
vember 30th says, " Died, on Saturday last at his
residence, George F. Strother, Esq., formerly of Cul-
peper, Va. Mr. Strother was a member of the bar,
was a member of Congress from Virginia, and since
his residence here has held several highly important
offices, having served several sessions in the State
Legislature as a representative from this county."
In 1841, Stephen Lanhan, a justice of the county
court, died at his residence near Manchester. The
following year (September 23d) Joseph W. Walsh,
clerk of the St. Louis Court of Common Pleas, died,
aged thirty-two. In May, 1847, Judge Alonzo Man-
ning, of the St. Louis Criminal Court, died. The
RepuLlu-an said, " Judge Manning had been for
many years a citizen of St. Louis, and was endeared
to those who knew him intimately by his many ex-
cellent qualities. In his official capacity he was dis-
tinguished by uprightness, firmness of purpose, and
a desire to render strict and impartial justice."
July 4, 1849, a newspaper announces, " Russell
Prentis, Esq., member of the bar, was buried yester-
day." On the 15th of the same month it says, quite
as briefly, —
" Died on the 14th instant, of the prevailing epi-
demic, William K. Titcomb, Esq., aged twenty-eight
years, a member of the St. Louis bar."
The same year, June 29th, the same journal spoke
of Judge Schaumburg's death, saying that he " was
a Creole from New Orleans, and thirty-nine years of
age at the time of his death. After graduating with
great >'dat, at the Transylvania University, in Ken-
tucky, he studied law and was admitted to the bar of
Louisiana. He was made a parish judge, and soon
after married one of the fair daughters of our city
and became a resident of St. Louis. All who knew
him well acknowledged his fine talents, classical educa-
tion, and bland manners." March 30, 1851 , occurred
the death of D. N. Hall, for ten years an active and
estimable member of the St. Louis bar.
Of an altogether different sort is a leaf from early
St. Louis court records : " On the 7th day of May,
1827, Marie P. Leduc presented his commission as
justice from Governor Miller, as also did Hartley
Lanham, father of Judge P. J. Lanham. The court
was opened by Robert Simpson, sheriff. At the next
meeting Frederick Hyatt appeared as associate justice
on the bench, and Marie P. Leduc was made presiding
justice. The name in French, Marie, was frequently
given to males as a premonition of good luck by the
old French habitans. A large part of the business
done at that time was connected with probate mat-
ters."
Judge Marie P. Leduc was a distinguished character
in the early history of the St. Louis bench and bar.
Indeed, his may be said to have been an official life,
for throughout the period of his residence in the village
until his resignation, about 1839, of the position of
judge of the county court, not a year elapsed that he
did not occupy some important public station.
Judge Leduc was born in St. Denis, near Paris,
France, from whence he came to this country and lo-
cated in 1793 at New Madrid, Upper Louisiana. St.
Louis being then the seat of government, Mr. Leduc
removed here in 1799, and being a man of superior
abilities, his influence in the affairs of the little vil-
lage soon brought him into marked prominence.
Early in November, 1799, Governor Dehault Delas-
sus appointed him secretary of the province, which
office Mr. Leduc held until the cession of Louisiana
to the United States. On the 10th of March, 1804,
he was appointed by Capt. Stoddard syndic of the
town and within four miles of its vicinity. On the 1st
of October of the same year he was appointed by Gov-
ernor William H. Harrison judge of probate, recorder,
and notary public of St. Louis. He was appointed
translator of the Board of Land Commissioners on the
14th of December, 1805 ; in 1807 he was appointed by
acting Governor Frederick Bates justice of the peace
and notary public, and in 1810 to administer oaths of
office. In 1812 he was reappointed justice of the
peace, judge of probate, notary public, recorder, and
register of boatmen, and was also appointed clerk of
the Court of Common Pleas.
In 1815 he was appointed clerk of the County
Court, and in February of the same year clerk of the
Circuit Court, which position he held with great ac-
ceptability to his fellow-citizens until 1818, when he
resigned, and received from the presiding judge a note
expressive of '' the great satisfaction with which the
duties of said office had been discharged." In 1818
1482
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
he was elected a member of the Territorial Assembly,
and when Missouri was admitted into the Union he
was re-elected, and again in 1822, but soon after re-
signed. In 1825 he was commissioned by Governor
Bates judge of probate for the county of St. Louis,
and when that court was abolished and the county
court created he was appointed presiding justice of
the latter, and continued to serve in that capacity
until he resigned about 1839. In all the various
offices of high responsibility conferred upon Judge
Leduc, he discharged his duties with eminent ability
and to the general satisfaction. He said " he had no
family until the year 1802."
Judge Leduc resigned his last position on account
of declining health, and continued to linger until his
death, at the residence of Hypolite Papin, " about
five miles west" of St. Louis, on Monday, Aug. 15,
1840, aged seventy years.
Another old volume of court records contains the
"marks and brands," commencing February, 1831.
The first entry is :
" John B. Bavnet, a farmer of St. Louis township,
adopts for his brand the letters J. B. B., and for his
ear-marks of cattle, hogs, sheep, and goats a crop of
left ear and two notches under the same and nothing
on right ear." The clerk of the county court at that
time was Henry Chouteau, and the writing has the
appearance of print.
Another book contains a list of free negroes and
mulattoes licensed by the county court of St. Louis
County, as all such were required to register. The
name, age, height, and occupation are given ; the
first entry December, 1841, and the last entry May
1, 1863.
The salaries paid in those days in St. Louis County
were liberal enough, all things considered. In 1846
the State Legislature abolished the fee system, which
had made some offices enormously lucrative, and fixed
salaries as follows : Sheriff, per annum, 87000 ; clerk
of Circuit Court, $3500 ; clerk of Common Pleas,
83000; clerk of Criminal Court, $2500; clerk of
County Court, $3000; marshal. $2500; law commis-
sioner, $1500 ; each justice, $1200 ; each constable,
$1500.
Some of these clerks were lawyers themselves and
deserve mention. We will advert to a few in this
place and this connection, without attempting to ar-
range them in chronological order. Joseph V. Gar-
nier was born in France and emigrated to San Do-
mingo. He came away from there at the insurrection
of the negroes in 1793 to New York, where he was
for a number of years in the employment, in some
fiduciary capacity, of Col. Livingston. He came out
to St. Louis about the period of the transfer in 1804.
At the incorporation of the borough town of St. Louis
in 1809 he was appointed by the trustees the first town
clerk, and also filled the office of clerk of the Superior
Court of the Territory. Subsequently he was a jus-
tice of the peace and notary. He came to St. Louis
a mason, and was the first secretary of St. Louis Lodge,
No. Ill, and subsequently a member of No. 12 and
No. 1. His widow survived him, living beyond ninety
years of age, and his only child, Harriet, married the
Hon. John Hogan.
Col. Thomas Fiveash Riddick was born at Suffolk,
county-seat of Nansemond County, Va., on June 5,
1781. He removed to St. Louis about the time of the
transfer of the country to the United States, and during
the first fifteen years of his residence filled at various
periods a number of public offices of trust, as follows :
1807, July 9th, appointed by Frederick Bates, secretary
of the Territory and ex ojficio acting Governor, to the
office of assessor of rates and levies for the district of
St. Louis; 1807, July 10th, appointed by same to
the office of clerk of the Courts of Common Pleas,
Quarter Sessions, and Oyer and Terminer for the
district of St. Louis; 1807, August 20th, appointed
by the same a justice of the peace for the township of
St. Louis; 1808, May 7th, also appointed by " Fred-
erick Bates, recorder of land titles under the board of
land commissioners, about to be absent from St. Louis
on official business connected with his duties, his
deputy recorder, to act as such in his absence ;" 1812,
December 10th, reappointed a justice of the peace by
acting Governor Bates; 1813, March 1st, reap-
pointed by Secretary Bates to the office of clerk of
the before-mentioned courts; 1815, January 2d, ap-
pointed by Governor William Clark a justice of the
peace for four years ; 1817, when the old " Terri-
torial Bank of Missouri" was chartered, he was one
of the first directors of the same; and in the year
1820 succeeded Col. Auguste Chouteau, its first presi-
dent, in that office, which position he held until the
collapse of the bank in the summer of 1822. Col.
Riddick was for twenty years an active and efficient
business man of St. Louis. Subsequently he removed
to the Sulphur Springs, in Jefferson County, where he
continued to reside until his death on Jan. 15, 1830,
at the age of forty-nine, leaving a widow, a sister of
Judge William C. Carr, and four children, two sons
and two daughters, who subsequently became the
wives of Charles J. Billon and Edward Brooks.
Ewel Baker came from Winchester, Va., in 1824,
a nephew of the Gambles, and during his few years'
residence in St. Louis he was a clerk in the office of
his uncle. Archibald Gamble, circuit clerk.
BENCH AND BAR.
1483
One of the best of real estate lawyers was R. M.
Field, who died in July, 1869. He was born in
Newfane, Wyndham Co., Vt., in the year 1807.
At fifteen years of age he was graduated at Middle-
bury College, and at eighteen was admitted to the
bar. His legal and literary career was marked by
great ability and determination, even before he left
his native State. In 1839 he came to St. Louis.
Field's name was associated with coadjutors or oppo-
nents in nearly every important lawsuit in the State
during twenty-five years. His profound studies led
to the most keen and acute judgment, whether in law
or literature. He was familiar with the literature
and language of France, Spain, and Germany, and in
the ancient classics seemed ever to be as proficient and
ready as in his college days. Mr. Field had few inti-
mate companions but many friends, by whom the
genial warmth of a generous nature was known and
appreciated. To the world he perhaps appeared aus-
tere, but it was the austerity of a profound intellect
and a deeply thoughtful nature. His success as a
lawyer in his native State was in every way unusual.
He practiced law fourteen years in his native county,
and represented it in the Vermont General Assembly.
Judge Story declared some of his special pleas to be
masterpieces. From 1832 to 1835 he was State's
attorney for Wyndham County. But an event which
occurred in 1838 was the leading motive of his leav-
ing his native State. Miss Mary Ann Phelps was
engaged to one Jeremiah Clark, but secretly married
Mr. Field. She returned home the same day, and
soon after told her family, wrote to Mr. Field, de-
siring to rescind her action and refusing to see him,
and in a few days married Clark. Clark and his wife
then filed a bill to declare the marriage with Field
null and void. The Chancery court so ruled, and the
Supreme Court strongly supported this view. After
Mr. Clark's death his widow visited St. Louis to
bring about a reconciliation with Mr. Field, but he
refused to see her. This episode in his life necessarily
had a marked effect upon his character, and for many
years he avoided society. He finally married Miss
Frances Reed, a relative of C. W. Pomeroy, of St.
Louis, who died a few years later, leaving two sons,
one of whom entered journalism.
At one time Mr. Field's partner was Myron Leslie,
also a native of Vermont, and a very gifted man.
He was born near Bennington, and had little educa-
tion, but his abilities were far beyond the average,
and he picked up enough law to pass an examination.
By 1834 he was building up a lucrative practice in
Central Illinois, and by 1837 was in St. Louis, in
partnership with F. W. Risque, who afterwards re-
moved to Washington. He then joined forces with
Mr. Field, and the firm took high rank immediately.
About 1842 he became circuit judge for that district,
held the office two years, and then went to the State
Senate. In 1845 he was a member of the Constitu-
tional Convention. He succeeded Judge Bowlin as
attorney of the old State Bank. As a speaker, he
was full of energy and almost invincible when
aroused, though often he seemed slow and indolent.
In later years his health failed, and he died in 1854,
mourned deeply by all his associates.
Judge E. B. Ewing, a prominent lawyer and judge
of the Supreme Court, was born in Todd County,
Ky., in 1819. His father was Rev. Finis Ewiug,
one of the founders of the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church. He immigrated to Missouri about 1820.
He was educated at Cumberland College, Caldwell
Co., Ky. Studying the law, he was admitted to
the profession at the Ray Circuit Court in 1842, and
soon acquired such influence and reputation as to
bring him prominently before the people of Missouri.
In 1848 he was appointed to the office of Secretary
of State, the duties of which he performed for four
years. Again, in 1856, he was elected attorney-gen-
eral, and performed the duties of that office until his
election, in August, 1859, to the Supreme Bench, to
fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Judge
Richardson. This position he occupied until 1861,
when he resumed professional practice at the bar, first
at Jefferson City, and then at St. Louis, until his
election as one of the judges of the St. Louis Circuit
Court in 1869. The labors of this office so severely
taxed his energies that in 1872 he was induced to
accept the nomination for judge of the Supreme
Court, to which station he was elected, and he took
his seat at the January term, 1873, but his death
occurred in June of that year. Pleasant, winning,
and earnest in his manners, though often reserved,
his uprightness won him the implicit confidence of
the public, and though never brilliant, his lucid and
well-developed decisions were always to the point,
were usually sustained, and commanded the respect
of his brothers of the bar. Rev. Dr. Linn, of the
Methodist Church, preached his funeral sermon, and
the usual resolutions of regret were passed by his
professional brethren. One of the interesting epi-
sodes of his life was when, in 1856, his brother,
Robert C. Ewing, also an able lawyer, was nominated
for Governor, in the great triangular contest of that
year, but E. B. Ewing was running for attorney-gen-
eral on the Polk ticket. The brothers were political
antagonists, but the ticket headed by Trusten Polk
was elected.
148i
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
A career which well illustrates the sterling qualities
of manhood was that of Hugh A. Garland, who was
born in Nelson County, Va., about 1805. When
sixteen he entered Harnpden-Sidney College, and did
such good work there that after his graduation he be-
came Professor of Greek at that institution. Shortly
after he married Miss Anne P. Burwell, daughter of
Col. Armistead Burwell. In 1830 he studied litera-
ture and law for a year at the University of Virginia,
and then opened an office in Boydtown. Two years
later Mecklenburg sent him to the State Legislature.
It was a time of great political turmoil. He was an
ardent Jackson partisan, and contributed considerably
to the controversial literature of the day. For five
years he represented that county. In 1838 he was
chosen clerk of the House of Representatives. About
1840 he retired to rural and literary pursuits, but in
1845 lost his property through unfortunate business
connections, removed to St. Louis, and resumed law
practice with an ardor and capacity which bore good
fruit. Five years later he published a " Life of John
Randolph." His death occurred in October, 1854.
Judge James Ransom Lackland held high rank at
the St. Louis bar, though contending against early
educational disadvantages, and in later years poor
health. His birthplace was Montgomery County,
Md., where he was born in January, 1820. In 1828
his parents removed to Missouri, and settled on a farm
near St. Louis. His early opportunities for education
were limited, until he reached the age of sixteen, to
those which a country neighborhood could afford. He
then entered the grammar school connected with
Marion College, over which Rev. Dr. Potts then pre-
sided, remaining there three months. He subse-
quently attended as student, and afterwards as assist-
ant teacher, a school conducted by Rev. W. D.
Shumate, on the St. Charles Rock road, fifteen miles
from St. Louis. Beyond these modern advantages
his acquirements were the fruits of private study. He
next obtained employment in the house of Mullikin
& Pratt, wholesale grocers, and was subsequently en-
gaged under his relative, Rufus J. Lackland, as a clerk
on a Mississippi River steamboat.
In the year 1845 he became a deputy clerk of the
St. Louis Court of Common Pleas, under Nathaniel
Paschall, then clerk.
At this time he decided to adopt law as his pro-
fession, and began study in the office of Hon. Charles
D. Drake, and was admitted to practice in 1846. He
had neither fortune nor influential friends, but his
indomitable energy enabled him to surmount all
obstacles. In 1848 a vacancy occurred in the
circuit attorneyship of St. Louis County, and he was
elected to fill it. This was an important office, involving
great labor and responsibility, and brought the young
lawyer into conflict with the best legal talent of the
day. As a prosecutor, he is described as " bold, de-
fiant, and successful." In 1852 he was again a candi-
date, but shared the defeat of the Whig party of that
year, but meanwhile (in 1849) he had formed a
partnership with Mr. Jamison,1 and engaged in civil
as well as criminal practice.
In 1853, Judge Colt having resigned from the bench
of the St. Louis Criminal Court, he was elected to fill
the vacancy, and sat as judge of that court during the
residue of the term, which expired in 1856. At the
general election in 1857 he was the successful candi-
date for judge of the St. Louis Circuit Court, then
held by one judge, and held that office until 1859,
when he resigned from the bench and resumed the
general practice of the law as senior in the firm of
Lackland, Cline & Jamison. In 1864, attacked by a
pulmonary complaint, he undertook long journeys in
hope of recovery, and in 1868, partially restored, he
became senior member of the firm of Lackland,
Martin & Lackland (his brother), from time to time
until the day of his death, Oct. 9, 1875, appearing in
important cases.
A St. Louis journal after his death said, " The
professional career of Judge Lackland was distin-
guished to an extraordinary degree by untiring in-
dustry, vigorous common sense, learning, and integ-
rity of the highest order. As a lawyer, he grasped
with unusual clearness and force the essential ques-
tions of a controversy, and presented them to court or
jury with direct and powerful simplicity of diction.
In the discharge of official duty no man was more
diligent, more upright, or more fearless. No one
charged to protect the community from crime has
ever won, whether at the bar or on the bench, a
higher or more deserved reputation. And to those
who at first doubted whether a like success would at-
tend his labors in his administration of civil justice,
1 A partner from 1849 till 1852 with Judge Lackland, and at
various times since, was William C. Jamison, a resident of St.
Louis since 1843. Born in Tennessee in 1822, of a family noted
in that State, and educated at Union College, Murfreesboro', he
prosecuted his early law studies under Hon. John F. Darby, and
later with Messrs. Todd & Krum. In 1846 he opened an office
of his own, though licensed nearly two years before. His first
partnership was with F. II. Dick. In 1849 it was Lackland <fc
Jamison; in 1853, Cline & Jamison; in 1857, Lackland, Kline
& Jamison. In 1863, Judge Lackland retired; in 1866, M. C.
Day became a member. Mr. Jamison became administrator for
some of the largest estates in St. Louis ; and is a director in
many prominent companies and associations. Both as lawyer
and citizen he possesses high claims to regard. In 1865 he mar-
ried Mi*a Mary E. Noe, of Norfolk, Va.
BENCH AND BAR.
1485
his ceaseless industry and honorable ambition were
not slow to furnish a reply. Simplicity, courage,
honesty of purpose, scorn of everything mean or base,
and dauntless energy, these were his characteristics.
As a man, to these in later years was added earnest
Christian faith."
There is little to add to this deserved praise of one
of the leaders of the St. Louis bar, whose power in
impressing a jury has seldom been surpassed. His
greatest case was that of Effie Carstang vs. the noted
Henry Shaw, of Shaw's Gardens, a suit for alleged
breach of marriage promise. She had obtained, with
Uriel Wright and L. M. Shreve for her lawyers, a
verdict of one hundred thousand dollars damages from
a jury, to the utter astonishment of the whole city.
The verdict was set aside, and a new trial granted.
Mr. Shaw retained Judge Lackland and Mr. Glover
(his former counsel had been Edward Bates and John
R. Shepley), and spent, it is said, twenty thousand
dollars in the affair. The woman's earlier history was
searched into, and the entire case prepared by Judge
Lackland. On the second trial the verdict was for
the defendant. The skill and energy displayed in
this famous case increased Judge Lackland's already
great reputation. In social life he was generous and
warm-hearted. He was twice married, and left several
children.
We have spoken of Uriel Wright as engaged in
the case of Carstang vs. Shaw, and it is proper to say
further of him here that, all in all, Missouri, and in-
deed the West, never had a more brilliant, eloquent,
erratic, marvelous genius than Maj. Uriel Wright.
Judge Bay calls him the " Prentiss of Missouri."
Born in 1805 in Virginia, mother of such orators as
Wirt and Henry, Uriel Wright, a descendant of the
noted Johnsons and Barbours, showed great mental
power, and was sent to West Point, but left the in-
stitution on his father's death, and began the study of
law with Judge Barbour, of Orange County, also in
a law-school at Winchester.
After marriage, in 1833, he removed to Missouri,
where so many Virginians had taken high rank at
the bar, settling in Northeast Missouri (Marion
County). He speculated in one of the paper cities
of the era, and lost all his means. About this time
he served a term in the State Legislature ; soon after
he removed to St. Louis, having gained reputation as
an orator, and found plenty of work in criminal prac-
tice, in which class of cases his success was unpar-
alleled, saving the lives of many hardened criminals
by his ardent eloquence, of which no specimens have
been preserved, but which carried away judge, jury,
and audience alike. Judge Bay says, " The style of
Maj. Wright's oratory was sui generis; his words
flowed from his lips like a placid stream ; his voice
was clear and musical ; his invective scathing." An-
other writer says, " His eloquence, the beauty of his
diction, and the keenness of his logic were universally
acknowledged. As a criminal lawyer, he probably
never had a superior at our bar." The greatest
genius is, however, sometimes allied with the saddest
weaknesses. Maj. Wright lacked will-force, moral
power, and moral balance. On the heels of a denun-
ciation of gambling so fierce and yet pathetic that
men trembled and wept he might be seen at a card-
table. Early in his life he was a Whig in politics,
and in 1861 was an Unconditional Union man. As
such he was elected by a tremendous majority to the
State Convention of 1861. He continued to combat
secession and disunion until the capture of Camp
Jackson. This roused his indignation, and from the
steps of the Planters' House he declared on the night
of the 10th of May, 1861, that " if Unionism meant
such atrocious deeds as had been that day witnessed
he was no longer a Union man." Like Sterling
Price and hundreds of others, Maj. Wright joined
his fortunes with the Southern Confederacy, and
served as a staff officer. After the war was over he
returned to St. Louis, where he remained a short
time, but finally removed to Winchester, Va., where
he died Feb. 18, 1869, and " life's fitful fever" was
past. The St. Louis bar met and passed resolutions
which showed how highly he was personally esteemed.
They spoke particularly of his literary culture (he had
been a contributor to the Knickerbocker Magazine,
and was always a great reader). With the beauties
of Shakespeare he was perfectly familiar, so much so,
indeed, that he often unconsciously spoke in the lan-
guage of that great author as if he were speaking in
his own copious diction. Some of his speeches prove
that he was not unfamiliar with the Greek tragic
poets, Sophocles and Euripides.
Judge M. R. Cullen, an intimate friend, and him-
self a fine orator, said on this occasion, "No lawyer
excelled Uriel Wright in practical management of a
case. As a criminal lawyer, he stood among us un-
rivaled. Discussing political questions, his eloquence
was supremely in the ascendant, and the brilliancy of
his language won the hearts of his hearers." In
conversation, also, he had the same unique combina-
tion of wit, talent, and solidity which made his forensic
efforts so successful. A little more common sense
would have undoubtedly given this eloquent advocate
a national reputation.
There is something at least of coincidence in the
fact that while Walter C. Gantt was a most promi-
1436
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
nent victim of the cholera in 1866,1 Thomas T. Gantt
was among the most devoted combatants of the dis-
ease in 1849. During the epidemic the Committee
of Public Health was organized, with Thomas T.
Gantt as chairman. He filled this position with such
ability and thoroughness that when the scourge was
driven from the city and the committee disbanded
they closed its existence with the following resolution :
" That the thanks of the committee are due, both
in their own behalf and in that of the citizens of St.
Louis generally, to Thomas T. Gantt, Esq., for the
zealous, able, efficient, and impartial manner in which
he has discharged the many and arduous duties de-
volved upon him as president of the Committee of
Public Health during the existence of said committee
as a Board of Health, under the city ordinance 'to
prevent the spread of cholera.' "
Thomas Tasker Gantt bears the names of two of
the oldest Maryland families, and was born at George-
town, D. C., July 22, 1814, his mother being a Stod-
dart. Young Gantt studied at Georgetown College,
and then had an appointment to West Point, which
after a two years' course an accidental injury com-
pelled him to leave. He studied law in Upper Marl-
boro', Prince George Co., Md., under Governor Pratt,
and after passing the bar, came West to St. Louis in
1839. Since then his career has been thronged with
events and crowned with successes. In 1845, Presi-
dent Polk made him United States district attorney.
In 1853, Mayor How made him city counselor;
next year the great riot occurred. Mr. Gantt, after
helping to suppress it in the streets, drew the po-
lice bill, which made the recurrence of such mob
violence almost impossible. Many other instances
of his successful war upon public abuses are recor-
ded. In 1861, Mr. Gantt became a leader among
the Unconditional Union men of St. Louis ; served
as colonel and judge-advocate in McClellan's Army of
the Potomac, provost-marshal-general under Schofield
in Missouri, etc. Returning to his profession after
the war, Col. Gantt continued in active practice and
1 A St. Louis journal of Aug. 18, 1866, thus notices Mr.
Gantt's death :
" Col. Walter C. Gantt died very suddenly at his residence in
this city yesterday, at two o'clock P.M., of cholera. He had at- '
tended a meeting at the court-house on Thursday night of the
Society for the Preservation of Game, and participated in the
proceedings by the delivery of a short speech, apparently in
his usual good health. His wife and child were absent on a
trip East. Col. Gantt was thirty-six years old, a lawyer of re-
spectable standing at the St. Louis bar, and had been assistant
circuit attorney since the fall of 186-i. During the recent
troubles he volunteered into the Third Missouri Cavalry, and
was lieutenant-colonel of that regiment when it was mustered
out of service."'
active political service until 1875, when Governor
Hardin made him presiding judge of the St. Louis
Court of Appeals. During the same year he was a
member of the convention which framed the present
Constitution of the State, and was chairman of the
committee on the bill of rights, and a member of the
committee on the legislative department He was
also the author of Sections 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, and
24 of Article IX. of that Constitution, which sepa-
rated St. Louis from the county and made it a free
city. It was the first attempt of that nature in
American jurisprudence, and its success so far has
proved the wisdom of the departure. Col. Gantt re-
turned to the bar in 1877 rather than soil the ermine
by making a canvass for popular election. That year,
the one of the great strike, he was a leading member
of the Committee of Safety, seeking to restore law
and order. Col. Gantt is wealthy, esteemed, scholarly,
distinguished at the bar, but most eminent as the
public-spirited citizen to whom all turn, and upon
whom all rely in danger and critical emergencies.
In his political career, while he has never been a
seeker of office nor asked for the applause of his fel-
low-citizens, Judge Gantt has consistently and per-
sistently followed a straight course as a constructionist.
During the war he was an Unconditional Unionist and
a war Democrat ; was an opponent of the Drake Con-
stitution and all radical or reconstructive measures ; a
supporter of President Johnson's policy, and being
opposed to the Democratic party in the nomination
of Mr. Greeley in 1872, voted for Charles O'Conor
for President, but for Mr. Tilden in 1876. He
claims that his political career antecedent to the war
was consistent, having voted for Seymour in 1868,
for McClellan in 1864, for Douglas in 1860, for Bu-
chanan in 1856, for Pierce in 1852, for Cassin 1848,
and for Polk in 1844. In 1840 he voted for Har-
rison on his pledge to reform the civil service ; but
when the Whig party repudiated that pledge he re-
turned to the Democratic party, to which he has
since constantly adhered. But in his political views,
while tenaciously clinging to his opinions, he has
ever been liberal toward others, and only asking the
same liberty for himself. He never asked for an
office. Mr. Gantt has never been a member of any
church, but has since early manhood inclined toward
Unitarianism in his religious belief.
He was married in 1845 to Miss Mary Carroll
Tabbs, a granddaughter of Charles Carroll, of Belle-
vue, Md. In regard to his professional, social, and
other characteristics, an eminent gentleman of St.
Louis, who has known him long and intimately, says,
" He is a man of genial disposition, honorable in his
BENCH AND BAR.
1487
dealings with his fellow-men, being possessed of a
stern sense of justice, and endowed with a keen and
discriminating intellect, which enables him to separate
the true from the false and the ideal, being gifted in
an eminent degree with the qualities which have distin-
guished him as a lawyer and a judge. There is no
man who, by precept and example, has done more
than he to preserve the honor of the legal profession
in the courts where he has practiced and in the com-
munity where he has resided ; and whilst it must be
admitted that among his contemporaries he is one of
the most learned men in the profession, it may be
said that he has not considered a professional knowl-
edge of jurisprudence at all incompatible with general
culture and literary accomplishment, for in spite of
the arduous duties of his profession, he has not only
kept himself well informed in the political history of
his country, but his literary attainments are of a high
order. Industrious, energetic, and orderly in his
habits, the knowledge which he has acquired on all
subjects to which he has directed his attention is
peculiarly accurate and reliable, and this may be at-
tributed not less to his industry and close attention
than to his natural love of truth and justice."
Another of the men who, like Judge Lackland,
were the architects of their own fortune, and who
climbed with steady foot against many disadvantages
to a high place, was Thomas B. Hudson. His
birthplace was Davidson County, Tenn., the year was
1814. Academically educated, he began law studies
in 1832, and about 1835 removed to Tennessee, and
began practice. About 1840 he was a member of
the City Council, and two years later became city
counselor. He was quite a politician, and in 1840
occurred the Chambers-Hudson duel. Hudson was a
candidate for the Legislature ; Col. A. B. Chambers
was editor and part proprietor of the Republican. An
editorial had contained imputations upon Mr. Hudson's
truth and courage ; he replied with a challenge. The
parties met and exchanged three shots without effect.
A reconciliation followed, and they became lifelong
friends. In 1842, Mr. Hudson went to the Legisla-
ture, and distinguished himself as one of the most
influential of its members. At one time he was
president of the North Missouri Railroad Company.
About 1854 he retired from the more public sphere
in which he formerly moved, and devoted his time to
the improvement of a handsome estate and the pur-
suits of agriculture at his home, Glen Owen, in the
Florissant valley, ten miles north of St. Louis.
During the Mexican war he raised a cavalry com-
pany, was chosen captain, and was one of the heroes
of the Doniphan expedition. His wife was Miss
Eliza Chambers. Capt. Hudson's death occurred in
1867.
Governor Trusten Polk, one of the ornaments of
this period of the St. Louis bar, which then included
such men as Wilson Primm, M. Blair, and J. B. Bow-
lin, became widely known for his adhesion to the
cause of the South. His absolute devotion to what
he deemed his duty involved personal sacrifices such
as earn for his convictions at least respect. After the
war he resumed practice in St. Louis, and in fact just
before his death, in April, 1876, was preparing an
address in the land case of Glasgow vs. the Lindell
heirs, which case had then been twenty-three years in
court. He was born in Sussex County, Del., in 1811.
His father was a well-to-do farmer, and his mother
was the sister of Governor Peter Causey. His father
gave him a university education at Yale College,
where he graduated with high honors in the class of
1831. Soon after he went into the law-office of James
Rogers, attorney-general of Delaware, where he re-
mained nearly two years, when he returned to Yale
College, and attended a two years' course of law lec-
tures. Returning home again, he was admitted to the
bar, but in 1835 removed to St. Louis. Two years
after his arrival he was united in marriage to Miss
Elizabeth W. Skinner. One of his daughters after-
wards married William F. Causey, his law partner and
nephew. He labored with brilliant success for nearly
ten years, but his health failed. In 1845, while
absent on a visit to Cuba, he was elected from St.
Louis County as one of the members of the conven-
tion which assembled in 1846 to revise the Constitu-
tion of the State. James 0. Broadhead, Judge
Robert Wells, William M. Campbell, Myron Leslie,
Uriel Wright, James S. Green, and others were also
members.
In 1848 he was chosen a member of the Democratic
Convention which nominated Judge Austin A. King
for Congress, and in 1848 was one of the Presidential
electors on the Cass-Butler ticket. In 1856 he was
made the nominee of the Democratic party for Gov-
ernor, and was elected after an exciting contest over
his Free-Soil and Know-Nothing opponents. Receiv-
ing the vote of his party in the Legislature for United
States senator, he resigned the gubernatorial seat soon
after his election to the position and entered Congress.
With reference to this eventful period, a prominent
journal said at the time, —
" Honors have clustered upon Mr. Polk during the
past year. The party he represents bore the sneers of
the Benton organ for a number of years. He himself
was taunted with having a constituency of sixty-four
votes, and commiserated for the feeble signs of his
1488
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
popularity. Since then the Benton faction in the
State has steadily declined. Mr. Polk, in spite of
the Benton coalition with Know-Nothings, was elected
Governor by a very gratifying vote ; and now, again,
in joint session of the Legislature, Mr. Polk, by a
vote of one hundred and one, is declared United
States senator for six years, offset by the mournful
vote of twenty-three for Col. Benton." Shortly after
the breaking out of the war in 1861 he resigned his
seat in the United States Senate and cast his lot with
the Southern Confederacy. In 1864 he was taken
prisoner, and was confined on Johnson's Island until
exchanged several months afterwards. During the
war he held the position of presiding military judge
of the Department of the Mississippi. At the close
of the war he returned to St. Louis to find his prop-
erty in the hands of the government, but it was after-
wards restored to him. Governor Polk was again
offered positions of high public trust, but invariably
declined. He was generally recognized as one of the
leading members of the St. Louis bar, and was en-
gaged in many important cases. He was a member
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and all his life
showed consistent Christian virtues. Few men had
fewer enemies. His diligence, patience, friendliness,
and courtesy were the corner-stones of his success.
Judge Wilson Primm was born Jan. 10, 1810, in
St. Louis, the city which recognized his talents and
virtues in after-years by choosing him to many offices
of trust and honor, and his death occurred in the
same city, after a long and useful life, Jan. 17, 1878.
He was twice married, leaving in all five children.
He was the oldest of the eleven children of Peter
Primm, a Virginian, and Mary La Rue, of French
descent. His second wife and his mother survived
him a short time. The latter, at the age of eighty-
six, recalled vividly the eventful history of St. Louis,
and the changes of government in the early Terri-
torial history, the American flag being triumphantly
carried up Walnut Street, and the Stars and Stripes
unfurled from the fort or magazine, on which occasion,
she said, all of the French and Spanish inhabitants of
that day, herself among the number, shed tears of
misgivings and regret.1
Wilson Primm attended the village French schools,
and then Judge Tompkins' English school, showing
great application and capacity. He was then sent to
Bardstown College, Ky., where he graduated, and re-
turned to read law under Hon. Edward Bates, who
had showed him many kindnesses, and given him
every encouragement. At the age of twenty-one he
was admitted to the bar, and became justice of the
peace for a few years. Charles D. Drake, of Illinois,
was his first law partner. George R. Taylor and
Charles C. Whittlesey were subsequent partners.
In his younger days Judge Primm was an ardent
1 Judge Primm's mother, grandmother, and great-grand-
mother were born in St. Louis, and Col. A. R. Easton contributes
the remarkable fact that lately enough to come within his dis-
tinct recollection they were all living in the city.
Whig. In 1834 he became a member of the Board
of Aldermen, and was retained in that body through
many administrations, being its president for many
years. He was elected in the fall of 1834 to a seat
in the Missouri House of Representatives, and re-
elected for several terms.
His efforts in improving the harbor of St. Louis
and in fostering its educational interests were great
and unremitting. He urged the sale of the " com-
mons" and the devoting of a part of the proceeds to
the public schools, and assisted in organizing the first
Board of Education, of which he was the first secre-
tary. He was long in the habit of attending the
public school examinations and addressing the chil-
dren, and made some of his happiest efforts on such
occasions. In 1846 he was an unsuccessful candidate
for sheriff, but some years later was elected clerk of
the Circuit Court. About 1862 he was chosen judge
of the St. Louis Criminal Court, and for thirteen busy
years filled that place with uniform excellence. For
BENCH AND BAR.
1489
a brief period he returned to practice, but his health
failed, and he retired permanently. It is difficult to
give any one a proper idea of the well-rounded
strength and simplicity of his character. He was
called the best linguist at the bar ; his social qualities
were almost of the nature of genius, and he was a
famous amateur vocalist, violinist, and elocutionist.
On March 3, 1878, George R. Taylor delivered an
eloquent address upon Judge Primm. It shows
clearly the devoted affection he won from his asso-
ciates. Others were -equally loved, but none better.
His professional capacity and his loyalty to right
were corner-stones of his life. In many and import-
ant cases the patriarchs of the bar, Geyer, Bates,
Gamble, and Spalding, were his associates or oppo-
nents. Mr. Taylor says, " As early as 1837 he was
among the members of the bar which had for its
object the purification of the bench, alleging that the
judge of the Circuit Court, among other grievances,
was too passionate and impatient while on the bench
to admit a calm and full examination of cases. Sub-
sequently, in the impeachment trial of Judge Peck
before the United States Senate, the oldest members
of the bar were summoned, and among them Wilson
Primm, who at that early day showed attainments of
so great and universal a character, combined with the
blandest manners, not supercilious or obtrusive, with
a voice full, musical, and persuasive, that it is no
wonder he at once took high position among his
brethren." As a witness in the Peck case, he was
called upon to translate many of the old French and
Spanish archives, and it is related that he ^attracted
universal attention in Washington by his natural
grace and charm of manner, and electrified the social
circles by his wit and accomplishments.
Judge Hamilton, in after-years, remarked, " None
knew better the true use and power of language, or
how to match the expression to the thought. It was
this peculiarity, added to soundness of judgment, apt-
ness and beauty of illustration, and a voice of rare
sweetness and variety of intonation, that made him so
successful before the jury." Hon. Gilchrist Porter
recently alluded to his recollections of Wilson Primm's
eloquence as far back as 1836 before the St. Charles
court. The resolutions passed by the St. Louis bar
after his death were unusual tributes of respect and
affection. In the historical address before alluded to
Mr. Taylor speaks of his many professional kindnesses.
In 1841 a young and promising lawyer was shot and
killed; Judge Primm bore the funeral expenses and
gave his splendid talent in the murderer's prosecution,
and dozens of such cases occurred, notably in the
famous Montesquieu trial, where his knowledge of
French was of great service. lie aided largely in
establishing the insanity of the elder and the innocence
of the younger brother. One of the objects of his
peculiar interest was the old cathedral, to which so
many of the old French descendants contributed years
of labor, love, and talent. Re was a member of the ex-
ecutive committee that built the cathedral, and organ-
ized and for a long time led its choir. Though in
demand on public occasions, as an orator of force and
grace, his masterpiece in this line was delivered on
Feb. 15, 1847, when the anniversary of the found-
ing of St. Louis was celebrated. From the steps of the
court-house Judge Primm thrilled a vast assemblage
with his fervid and impetuous language, surpassing
himself, and surprising even his closest friends.
Judge Primm possessed a vivid recollection of events
connected with the progress of the city, and his rem-
iniscences were very interesting. He wrote a small
historical treatise, which was accepted as authority as
to the matters of which it treated, and delivered nu-
merous addresses and wrote numerous articles for the
press on the history of St. Louis.
Judge James B. Bowlin, a contemporary of
Judge Primm, died in July, 1874. He was born
near Fredericksburg, Va., in 1804, and moved to
St. Louis in 1833. In 1837 he was married to
Miss Margaret Colburn. In 1838 he represented St.
Louis County in the Legislature, and on the estab-
lishment of the Criminal Court he was elected judge,
being the first to hold that position. Under Presi-
dent Folk's administration he was minister to Bogota,
New Grenada, and during the second year of the ad-
ministration of President Buchanan he was appointed
special commissioner to Paraguay, which was the
last political position he held. His diplomatic career
was a very successful one, and he was held in the
highest estimation abroad. Much of his success in
life can fairly be attributed to the beauty, manners,
and ability of his wife. He mingled in politics a
good deal in early years, and established a Democratic
paper. He served in Congress for four terms, begin-
ning in 1842, and was very popular there. The warm
feelings manifested when the usual bar meeting was
held after his death showed how strong a hold upon
his associates Judge Bowlin had gained. Hon. John
F. Darby, always ready, genial, and full of reminis-
cences, said, on that occasion, —
" He had known Judge Bowlin since the latter
came to St. Louis, and although they were on oppo-
site sides in politics, they were always warm friends.
Judge Bowlin was a Jackson man all over, and swore
by Tom Benton. The speaker was an enthusiastic
Whig. In 1838 they were opposition candidates for
1490
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Congress. At that time the Jackson party was domi-
nant, and had had unlimited sway for twenty-five
years. Previous to that congressmen were elected (
by the State at large, and twice Judge Bowlin had
been so elected. A nomination on the State Demo-
cratic ticket at that day was always regarded as equiva- ;
lent to an election. He recollected going out into
the State to electioneer for his party, and meeting a
man who told him he was wasting his efforts, as ;
there were not Whigs enough there for seed. In the
canvass of 1838, however, the State had been for the
first time districted, and it happened that in this i
district the Democratic party was not in the ascend-
ancy, so Judge Bowlin was beaten. Up to this time
there were but two courts in St. Louis County, — the j
Circuit Court and County Court. The criminal j
business had increased until it was found necessary
to separate it from the civil business, and the Criminal
Court was created. The Senate nominated Judge
Bowlin, and the Governor commissioned him. He
was universally considered by the bar as a just and
impartial judge, and in the days when Geyer and
Allen, and Spalding and Bates, and other great men
practiced before his bar, he was equal to dealing :
with all the intricate questions that arose. The j
speaker cited two great cases that had been tried be-
fore him, which showed what metal he was made of,
as a lawyer and a man. In one of these cases a
great popular interest was excited, and much angry
feeling. Judge and jury, defendant and counsel,
witnesses and spectators, all came into court armed to
the teeth, and no man could tell when the case might
be appealed from a court of justice to one of force
and violence. Amid all the excitement,. Judge Bow-
lin sat unmoved, coolly rendering his decisions, and
satisfying both sides that he was intending to do im-
partial justice, and when at length a decision was
reached it was gracefully accepted by the losing side
without a word of fault-finding with the judge."
At this meeting of the bar Hon. L. V. Bogy pre-
sided ; Governor Polk, Hon. S. Clemens, and others
were among the speakers. Judge Bowlin had a
younger brother, Richard H., who entered the navy, !
served with credit for eight years or so, then went to !
San Francisco, edited a paper, and took part in poli-
tics. Leaving this field he studied for the bar, re-
turned to St. Louis, began practice, and was soon
elected to the Legislature, but his health failed, and
he died in June, 1859.
One of the fine lawyers and business men of the
the past was Hon. William M. McPherson. Born in
Boone County, Ky., in 1813, the recipient of limited
school advantages, a school-teacher himself, brought
up in a rugged way on a farm, and spending his spare
hours in reading law, this gentleman deserved all his
success. He studied in Lexington at the Transyl-
vania University, practiced in his native place a while,
removed to Arkansas, where he met with financial
reverses, came to St. Louis (1841), and entered upon
a career that enabled him by 1852 to pay up his
Arkansas liabilities. He was known as an excellent
advocate, served two terms as prosecuting attorney,
and one term in the Legislature. His marriage in
1843 to Miss Mary Mitchell was blessed with five
children. He became in later years an extensive and
successful operator in real estate, built several busi-
ness blocks, was a director of several railroads and
other important companies, and Thomas Allen's suc-
cessor as president of the Missouri Pacific. The
Bellefontaine Cemetery was one of his enterprises, and,
in brief, the city, as it stands, owes much to his busi-
ness energy. His death occurred in November, 1872.
In 1834 or 1835, Charles D. Drake, whose biog-
raphy is given on another page, began practice in St.
Louis, and soon after identified himself so enthusiasti-
cally with the idea of establishing a law library that it is
properly his best memorial. In 1847, May 22d, the
Law Association, in honor of his efforts, tendered him
a banquet. (At that time the library had twelve hun-
dred and eighty-five volumes, sixty-nine members, and
an annual income of six hundred dollars.) Joseph
B. Crockett, president of the association, presided.
Forty-five members took their seats, and the follow-
ing invited guests : Hon. Thomas H. Benton, Hon.
Nathaniel Pope, district judge of the United States
for the district of Illinois; Hon. Robert Wash, for-
merly judge of the Supreme Court of Missouri ; Hon.
Ezra Hunt, judge of the Third Judicial Circuit of
Missouri ; Hon. Peter Ferguson, judge of the St.
Louis Probate Court. In the course of his speech
Mr. Drake gave a resume of his labors in behalf of
the library, saying , —
" When I made my home in our city it was a town
of seven thousand five hundred people, now it num-
bers fifty thousand ; then there were seventeen mem-
bers of the bar, now they count nearly one hundred
and forty. Of these seventeen, four have passed, by
death, from our midst, four have retired from the
active pursuits of the profession, two have removed to
other homes, and seven remain, five of whom are with
us this evening. I made in 1838 the effort which
has resulted in the establishment of our association.
First securing the countenance of the seniors of the
bar, I went through our ranks and obtained twenty-
two signatures to the original proposals. Twenty of
those signers paid twenty dollars apiece, and with the
BENCH AND BAR.
1491
four hundred dollars thus contributed, barely enough
to purchase one hundred volumes of books, the law
library was commenced."
John F. Darby, in his reminiscences, mentions the
fact that until 1836 large pasture and timber tracts had
lain waste near St. Louis on " the common," and were
the resort of desperadoes. In July, 1838, Judge
Thomas M. Dougherty, of the county court, was mur-
dered on the road between St. Louis and Carondelet,
being shot with seven buckshot in the head. His
friends offered a reward of one thousand dollars for
the apprehension of the murderers, and every effort
was made to find them, without success. In 1840 a
letter was received in St. Louis from Texas, signed
by a Dr. Hughes, stating that he committed the deed
to gratify his revenge for an injury he imagined he
suffered through the agency of Judge Dougherty.
This man Hughes had many years ago been engaged
in circulating counterfeit money, and was detected and
sentenced in Kentucky to ten years' imprisonment,
which he served out, and shortly after was seen in St.
Louis. Further than this the entire tragedy has
since that time remained a profound secret. In 1843
the murder and robbery of a Santa Fe" trader named
Chavir created considerable excitement. Joseph
Brown and John McDaniel were executed in 1844 ;
six or eight accessories, after confinement in jail for
some time, were pardoned by the President.
Williamsboro', N. C., was the birthplace of one of
the most popular members of the bar, Willis L. Wil-
liams, who died in March, 1857, aged forty-eight.
He graduated at Amherst, studied law with Joseph
Bradley, at Washington, and daily attended the Con-
gressional debates, taking copious notes. His admira-
tion of Clay and Webster was unbounded, and through
life he was an ardent Whig. After practicing at
Paris, Tenn., for a short time he removed to St.
Louis (1842), and became very successful. The re-
vising session of the Legislature of 1844-45 found
him an acknowledged leader in that body. Many as
were his talents, perhaps his powers of shining
supreme in the social circle were most unusual. He
exercised, and always for good, a strange fascination
over every one he met. A born optimist, he looked
on the bright side of everything, and tried to make
every one happy. When after his death the mem-
bers of the bar assembled, the room was densely
crowded, and the oldest members of the bar vied with
each other in expressing their sorrow. Sobs were
heard and tears seen on many faces. It was as if a
loved relative had departed. Edward Bates showed
much feeling. He said he felt as if he were walking
among the gravestones of his former associates. "I
have known Mr. Williams," he said, " from the first
month of his residence here, — a man of warm impulses,
of active heart, so to speak, sometimes impulsive, but
even then, it occurred to me, his fault leant to virtue's
side. His success at the bar shows at least his quali-
fication, and even when he gave offense, as we all do
sometimes, the kindness of his heart won back the
affection of him that he may have offended. Mr.
Williams belonged to a family remarkable for their
success in life, many of them eminent in their old na-
tive State of North Carolina. Some have flourished
since in South Tennessee, and he was pursuing here a
course that might have rendered illustrious his own
name."
Charles D. Drake, Senator L. V. Bogy, Gen. Coal-
ter, Judge Albert Todd, Judge Primm, and others
paid affectionate tributes to the deceased. Before the
Court of Common Pleas, Mr. Strong said, " It would
be invidious and untrue to say that he was foremost
in his profession, but we all know that in legal attain-
ments, in the number and magnitude of the cases in
which he was engaged, and in the general success of
his professional life, he had secured a rank among
those who are really eminent. Few men could appre-
ciate more quickly or thoroughly whatever is beauti-
ful in thought, or elegant in expression, or striking in
sentiment, or droll, grotesque, and ridiculous in its
character. He possessed a great fondness for the
humorous, imitated well, and was, among his other
genial qualities, an admirable story-teller. He had
that greatest glory of man or woman, a large heart."
Of the members of the St. Louis bar who devoted
much of their time and talents to the material devel-
opment of the city, few, if any, played a more active
or more prominent part than Lewis V. Bogy. His
family was of French extraction, his grandfather
having come from Canada and settled at Kaskaskia,
where he married Miss Placy. About 1786 or 1787
he began to trade with the Indians in what is now
Arkansas, and owing to the lack of facilities in that
section of the country, sent his son Joseph, father of
Lewis V., to New Orleans to be educated. In 1805,
Joseph Bogy settled at Ste. Genevieve, where Lewis
V. Bogy was born on the 9th of April, 1813. French
was the language of the people, and no English school
was established there until John D. Graf ton, from
Connecticut, opened one in 1822. After remaining
at this school for one year, young Bogy was sent with
his brother Charles to a Catholic school at Perry ville,
and while there was attacked by a white swelling,
which interrupted his studies for several years. He
next engaged as clerk in a store, investing all his
savings in books, which he studied in the evening
1492
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
after business hours. He finally decided to study
law, and for that purpose was admitted, in 1832, to
the office of Judge Pope, at Kaskaskia, 111. On leav-
ing home he placed in his mother's hands the follow-
ing remarkable paper :
"STE. GENEVIEVE, Jan. 16, 1832.
''On this day I left home, under charge of Mr. William Shan-
non, an old friend of my father, to go to Kaskaskia, to read law
in the office of Judge Pope. My education is very limited, but
with hard study I may overcome it. I atn determined to try ;
and my intention is to return to my native State to practice
law, if I can qualify myself, and while doing so to work to be-
come United States senator for my native State, and to work
for this until I am sixty years old. I will pray God to give me
the resolution to persevere in
this intention. I have commu-
nicated this to my mother, and
given her this paper to keep.
So help me God !
" LEWIS V. BOGY."
His intention to become
a United States senator was
never lost sight of, and was
finally realized. In order
to acquire a knowledge of
Latin, he made an arrange-
ment with Father Conda-
mine, a Catholic priest of
Kaskaskia, who agreed to
give him lessons in return
for his services as altar as-
sistant. Young Bogy served
as a volunteer in the Black
Hawk war, and upon the
cessation of hostilities re-
turned to Kaskaskia and
resumed his studies. In
December, 1833, he entered
Transylvania University, at
Lexington, Ky., John G.
Miller, J. S. Rollins, and
William M. McPherson, all
of Missouri, being among
his classmates. He taught school a while, returned to
his studies, and graduated in 1835. In April, 1835,
having obtained a license from the Supreme Court of
Missouri, he opened a law-office in St. Louis, associating
himself with Logan Hanton. He was elected to the
Legislature in 1840, but devoted himself otherwise to
his growing practice until he decided to enter politics.
He removed to Ste. Genevieve, then in the St. Louis
congressional district, and led the anti-Benton party
there in a very bitter campaign, but was defeated.
At the next election for national representatives he
ran against Col. Benton himself. Though Bogy was
defeated, the talents he displayed increased his repu-
tation. Two years later he was again sent to the
State Legislature. In 1848 he became interested in
the Pilot Knob iron ores, but ten years' experiment
ruined him financially, and he was forced to return to
his law practice. In 1863 he was nominated for
Congress in St. Louis against Francis P. Blair and
Samuel Knox, but, as the Democrats were largely in
the minority, was defeated. In 1867, President
Johnson called him to the head of the Indian Bureau,
but the Senate, being Republican, refused to confirm
him, and at the end of six months he retired, after
exhibiting superior administrative capacity.
From this time he occu-
pied no other public posi-
tion until 1873. In the
beginning of 1873, Hon.
Frank P. Blair's term of
office being about ended,
Mr. Bogy announced him-
self as candidate for the
place of United States sen-
ator. There were a number
of candidates on the occa-
sion of the Democratic cau-
cus nomination for senator,
the contest finally narrow-
ing down to Bogy and
Blair, and resulting in the
election of the former by a
vote of sixty-four to fifty-
seven. When the election
by the Legislature took
place, Mr. Bogy was elected
over the Republican can-
didate, Hon. J. B. Hender-
son, by a majority of fifty-
nine votes. In the Senate
Mr. Bogy chiefly devoted
himself to the question of
finance, and was especially
prominent in connection with the silver bill. He was
a member of the congressional commission which
visited different cities for the purpose of securing in-
formation upon the silver question, and was also its
chairman. He was an earnest worker for Western in-
terests, and active in the work of securing direct
trade with Brazil. As a member of the Senate, his
course was marked by moderation, ability, and great
industry, and he speedily won the esteem and respect
of his associates. He died at his residence in St.
Louis, Sept. 20, 1877. His wife, who survived him,
was a sister of Gen. Bernard Pratte, and he left two
children, — Joseph Bogy and Mrs. T. S. Noonan.
BENCH AND BAR.
1493
Mr. Bogy was a man of great generosity of heart,
charitable toward all who needed help, steadfast in
friendship, vigilant in the discharge of his duties,
and altogether one of the best citizens St. Louis has
ever had.
Hon. James S. Rollins, born in Kentucky in 1812,
became a resident of Boone County, Mo., in 1830,
and graduated at the Transylvania Law School in
1834. He became the political leader of his section,
served many terms in the State Legislature and in
Congress, and was particularly distinguished as the
friend of public schools and universities, and of in-
ternal improvements. His services in the Thirty-
seventh and Thirty-eighth Congresses were of pecu-
liar importance, sustaining as he did the war measures
of the government and the famous Thirteenth Con-
stitutional Amendment.
Another " noted Transylvanian" was Greer W.
Davis, born in Kentucky in 1799, and for fifty-seven
consecutive years a lawyer in Cape Girardeau County,
Mo., seventeen of these years being passed as circuit
attorney. He died in 1878, the only survivor of the
Territorial lawyers of Missouri. Since 1824 he had
been a consistent member of the Methodist Church.
His son is now a member of the St. Louis bar.
Descendant of a well-known artist, graduate of a
New England college, a lawyer of good standing, and
an officer in the late civil war, Chester Harding lived
an active and useful life. His birthplace (October,
1826) was Northampton, Mass. In 1847 he began
his law studies in St. Louis, under his brother-in-law,
Judge John M. Krum, of the Circuit Court. The
next year he entered the Harvard Law School, gradu-
ated in 1850, returned to St. Louis, in 1852 became
Judge Krum's partner, and, being diligent and capa-
ble, was soon favorably known. The firm of Krum
& Harding continued till 1861, when the junior part-
ner entered the army as colonel, assigned to duty as
assistant adjutant-general on Gen. Lyon's staff. He
was in command at St. Louis for a few months before
Fremont's arrival in August, 1861. After this he
was in active service in the field until the close of the
war. He resumed his profession in St. Louis, and
continued in practice until his death, February, 1875.
Col. J. 0. Broadhead occupied the chair at the bar
meeting, sympathetic resolutions were passed, and the
members of the bar in a body attended the funeral.
Another lawyer of note who settled in St. Louis
about the time that Gen. Harding began practice
there was Newton D. Strong, son of a Connecticut
minister, and a graduate of Yale in 1831. His elder
brother William afterwards became one of the justices
of the Supreme Court of the United States. From
95
1834 to 1836, Newton was a tutor at Yale. About
1837 he settled at Alton, 111., in law partnership with
Junius Wall, a college classmate, and soon after was
sent to the Legislature. In 1844 he married Miss
Matilda Edwards, of Alton. In 1851 he removed to
St. Louis, formed a partnership with his cousin,
George P. Strong, and they had an extensive client-
age. But after his wife's death, in 1851, Mr. Strong's
abiding sorrow drew him more and more from active
life into quiet and literary pursuits. His death oc-
curred in August, 1866, in his fifty-seventh year.
A jurist of recognized capacities and tried integrity
is Judge Horatio M. Jones, born in Pennsylvania in
1826, of Welsh parentage, graduated at Oberlin Col-
lege in 1849, and at the Cambridge Law School in
1853. The next year he reached St. Louis and
began practice. After serving several years as re-
porter of the Supreme Court of the State, he was
in 1861 appointed a Territorial judge of Nevada,
where he made many friends. From 1863 to 1866
he had a law-office in Austin, Nev., in the heart of
"sage-brush land." Returning to St. Louis, in 1870
he was elected a judge of the Circuit Court, and has
since retained that responsible position. He married
Miss Strong, of Livingston County, N. Y., in 1851.
Another Judge Jones (William C.), a prominent
lawyer at the St. Louis bar, has held offices of im-
portance. He is a native of Kentucky (Bowling
Green), and his father, Cuthbert, was a leading phy-
sician of that State. Young Mr. Jones graduated at
McKendree College, Lebanon, 111., in 1852, read law,
and was admitted the next year. After a short prac-
tice in Chester, 111., where his father then lived, he
came to St. Louis, entered in partnership with William
L. Sloss, which only lasted a year, and some time
after with Judge Cady. When the war began he
enlisted in the United States Reserve Corps, and
served in Southwestern Missouri. From 1862 until
November, 1865, he was a paymaster of the United
States army. He then returned to civil life, entered
politics, engaged in business enterprises, and in 1868
resumed law practice, first with Charles G. Mairo,
afterwards with John D. Johnson. In November,
1874, he was elected judge of the St. Louis Criminal
Court, proving eminently worthy of the honor. Still
another lawyer of the same name, Charles Jones, of
the Franklin bar, became wealthy, and spent the later
years of his life in St. Louis. He was born in Som-
erset County, Md., in 1814, read law with Hon.
William H. Handy, and with Hon. William H.
Collins, of Baltimore. About 1837 he came to
Missouri. His secretiveness was abnormal ; it was
his passion to hide his designs, even in the most
1494
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
frivolous matters, and from his best friends. He
was very parsimonious, regarding wealth as the chief
passport to happiness ; but his kindness to his slaves,
whom he would never sell, and never derived any
profit from, was in unique contrast to his usual
habits. In July, 1876, he died, leaving a widow
and four children.
Another eminent lawyer and statesman of this
epoch is Hon. Charles P. Johnson, whose life will be
found in the chapter on Political Progress.
The greatest loss that the bar of St. Louis had sus-
tained for years was the death of Judge John C.
Richardson, partner of Samuel T. Glover, which oc-
curred Sept. 21, 1860. Although but forty-two '
years of age, the place he had won by his profes-
sional talents and illuminated by his virtues has
never been more wisely filled. Though not an orator,
his clear, precise, earnest, and convincing speeches
gave him unbounded success with courts and juries.
"A model of a good lawyer and of a good citizen" is
what one of his associates termed him. Born in Ken-
tucky in 1817, and educated at that Transylvania
University which sent to St. Louis so many well-
trained jurists, young Mr. Richardson spent the years
between 1840 and 1850 in practice in Boonville,
ranking with the best lawyers of Central Missouri.
While there he married Miss Lionberger, who, with
several children, still survives him. But as all roads
once led to Rome, so in those days the paths of am-
bitious lawyers all led to St. Louis. The year 1850
saw the law-office of Richardson & Kirtley in the
tide of success, but Sinclair Kirtley removed to Cali-
fornia, and Mr. Richardson, with Samuel T. Glover,
under the firm-name of Glover & Richardson, began
to create by their industry and ability that reputation
which brought them an immense business, and made
them known throughout the entire West. In 1853,
Mr. Richardson became city counselor for St. Louis.
Four years later a vacancy occurred on the bench of
the Supreme Court. Hamilton R. Gamble initiated
an appeal from the leading lawyers of the time, ask-
ing Mr. Richardson to accept the nomination. The
people indorsed him with enthusiasm, and he served
until 1859, when ill health compelled his resignation,
and he returned to practice, again in partnership with
Mr. Glover. After his death the members of the bar
assembled, Hon. Edward Bates presiding, Judges
Wood and Lackland as vice-presidents, and M. R.
Cullen as secretary. Judge C. D. Drake reported
the resolutions, which were couched in the most ten-
der terms of admiration, affection, and sorrow. " His
departure in the prime and vigor of manhood is," they
said, " a calamity to the bar and the community."
Mr. Glover, Maj. Uriel Wright, and others eulogized
the truth, tenacity, and harmonious development of
his character.
Samuel T. Glover is a man of the period now
being treated of, but we like to think of him as a
contemporary in the strictest sense, or rather as a
" man for all time." Eminent as he is at the bar, it
is still in public life that he ranks highest.
Mr. Glover was especially prominent in the agita-
tion for the repeal of the " test oath" after the close
of the war, and his services in that connection will
long be remembered by grateful thousands whose re-
enfranchisement he helped to secure. Mr. Glover
had been a devoted, self-sacrificing adherent of the
Federal government throughout the war, and his
loyalty was unimpeachable. Upon the adoption of
the proscriptive " Drake Constitution," however, in
1865, he placed himself at the head of the movement
to resist those of its provisions which were aimed at
citizens of Missouri who had sympathized with the
South. Speaking of Mr. Glover's legal arguments in
this connection, Gen. Francis P. Blair once charac-
terized them as " arguments characterized by exten-
sive and accurate learning, by marvelous power in
the grasp of principles and irresistible vigor in their
application, by the highest order of forensic eloquence,
by a noble courage, by a passionate devotion to the
fundamental doctrines of civil liberty as declared in
the immortal ' Magna Charta' and reproduced in the
American Constitution. No man," added Gen. Blair,
'• has been found to answer his arguments. The
judges who listened to them had no responsive argu-
ments to make, though they ruled adversely. With as
clear a conscience as any man who lives Mr. Glover
could have taken the oath prescribed, for no man in the
Union has more faithfully than he, in act, word, and
thought, at all times and in all circumstances, fulfilled
his obligations to the Union. But the requisitions
accompanying that oath were so at war with every
principle of right that he preferred to be driven from
the forum, where he had been the brightest ornament,
rather than swear it. He was great before, honored
for his unrivaled capacity and strength by all the
members of the bar and by judges on the bench.
He stands nobler and greater now in public estima-
tion and renown. Those precious and priceless argu-
ments of his will be read hereafter with a glow of
admiration for his patriotism and his genius, and no
name in Missouri will be cherished in the future in
more loving honor than that of Samuel T. Glover."
In September, 1865, Mr. Glover made a test case
in his own person. He was indicted for practicing
without taking the oath. This indictment was so-
BENCH AND BAR.
1495
licked by him, as will be seen by the following letter
addressed by him to the circuit attorney :
"Sr. Louis, Sept. 11, 1865.
"J. P. VASTINE, ESQ., Circuit Attorney :
" g1R) — I am among those who believe that several provisions
of the new Constitution of Missouri are not only highly oppres-
sive to the citizens, but in violation of the Constitution of the
United States. Indeed, so extraordinary are they that I deem
it my duty, in person, to resist them, so far as they interfere
with me, by every means which the law provides. With this
purpose in view I have omitted to take the oath prescribed for
attorneys and counselors-at-law, and on last Saturday and to-
day I have been practicing as an attorney in the suit of Norman
Cutter vs. James Clemens et al. Nor is it my intention to take
said oath until I have secured the means of putting its consti-
tutionality to the judicial test that I desire.
"I would thank you to institute an indictment on the above
admission.
"If other proof is necessary, call on Samuel Gaty, Esq.
" I am ready to save you from any trouble in the premises
by such further acts, admissions, or proofs as will enable you to
present the matter fully and fairly to the court.
" I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully yours,
"S. T. GLOVER."
The grand jury, September 20th, returned an in-
dictment, and three days later Judge Primm sentenced
him to pay a fine of five hundred dollars. An appeal
to the Supreme Court was then prayed for, and a stay
of execution was asked, and both granted, and time
until the last day of term granted for defendant to file
his bill of exceptions. Mr. Glover gave bond in the
sum of five hundred dollars for his appearance before
the Supreme Court, and to obey every order and judg-
ment that might be entered against him, Abraham M.
Gardner becoming his security. The October session
of the Supreme Court reversed the judgment, holding
the test oath null and void. The question was also
carried before the United States Supreme Court, by
which, in December, 1866, it was decided that the
law of Congress imposing a retrospective oath of loy-
alty as a condition of being admitted to practice in the
United States courts was unconstitutional. Although
many and distinguished lawyers and jurists were as-
sociated in this great struggle, the final success before
the United States Supreme Court is due in large de-
gree to Hon. Alexander J. P. Garesche. It must be
remembered that all these men sacrificed their exten-
sive practices, being debarred from the courts until
this test case was settled so conclusively.
Another of the many gentlemen who left the
law in later years to engage, and successfully, in
mercantile pursuits was Maj. Ryland, from 1850 to
1858, when his death occurred, closely identified with
St. Louis business interests, and in 1857 chosen pres-
ident of the Chamber of Commerce. He was a native of
Kentucky, but located himself at Franklin, Mo., when
he was quite a young man, and soon after accepted the
appointment of receiver of public moneys, which he
held until the spring of 1840. He was "recognized
as honest, faithful, and competent," or, in the words of
Judge John C. Richardson, " no man ever held the
office longer or left a cleaner record." In 1847 he
removed to St. Louis, formed a partnership with his
brother-in-law, Capt. Reilly, an old law partner of
Judge Richardson's, and three years later, as noted, he
became engaged in commercial pursuits. At his death,
the Chamber of Commerce and the St. Louis bar
passed appropriate resolutions of regret.
In 1850, Judge Nathaniel Pope died suddenly,
while on a visit to St. Louis. He had been for some
years United States district judge of Illinois, and
was a pioneer of 1808 in that State. Many leading St.
Louis lawyers read law in his office at Kaskaskia.
An old member of the St. Louis bar was Alexander
Kayser, a native of Nassau, born in 1815. From
1833 to the time of his death, 1864, he was in active
practice. During the month (October of 1864) in
which Alexander Kayser died, the bar of St. Louis
was called upon to mourn three other deaths of prom-
inent members, — Wells and Coalter died, crowned with
years ; W. B. Clarke, a native of Waltham, Mass.,
was cut off at the threshold of many honors. He
had been in St. Louis only seven years, but had won
marked success, and profound sorrow was everywhere
expressed over his loss.
One of the judges of the Supreme Court at this
time merits more than a passing notice. Walter L.
! Lovelace, the son of a Baptist minister, born in Vir-
ginia in 1831, toiled in his boyhood to help support
his mother and sisters, taught school, worked as a
farm hand, studied law, was admitted in 1854, went
to the Legislature twice, and in 1865 was appointed
to the Supreme Court. His death occurred in 1866.
Most of his life was spent in Montgomery County.
Integrity and high moral purpose were his character-
istics, and the people of that region still venerate his
memory.
Alexander J. P. Garesche, already mentioned, was
born in 1823, on the island of Cuba. His parents
were French refugees from San Domingo in 1791,
and his early education was obtained at Georgetown
(D. C.) College, and afterwards at St. Louis Univer-
sity, where he received the highest honors, and ulti-
mately the three degrees in the gift of that institution.
In 1842 he began to study law in the office of Col.
Thomas T. Gantt, and was admitted in 1845. Fervid
eloquence and untiring energy were soon recognized
as his characteristics, and his practice became very
large. In 1846 he served as city attorney, but other-
wise declined political preferment.
1496
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Mr. Garesche was especially prominent just after
the war on account of the manly resistance which he
offered in the courts to the unconstitutional test oath,
and his name is identified with those who, as leaders
in the cause, inspired the people of the State with a
resolute purpose to maintain the privileges of civil and
religious freedom. He exhibited his devotion to the
cause by self-denying and expensive labors in order to
secure a judgment from the Supreme Court at Wash-
ington declaring the oath unconstitutional.
In 1849 he married Laura, granddaughter of Wy-
nant Van Zandt, of the old Knickerbocker stock of
New York, and nine children were born of this union.
A cousin of his, P. B. Garesche, born in Delaware,
was for a time his partner (1848), and in 1855 was
appointed public administrator, and afterwards elected
to the same office.
In 1861, feeling that with his ideas of State sov-
ereignty, and with his sympathies with the Southern
people, he could not conscientiously take the required
oath of loyalty, he resigned his office and joined his for-
tunes with the Confederate cause, taking charge of the
powder-works of the South, a position he filled until
the close of the war, after which he returned to St.
Louis, becoming senior member of the firm of Gare-
sche, Bakewell & Parish, but died in November,
1868. Alexander J. P. Garesche still survives, hon-
ored and successful.
Edward T. Parish, so long a law partner of the
Garesches, was and is one of the conspicuous men of
his time. He was born in Woodville, Miss., in Au-
gust, 1836, his father being a physician of large
practice, and his mother a granddaughter of Sir Wil-
liam Hamilton. In 1847 his parents died. Young
Parish was cared for by his father's relatives, and
graduated at the St. Louis University in 1854. He
studied law with Hon. A. Fenby, was admitted in
1856, and soon joined the Garesches. From 1861 to
1864 he practiced on his own account, then formed
professional relations with Hon. R. A. Bakewell,
afterwards judge of the St. Louis Court of Appeals
(elected in 1876). In 1867 he was married to Miss
Lily Garesche, sister of A. J. P. Garesche, his former
partner. He is an eloquent speaker, with rare power
over his associates and the jury, a cultivated gentle-
man, and a close student. Occasional contributions
to the press show his polished literary talent, and his
social qualities make him everywhere a welcome guest.
His practice has been chiefly in civil cases, but on sev-
eral memorable occasions he has entered the criminal
court. In the Britton-Overstolz contest for the may-
oralty (1876), Mr. Parish and Judge Madill were
counsel for the latter, and won a hard-fought field.
For some time Mr. Parish was city counselor of St.
Louis.
In the ten years immediately following the close of
the civil war the bar lost several valued members.
Two Prussians of ability and fine legal training won
rank at the St. Louis bar, and both died in the same
year, 1865. Frederick Kretschmar was for eleven
years clerk of the Criminal Court. He was a native
of Hagen, Westphalia, born in 1806, emigrated in
1830, settled in Philadelphia, married in 1832, and
removed to Missouri in 1836. In 1838 he began to
publish a paper in St. Louis, but was chosen justice
of the peace, and held that office for fifteen years,
resigning it to take the clerkship just mentioned. At
a time when party politics ran high, and he was, as a
rule, in the minority, he retained the esteem and sup-
port of his fellow-citizens. Col. Christian Kribben,
born in 1821 at Cologne, Prussia, settled in St. Louis
in 1835 and studied law. He was afterwards a lieu-
tenant in Doniphan's Mexican expedition, and was at
one time inspector- general of the State militia. About
1848 he began to take a high rank at the St. Louis
bar, served two years in the State Legislature, one
term as Speaker of the House. When Gen. McClel-
lan was nominated at Chicago for President, he was a
delegate from Missouri.
Here, if the fact that these gentlemen were not
more prominent upon a broader stage, would be the
place for the biographies of those leading and contem-
porary lawyers, Frank P. Blair, Jr., B. Gratz Brown,
Charles D. Drake, James 0. Broadhead, Gen. J. S.
Fullerton, Charles Gibson, and John W. Noble, but
they belong to the public, and their biographies must
be sought in the stern narratives of grand events
given elsewhere in this work in the chapters on " Po-
litical Progress" and " The Civil War."
It may not be inappropriate to mention here, how-
ever, the fact that of the members of the St. Louis
bar Charles Gibson has shed peculiar lustre upon his
profession. In addition to the successful manage-
ment of many important cases at home, he has ren-
dered valuable professional services to foreign govern-
ments, which have honored him in return with
distinctions such as are seldom conferred except for
the highest merit. The decree and accompanying
letter from the Austro-Hungarian government con-
ferring the commander's cross of the Franz Joseph
Order are as follows :
" 837.— K. F. J. 0.
"His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, Francis Joseph
I., Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, etc.,
has by an all highest decree of Dec. 15, 1882, been graciously
pleased to confer upon Your Right Honorable self the Com-
mander's Cross of His Sovereign Franz Joseph Order.
BENCH AND BAR.
1497
" The Chancery of the Order has the honor to make known
this grant, and to send inclosed the Insignia of the Order
which has been bestowed.
" VIENNA, the 16th December, 1882.
"DR. BATTIOLI.
" Chancery of Imperial Austrian
Franz Joseph Order.
" To MR. RIGHT HONORABLE CHARLES GIBSON,
" Counselor-at-Law, St. Louis."
" No. 77.
" K. UND K. OEST.-UNG. GESANDTSCHAFT,
"WASHINGTON, 29th January, 1883.
"SiR, — In recognition of your services recently and so dis-
interestedly rendered to our government in the unfortunate case
of our former consul at St. Louis, Mr. Bechtolsheim, His
Majesty the Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary has
been graciously pleased to confer upon you the cross of the
commandership of His Sovereign Order Francis Joseph.
"In transmitting to you inclosed the- respective decree to-
gether with the Insignia I congratulate you on the high dis-
tinction, and have great pleasure to add that by special favor
the decoration is not to be returned as usual, but may remain
in the family as a gratifying heirloom.
" Accept, sir, the assurance of my high consideration,
" The I. and R. Austro-Hungarian Minister,
" SCHAEFFER.1
" To THE HONORABLE MR. CHARLES GIBSON,
" K. V. S."
John B. Henderson, another distinguished member
of the St. Louis bar, was born in Pittsylvania County,
1 The Si. Louis Post-Dispatch of Feb. 3, 1882, thus notices
the formal act of conferring the cross upon Mr. Gibson :
" The emperor of Austria-Hungary has celebrated the six hun-
dredth anniversary of the reign of the Hapsburgs, so far as this
country is concerned, by decorating Hon. Charles Gibson, his
counsel in the case against Baron von Bechtolsheim, late Austro-
Hungarian consul at St. Louis, as Knight Commander of the
Order of Franz Joseph. The emperor himself is Chief, and the
Commanders for the inner circle are next to himself in the order.
The order itself is as high as any in the empire or in Europe. This
is the highest honor, so far as we are informed, ever conferred
by a great European sovereign on an American lawyer. After the
dismissal of Baron von Bechtolsheim, Dr. Von Gerlich, the Im-
perial German consul, officiated as an international courtesy in
his stead until to-day, when Mr. Diehm, the new consul, takes
the office. The last and most pleasing act of Dr. Von Gerlich's
administration was to wait upon Mr. Gibson at his residence last
evening, and on behalf of the emperor to deliver to him the
decree making the appointment, the official letter of Baron von
Schaffer, Austro-Hungarian minister at Washington, and the j
high insignia of the order. The knights of the order wear j
their cross on the lappel of the coat, but the Commander's in-
signia is pendant to a silken collar around the neck, making it
a very striking personal ornament. This order, and especially
Mr. Gibson's position in it, is not merely a medallion or mark of
commendation, but it is a rank, and one of the very highest
honors in the empire. It was well and fairly earned by Mr.
Gibson in the line of professional duty."
Va., Nov. 16, 1826. His parents were James Hen-
derson, who was born at Dandridge, Jefferson Co.,
Tenn., and Jane Dawson, of Pittsylvania County, Va.
The family resided in Pittsylvania County until 1832,
when they removed to Lincoln County, Mo., and set-
tled there. When he was nine years old his parents
died, leaving one brother and two sisters younger than
himself, who naturally fell to his care during his boy-
hood. Having but small means, his facilities for an
education were restricted at first to the common
schools, and then to academies taught by good classi-
cal scholars. His tuition embraced the English
branches, mathematics, and Latin and Greek, and he
is yet a good Latin scholar. He taught school for
several years, during which time he studied law, and
in 1848 he was admitted to the bar in Pike County,
Mo., by Ezra Hunt, then judge of that circuit. In
1849 he commenced the practice of the law at Louisi-
ana, Mo., and continued it successfully at that place
until 1861.
Mr. Henderson took a strong interest in political
questions from an early age, and in 1848 was elected
to the Lower House of the Missouri Legislature as a
Democrat from Pike County. In 1856 he was again
elected to the lower branch of the Missouri Legislature
as a Democrat, and served during the regular and
adjourned terms. In 1860 he was a candidate for
Congress in the Pike district as a Union Democrat,
but was defeated by James S. Rollins by about two
hundred and forty votes in a total vote of about
twenty-five thousand, after a spirited and memorable
canvass of sixty days, during which the candidates
traveled together and engaged in joint debate through-
out the district.
In February, 1861, Mr. Henderson was elected as
a Unionist to the State Convention called in Missouri
to determine the question of secession. During its
several sessions, which were held until the summer of
1863, Mr. Henderson took an active part in all of its
proceedings as a Union man.
In the summer of 1861 he was appointed by Gov-
ernor Gamble, then Provisional Governor of Missouri,
a brigadier-general of the State militia, and was re-
quested to organize a brigade of State troops in North-
eastern Missouri. While he was thus engaged, and
after having organized nearly two full regiments for the
defense of the Union in that part of the State, Lieu-
tenant-Governor Willard P. Hall, then acting as
Governor, commissioned Mr. Henderson as a senator
of the United States to fill the unexpired term of the
Hon. Trusten Polk, who had been expelled for dis-
loyalty, and the appointment was confirmed by the
Legislature of 1862-63. The term expired March
1498
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
4, 1863, and Mr. Henderson was then elected to the
United States Senate for the full senatorial term
ending March 4, 1869.
During Mr. Henderson's term in the Senate he
acted with the Republican party, giving every possi-
ble support to the friends of the Union. He served
on the following committees : Finance, Foreign Rela-
tions, Post-Offices and Post-Roads, Claims, Contingent
Expenses of the Senate, District of Columbia, Indian
Affairs, and others. He is the author of the amend-
ment to the Constitution of the United States abolish-
ing slavery, known as the Thirteenth Amendment, and
immediately on its adoption in 1865 he was among
the first to propose the amendment granting suffrage
without distinction, which finally took form as the
Fifteenth Amendment.
As chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs,
in 1867 he organized a commission, consisting of
Gens. Sherman, Terry, Harney, Sanborn, and others,
and went among the hostile Indians of the upper
Missouri River and the plains, and succeeded by
numerous treaties of peace in quelling disastrous and
expensive wars then being waged by the Sioux, the
Cheyennes, the Arrapahoes, the Kiowas, and Co-
manches.
While a member of the Senate he succeeded in
having the State of Missouri reimbursed for its war
expenses from the Federal treasury, which enabled
the State to resume its credit, and restored its old
condition of solvency.
In the Senate he acted rather on his own judgment
than on the dictation of any partisan caucus. He
gave a remarkable instance of his independence when,
in opposition to the behests of a caucus, he voted with
Fessenden, of Maine, Trumbull, of Illinois, and other
Republican senators against the impeachment of Presi-
dent Andrew Johnson, and thereby defeated it. This
vote undoubtedly prevented his re-election to the
United States Senate by the Missouri Legislature of
1868-69.
In 1808, while a member of the Senate, Mr. Hen-
derson married, at Washington, Miss Mary Newton
Foote, a daughter of Judge Elisha Foote, of New
York.
In 1870 he removed to St. Louis and engaged in
the practice of the law, which he has diligently pursued
ever since. His practice has chiefly been in the
Federal, Circuit, and District Courts, and the United
States Supreme Court, and has been attended with
marked success.
In 1872 he was the Republican candidate for Gov-
ernor, but was defeated by Silas Woodson.
In May, 1875, he was appointed assistant United
States attorney to aid in prosecuting what was then
known as the " whiskey ring," which, mainly through
Mr. Henderson's efforts, was entirely broken up.
During the prosecutions Mr. Henderson delivered a
speech which gave offense to President Grant, and in
December, 1875, he was dismissed from the service
of the government, since which time he has devoted
himself to his profession. Whatever reputation he
has gained as a lawyer he ascribes to careful, diligent
work. His cases are prepared with great care ; every
point is fortified, and no point is deemed too unim-
portant to receive attention.
Gen. Henderson is fond of books, and has a large
and well-stocked library both of law and miscellaneous
works. He keeps up his youthful studies both in
languages and mathematics. He is fond of public
discussion, delights in good society, and is of a genial
and hospitable nature. Gen. Henderson is fortunate
in having a wife who is also fond, of society, and
who enters with him fully into its pleasures and en-
joyments. Their house is celebrated far and near for
its open-handed and unstinted hospitality.
Hon. Thomas E. Noell, born in Perry County, Mo.,
in 1839, and dying in April, 1867, was another of
the bright young men of his time. His father, John
W., had been sent to Congress from the Third Mis-
souri District, and the son inherited political ability
and unusual courage. Being well educated, he was
admitted to the bar at the age of nineteen, but volun-
teered in the Union army in 1861, reached the rank
of major of volunteers, and in 1862 was made captain
in the regulars, and served bravely in many battles.
Chosen to represent the Third Missouri District in
the Thirty-ninth Congress, he served there on various
committees, and supported President Johnson's policy.
In 1866 he was re-elected, and had just entered upon
his second term, when his career was cut short.
Judge William S. Allen, for many years an editorial
writer on the St. Louis Republican, was perhaps the
greatest loss of that year, though his active connec-
tion with the bar had long ceased. He was born in
Newburyport, Mass., in 1805, liberally educated, a
graduate of Dartmouth at the early age of nineteen,
and in 1832 represented Essex County in the State
Legislature. He edited the Newburyport Herald
a while, and in 1837, moving"* to St. Louis, became
connected with journals there. His association with
the Republican began in 1856, and continued until
within a short time of his death. In 1844 he was
secretary of the Board of Aldermen, in 1 849 register
of the land office, in 1850 a member of the State
Legislature, in 1851, and until 1855, secretary ot
the Territory of New Mexico, in 1855 he was ap-
BENCH AND BAR.
1499
pointed justice of the St. Louis County Court. It
will be seen that his life was spent more in journalism
than in law, but his wide and varied legal lore was of
untold benefit, and his versatility was shown alike in
literary, mercantile, and political articles. In the same
year occurred the death of an ex-State senator, Thomas
C. Johnson, who before the war had ranked as an able
lawyer, but had followed the fortunes of Governor
Claiborne F. Jackson.
A more than ordinarily active man of this period
was Charles G. Mairo. Born in Washington City in
1828, he removed to Missouri with his elder brother,
Philip, in 1840, studied law with Hon. Albert Todd,
and entered into practice in 1851 ; the next year city
attorney, in 1856 circuit attorney, in 1861 city coun-
selor, and in 1866 appointed United States district
attorney, but not confirmed by the United States
Senate for political reasons, his success in his pro-
fession was evident. Generous and honest, his friends
were many, and his death (in March, 1873) was widely
mourned.
In the same month and year the bar lost John
Decker, who was born Aug. 29, 1828, in Annapolis,
Md. He graduated at St. John's College, and studied
with Chancellor Johnson, of Maryland, and with
Joseph Bradley, of Washington, entering on practice
in 1850. In 1853 he reached St. Louis and joined
forces with Robert S. Voorhis, the prosperous firm j
continuing until 1861, when Mr. Decker joined the
Confederate army, but returned to St. Louis in 1865
and resumed his practice. He was Grand Master of
the Masonic fraternity in Missouri at the time he
went into the army. Two years later the county
court lost Judge Busby, aged forty-four, a native of
Ireland, who had been justice for four years.
In the same year (1875) that Frank P. Blair
(whose life, with that of his brother Montgomery,
will be found on another page) passed from the land
of the living, Fidelio C. Sharp, a prominent lawyer
of long standing at the St. Louis bar, also died, at the
age of fifty-four years. He was a Kentuckian, grand-
son of Capt. Thomas Sharp, of Virginia, a Revolu-
tionary soldier. The family was large, and noted
throughout Kentucky for its intelligence and enter-
prise. At the age of twenty-one young Sharp was
admitted to practice; in 1843 removed to Missouri,
settling in Lexington, in partnership with John P.
Campbell, next with Judge William T. Wood, and
afterwards with Judge Samuel Sawyer; in 1857
moving to St. Louis, first in practice with Mr. Thomas,
and afterwards with James 0. Broadhead. In the
latter connection the firm was known throughout the
entire West for its ability, and did an immense busi-
ness. Col. Broadhead, his partner, said that as a
practitioner Mr. Sharp had not an equal in the State,
— that is, in the preparation and trial of a case before
a nisi prius court. In speaking before the bar meet-
ing which met to express its sorrow over his death,
one speaker said, li He was an industrious man, inde-
fatigable in his exertions to win a victory for his client,
yet was fair, open, candid, gentlemanly, and friendly.
He had a wonderful stock of good sense and a strong
will, and accomplished a good deal. There was some-
thing peculiar in his character. He was not a great
lawyer in the sense that Daniel Webster and Rufus
Choate were ; that culture which gave to legal learn-
ing a higher cast he did not have. In jury cases and
all purely business cases he had, during the time I
knew him, no superiors and few equals." During fif-
teen years he was engaged in almost all the important
cases which occupied the courts of St. Louis, and he
devoted himself to the law with untiring assiduity,
never for a moment stepping aside for political prefer-
ment, and uniformly declining all proffered political
honors. His happiness was in his profession and his
family. He married twice, his first wife being Miss
Wallace, of Lexington ; his second wife, Miss Maude,
of St. Louis. Both were ladies of great worth and
culture. He left six children.
This year also witnessed the death of Charles C.
Whittelsey, who was born in Connecticut in 1819, of
a long line of ancestry, chiefly clergymen. In 1838
he graduated from Yale, taught school for a year, and
then entered a law-office in Middletown, Conn., but
came to St. Louis in 1841, and devoted his time to
the practice of law and preparation and publication of
legal works. He was the author of the " Missouri
Form-Book," adapted to the statutes of 1856. He
was Supreme Court reporter from 1862 to 1868, in-
clusive, and published Volumes XXXI. to XLIV.
Missouri Reports. From time to time he furnished
articles for literary and law magazines and for the daily
papers. In 1870 he published a work on General
Practice, which proved valuable to the profession.
Insurance and commercial cases were his specialties,
and he was successful in practice, though possessing
no oratorical abilities. He seems to have enjoyed the
utmost confidence of his legal brethren and of the
community, and his capacities were such that high
services as a jurist were rightfully expected from him.
In 1854 he married Miss Groome, a Maryland lady,
and they had six children.
In April, 1875, James F. Maury, a young lawyer,
who had acquired considerable reputation in Missis-
sippi, died in that State. His connection with the
St. Louis bar was a short one. Born in 1842, in
1500
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Port Gibson, graduated at Oxford, Miss., serving
three years in the Southern army, and being cap-
tured and sent to Johnson's Island for two years, his
study of the law was attended with unusual difficul-
ties. But in 1867 he was admitted, and became a
partner with his father, a lawyer of some note. In
1873 he removed to St. Louis, and began to build up
a good practice, so that two years later he returned
for his family, and died suddenly while on his jour-
ney.
Joseph N. Litton was born in Nashville, Tenn.,
Feb. 4, 1846. At the age of twelve years he en-
tered Washington University, St. Louis, as a student,
from which he graduated with the highest honors in
June, 1866. In the same year he began the study
of law, when he was admitted to practice. From
that time he continued his general studies, inter-
rupted to some extent by employment in some im-
portant cases, until April, 1870, when he was retained
by the Pacific Railroad Company as its assistant at-
torney, which position he filled until the merging of
the company in that of the Atlantic and Pacific Rail-
road Company in 1873, after which he continued to
occupy a like position under the management of the
latter company, attending to the law business of both
companies. His duties from that time were extremely
arduous, testing to its utmost his physical strength, at
no time very great. He not only attended to the or-
dinary routine of his office, but also took the principal
part in the trial at nisi prim of many important cases
in which the company was a party in St. Louis and
throughout the State, and also rendering very valu-
able assistance in the presentment of its cases in the
Supreme Court of the State and in the Circuit and
Supreme Courts of the United States.
In 1874, the two corporations having become
separated again, he severed his connection with the
Pacific Railroad, being at the same time retained by
the management of the St. Louis and San Francisco
Railroad Company, successors of the Atlantic and
Pacific Railroad Company, as their chief law officer.
In April, 1877, owing to continued ill health, brought
on in large part, no doubt, by overwork, he was obliged
to resign his office of attorney of the railroad company.
He went during the summer to Colorado, and there
spent several months, whence he returned in the fall
apparently improved in health. Soon after, however,
his disease exhibited worse symptoms, and from that
time he was confined to his room and bed the greater
part of the time until his death on Thursday, April
11, 1878.
As a man, Mr. Litton was honorable, modest, gen-
erous, brave, and just. In manner he was quiet,
grave, and dignified. He was easily approached by
others, but he wanted no one's favor. He delighted
in the intercourse of friends, and was of a most kind
and genial nature. He was possessed of bright wit,
and was a most agreeable companion. As a lawyer,
he was faithful to his clients, candid, courteous,
earnest, industrious, learned, and able. His intellec-
tual faculties were strong. He was a clear and ready
thinker, and endowed with great analytical power.
His judgment was sound, and his reason well bal-
anced. He was a close student, and well grounded
in the principles of the civil jurisprudence.
Dec. 2, 1879, at Cincinnati, Hon. Samuel Reber,
of St. Louis, was found in his room, dead. Born in
Lancaster, Ohio, in 1813, well educated, and settling
in St. Louis in 1842, in partnership with Mr. Fremon,
he soon gained a lucrative practice. After the Mex-
ican war Mr. Fremon removed to New Mexico. Mr.
Reber in 1856 was made judge of the Court of Com-
mon Pleas, succeeding Judge Treat. Judge Reber
held this position of honor and trust with skill, in-
tegrity, and fairness until the Court of Common Pleas
was changed into the Circuit Court. This position
he also held until 1867, when he resigned for the
purpose of again engaging more actively in practice.
While upon the bench he sustained the Constitution
of 1865, and was the author of the " test oath de-
cision." Under the administration of Mayor Cole he
was appointed city counselor, and during his term of
office was actively engaged in defending many im-
portant suits, among which was the famous water-
j works case.
Another gentleman who took extreme views on the
" test oath" under the Drake Constitution (1865)
was ex- Judge Moody, but the course he pursued had a
disastrous effect on his subsequent life. He was born
j in Pennsylvania in 1817, and died in January, 1880.
Removing to St. Louis about 1855, he went into the
law firm of Moody, McClellan & Hillyer. Capt. U. S.
Grant, while collecting bills as a real estate agent, oc-
cupied a desk in the office of the firm. In the early
part of the war Judge Moody was elected circuit
judge of St. Louis County, and for several years dis-
charged the duties to the satisfaction of the profession.
For a year or two before he left the bench his politi-
cal opinions underwent a change, and he became in-
tensely hostile to the Drake Constitution, and abso-
lutely refused in his official position to perform the
duties imposed upon him by that Constitution. He re-
fused to require the jurors and others to take the
" ironclad oath" required by the Constitution and or-
dinances of the convention. This opposition led to
1 his removal by address by the Legislature in 1866.
BENCH AND BAR.
1501
This year, 1880, also took from among the former
members of the St. Louis bar Hon. Logan Hunton
and George 11. Taylor. Mr. Taylor, a sketch of whose
life appears elsewhere, was one of the leading mem-
bers of the St. Louis bar, and promoted many useful
measures, legislative and commercial. His business
enterprises drew him from legal pursuits in later years.
Hon. Logan Hunton and his brother Felix were law-
yers of note. The latter practiced chiefly in the south-
west of Missouri. His death occurred in 1873.
Logan Hunton was born in Albemarle County, Va., in
1806. Educated in Kentucky, he became a member
of the State Legislature there, but removed to St.
Louis in 1837, and formed a partnership with Hon. L.
V. Bogy, afterwards United States senator. He
married Miss Mary Jane Moss, daughter of the late
Mrs. J. J. Crittenden. In 1843, Mr. Hunton went
to New Orleans, remained there ten years, and held for
a while the United States district attorneyship, also
built up a large practice and gained a competency. j
After spending some years in travel in Europe with '••
his family, he returned, in 1859, to St. Louis, and
made his home near Bridgeton, which became the :
centre of a generous and discriminating hospitality. !
He left a wife and three children.
Henry B. Belt, born in Huntsville, Ala., in 1815,
and dying in February, 1881, had led an eventful \
life. His father was a mining prospector in Tennes-
see, Alabama, and Hannibal, Mo., where he died in i
1829, after which young Belt became a clerk in the !
sheriff's office, then under Archibald Gamble, circuit
clerk. On the death of his father, his mother and
younger brothers and sisters returned to his mother's
old home, Washington, Va., but in 1837 he brought
the whole family to St. Louis. In the cholera epi-
demic of 1849 he lost his mother, one brother, and
two sisters. After this he served as deputy sheriff
under James Brotherton, Marshall Brotherton, Wil-
liam Milburn, Samuel Conway, and Louis T. La-
beaume. In 1855 he was elected sheriff on the Whig
ticket. He ran again, two years later, and received a
majority of votes cast, but was counted out. In
1853 he formed a real estate partnership with John
G. Priest, which lasted till his death. He left a wife
and seven children.
Singularly fortunate in examples of early brilliancy j
the bar of St. Louis seems to have been ; eloquence of i
the highest order was amply illustrated in each
decade of its history. But never since Barton, Uriel
Wright, and their compeers were in their prime did
a young man of thirty-four win such praise as was
bestowed on the memory of Edward P. McCarty, who
died in June, 1881. A native of Indiana, he studied
law in the office of Judge Miller, of Keokuk, Iowa,
and came to St. Louis about the year 1861. Under
Mr. Fishback he was deputy clerk of the Supreme
Court, and chief clerk after Mr. Fishback's death.
After having been for a time in the office of Sharp &
Broadhead he was admitted to the bar. The position
of city counselor, to which he was appointed by Mayor
Brown, he filled admirably. He was a Democrat in
politics. His wife, nee Miss Lydia Evans, daughter
of the late A. H. Evans, and two children sur-
vive him. The bar association met and passed reso-
lutions expressive of their deep sorrow. A few days
later the St. Louis Republican said of him, " The
impression of his genius is retained by every one that
knew him ; possessed of a graceful form and a rich
and fluent mind, he commanded attention as a unique
person wherever he appeared. He had a mind of ex-
traordinary clearness and quickness of insight. On
legal questions his judgment was that of ' the intui-
tive decision of a thorough-edged intellect.' He was
rarely wrong, and hence his cases were nearly always
put in court correctly, involving no changes in their
first presentment. Col. Broadhead, Gen. Noble, Mr.
Chandler, and other mature practitioners bore witness
to his remarkable natural gifts, and expressed their
profound grief at his premature departure."
In the early years of the century, Dr. Abel Slay-
back was a noted physician of Cincinnati. His father
was Solomon Slayback, a soldier at Valley Forge.
His son, Alexander L. Slayback, studied at Marion
College, Missouri, was admitted to the bar in 1838,
married Anna M. Minter, of Philadelphia, and opened
a law-office in Shelby ville. In 1847 he removed to
Lexington, and died there the following year, leaving
a widow and five children. Three of his sons after-
wards became residents of St. Louis. He was a sin-
cere Christian and a very successful lawyer, a favorite
everywhere, and deeply mourned by his associates.
Alonzo W. Slayback, his son, became a prominent
member of the St. Louis bar. Born in July, 1838,
in Marion County, he received a good education,
taught school, studied law, was admitted in 1857, and
began practice in St. Joseph. The civil war came
with its rendings and desolations ; Slayback raised a
cavalry regiment, was elected its colonel, and joined
the cause of the South. He fought with the greatest
courage and skill, took part in more than forty battles
and skirmishes, and after the cause was lost joined
Shelby's romantic expedition to the land of the Mon-
tezumas. No one has yet written the story, pathetic
and well worth the telling, of the man, self-exiled,
ardent, heart-broken, who could not longer stay
under the Stars and Stripes, who went to Mexico,
1502
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
to Central America, to the West Indies, and regions
still farther South, engaging in warlike expeditions,
in strange and heroic adventures, in vast commercial
enterprises, coffee-planting, stock-raising, mining, and
a thousand other pursuits, sometimes successful, some-
times reduced to penury and suffering. But Col.
Slayback's career was not to end thus. His mother,
a lady of culture, grace, and strong character, made
the journey to Mexico, sought long, found her son,
and persuaded him to return. So in 1866 he again
entered the law in St. Louis, meeting with marked
and increasing success. He became known as an
orator of remarkable powers of persuasion and con-
quest, full of liberal impulses, and passionately loved
by his friends. The gift of leadership was his ; so-
cially and politically, no man seemed to have a brighter
future before him. His practice became one of the
largest in the city.
Col. Slayback's tragical death in 1882 rallied his
friends and roused the most impassioned sympathy.
The Merchants' Exchange, whose attorney he was,
placed on record an almost unparalleled tribute of
their personal sorrow. Speakers, after his death,
compared him to a streak of sunshine, — a man whom
all loved, the friend of the poor, the helpless, the
oppressed. And because of this overflowing charity
he left his family in straitened circumstances.
The citizens and his associates in the law gave
liberally, public benefits were held, and in all a
large sum was raised for the widow and orphans. Col.
Dyer, ex-Governor Stanard, Rev. Dr. Snyder, and
many others aided in this good work. Mrs. Wm.
McKee paid one thousand dollars for a private box at
the first entertainment, and then had it sold again for
one hundred dollars, thus netting eleven hundred
dollars for the cause. Col. Slayback's wife was Miss
Alice A. Waddell, of Lexington.
A man whose youth was beset with difficulties, but
who won by reason of his indomitable pluck, was
Henry A. Glover, still living (1882) to enjoy the
honors and wealth he has so creditably earned. In
1844, a poor, friendless lad, he came to St. Louis, and
searched in vain for employment. He was willing to
turn his hand to anything ; a position in the school
department was beyond his reach ; nor could he pro-
cure a clerkship in any store ; but being a good pen-
man, and having read some law, he at last obtained
copying and clerical work under Gen. Ruland, clerk
of the Circuit Court. Here he spent years in toil at
a meagre salary ; refused, when Ruland retired, the
place the latter had held, and in 1847 was admitted
to the bar. Two years later he was city attorney.
It has taken but a few words to tell this story of man-
hood, aspiration, and success, but there is an eloquence
finer than speech about its steady progress from
friendless obscurity to recognized position. In 1851,
Mr. Glover was sent to the State Legislature, and
from 1852 to 1856 was circuit attorney for St. Louis.
Many able and ingenious men have filled this office,
but " it is one of the traditions of the Criminal Court
that the State never had a prosecutor whose work, in
point of success or ability, compared with that of
Circuit Attorney Glover." His treatment of wit-
nesses was admirable, and his skill in conducting a
cross-examination has rarely been surpassed. In the
argument of cases before juries he- also displayed rare
excellence. Judge Lackland, who was judge of the
Criminal Court, said that the only criticism to be in-
dulged in on Mr. Glover as circuit attorney was
that he was too successful, — that he not only convicted
the guilty, but in some instances verdicts were ren-
dered against innocent parties by juries carried away
by the vigor and force of his prosecution. It was
at this time and in this position that the full strength
of the man developed itself, and it was brought out
by his conflicts in the Criminal Court and in the
Supreme Court with such men as Leslie, Wright,
! Blennerhasset, Cline, and others who then practiced
at the criminal bar, whose reputation and efforts
there are well remembered.
When Judge Lackland retired in 1856, his succes-
sor was Henry A. Glover, who continued to hold the
office until 1864, when he returned to his private
practice, became city counselor, and was a member of
the Constitutional Convention of 1865, and chairman
of its judiciary committee. In 1868 he was nominated
judge of the Supreme Court by the Republicans, but
declined the nomination, though tantamount to an
election, and Judge Currier's name was substituted.
Since that time his large and extended private prac-
tice has required all his attention, and some of the
heaviest litigation in the courts has been in his hands.
As the legal adviser of the city and county he had
to deal with many and important interests, such as
the gas question, the Pacific Railroad controversy,
the long fight over the school lands, the taxation of
shares in national banks. As judge over the Crimi-
nal Court, no man in the State did more to settle legal
principles in reference to crim'es and offenses. Well
rounded, crowded with achievement, his life-record
merits the study of young men in hours of discour-
agement.
Among the leading barristers of St. Louis now
living is Britton Armstrong Hill, a lawyer of forty-
two years' practice in St. Louis. He was born in
Hunterdon County, X. J., in 1816, received his early
BENCH AND BAR.
1503
education at Ogdensburg, N. Y., and was admitted to
the bar at Albany, and to the Court of Chancery at
Saratoga, in that State, in 1839. In 1841 he came
to St. Louis, where he was admitted to the bar by
Judge Mullanphy. In the same year he formed a
partnership with John M. Eager, which was dissolved
in 1848. In 1850 his brother, David W. Hill, became
his partner, and in 1854, William N. Grover was
added to the firm, which thus became Hill, Grover &
Hill. This partnership continued till 1858, when it
was dissolved, and Mr. Hill gave his attention wholly
to practice in important land, insurance, and railroad
cases. In 1861 he entered into copartnership with
the Hon. D. T. Jewett, which continued about ten
years. In 1863 he, with Hon. Thomas Ewing, of
Ohio, and Hon. Orville H. Browning, of Illinois,
formed a partnership in the city of Washington, under
the firm-name of Ewing, Hill & Browning, for the
transaction of business in the courts of the United
States. This firm, which was one of the strongest in
the United States, was terminated in 1865, when Mr.
Hill returned to St. Louis. In 1873, Frank J. Bow-
man, of Vermont, became his partner, and continued
till 1876. In his extensive practice in the national
and State courts Mr. Hill became strongly impressed
with the dangers which seemed to him to threaten the
institutions of the country, and in 1873 he published
his first work, entitled " Liberty and Law under
Federative Government."
In 1876 he published two pamphlets urging the
Democratic party to adopt his views with regard to
absolute money, and early in 1877 put forth another,
entitled " Gold, Silver, and Paper as full, equal, Legal
Tenders." The system which was advocated in this
pamphlet was adopted in 1878 by Congress and the ;
Treasury, and the financial success which has followed
is a source of just pride to its author. In the
autumn of 1877 he called, at St. Louis, a State Con-
vention, the object of which was the advocacy of
measures for the overthrow of monopolies, for the
establishment of governmental control of railroads, '
telegraphs, and other internal improvements, postal
savings-banks, international clearing-houses, courts
for the settlement of all national differences without
resort to war, and the restoration to the people of the
public domain that had been given to railroads. In i
the campaign of that year he was active in the advo-
cacy of the principles set forth in the platform of that
convention. His health failed in 1879, and he was
'
compelled to retire from active political life. In 1880
the second edition of " Liberty and Law" was pub-
lished, setting forth fully his views of a complete sys-
tem of popular government. This work was highly
commended by the press, and by members of the United
States Supreme Court and of several of the State
courts. In 1882 he was, without his solicitation,
made a candidate for Congress in the Ninth District
of Missouri. In this candidacy he was simply the
standard-bearer of the Anti-Monopoly party, without,
of course, any expectation of an election.
Mr. Hill has retired from the active practice of his
profession, with an ample competency, and now only
engages as counselor in important cases.
His great popularity among people of all classes
has arisen not alone from his eminent intellectual and
legal abilities, but from his large humanity, which has
manifested itself whenever circumstances permitting
its exercise have arisen. One instance may be cited.
In 1849, when St. Louis was visited by the cholera,
and the physicians of the city were unable to visit
half the sick, Mr. Hill, who had been a medical
student, " went daily for several weeks into the poor
districts, where the scourge was most fatal, visiting
the sick, laying out the dead, and relieving the dis-
tresses of the poor and unfortunate by all the means
in his power at his own expense.''
The great aim of his life, as illustrated in his last
work on " Liberty and Law," has been to elevate the
laboring and producing classes, to abolish all corpora-
tions that usurp or control the means of public inter-
communication, to remove the tax on lands and
manufactures, and to establish a graduated income
tax to compel capital to bear its just share of the
taxes now borne by labor.
The Empire State has the honor of ranking among
its sons Judge Albert Todd, who was born March 4,
1813, near Cooperstown, Otsego Co., N. Y. His
parents were Scotch and English, his Scotch blood
coming through his father, who was a direct de-
scendant of Christopher Todd, one of the original
colonists of New Haven, Conn., and his English
through his mother. Albert Todd was the fourth of
eleven children. He had the benefit of the public
common schools at the rate of four months in the
year until he was fifteen years old. While he was
not engaged at school he was trained to work at some
of his father's vocations. His early choice was that
of a seafaring life, but after a brief experience in
coasting, which his parents allowed him, he gave it
up and chose a professional life, with the privilege of
a collegiate education. He was in his eighteenth
year when he began his studies in Amherst, Mass.,
and in 1832 he matriculated at Amherst College.
The next year he left Amherst and became a member
of the sophomore class of Yale College, and graduated
in 1836 with an appointment for an oration. During
1504
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
the greater portion of his senior year he was engaged
in teaching school, and by this means earned the
money to pay the expenses of his senior year. On
leaving Yale he chose the profession of law, and
began his studies in the office of Judge Arphaxed
Loomis, in Little Falls, Herkimer Co.. N. Y. The j
regulations in the State of New York then required
a seven years' course of study before application
could be made for a license to practice in the inferior
courts of record, and three years' additional study,
with the previous admission to practice as an attorney,
before an examination was allowed for a license to
practice as counselor and solicitor in chancery. Of
the first seven years, a student was allowed a credit of
four years if he was a graduate of a college. Mr.
Todd prepared himself for his first license to practice,
and sought a location in the West. He selected St.
Louis as the place to practice his profession, and ar-
rived on the 9th of November, 1839. In March,
1840, he was licensed to practice in the courts of
Missouri by Judge Tompkins. In 1854, Mr. Todd
was elected to the Lower House of the Missouri Leg-
islature. During this session he devoted his services
to revising the laws of the State, which duty was
performed that session.
In 1860 he was a candidate for Congress on the
Bell and Everett ticket. He was a Whig in politics
until the dissolution of that party ; since then he
has acted with the Democratic party.
Mr. Todd was one of the freeholders who provided
a scheme for the separation of the city of St. Louis
from the county of St. Louis, and to organize new
governments for them, and he was a member of the
State Convention held in 1875 for revising and
amending the Constitution of the State.
He has always taken an active interest in public
enterprises. He is one of the trustees of Washington
University, and has given his services gratuitously as
professor in the Law Department, of which he is
one of the founders. He was one of the founders of
the St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Associa-
tion, and of the University Club, Public School
Library, Mereantile Library, and the Missouri His-
torical Society. He was also one of the first members
of the St. Louis Bar Association, and is a member of
the Academy of Sciences, and one of the founders of
the first St. Louis Cremation Society.
For the last twenty-two years Mr. Todd has not
practiced in the courts, having withdrawn on account
of his health. He continues an office practice of a
limited character from his attachment to the profes-
sion.
Mr. Todd has co-operated in nearly all enterprises
undertaken by private corporations for promoting the
attractions of the city and its facilities for trade and
commerce.
A graduate of the Michigan University, W. H. H.
Russell climbed to enviable prominence in his chosen
profession with surprising rapidity, and has added to
the technique of law a fund of general knowledge
that few persons surpass. Born in Michigan in 1840,
of sturdy farmer stock, student, after leaving the uni-
versity, of the Ann Arbor Law School, he located in
1864 at Memphis, Tenn., entering the office of W.
K. Patson ; the next year becoming counsel for Capt.
John A. Morgan in a noted case against the general
government, he won it, received a fine farm of six
hundred and forty acres in Arkansas, and fixed at one
stroke his own reputation. The year 1867 was spent
in travel ; 1868 saw him a resident of St. Louis.
Maj. Uriel Wright, his warm friend, secured him
as Hon. R. S. Donald's associate in the murder case
of Dr. Headlington. Charles P. Johnson and J. P.
Colcord were their opponents. The trial was before
Judge Wilson Primm. The admiralty case of the
" Bright Star," involving constitutional questions of
importance, was shortly after placed in his hands.
Though his opponent was the United States attorney,
General Noble, a very able lawyer, Mr. Russell won
his case. His speech in the noted divorce suit of
Redelia vs. Dr. James Fischer was printed and widely
circulated for its wit and sarcasm. Then came that
long, strange romance of the Max Klinger trial, a
boy of seventeen, who murdered his uncle. There
seemed no hope for him. Judge Primm chose Mr.
Russell as Klinger's counsel. The case had three
jury trials, was twice before the State Supreme Court,
and in 1872 was decided by the United States Su-
preme Court, after having been unsettled for over
four years. Mr. Russell has since been engaged in
many important cases, and is in great demand as a
public speaker. In 1871 he visited Europe, and
wrote letters to the Democrat and Republican.
Ever an admirer of the fine arts, a lover of out-door
sports and rural delights, a hard student in his pro-
fession, he deserves his success and his popularity.
Blennerhasset's success as a public prosecutor was
not equaled again in St. Louis until the days of Col.
James C. Normile, whose career in this city began in
1869, he then being but twenty-one years of age. He
graduated at Georgetown (D. C.) College, and studied
law in Columbia Law School, Washington, D. C., and
under Hon. 0. H. Browning and Gen. Thomas Ewing,
then in Washington. The former gentleman took a
warm interest in young Normile, and did much to de-
velop his powers and waken his ambition. The young
BENCH AND BAR.
1505
lawyer used the libraries and other advantages of Wash-
ington to the utmost, and between 1860 and 1868, be-
sides serving for a time in the army, was a witness to
some of the most stirring scenes in American history.
When, in 1869, he landed in St. Louis, he remained
idle for some time. Chosen to defend a young man
for murder, with Governor Johnson as prosecutor, he
made a three-hour speech that was like a tidal-wave,
sweeping down opposition and bearing him into an
immediate renown. This was the noted Fore trial,
and his speech was published in full in the Missouri
Republican. It gained him the nomination of circuit
attorney on the Democratic ticket, though three of
the oldest and best lawyers at the bar were his oppo-
nents. Being elected, he bent all his splendid ener-
gies to the task of making the best possible record in
that office. A public prosecutor has to familiarize
himself with all the secrets, sources, and wanderings
of crime, and analyze the most profound mysteries of
the human soul in health or disease. The records of
the courts and the columns of the press for the past
ten years show how great, continuous, and often un-
expected have been the successes of Col. Normile,
pursuing his object with sleuth-like determination
through the most complex labyrinths. The trial of
Antoine Holme, for wife-murder, of William Morgan,
for the same offense, of Julia Fortmeyer, a profes-
sional child-murderess, of John McNeary, for murder,
were all State trials that tested the best abilities of
Col. Normile. Called upon on many public occasions
for speeches, his utterances would fill volumes. Al-
ways apt, ready, and eloquent, he is a marked and
interesting figure among St. Louis lawyers.
David Patterson Dyer was born in Henry County,
Va., Feb. 12, 1838. In 1841 his parents migrated
to Missouri and settled near Troy, in Lincoln County,
where Mr. Dyer labored on his father's farm till
eighteen years of age, and enjoyed only the educa-
tional advantages afforded by the common schools of
his neighborhood. In these, however, he acquired
sufficient education to enter college at St. Charles,
where he remained a year. At the age of twenty,
or in 1858, he commenced the study of law in the
office of Hon. James 0. Broadhead, of Bowling
Green, in Pike County, and at the end of 1859 he
was admitted to the bar of Missouri. In 1862 he
removed to Louisiana, Mo., and formed with Hon.
John B. Henderson a partnership which continued
till 1870. In 1875 he removed to St. Louis, which
has ever since been his residence. In 1881 he en-
tered into his present partnership with B. D. Lee
and John P. Ellis, under the firm-name of Dyer, Lee
& Ellis.
In 1860 he was elected circuit attorney in the
Third Judicial District of Missouri. In 1862 he
was chosen to represent Pike County in the Legisla-
ture of Missouri, and though but twenty-four years
of age was made chairman of the judiciary commit-
tee. In 1866 he was made secretary of the State
Senate, and in 1868 was elected to the Congress of
the United States. In 1875 he was appointed United
States attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri,
and by his able management of the celebrated " whis-
key ring trials" achieved a national reputation.
In 1860 he was a Douglas Democrat, and on the
breaking out of the civil war in 1861 he took an
active part in the organization of the First Regiment
of Home Guards. In 1864 he left his seat in the
Legislature to raise and organize the Forty-ninth
Regiment of Missouri Militia, and was made its
colonel. He served with the regiment in 1864 and
1865, under Gens. Rosecrans and Canby, and took an
active part in the siege of Mobile.
The honorable positions which he has held, and
the important duties he has been called to discharge,
are the best evidences which can be offered of his
ability, and of the esteem in which he is held by his
fellow-citizens.
In 1860 he was married to Miss Lizzie Chambers
Hunt, daughter of Judge Ezra Hunt, of Pike
County, Mo., and his domestic relations have been
exceedingly happy.
The son of Dr. Bernard G. Farrar, one of the ear-
liest and most famous of St. Louis physicians, was edu-
cated as a lawyer, and became one of the most efficient
members of the county court. James S. Farrar was born
in St. Louis in 1839, and educated at the old college
which stood on the corner of Ninth Street and Wash-
ington Avenue. In 1861 he raised a company at his
own expense, was made captain, and assigned to the
Thirtieth Missouri Volunteers, and was with Gen.
Francis P. Blair's brigade in the hard service of 1862
and 1863. He was commissioned major about this
time. In 1865, Governor Fletcher appointed him
justice of the county court of St. Louis, and the
people at subsequent elections signified their approval,
so that he served in that office until 1876. When
Judge Farrar assumed this office he was a rich man,
but he gave lavishly of his means to the sick and
poor, sacrificing much time and money to the public
service. Largely to his exertions was it due that the
county recovered its seven hundred thousand dollars
loan to the Missouri Pacific Railroad in 1875, after
it had been given up as lost. Frank J. Bowman,
county counsel, proposed action, and with Judge
Farrar carried the case to a successful close.
1506
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
It has been said that class valedictorians never
amounted to much afterwards. Josiah G. McClellan
is evidence to the contrary. Born in 1824, in
Wheeling, W. Va., of New England stock, he took
the highest honors in 1847 at Williams College,
began the study of law, wrote articles for the journals,
and being admitted started for St. Louis in 1850,
with fifty dollars in his pocket. He entered the office
of Peter A. Ladue, assessor of the county, and as
chief clerk familiarized himself with the land and
land-owners of the city. In 1851 he began practice,
associating himself with Judge Moody, afterwards of
the Circuit Court, and Col. Hilyer, afterwards Gen.
Hilyer, of Gen. Grant's staff, Capt. U. S. Grant at
that time occupying a desk in the same office. In
1856, Mr. McClellan married the daughter of F. C.
Sharpe, a renowned Kentucky lawyer. The civil war
disrupted the firm. Mr. McClellan removed to Ken-
tucky, and returned in 1863, the disasters of the war
having ruined him financially, and he had to begin
over again. His practice grew, and turning his
attention to land titles, he decided to make an index
of titles to all the real estate in the county of St.
Louis. This was a gigantic task. There are over
six hundred books of records of deeds in the re-
corder's office, averaging five hundred pages to a
volume. The various concessions, grants, and charges
under French, Spanish, and English law immeas-
urably increased the difficulty of this task, but its
value to the public needs no comment. It is one of
those works which remain as monuments of industry
long after their projectors are dead.
George W. Bailey was born in St. Louis Noy. 27,
1841. His father, George Bailey, familiarly known
in St. Louis as " the carriage man," was a native of
New York State, where he was born in 1813. He
was left parentless and penniless at childhood, but by
energy and perseverance rose from poverty to an in-
dependency. He learned the trade of carriage-black-
smithing at Bridgeport, Conn., thence diligently
working his way into a small carriage business, and
afterwards to a greater. In 1837 he opened in St.
Louis the first carriage repository and manufactory of
consequence established in the Mississippi Valley.
The founders and proprietors of the " Fallon" and
" Wright" carriage manufactories of St. Louis learned
their trades in the establishment of Mr. Bailey. In
St. Louis he rose rapidly to an independent position,
and heavily invested the fruits of his enterprise and
labor in St. Louis real estate, in which he had un-
bounded confidence, which he maintained to the time
of his death in March, 1878. He was thus closely
identified with St. Louis interests for more than forty
years, during which period his business sagacity was
widely recognized, and his commercial honesty was
without blemish or question. Mr. Bailey left a large
estate for equal distribution among his surviving heirs,
five sons and one daughter. Most of the sons are
prominent business men of St. Louis. Mrs. Mary
Bailey, the mother of these surviving children, was
a native of Bridgeport, Conn. Her mother was a
Paltner, hence her children are members of the cele-
brated " Palmer family," whose reunions bring together
so many thousands from all parts of the country.
George W. Bailey, the second son, who was ad-
ministrator of his father's estate, was educated in the
best schools afforded by New England, finishing his
course at the New York Conference Seminary and
Collegiate Institute, of Charlotteville, N. Y., after
which, entertaining an ambition to follow his father's
example to success in the carriage business, he volun-
tarily acquired, as indispensable to success, a knowl-
edge of the business by learning the trade of carriage-
trimming at the establishment of Wood Brothers, in
Bridgeport, of which fact he is to-day justly proud,
although circumstances caused a departure from his
original ^intention. His father retiring from business,
' a regular collegiate course was then determined upon,
! but the breaking out of the civil war in 1861 pre-
vented the execution of the latter purpose. Young
Bailey promptly enlisted as a private soldier in the
first " three years' " regiment from Connecticut (the
Sixth Infantry), and served as a private for seventeen
months, during which period the regiment was at-
tached to the Army of the Potomac at Washington,
and the Army of the South at Hilton Head and
Beaufort, S. C. With the regiment he participated
in the expedition which sailed from Fortress Monroe,
Va., to Port Royal, S. C., in November, 1861, under
Gen. W. T. Sherman and Commodore Dupont, and
which was threatened with destruction in the terrible
ocean storm off Cape Hatteras. He witnessed the
picturesque bombardment of Forts Walker and
Beauregard, Nov. 7, 1861, and was among the first
Union troops on South Carolina soil,
He participated with his regiment in the campaign
and expeditions about Hilton Head, and witnessed
the bombardment and reduction of Fort Pulaski, at
the mouth of the Savannah River, from Danfuskie
Island, where the Sixth Connecticut was stationed,
prepared for an emergency.
In February, 1863. Mr. Bailey was commissioned
by Governor Gamble as second lieutenant in the Sixth
Missouri Infantry, then stationed at Young's Point,
! La., opposite Vicksburg, and a part of the Fifteenth
i Army Corps and Army of the Tennessee. He par-
y*»
BENCH AND BAR.
1507
ticipated in the entire campaign of Vicksburg, com-
manding his company in the bloody assaults upon
that stronghold on the 19th and 22d of May, 1863.
He was slightly wounded, but remained in the field
until the surrender of the city, July 4th. He par-
ticipated in the battles of Champion Hills and Jack-
son, and accompanied his command to the relief of
Chattanooga, when the Army of the Tennessee, under
Grant, hastened to the relief of the beleaguered Army
of the Cumberland, under Thomas. With the Fif-
teenth Army Corps, under Sherman, he participated
in the bloody battle of Missionary Ridge and the
night pursuit of Bragg's defeated army. Thence he
proceeded with the Fifteenth Corps to the hurried re-
lief of Buruside, besieged by Longstreet at Knox-
ville. After the raising of the latter siege the army
returned to winter-quarters in Northern Alabama. He
participated in the Atlanta campaign, opening in May,
1864, and took an active part in the battles of Resaca
and Dallas, and several minor engagements and skir-
mishes with his company. When the term of service
of his regiment expired he, with most of the regi-
ment, promptly re-enlisted for " three years, unless
sooner discharged." Shortly after he was promoted j
to be first lieutenant of his company, and shortly !
thereafter detailed from the regiment to serve as aide-
de-camp on the staff of Maj.-Gen. Morgan L. Smith,
then commanding the Second Division of the Fifteenth
Army Corps, in which capacity he remained during
the rest of his service in the army. At the battle of
Kenesaw Mountain, Ga., he performed a brilliant
service. Having been directed to accompany the as-
saulting lines, and report concerning the position and
works of the enemy, he was in the thickest of the fire
of that terrible assault, and observed the insurmount-
able obstacles forbidding the success of the venture.
He picked his way back among the dead and wounded,
and reported to Gen. Smith the causes of defeat. As
orders had been given to " re-form and re-assault at
three P.M.," it was important that Gen. Logan (com-
manding the Fifteenth Army Corps) should be at
once apprised of the situation, and Lieut. Bailey was
detailed for that purpose. Mounted, he made his way
three miles through the timber cover to Logan's
headquarters, where he found Gen. Logan and Gen.
McPherson. He reported the situation, and was
questioned by Gen. McPherson as to his own opinion,
and modestly said that he thought that any further
attempt to carry the works by assault would prove
only a useless sacrifice of life. Thereupon he was di-
rected to return to Gen. Smith with the order that he
was not to re-assault without further orders. Lieut.
Bailey dashed back, and on the way was the target of
batteries, whose aim was to intercept a solitary horse-
man galloping across the open space, and evidently
the bearer of a very important message. Eventually
an exploding shell prostrated the horse and dismounted
and severely wounded the rider. Regaining their
feet, though torn and bleeding, rider and horse were
soon again hurrying to insure the delivery of the
order. When he arrived the troops were in line for
another assault. The welcome order was delivered,
the bugle sounded the halt, the troops cheered, but
the enemy, mistaking the cheers as indicating another
assault, opened a furious fire upon the supposed ad-
vance. The " further orders to assault" never came.
Thus many valuable lives were saved from useless
sacrifice.
At the battle of Atlanta, July 22, 1864, Lieut.
Bailey was assigned to the important duty of ascer-
taining at what point in the Confederate lines Hood's
forces were massed for the assault on the Federal
works, in order that they might be opposed by the
Union reserves. He selected an elevated position im-
mediately in rear of the Federal works, and awaited
the terrible battle which followed, and was captured
and taken into Atlanta. While at a point about forty
miles within the Confederate lines he escaped by the
novel means of being buried alive, and permitting his
captors to march off and leave him. After two and
a half months of endeavor to regain the Federal
lines, enduring many hardships, and having many
narrow escapes and romantic experiences, he finally
gained a point within one mile of the Federal pickets,
where he was captured by Confederate guerrillas, taken
into the woods, and given " two minutes" to prepare
to die. By remarkable presence of mind and by resort-
ing to a ruse he again escaped, though shot at four
times, receiving a rifle-ball through his right lung
and shoulder, which wound for months after seriously
threatened his life. He regained the Federal lines at
Atlanta, gradually recovered, aud when Sherman
" marched to the sea" was, with other wounded, re-
moved to St. Louis, and subsequently promoted cap-
tain of his company, but retained his position on the
division stuff until the close of the war.
A graphic account of his peculiar experiences at
the battle of Atlanta and while within the Confeder-
ate lines has been published by Capt. Bailey in a neat
little volume entitled " A Private Chapter of the War,"
which was highly commended by officers and soldiers
of the late war, and referred to by the press generally
throughout the country as one of most thrilling and
absorbing interest.
During the war Mr. Bailey acted as special artist
and correspondent of the New York Illustrated News,
1508
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
and his many sketches and accounts of war incidents ap-
pearing in that pictorial work were noted for a degree
of accuracy hardly to be expected from mere war corre-
spondents and artists, whose duty required of them no
exposure to extraordinary dangers.
After the surrender of Lee and Johnson, Capt. -
Bailey was mustered out of the service of the gov- '
ernment, and shortly after received from Governor
Fletcher, of Missouri, a position on his staff, with the '
rank of first lieutenant, and was assigned to duty as ;
enrolling officer of the city and county of St. Louis,
and enrolled all citizens subject to military duty into
regiments of Missouri militia. In June, 1865, Mr.
Bailey had sufficiently recovered from his wound to
commence the study of law in the office of Hon.
Charles D. Drake, of St. Louis. He completed his
legal studies in the office of the late Judge James
K. Knight, of St. Louis, and was admitted to the bar
of Missouri in 1866 by the late Judge Reber, and to
practice in the United States courts by an examining
board in 1867. He has ever since been practicing
law in the city of St. Louis, enjoying a handsome
practice in the civil and appellate courts, which was
won only by a strict and careful attention to business,
conscientious discharge of duty, and unquestioned
integrity, coupled with acknowledged ability.
In 1870, Mr. Bailey married Mary G., daughter of
Dr. G. W. Scollay, of St. Louis, of which union three
children were born, two of whom still survive. For
the benefit of his family Mr. Bailey established his
home in Kirkwood, a suburban town thirteen miles
from the city on the Missouri Pacific Railroad, where
he resided until 1878, when he removed to the city.
When Mr. Bailey went to Kirkwood the town
court was held in general contempt on account of its
futile efforts to enforce the law and command respect.
The orders and writs of the court were disregarded and
remained unexecuted, and the recorder was in court
openly defied and insulted by some of those who were
violent in their opposition to the enforcement of the
town ordinances against the sale of intoxicating liquors
without a license. At the earnest solicitation of the
recorder, Mr. Bailey accepted the appointment of pros-
ecuting attorney for the town, and grasping the situa-
tion, at once inaugurated a new order of things. His
first step was to enforce respect for the law and the
court, which having been accomplished by a series of
energetic and masterly proceedings, prosecutions were
then vigorously conducted, fines were collected, and
the guilty punished, and Kirkwood has ever since had
a worthy court.
In 1874, Mr. Bailey was nominated and elected for
two years a member of the House of Representatives
of the Missouri Legislature. His representative dis-
trict extended entirely around the city of St. Louis,
from the Missouri to the Mississippi River, embrac-
ing three large townships. He was elected as a
" Straight" Republican, defeating both a Democratic
and a " Liberal" Republican opponent. In the Legis-
lature Mr. Bailey took an active and prominent part
in all measures of importance which came before the
House, and, as the most prominent Republican news-
paper of the State said, " made his influence felt on
the right side of almost every contest in the House."
An incident illustrating the fidelity of Mr. Bailey
to his tried friends is found in the record of the con-
test between the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company
and its colored passengers in 1873. The latter were
sold only first-.class tickets, but were compelled to ride
in the smoking-car. Women and children and infants
constituted no exception to the requirement. Finally
a colored girl attempted to enter the regular Kirk-
wood passenger-car, but was forcibly opposed and mal-
treated by the brakeman. Her friends sought re-
dress, but resident counsel were generally afraid to
take hold of the case on account of " public senti-
ment." Mr. Bailey was appealed to, and accepted the
case, ignoring "public sentiment," and glad to be
able to cancel a portion of his indebtedness to the
colored race on account of services gratuitously ren-
dered to him while in the Confederate lines. He
declared that the requirement of the railroad company
was a discrimination against " race and color," and
was prohibited by the Constitution of the United
States and of Missouri, and secured the arrest, con-
viction, and fining of the brakeman for assault and
battery. A civil suit for damages was also prepared,
but was ended by the company agreeing formally to
acknowledge the right of colored passengers to ride
in first-class seats at first-class prices. The case at-
tracted widespread attention, the question involved
(the application of the Fifteenth Amendment) being
put to the test for the first time in Missouri.
. During the labor riots of 1877, when mobs held
possession of St. Louis, Mr. Bailey's military knowl-
edge was rendered available, and he was prominent in
effecting the military organization in Kirkwood for
home protection known as the " Kirkwood Rifles,"
which was composed of the most prominent citizens
of the town. The company was drilled to efficiency
by Mr. Bailey and others, and its services were ten-
dered to and accepted by the town authorities to assist
in the preservation of the public peace. Mr. Bailey
succeeded Capt. Wright as commander of the com-
pany, and remained in command until its services
were no longer required.
•>
O'
BENCH AND BAR.
1509
In politics Mr. Bailey is an earnest Republican.
He is generally recognized as a skilled parliamen-
tarian, and is a prominent member of various orders
and societies, — the Masonic fraternity, the American
Bar Association, the national and local Legion of
Honor, the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, ;
and the Grand Army of the Republic, etc.
Mr. Bailey is also an enthusiastic advocate of out- I
door recreation, especially for professional men. Being
deprived, on account of his wound, of even the un-
satisfactory benefits afforded by a city gymnasium, he I
has always set apart convenient days for out-door ex-
ercises in the hunting-fields, claiming that more can
be accomplished in six days by spending one in such
recreation than otherwise. He is an expert wing-shot,
and an admirer of well-bred and well-trained setters
and pointers, and attributes his present excellent state
of health and power of endurance to a naturally
tough and wiry physical constitution, somewhat shat-
tered during the war, but preserved and fostered by
periodical and ample exercise in the open air of the j
country, which he regards as a sure prevention of !
most of the complaints which mind and flesh are '.
heir to.
Late in the eighteenth century (about 1790) Robert i
Morrison, of Philadelphia, settled in ancient and !
quaint Kaskaskia. Fortunate in many things, most
of all fortunate in his wooing, he courted and won ;
Eliza A. Lowry, daughter of Col. Lowry, of Balti- :
more, for years afterwards called " the most brilliant
woman in the valley of the Mississippi." Of this
marriage James L. D. Morrison was born, April 12,
1816. His father became the largest mail-contractor
in Illinois. When but fourteen young Morrison was '
sent hither and thither, collecting drafts and money,
and arranging business matters with tact and fidelity.
By 1832 he carried mail two days, " kept store" one j
day, and attended school three days each week. That
year he became midshipman in the United States
navy, cruised twenty-seven months in the South Pa-
cific, afterwards in the West Indies, became rich,
studied law, and in 1836, returning to Illinois,
completed his studies and was admitted. He
joined the Whigs with ardor, stumped the State, and
became one of its best-known leaders, but in later
years has been a Democrat. He now resides in St.
Louis. Col. Morrison's second wife is Adele Sarpy,
daughter of John B. Sarpy, one of the pioneer St.
Louis merchants.
Richard Bland, of the first Continental Congress,
had no more notable descendant than Hon. Peter E.
Bland, born in St. Charles County, March 29, 1824.
He was also connected with the learned Chancellor
96
Bland, of Virginia. Educated in the Methodist college
at St. Charles, forced to teach school for a livelihood,
student in Judge Lackland's office till 1849, young
Bland struggled upwards, and when admitted opened
an office, and soon became known as a worker, com-
manding a large practice. From 1861 to 1863 he
served in the Union army as colonel of a Missouri
cavalry regiment. Locating in Memphis, Tenn., he
practiced with success ; in 1868 returned to St. Louis,
almost a stranger, but became connected with some
of the most important Supreme Court cases, and his
services have since been in continual demand. His
wife, Miss Virginia Clark, of Richmond, Va., whom
he married in 1845, died in 1870, leaving three chil-
dren, all grown.
Richard Aylett Barret, son of Richard F. and
Maria Buckner Barret, was born at Cliffland, the
home of his grandfather, a place of great natural
beauty, near Greensburg, Ky. The estate was situated
on a plateau, diversified by hill and dale, and bordered
on the one side by forests of beech and oak, and on
the other by lofty cliffs, composed of shelving rocks,
to which cling mosses and cedars. At the base of
the plateau winds the silvery course of the Green
River as far as the eye can reach.
Richard A. Barret spent his early youth at Spring-
field, 111., and at St. Louis, where he attended the
school of Edward Wyman and the St. Louis Univer-
sity, and also received instruction from Chester Hard-
ing, who entered him at Phillips Academy, Exeter,
N. H., to prepare for Harvard College, which he en-
tered in 1852. On the journey eastward his com-
panions were Mrs. Rhodes, John Cavender, J. S.
Cavender, and Chester Harding (the two last men-
tioned afterwards rising to distinction as officers in
the Union army during the civil war), and the route
taken extended from St. Louis to Brownsville, Pa.,
and along the Monongahela by steamboat, across the
Alleghenies to Cumberland, Md., by stages, and
thence by rail to Washington. In the latter city his
uncle, Aylett Buckner, a member of Congress from
Kentucky, was then domiciled opposite the Treasury
Department, with Giddiugs, Greeley, Lincoln, and
Richardson, while Clay, Douglas, Crittenden, and
other famous men of the period were frequent visi-
tors. When Messrs. Lincoln and Buckner went to
Philadelphia to attend as delegates the convention
which nominated Gen. Taylor for the Presidency,
R. A. Barret accompanied them.
Having obtained the degrees of M.A. and M.D.,
the latter from the Missouri Medical College, March,
1854, Mr. Barret went to Europe and studied at
Bon, Munich, and Heidelberg, being awarded the
1510
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
degree of Ph.D. He belonged to the Swabia
o <-'
" Burschenschaft," and traveled on foot up and down
the Rhine, and through the " Phalz" and " Swartz-
wald," and much of Italy, France, and Spain. For
some time he acted as secretary of legation at Paris
under John Y. Mason, minister at the court of Na-
poleon III. In 1859, having returned to the United
States, he was admitted to the bar of St. Louis, and
entered into the practice of the law with his uncle,
Aylett Buckner. He was immediately engaged with
Stephen T. Logan and Milton Hay, of Springfield,
111., in a suit in which the Hanks, of Decatur, 111.,
the relatives of Abraham Lincoln, were interested,
and he greatly enjoyed the witty and pointed stories,
the cheerful conversation, and the familiar courtesy
of the future President.
In the winter of 1859-60, Mr. Barret was em- i
ployed, with Messrs. Blocker, Gurley, and Coke, now
United States senator, in settling disputes as to the
eleven-league Galindo claim, near Waco, McLernan
Co. In May, 1860, his father died, leaving a dis-
tracted and scattered business, and a young and
expensive family to his care. About this time the
political skies became overcast with the clouds of the
impending war, and in the agitation which followed
Mr. Barret bore an active and influential part. He
at once took firm ground in favor of the Union cause,
and became a close and intimate friend of Capt. Na-
thaniel Lyon, who was looked up to as the leader of
the anti-secession element. Mr. Barret was one of
the leading actors in the Southwestern campaign,
being attorney for the United States government in
the offices respectively of Gen. Farrar, general super-
visor of confiscated and contraband property ; Col.
James O. Broadhead, city provost-marshal ; and Gen.
E. B. Alexander, United States provost-marshal for
Missouri. He also acted as chief clerk and private
secretary to the latter until April, 1866. Mr. Barret
was thrown into contact with the leaders on both
sides, and was personally acquainted with Governor
Reynolds and Gens. Frost, Jeff Thompson, Buckner,
and Price (the last two being his relatives), whom he
believes to have been actuated by unselfish and patri-
otic though mistaken motives, together with many
other active participants in the exciting scenes of that
stormy period.
Mr. Barret wrote several reports of the fairs of the
St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Association,
which were published in book form, and did much to
popularize the association and advance its interests.
In 1866 he went to Burlington, Iowa, to settle up his
father's estate, and there purchased and edited the
Gazette and Argus, the oldest paper in the State.
With Henry W. Starr and J. G. Foote, he was sent
as a delegate to the Des Moines Rapids Convention at
St. Louis, which resulted in the building of the Keo-
kuk and Nashville Canal, and was selected by the State
of Iowa, together with Gen. A. C. Dodge, formerly
United States senator and minister to Spain, Governor
Gear, and Judge Edmonds, of Illinois, to urge upon
the business men and capitalists of St. Louis the im-
portance of the St. Paul and St. Louis Air-Line Rail-
road. On this occasion the Burlington Hawlceye
said, " Mr. Barret is entitled to the thanks of our
people for his untiring efforts and success in directing
public attention to this important road."
Mr. Barret has been a lifelong member of the
Turner Association, and is an ardent advocate of
physical culture, having delivered addresses before
the Turners at Hyde Park, Burlington, Iowa, in com-
pany with Theo. Gulich, Governor Stone, and Sena-
tor James W. Grimes, and at Peoria, 111., with At-
torney-General (" Bob") Ingersoll, of Illinois. He
is a member of the old " Central Verein," from which
so many Union soldiers were recruited in St. Louis
during the spring and summer of 1861, and served
on the finance and citizens' committees for the great
"Turnfest" of 1881.
From 1869 to 1872, Mr. Barret was editor-in-chief
of the St. Louis Dispatch, and afterward commercial
and then city editor of the St. Louis Times. He was
also private secretary to his brother, Mayor Arthur
B. Barret, and to Mayor James H. Britton.
Mr. Barret married Miss Mary Finney, daughter
of the late William Finney, one of the earliest set-
tlers and most prominent citizens and merchants of
St. Louis. He prefers a quiet life, removed from the
bustle and confusion of the world, and of late his
private affairs and his library have been " dukedom
large enough."
Samuel B. Churchill came to St. Louis in 1835.
He was born in Louisville in 1812, a lineal descend-
ant of the famous Churchill family of Virginia, and
connected by blood or marriage with the Armisteads,
the Carters, the Turners, Harrisons, Oldhams, and
many other of the proudest familes of colonial and
Revolutionary days. Col. Churchill practiced law but
two years. He was in law partnership with Ferdi-
nand Risk. After 1837 joutnalism and politics oc-
cupied his entire time. Sympathizing with the South,
he was arrested and imprisoned in 1861, and in 1863
was ordered to leave the State. He returned to Ken-
tucky, took a prominent part in politics there, serving
as Secretary of State from 1867 to 1872.
Shepard Barclay was born in St. Louis, Nov. 3,
1847. He is the grandson of Elihu H. Shepard,
BENCH AND BAR.
1511
one of the pioneers of St. Louis, who for many years
was the leading school-teacher of the city. Mr. Bar-
clay began his education at the public schools and
High School of St. Louis, and afterwards attended St.
Louis University, where he was graduated in 1867.
He next attended the University of Virginia, at Char-
lottesville, Va., and was graduated with high honors
in 1869. He then visited Europe, and studied civil
law for two sessions at the University of Berlin,
Prussia. During his sojourn on the continent he ac-
quired the French and German languages. He then
returned to St. Louis, and began the practice of law
June 1, 1872. During his early practice he was con-
nected professionally with the press of St. Louis, as
editorial contributor, and manifested decided aptitude
for the calling.
In 1873 he formed a law partnership with W. C.
Marshall, and in that connection continued to practice
law until elected circuit judge, Nov. 7, 1882.
Mr. Barclay has been connected with and has suc-
cessfully managed some of the most important cases
that have come before the courts. A ripe scholar,
an able, faithful, diligent, and untiring lawyer, patient,
polite, energetic, careful, and honest, he seems by na-
ture, education, and experience eminently fitted for
the judgeship, and his friends confidently expect from
him a brilliant record on the bench.
Joseph G. Lodge was born in Gloucester County,
N. J., Jan. 27, 1840; was educated in Gloucester
County and at Chester, Pa. ; at the age of nineteen
taught school, continuing in this occupation for nearly
two years, and in 1860-62 attended the law school of
Michigan University at Ann Arbor. He also took at
this institution a partial course in the senior class of
the Literary Department. In 1862 he graduated in the
law school with the honors of his class, having been
chosen orator. He then spent a year in a law-office
at Detroit, and in 1863 removed to Battle Creek,
Mich. On his arrival in that town he was poor and
unknown, but soon made friends and rapidly acquired
a lucrative practice. He was elected to several offices,
the most important that of prosecuting attorney for
the county, in which capacity he managed many intri-
cate cases, and was generally very successful, although
he often had to contend with some of the leading
lawyers of Michigan. He retained this office four
years, having been re-elected for a second term.
In October, 1866, he married Miss Mary S. Sailer,
of Gloucester County, N. J., and in October, 1871,
removed to St. Louis. Here, as in Michigan, he
began as an entire stranger, but he again quickly
built up a large and lucrative practice as a criminal
lawyer. While practicing mostly in the criminal
courts, he has had many important civil cases, and
in both fields has shown himself an able advocate.
At present he is a member of the legal firm of John-
son, Lodge & Johnson, which is generally conceded to
be one of the first in the West. In 1882 he was a
candidate on the Republican ticket for judge of the
Criminal Court, but owing to dissensions in the party
was defeated. Industrious, faithful, attentive, and
with broad and comprehensive views, he is an earn-
est and forcible advocate, but his analytical mind
makes him perhaps more effective in the argument
of legal propositions before a court than in the dis-
cussion of questions of fact before a jury.
The bar of St. Louis at the present day, as re-
flected in its living and active members, both those
upon the shady side of the hill and those who are
climbing to the summit, is not unworthy in any re-
spect of the distinguished ancestry whose faint out-
line has been traced in the preceding pages. The
profession holds out the same high rewards to honor-
able industry, cultivated talents, probity and integrity,
and our contemporaries toil with an inherited zeal and
compete with an ardor transmitted through unbroken
generations for the same sort of distinction as that
which compensated Easton and Hempstead, Carr and
Benton, the Bateses, the Bartons, the Gambles, and
other illustrious men. Those who lightly pretend to
believe that the bar of St. Louis has degenerated are
not familiar with its past, or have neglected to meas-
ure the stature of its present greatness. They may
not have forgotten Gibson, Hitchcock, the Glovers,
Broadhead, Henderson, and others of national repu-
tation, but they do not sufficiently take into account
such men as D. Robert Barclay, H. A. and A. C.
Clover, R. Graham Frost, James S. Garland, Joseph
R. Harris, Waldo P. Johnson, Edward P. Lindley,
and many others.1
It will be seen, from what has been set forth
above, that the bar of St. Louis was never, even in
the most primitive times of its history, what is
called a " country bar," where the simple disputes of
rustics are adjudicated in an unpretentious, rural
fashion, and the calibre of judges and counsel is as
light in weight as the causes brought to trial. Where
the missiles are mountains and hills, the giants must
be called in to throw them. The big lawyers of the
country — those who felt that they could become big,
that is — went to Missouri, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Texas, because the big fees were there which they
1 The author endeavored without result to obtain the ma-
terial for biographical sketches of Henry Hitchcock, Samuel T.
Glover, and other leading members of the bar, whose modesty
forbade them to supply the necessary facts.
1512
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
grasped at. So when a class of fledgling doctors
graduates, the youth who is content to " tote" around
his saddle-bags and pill-box all his life, because he has
no greater faith in his own capacity, gets him away
to some rural district, where the doctors are as few
and far off as possible, but the really ambitious " saw-
bones" seeks the heart of the great city, where he
knows that one critical case well conducted will bring
him into lucrative practice. The fees in any good fat
land case in St. Louis County, paid in land, were
often a fortune to the lawyer who won the case, or, if
not, they pointed the way to fortune ; for the people
took an immense and enthusiastic interest in courts
and law-suits, and attended upon prominent trials as
one would go to the circus or the theatre. A murder
trial or a land suit would bring a whole county, a
whole circuit, to the county-seat. Thus the lawyers
were always in the public eye, and their merits and
achievements instantly known ; and in this way the
St. Louis lawyer constantly had the two greatest
possible incentives to endeavor by which man can be
urged on, — large profits, and the sincere applause of
multitudes.
In this respect the Western courts were as different
as possible from those in the East. Hon. Oliver H.
Smith, some time United States senator from Indiana,
in his very entertaining volume, " Early Trials in In-
diana," notes this difference forcibly. The people of
the West in those early days, he says, thought " the
holding of a court a great affair. They came hun-
dreds of miles to see the judges and hear the lawyers
' plead,' as they called it. On one occasion there
came to be tried before the jury an indictment for an
assault and battery against a man for pulling the nose
of another, who had insulted him. The court-room was
filled to suffocation. There were two associate judges
on the bench. The evidence and the pleadings were
heard with breathless expectation, and when the case
was concluded, the people returned home to tell their
children that they had heard the lawyers 'plead.'
How different this," continues Mr. Smith, from a
scene witnessed by him in Baltimore in 1828, when
he visited the United States court-room there and got
a seat from the United States marshal. " There was
a venerable judge on the bench, a lawyer addressing
the court, another taking notes of his speech. These
three and the marshal composed every person but my-
self in the room. They were all strangers. I asked
the marshal who they were. ' The judge,' he said, ' is
Chief Justice Marshall, the gentleman addressing the
court is William Wirt, and the one taking notes is
Roger B. Taney,' — three of the most distinguished men
in the United States, and yet in a city of fifty thou-
sand souls they were unable to draw to the court-
room a single auditor." Mr. Smith seems utterly
unconscious of the fact that they were not there to
" draw."
This necessity of Western eloquence, " drawing,"
has been very slow to change, if it has disappeared
entirely now. Nor have the busy people quite ceased
to be drawn ; at least such was the case down to a re-
cent epoch. We do not wish to seem libelous, and
hence will not vouch for the tradition that in Lex-
ington, Ky., upon occasion of the second trial of one
of the Shelbys for murder, in 1846, the trustees of the
Methodist Church seriously and urgently debated as
to whether or not a great strawberry and ice-cream
festival of the church, to which weeks of labor and
preparation had been given, should not be adjourned
to a later day, to enable the people to go hear the great
Henry Clay "plead." And in the interesting ac-
count, quoted from on a previous page, from the pen
of Charles Gibson, descriptive of the great St. Louis
venue of 1850, when MM. les Comtes de Montes-
quieu were tried for the murder of Kirby Barnum
and Albert Jones, we discover that this personal in-
terest in trials still at that day pervaded the whole
community. "The trial," says Mr. Gibson, "was
largely attended, not merely by our best citizens, but
nearly the whole of the spacious apartment was filled
by the most refined and aristocratic ladies, old and
young, of the city." The writer adds, in the true
regretful spirit of a laudator temporis acti, that " the
contrast between a great criminal trial thirty years
ago, in which the entire community took a profound
interest, and the proceedings of the present day in
the Four Courts has to be seen in order to be under-
stood and fully appreciated."
The temples of justice, however, and the instru-
ments of punishment in those primitive days were
just as poor and mean as can be conceived, and very
little calculated to draw the crowds which they had
no capacity to accommodate. The machinery of jus-
tice seems to have advanced in complications and
magnificence in proportion as the public interest in
her mysterious, awful ways has diminished and grown
cold. This is the way civilization works, perhaps.
We do not say that early St. Louis contented itself
with the corn-crib court-house and the goods-box jail
seen by Mr. Darby in his early rides upon the circuit ;
yet in 1811, as Brackenridge describes, there was no
jail but the martello tower of the old Spanish fort,
and no court-house but the stone barrack in that
fort, where vermin must have been plenty, or a
dining-room in a tavern by the river-side. The
record-office and records did not keep much better
BENCH AND BAR.
1513
state, nor were the court forms ceremonious or intri-
cate, except in the matter of pleas and replications
and practice, where the Indiana forms, which had been
introduced, were, like the farmer's worm fence, so
twisted in and out that he could not tell which side he
was on for the life of him. These forms cost the
simple and ingenuous French liabitans of St. Louis
many a dollar and many an arpent.
There may, perhaps, have been a litigious propen-
sity among the primitive St. Louisans in respect of
suits upon personal issues. The number of slander
and scandal cases during the Spanish regime is no-
ticeable, and makes the supposition thrown out quite
probable. The early judges under the American
regime probably thought it needful to be severe in
order to maintain their dignity, at least they were
severe in many cases. The newspaper court reporter
of the present day had no existence then, luckily
for him, but the courts appear to have resented in a
very uppish manner not only criticism, but every
other sort of reference to their proceedings and man-
ners, and there are several cases on record — the chief
of them noticed in other parts of this work — in
which criticism and comment were punished severely
as constituting contempt. It usually happens that
these blows of the courts, no matter whom they are
aimed against, light upon the best and most amiable
citizens, and this has been the case in St. Louis from
the time of Joseph Charless, the first printer, to that
of Samuel T. Glover, who in 1865, as we have seen,
was fined five hundred dollars for contempt in resist- '
ing an unjust statute that impaired his most precious
rights as a citizen.
As a rule, however, the chief and characteristic
trait of the courts of St. Louis has been the great
individuality and force of ability of the bench and bar,
the important character and intricate nature of the
issues joined, and the simplicity of the court's methods
and surroundings. The extreme economy of the ad-
ministration in primitive times has already been suf-
ficiently spoken of. This proceeded in part from the >
simple surroundings with which judge, jury, and bar
contented themselves on all occasions, from the low
salaries allowed, and from the doubling up of many
offices and functions in one person. Thus the clerk of
the Circuit Court of St. Louis County was also always
ex officio recorder of deeds, and usually prothonotary
or register of wills and clerk of the Probate Court like- ,
wise. An odd instance of this consolidation of offices
in one person is to be observed in the case of Dr.
David Waldo, of whom some mention has already
been made iu this chapter. Said Mr. John F. Darby,
" He was clerk of the Circuit Court of Gasconade
County and ex officio recorder cf deeds for the county ;
he was also clerk of the County Court of Gasconade
County, justice of the peace, acting as coroner and
as deputy sheriff, it is said, as well as postmaster. He
held a commission also as major in the militia, and
was a practicing physician. The duties of all these
offices David Waldo attended to personally, and dis-
charged with signal and distinguished ability. The
county of Gasconade at the time took in an immense
territory, including within its boundaries the scope of
country now included in the counties of Osage, Maries,
Phelps, Pulaski, Wright, and Texas, and on that
account it was called by many of the inhabitants
' The State of Gasconade, David Waldo, Governor.'
In speaking of the doctor, even to his face, very few
of them saluted him as mister, doctor, or major ; they
all called him ' Dave.' "
The court-room in which this factotum exercised
every quality and degree of civil function consisted of
one large hewed log house, with one room, a kitchen,
and some log stables, so that all had to eat and sleep
in the same room, and after the table for breakfast or
dinner, as the case might be, had been cleared away,
the judge would take a seat on one side of the room
in one of the old-fashioned split-bottomed chairs and
hold court.
It is to be observed of Waldo, moreover, that he was
a gentleman, a scholar, and a man of many superior
qualities, and that he did all these things for the peo-
ple among whom he lived and not for himself, differing
therein entirely from that Iowa family not so many years
back, of whom the tradition runs that, profiting by
sundry convenient laws of the new State, they moved
out into the open prairie, and there, all by themselves,
after taking up no end of government land, went
through all the motions of erecting a new county,
held an election, county, township, and State, electing
themselves to all the offices, secured the benefit of the
school- house, school, court-house, road, and other
county funds, and then issued county bonds at a rate
to make the Egyptian Khedive stare, selling them for
what they would bring and pocketing the proceeds.
Dr. Waldo's method of serving the public was much
more genuine and cheaper than the modern method,
and the public service was benefited in proportion.
As the officers, so the judges, with one or two ex-
ceptions. And well was it for early St. Louis and
Missouri that they possessed an honest and capable
judiciary in the face of so much and so many tempta-
tions, for otherwise corruption and villany would have
stalked abroad.
As we have said, the court's surroundings in St.
Louis were a little less rude than in Gasconade, yet
1514
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
primitive enough in all conscience. The first court-
house, in the tavern under the bank, where Emilien
Yosti waited upon his boatmen customers, the second,
in the old fort on the hill, have already been spoken
of sufficiently in several parts of this book, nor is
there need to say much of the third, that on the west
side of Third Street, between Spruce and Almond
Streets, a little one-story house of frame, fronting on
Third Street. Here, within these lowly precincts,
McNair ruled upon the bench, Benton took his attor-
ney's oath ; here sat Lucas, here pleaded Barton and
Easton and Pettibone, and many another of the goodly
names enrolled in the preceding pages among the pio-
neers. The catalogue of buildings need not be ex-
tended further. So frugal did the people continue to
be that even as late as 1827, when population was
growing rapidly and the streets were being paved, the
city could only spare eighteen thousand dollars to build
a new court-house, and the structure was erected com-
plete within the estimates, — two miracles in one !
There is nothing more to be said upon this subject
except that the bench and bar of St. Louis continue
to maintain their pristine vigor and intelligence, illus-
trating the records of the future, not by extinguishing
but by intensifying the lights of the past upon them,
making
" Experience the arch wherethrough
Gleams that untraveled world, whose margin fades
Forever and forever where they go."
The Bar Association of St. Louis. — On the eve-
ning of the 16th of March, 1874, a meeting of the
members of the St. Louis bar was held in Circuit
Court Room No. 2 for the purpose of "considering
the propriety and feasibility of forming a Bar Associ-
ation in the city of St. Louis." Col. Thomas T.
Gantt was made temporary chairman, and E. W. Pat-
tison was chosen secretary. Alexander Martin stated
at length the objects and purposes of the proposed
association, and on his motion a committee consisting
of five members of the bar was appointed by the chair
to draft a suitable constitution and by-laws and sub-
mit the same at an adjourned meeting of the bar.
The committee consisted of Alexander Martin, Henry
Hitchcock, R. E. Rombauer, George M. Stewart, and
Given Campbell. The next meeting was held on the
23d of March, 1874, at which a constitution and by-
laws were submitted and adopted substantially as
presented, and the final organization and incorpora-
tion effected. The in corporators were :
John R. Shepley, E. B. Adams, Henry Hitchcock, G. A.
Finkelnburg, Shepard Barclay, Arba N. Crane, Edmund T.
Allen, Edward T. Farish, Thomas Thoroughman, E. W. Pat-
tison, Alex. Davis, Amos M. Thayer, Nathaniel Holmes,
Alex. Martin, H. T. Kent, E. C. Kehr, John R. Warfield,
C. S. Hayden, A. M. Gardner, John W. Dryden, E. B.
Sherzer, George M. Stewart, R. H. Spencer, William Patrick,
Charles T. Daniel, W. F. Boyle, Joseph Shippen, R. E. Rom-
bauer, Edward W. Tittman, H. D. Wood, J. N. Litton, E. P.
McCarty, D. W. Paul, T. A. Post, J. B. Woodward, Samuel T.
Glover, William H. Bliss, H. A. Hanessler, J. S. Fiillerton, J.
S. Garland, Hugo Muench, Preston Player, Leonard Wilcox,
M. Dwight Collier, Robert W. Good, George W. Lubke, Leo
Tarlton, Charles G. Singleton, W. H. Holmes, W. H. Lackland,
R. Schulenburg, J. F. Maury, Win. H. Clopton, Lucien Eaton,
Braxton Bragg, Jr., J. F. Conroy, J. Q. A. Fritcbey, H. C. Hart,
Jr., Henry M. Post, David Goldsmith, William C. Marshall, D.
D. Duncan, John C. Orrick, William B. Thompson, H. L. War-
ren, J. S. Laurie, John E. Jones, Silas B. Jones, J. A. Seddon,
Jr., J. 0. Broadhead, A. M. Sullivan, J. T. Tatum, J. D. S.
Dryden, Samuel Erskine, Nathaniel Meyers, John H. Rankin,
Charles C. Whittlesey, George W. Cline, M. J. Sullivan, F. T.
Martin, M. D. Lewis, G. D. Reynolds, John W. Noble, B. L.
Hickman, E. S. Tittman, J. P. Vastine, S. S. Boyd, Francis
Minor, Given Campbell, M. R. Cullen, T. A. Russell, George
B. Kellogg, A. W. Slayback, Thomas G. Allen, C. 0. Bishop,
Chester Harding, Jr., J. D. Foulon, F. J. Donovan, Francis
Garvey, William J. Richmond, G. H. Shields, J. W. Ellis,
Henry M. Bryan, J. D. Johnson, James Taussig, R. S. Mc-
Donald, Simon Obermeyer, J. K. Tiffany, Samuel Simmons, A.
R. Taylor, Sherard Clemens, A. W. Mead, J. F. O'Rourke, G.
Pollard, F. C. Sharp, D. Tiffany, F. N. Judson, Leo Rassieur,
P. Donohue, Melville Smith, W. C. Jamison, Theo. Hunt, T.
C. Fletcher, W. C. Jones, T. T. Gantt, H. E. Mills, V. W. Knapp,
George W. Taussig, J. B. Nicholson, Clinton Rowel], John M.
Krum, AV. C. Bragg, John G. Chandler, J. G. Lodge, F. wll-
lizenus, L. Bell, M. L. Gray, A. D. Anderson, and Julius E.
AVithrow.
The association continued to meet in court-room
No. 2 until the 2d of November following, when 'it
was removed to the life insurance building on the
northwest corner of Sixth and Locust Streets. On
the 21st of April, 1876, it returned to the court-
house and occupied a room on the second floor, now
used by the fire-alarm telegraph, and just opposite
the office of the clerk of the Court of Appeals. It
remained there until the 5th of January, 1880, when
it was again removed to its present commodious
quarters on the ground-floor in the Market Street
wing of the court-house, near the office of .the re-
corder of deeds. Since its organization the presidents
and the date of their election have been :
1874, John R. Shepley; 1875, James 0. Broadhead; 1876,
Samuel M. Breckinridge ; 1877, John M. Krum ; 1878, George
W. Cline; 1879, Alexander Martin; 1880-81, Henry Hitchcock;
1882, Edward C. Kehr. The first board of officers were John
R. Shepley, president; G. A. Finkelnburg, A. N. Crane, E. T.
Farish, vice-presidents; E. W. Pattison, secretary; A. M.
Thayer, treasurer; Alexander Martin, Edward C. Kehr, Charles
S. Hnyden, executive committee. The present board is com-
posed of Edward C. Kehr, president; Edmund T. Allen, James
Taussig, S. M. Breckinridge, vice-presidents ; James E. With-
row, secretary ; Eugene C. Tittman, treasurer; G. A. Finkeln-
burg, Alexander Martin, John W. Dryden, executive com-
mittee.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1515
The object of the association is to " maintain the
honor and dignity of the profession of the law, to
cultivate social intercourse among its members, and
for the promotion of legal science, of the administra-
tion of justice." It has accomplished great good
in elevating the tone of the legal profession in St.
Louis.
CHAPTER XXXV.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.!
THE earliest physicians in St. Louis were the army
surgeons stationed at the military posts under the
French and Spanish regimes, who in many instances
settled in the community and identified themselves
with its interests and life. As they were usually men
of superior education and good social position, they es-
tablished a standard of medical practice which has
ever since been maintained, and laid the foundations of
a code of medical ethics which has caused the profes-
sion in St. Louis to occupy a foremost place in the
medical world.2 The first physician whose name is
found in the early archives is
Dr. Andre Auguste Conde, a native of Aunis, in
France, who was post-surgeon in the French service
at Fort Chartres prior to the cession to England, and
crossed the river with the few soldiers brought over
by Capt. St. Ange de Bellerive, after placing the
British Capt. Stirling in possession of the other side,
Oct. 20, 1765. Dr. Conde had married Marie Anne
Bardet de Laferne, July 16, 1763, whom, with his
infant daughter Marianne, he brought over with him
to the new post. He received from Governor St.
Ange, June 2, 1766, a concession, the fifth recorded
in the " Livres Terriens," — the " land-grant books," —
of two lots together in the village, fronting two hun-
dred and forty feet on Second Street, by one hundred
and fifty deep, being the east half of the block next
south of the Catholic Church block (now No. 58).
OQ this lot he built for his residence a house of up-
1 For the preparation of the greater part of this chapter the
author is indebted to Dr. E. M. Nelson, editor of the St. Louis
Courier of Medicine, who, we think it will be conceded, has dis-
charged his task with great care and with painstaking and
discriminating accuracy. The author is also under obligation
to Dr. Nelson for many other kindnesses in the compilation of
this work. A number of the biographical sketches contained
in this chapter were prepared by him, and those contributed by
other persons are indicated by foot-notes.
* The portion of this chapter relating to the physicians of St.
Louis in the early French and Spanish days was prepared by
Mr. Frederic L. Billon.
right posts, with a barn and other conveniences,
where he resided for some ten years, until his death,
Nov. 28, 1776.
Dr. Conde was a gentleman of fine education, and
a prominent man in the village in his day. He had
an extensive professional practice, as well on the west
as on the east side of the river, being for a time alone
in his profession at this point. Having died intestate,
the Governor appointed his relative, Louis Dubreuil,
merchant, guardian to his two minor daughters, the
oldest, Marianne, mentioned above, the second, Con-
stance, born in St. Louis in 1768. An inventory of
his estate, taken a few days after his death, includes
the names (numbering two hundred and thirty-three)
of all those indebted to him on both sides of the
river for professional services rendered, comprising
nearly all the inhabitants of the two places, and
might almost serve for a directory had such a thing
then been needed. His widow married a second hus-
band, Gaspard Houbien, also a European, Sept. 19,
1777. They subsequently removed to St. Charles,
where they both died.
Conde's eldest daughter, Marianne, was married to
Charles Sanguinet, Sr., Aug. 1, 1779, and the second,
Constance, first to Bonaventura Collell, a Spanish offi-
cer, in the year 1788, and secondly to Patricio Lee, in
1797. Each of these ladies left a numerous pro-
geny. The Sanguinets of St. Louis comprise the
Benoists, the wife of the Hon. John Hogan, former
member of Congress, William H. Cozens, etc., and
the Lees of St. Charles, Mrs. Stephen and Mrs. Thomas
Rector, the Rousseaus, Benjamin O'Fallon, and others.
Dr. Jean Baptiste Valleau was the second physician
who settled at St. Louis. A native of France, in the
Spanish service, he came to St. Louis late in the year
1767 as surgeon of the company sent up by Count
Ulloa from New Orleans, under the command of
Capt. Rios, to receive possession of the place. That
they had come up expecting to remain, at least for a
time, is evident, as immediately after his arrival in
the place he made application for a lot in the village
upon which to build a house for his family, which he
had left in La Rochelle, France. Accordingly, he
received a concession (No. 43) from St. Ange, dated
Jan. 2, 1768, of the northeast quarter of the present
Block No. 61, being one hundred and twenty feet on
the west side of Second Street by one hundred and fifty
feet deep west up the hill on the south side of Pine.
After he received the grant of his lot, it was some
little time before he could find any one to build his
house, owing to the scarcity of workmen in that early
day of the village. He then entered into the follow-
ing agreement :
1516
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
" I, Peter Tousignau, under my customary mark of a cross,
not knowing how to sign my name, in presence of Mr. Labus-
ciere, acknowledge that I bind myself to build for Mr. Valleau,
surgeon in the Spanish service, a house of posts in the ground,
eighteen feet long by fourteen wide on the outside, and roofed
with shingles, with a stone chimney, and a partition in the
centre of small square posts, with one outside door and another
in the partition, two windows with shutters, well floored and
ceiled with hewed cottonwood plank well jointed. The whole is
to be completed by the loth July next, subject to inspection, to
be built on the lot of Mr. Valleau, adjoining Mr. Calve's.
"In consideration of the sum of sixty silver dollars, which
Mr. Valleau binds himself to pay to said Tousignau as soon as
the house is completed, and to furnish all the iron and nails
necessary for said house, but nothing else, the posts of the house
to be round, of red oak.
"Thus covenanted and agreed in good faith between us, at
St. Louis, April 23, 1768.
" TOUSIGNAU'S X MARK. VALLEAU. LABUSCIERE, witness."
In due time his house was completed and he in pos-
session, shortly after which the quarter block south of
and adjoining his was ordered to be sold by the Gov-
ernor (the owner, one Calve, having left in the night
to avoid his creditors), and was purchased by Valleau,
with a small house of posts some sixteen feet square
on it, for six hundred livres (about one hundred and
twenty dollars), Sept. 26, 1768, Valleau then owning
the east half of said block (now 11). Shortly
afterwards having been much exposed to the
effects of. a hot sun in a new and to him dele-
terious climate, in riding back and forth between St.
Louis and Bellefontaine, on the Missouri, where Rios'
men were engaged in building a fort, he fell ill, and
died at the close of November, 1768, at the house of
Joseph Denoyer, nearly opposite his own, within a
year of his arrival in the country. On finding his end
approaching, in conformity with a custom almost uni-
formly followed by devout Catholics at that day, he
executed his will on Nov. 23, 1768. He was but one
of numerous others who fell victims to the unhealth-
ful influences incident to all newly-settled countries
in certain latitudes, particularly on water-courses. So
universally was it the custom at that day in colonies
for a sick person to execute his will, commending his
soul to his Maker, that a man who died without
having done so was deemed to have neglected one of
his most important religious duties. It mattered little
whether he possessed much or no property whatever
to dispose of, the will appeared to be an essential to
entitle him to burial with all the solemnities of the
holy church jn consecrated ground.
This will was as follows :
" WILL OF JOHN B. VALLEAIT, SURGEON.
" Before the royal notary in the Illinois, province of Louisi-
ana, in presence of the hereafter-named witnesses, was person-
ally present Mr. John B. Valleau, a senior surgeon of His Cath-
olic Majesty in the Illinois, being now at the post of St. Louis,
in the French part of the Illinois, lying sick in bed, in the
house of Denoyers, but sound of mind, memory, and under-
standing, as appears to the undersigned notary and witnesses,
who, considering there is nothing more certain than death, nor
nothing so uncertain as its hour, fearing to be overtaken by it
without having disposed of the few goods which God has given
him, the said John B. Valleau has made and dictated to the
notary, in the presence of the undersigned witnesses, his last
will and testament in the following manner :
" First, as a Christian and a Catholic, he commends his soul
to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, beseeching His divine
bounty, by the merits of His passion, and by the intercession of
the Holy Virgin, of Holy St. John, his guardian, and of all the
spirits of the celestial court, to receive it among the blessed.
" The said testator wishes and ordains that his debts should
be paid and the injuries occasioned by him, if there be any,
shall be relieved by his executor hereinafter named.
" He declares, wishes, and ordains that Duralde, employed
in the Spanish service, residing in this post of St. Louis, whom
he appoints his executor, shall take possession of all his effects,
situated in this colony of the Illinois and at New Orleans, either
personal or real property, goods, effects, money, or anything
belonging to the said testator at the day of his death, in what-
ever part of this colony they may be situated, without any res-
ervation, appointing the said Duralde as the executor of this
will, and praying him to undertake the charge as a last proof
of friendship.
"The said Duralde shall make a good and exact inventory of
the property belonging to said testator, shall make the sale
thereof, and the money arising therefrom shall be sent by him
to Madame Valleau or to her children, residing at La Rochelle,
in the house of Madame Chotet, Main Street, revoking all
other wills and codicils which I might have made before this
present will, to which I adhere as being my last will.
" Thus made, dictated, and declared by the said testator, by
the said notary and witnesses, and to him read and re-read, he
declaring to have well understood it, and wishing the said last
will to be executed according to its tenor.
"Done in the room in which the said testator keeps his bed,
the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight, the
twenty-third of November, about six o'clock P.M., in the pres-
ence of De Rive (Rios), civil and military Governor of the
Missouri portion of the country, at present in this post of St.
Louis, and of Joseph Papin, trader of this same place, wit-
nesses summoned f<ft- the purpose, and who have with the notary
and the testator signed these presents after the same was read
conformable to the ordinance.
" VALLEAU.
" FRANCISCO RIVE (Rios).
" JOSEPH PAPIN.
"LABUSCIEUE, Notary."
It does not appear that any inventory of his per-
sonal property was taken, as no mention of it is to be
found in the archives, nor of any sale, but they may
have been sent to New Orleans, as was sometimes the
case at that early day in our history. But his executor,
Martin Duralde, proceeded without delay to dispose
of his two lots, which was done at public sale on Sun-
day, Dec. 11, 1768.
Dr. Valleau's is the first will on record. He had
brought up with him from New Orleans a box of one
gross packs of playing cards, to assist him in getting
through the long and tedious winter mouths of this
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1517
then out of the way part of the world. After his
death, Duralde, his executor, not finding sale for
them except at great loss, kept the box in his store
for two or three years, when, finding they were almost
ruined by water leaking from his roof just over the
place where he kept them, he received permission from
the Governor to dispose of them at auction.
Dr. Antoine Reynal appears from the archives to
have been the third surgeon in St. Louis, from about
the year 1776. In the year 1777 he purchased from
one Jean Huge the west half of the block on the
east side of Third Street, from Market to Chestnut
Streets, with a log house at the south end, fronting on
Market Street, opposite the Catholic graveyard. The '
north end of this lot, at the southeast corner of Chest- ;
nut and Third Streets, is now occupied by the Mis-
souri Republican building. Dr. Reynal lived here
for about twenty-three years, and sold the property to
Eugenio Alvarez in November, 1799. He subse-
quently removed to St. Charles, where he died.
Of Dr. Bernard Gibkins, the fourth physician, we
know but little, except that he was in St. Louis in the
years 1779 and 1780, as we find him the possessor of
a house and lot at that period. But of what nation-
ality, where from, or whether he died here or removed
from the place, is not found in the archives of the
day.
Dr. Claudio Mercier came up to St. Louis from
New Orleans early in 1786. His native place was
Lavisiere, Dauphiny, France, where he was born in
the year 1726. He had resided for a time in New
Orleans, where he had acquired some property, and
left a will there when he came up to St. Louis, which
he had executed in 1784. He added a codicil to this
will at St. Louis, dated May 17, 1786, in which he
reaffirms his first will, emancipates his1 negro woman
Frangoise, gives one hundred dollars to the poor of
St. Louis, and appoints John B. Sarpy his executor.
He died unmarried at St. Louis, on Jan. 20, 1787,
aged sixty-one years. It does not appear that he
practiced here.
Dr. Philip Joachim Gingembre (Ginger) came early
in the year 1792 to St. Louis, and purchased a small
stone house at the northwest corner of the present
Olive and Second Streets, where he lived for some •
years. He then went to France, leaving his house '
unoccupied and closed. Not returning after some
years' absence, the house, which was going to ruin,
was publicly sold by order of the then Governor, Tru-
deau, to pay his creditors.
Dr. Antoine Franyois Saugrain, born at Versailles, !
France, Feb. 17, 1763, came to St. Louis to reside ,
with his wife and two children, from Gallipolis,
Ohio, in the year 1800. Here he continued in the
practice of his profession until his death, May 20,
1820, at the age of fifty-seven years. Dr. Saugrain
when but a youth had made the acquaintance of Dr.
Benjamin Franklin in Paris, through whose repre-
sentations of the country he came to the United
States, after the recognition of our independence.
After remaining a time in Philadelphia, he, in the
winter of 1787-88, being then twenty-four years of
age, proceeded with two other young Frenchmen,
Messrs. Pique and Raguet, to Pittsburgh. Early in
the spring of 1788, having been joined there by an
American, a Mr. Pierce, the four left Pittsburgh in a
flat-boat or broad-horn, then so called, with their
horses and baggage, to descend to the Falls of Ohio,
now Louisville. Dr. Saugrain subsequently joined
those Frenchman who, about 1790-91, emigrated
from France to establish the new settlement of Gallip-
olis, in Ohio, in what is now Gallia County, then a
wilderness. He remained some nine or ten years in
this locality, during which period he was married on
March 20, 1793, in Kanawha County, Va., just
opposite the place, to Miss Genevieve Rosalie Michaud,
the eldest of the two daughters of John Michaud,
Sr., one of the settlers of Gallipolis, from Paris ;
and here two of their children were born, viz.,
Rosalie and Eliza. The first became in after-years
Mrs. Henry Von Phul, and the second Mrs. James
Kennerly, both of St. Louis. The Michaud and
Saugrain families removed together from this place,
Gallipolis, to St. Louis in the year 1800. Dr. Sau-
grain immediately entered upon the practice of his
profession, and at the date of the transfer to the
United States, 1804, was the sole practitioner in the
village, and the last of the old French stock. In
addition to the two daughters they brought with
them from Ohio, Mr. and Mrs. Saugrain raised to
maturity several other children born in St. Louis, —
two sons, Alfred, now deceased, and Frederick, yet
living; Harriet, who married Maj. Thomas Noel,
United States cavalry, both deceased for some years,
and Eugenie, still living, the widow of John W.
Reel, a former merchant of St. Louis. The family
of old John Michaud, who died June 29, 1819, aged
eighty-one, comprised several sons, all now deceased,
and two daughters, Mrs. Dr. Saugrain, and a second
who became the wife of Dr. Robinson, formerly of
the medical corps of the United States army. The
lineal descendants of Dr. A. F. Saugrain are quite
numerous, comprising the Von Phuls, Kennedys,
Noels, Reels, Saugrains, and others. Henry Von
Phul, a sketch of whose life appears elsewhere, and
who married the eldest of the daughters of Dr.
1518
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
A. F. Saugrain, was one of the earliest of the Ameri-
can merchants of St. Louis, honored for his upright-
ness, and universally esteemed by the community
among whom he lived for the largest portion of his
prolonged life. James Kennerly was a Virginian by
birth, and a merchant in the early days of the Terri-
tory. The widows of these two gentlemen still sur-
vive at an advanced age.
During the early period of Dr. Saugrain's residence
in St. Louis there was also located here a Dr. Wat-
kins, with reference to whom we have been able to
learn nothing save only the name. There was also a
Jesuit priest named Didier, who used to prepare teas
and other simple remedies for any who were ailing,1
but who was not an educated physician. Dr. Saugrain
had had a thorough scientific and medical education
in Paris, and was fully qualified in all the professional
learning of the day. He relied almost exclusively
upon ptisanes and vegetable remedies, regarding calo-
mel as a virulent poison that never should be taken
into the human system. He left behind him the repu-
tation of a good physician and a thorough gentleman.
Dr. Saugrain was one of the early advocates of vac-
cination. In the Missouri Gazette of June 7, 1809,
we find a card in which he calls attention to the value of
vaccination as a preventive of smallpox, and announces
his readiness to vaccinate any who should apply.2
1 Dr. Saugrain's oldest daughter, Mrs. Von Phul, states that
there was very little sickness here in those days, and little occa-
sion for calling upon a physician or taking any medicine.
Every one was strong and healthy.
J "The undersigned having been politely favored by a friend
with the genuine vaccine infection, has successfully communi-
cated that inestimable preventive of the smallpox to a number of
the inhabitants of St. Louis and its vicinity, and from a sincere
wish which he entertains more widely to disseminate this bless-
ing, he has taken the present occasion to inform such physi-
cians and other intelligent persons as reside beyond the limits
of his accustomed practice that he will with much pleasure,
on application, furnish them with the vaccine infection. The
following comparative view and certificate will sufficiently show
the high estimation in which vaccination is holden by a
number of the most learned and respectable physicians in our
country. Persons in indigent circumstances, paupers, and
Indians will be vaccinated and attended gratis on application to
"A. SAVGRAIN.
" ST. Lovis, May 26, 1809."
•'A comparative view of the natural smallpox, inoculated
.-iiKillpox, and vaccination in their effects on individuals and
society :
"1. It is attempting to cross a large and rapid stream by
swimming, where one in six perish.
"2. It is passing the river in a boat subject to accidents,
where one in three hundred perish, and one in forty suffer par-
tially.
"3. It is passing over a safe bridge."
This was accompanied with a certificate of the value of vac-
cination from a large number of prominent physicians of Phila-
delphia and elsewhere.
A similar announcement by Drs. Mason and Gebert
is found some years later (in March, 1823), viz. :
" Drs. Mason and Gebert will be prepared on the 1st of April
to vaccinate those persons who wish to avoid that dreadful dis-
ease, smallpox. The utmost punctuality may be relied on."
The next name of a physician which appears in
these early papers is that of Dr. Farrar, whose card
first appeared in the Gazette May 24, 1809, as follows :
" Dr. Farrar will practice medicine and surgery in St. Louis
and its vicinity. He keeps his shop in Mr. Robidoux's house,
Second Street."
Dr. Farrar was a man of considerable note, and
the most conspicuous among the early practitioners
of the city.
Dr. Bernard Gaines Farrar,3 son of Joseph Royal
Farrar, was born in Goochland County, Va., July 4,
1785, but his parents removed to Kentucky in the
autumn of that year. He commenced the study of
medicine at the age of fifteen in the office of Dr.
Selmon, of Cincinnati, studying afterwards with Dr.
Samuel Brown, of Lexington. He attended lectures
in Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania in
1804, and subsequently graduated from the Medical
Department of Transylvania University, Lexington,
Ky. He located first at Frankfort, Ky., but in the
fall of 1806, at the suggestion of Judge Coburu, one
of the Territorial judges of Missouri, who was his
brother-in-law, he moved to St. Louis, and was the
first American physician who permanently established
himself west of the Mississippi. From this fact and
the high character which he sustained he was in later
days spoken of as the " father of the profession in
St. Louis." He rapidly acquired a large practice
and extended reputation, not unfrequently being
called upon to take long journeys to see critical cases.
Not more by his skill as a physician and surgeon than
by his great kindness of manner and devoted atten-
tion to his patients did he win friends and secure
patrons. He was tender-hearted, and suffered greatly
in the suffering of his patients, and yet. when there
was duty to discharge, when he had aught to do to
relieve such suffering, none could be firmer than he.
He excelled particularly in tact, and seldom erred in
prognosis. He was bold and decided in character
and prompt in execution. He was specially dextrous
in the various manipulations that are demanded in
obstetric practice, which was a department of profes-
sional work and study in which he took special pride
• For the facts in regard to Dr. Farrar's life we are indebted
to a paper by Dr. C. A. Pope, published in the St. Louis Medi-
cal and Surgical Journal, September, 1850.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1519
and interest. He attained some distinction also as a
surgeon.
One of his first operations was an amputation of
the thigh, performed on a man by the name of Shan-
non, who, when a youth, accompanied Lewis and
Clark on their expedition to the Pacific Ocean. In
1807 Shannon undertook a second expedition, under
the auspices of the general government, to ascertain the
sources of the Missouri. At a point eighteen hun-
dred miles up that river he was attacked by the Black-
feet Indians, and wounded by a ball in the knee.
He was brought down to St. Louis, and successfully
operated on by Dr. Farrar. In those times the case
was considered as an evi-
dence of great skill, in view
of the distance which the
patient had traveled, and
the low state to which his
constitution had been re-
duced by the accident.
This same Mr. Shannon
afterwards received an edu-
cation in Kentucky, and
became one of her best
jurists. He was subse-
quently elevated to the
bench. Judge Shannon
often said, and even de-
clared on his death-bed,
that he owed both his life
and his honors to the skill
of Dr. Farrar.
Dr. Farrar made the
recto-vesical section for the
removal of a calculus which
had become attached to the
fundus of the bladder sev-
eral years earlier than San-
som, who is recognized as
having the prior claim by
virtue of having been the first to publish such a case.
In the war of 1812, Dr. Farrar served as a surgeon,
and also as a soldier in defending the State against the
depredations of the Indians. His reputation became
widely extended, and he was offered a professorship in
his Alma Mater, the Medical Department of Transylva-
nia University, which was then the only medical school
west of the Allegheny Mountains, but declined the
position. He was a member of the first Legislature
under the Territorial form of government, and very
active and influential in the affairs of the community.
He died of cholera July 1, 1849, being within three
days of sixty-four years of age.
In the discharge of his professional duties, Dr.
Farrar was both physician and friend. No company
or amusement could make him neglect his engage-
ments, and he was ever ready at the call of the poor.
Indeed, with respect to remuneration for his services,
it was in most cases virtually optional whether pay-
ment was made at all. The convenience of all was
the rule that governed him. He was always generous
and disinterested, and history can produce few in-
stances in which a life of such intense devotion in
relieving the diseases incident to his fellow-men was
less rewarded by pecuniary emolument. This utter
want of selfishness and extreme pecuniary careless-
ness formed perhaps one of
the most distinctive traits
of his character. Among
his professional brethren
he was uniyersally beloved
and esteemed. He was a
gentleman in the highest
sense of the term, and
well deserved their respect
and consideration. His
acknowledged professional
skill, his goodness of heart,
his polished urbanity, his
high sense of honor and
his noble generosity of na-
ture endeared him to all.
With reference to a num-
ber of other physicians
whose names appear in
professional cards in the
early numbers of the Mis-
souri Gazette there is little
to say. Some of them were
men of sterling merit and
great ability, but records
are wanting as to details of
their lives. Yet it may be
a matter of interest to note the names of some of
these pioneers and the wording of their cards.
A few of them are given in the order in which
they appear in the newspaper files :
April 26, 1810. — " Dr. William Reynolds has removed from
Kaskaskia to Cahokia, and has commenced the practice of
medicine in conjunction with Dr. Truman Tuttle."
March 14, 1811. — "Dr. Wilkinson has just opened a hand-
some assortment of medicine at the house of Mr. Manuel Lisa,
lately occupied by Fergus Moorhead, Esq."
March 21, 1811. — "Dr. William Reynolds has opened a shop
of fresh and genuine medicines in the house of Maj. N. Jarrot,
Cahokia, where he will be found."
Jan. 4, 1812. — "Dr. J. M. Read, from Baltimore, offers his
professional services to the citizens of this place and its vicinity.
1520
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
His residence is in the north end of Madame Dubreuil's house,
and next to Maj. Penrose's, where he can be found by those
who may wish to consult him."
July 25, 1812. — "Dr. Simpson will practice medicine and
surgery in the town and vicinity of St. Louis. He keeps his
shop in the house adjoining Mr. Manuel Lisa, and formerly oc-
cupied by Fergus Moorhead, Esq."
Oct. 1, 1812. — "Drs. Farrar and Walker associated in the
practice of medicine."
Sept. 30, 1815. — "Dr. Quarles will practice medicine and
surgery in the town of St. Louis and its vicinity. He may be
found at his shop opposite Mr. Patrick Lee's, on Main Street."
Jan. 13, 1816. — " Drs. Simpson and Quarles having formed
a connection, the business will in future be conducted under the
firm of Simpson & Quarles.''
Dr. Simpson was prominent in various ways, and
the following additional facts in his life will be read
with interest :
Dr. Robert Simpson was born in Charles County,
Md., in 1785, of a family which had been long in
this country. At an early age he studied medicine in
Philadelphia, and graduated from a college the name
of which is now forgotten. In 1809 he entered the
United States army as assistant surgeon, and was or-
dered to duty at St. Louis. In his official capacity
as assistant surgeon he accompanied the troops that
established Fort Madison, on the upper Mississippi,
remaining there about a year, when he returned to
St. Louis. In connection with the late Dr. Quarles
he established the first drug store in St. Louis, and
about the same time was appointed postmaster. He
held also, at various times, several other offices of
honor and public trust. In 1823 he was appointed
collector of St. Louis County, which position he held
three years. In 1826 he was elected sheriff of St.
Louis County, and served two terms. .Subsequently
he engaged in merchandise, transacting business on
Main Street, between Market and Chestnut Streets,
in the same building with the Missouri Republican.
Still later he was elected city comptroller, and was also
cashier of the Boatmen's Savings Institution and
member of the State Legislature. He had not prac-
ticed medicine for a long time prior to his retire-
ment from active business. Throughout life he was
remarkably robust and strong. He died at his resi-
dence, No. 2911 Washington Avenue, in the eighty-
eighth year of his age. In all the relations of life
none were more favorably known than himself in St.
Louis through more than a half-century. The geniality
of his temper won him hosts of friends, and his high
sense of honor and incorruptible integrity gained him
the admiration of all who knew him. It is but a few
years since that he knew and was known by almost
every inhabitant of the city and the surrounding coun-
try ; but the immense increase of population, together
with the retirement demanded by his great age, in his
late years made him less known to the citizens at large.
In connection with the statement that Drs. Simp-
son and Quarles established the first drug store in St.
Louis, it may be noted that in August, 1808, there
appeared in the Missouri Gazette an advertisement
that Aaron Elliot & Son had received from New York
a large supply of drugs and medicines, which they
offered to the inhabitants of Ste. Genevieve on as good
terms, they claimed, as could be obtained anywhere in
the country. This was several years before the estab-
lishment of the drug store in St. Louis by Drs. Simp-
son and Quarles. From the same advertisement it would
appear that the supply of patent medicines for "all
the ills that flesh is heir to" was as liberal in the early
years of the century as at the present time. The fol-
lowing list of these articles is taken from the adver-
tisement mentioned : " Church's Cough Drops, Tur-
lington's Balsam of Life, Bateman s Drops, British
Oil, Steer's Opodeldoc, Hill's Balsam of Honey, God-
frey's Cordial, essence of peppermint, Lee's New
London Bilious Pills, by the gross or less quantity,
Anderson's do., Hooper's Female do., Liquid True
Blue, Maccaboy and Cephalick snuff, chemical fire-
boxes, ' one of the best inventions in the known world
for travelers.' "
Dr. Samuel Merry was also one of the early prac-
titioners in St. Louis. He graduated in medicine at
the University of Pennsylvania, and in 1833 was ap-
pointed receiver of public moneys at St. Louis, which
office he held for twelve years. His time was taken
up chiefly with his practice, which was large and
burdensome, while the duties of the receiver devolved,
in great part, upon his deputy.
The following are some additional cards that are
found among these early papers :
Nov. 2, 1816. — "Dr. Edward S. Gantt offers his professional
services to the citizens of St. Louis and its vicinity."
Aug. 23, 1817.—" Dr. G. P. Todson has the honor of ac-
quainting the inhabitants of St. Louis and its vicinity that he
has taken possession of the shop formerly occupied by Mr.
Alex. Laforce Papin, opposite Landreville's stone building,
on Main Street, and determined on a permanent residence in
St. Louis to practice physic, surgery, and midwifery."
April 24, 1818. — " Dr. Arthur Xelson tenders his professional
services to the citizens of St. Louis and its vicinity."
Jan. 1, 1819. — "Doctor Gebert (lately from France), having
received a regular diploma from the faculty of medicine in
Paris, has the honor to offer his services to the inhabitants of
St. Louis and its vicinity as a physician and surgeon. He lives
at the house of Mr. Benoit, opposite Mr. Paddock's boarding-
house."
Jan. 15, 1819.— "Dr. William Carr Lane's office on Third
Street, late Reed's."
June 9, 1819. — "Dr. G. P. Todson's office in Perras' house,
on Second Street, Block 57.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1521
Feb. 2, 1820. — "Dr. Mason, from Philadelphia, offers his
services to the inhabitants of St. Louis and its vicinity."
March 19, 1823. — " Drs. Mason & Gebert having formed a
copartnership, respectfully offer their professional services to
the public."
Sept. 13, 1824.— " Medical Notice.— Elisha Embree, M.D.
Medicine and surgery in the city and vicinity of St. Louis."
Jan. 18, 1827. — "Stammering. — Mrs. Leigh's St. Louis insti-
tution for correcting impediments of speech. Mr. A. Yates,
of New York, assistant in conducting Mrs. Leigh's agency for
correcting impediments of speech in the Western States, in-
forms the public that he has established an institution for cor-
recting impediments of speech at St. Louis, Mo."
Nov. 29, 1827. — "Dr. Auguste Masure, lately arrived from
Europe, offers his professional services in the different branches
of physic, surgery, and midwifery to the public."
Aug. 12, 1828. — "Dr. Harding, late of Kentucky, tenders his
professional services to the citizens of the city and county of
St. Louis."
March 17, 1829. — "Dr. H. Gaither respectfully tenders his
services to the citizens of St. Louis and its vicinity."
July 28, 1833. — " Dr. Charles Geiger respectfully announces
to the citizens of St. Louis and its vicinity that he has estab-
lished himself in this city with the intention of devoting him-
self to the practice of medicine, surgery, and midwifery."
As the years went on the number and influence of
the physicians increased. We give here sketches of
the lives of some who were eminent in the profession,
of others who became prominent in other ways, and
again of others whose lives are noteworthy by reason
of their associations.
Dr. Clayton Tiffin was among the most prominent
of the early practitioners. He was raised and edu-
cated in and near Chillicothe, Ohio, mostly with his
uncle, Dr. Edward Tiffin, who was Governor of Ohio
at an early day and also a physician. Dr. Clayton
Tiffin left Chillicothe as an assistant surgeon in the
war of 1812, and served as surgeon until the war
closed, when he settled in St. Louis. He had great
energy, and was an eminently practical man. During
his residence in St. Louis he carried on a more exten-
sive practice than any other man who ever lived here,
becoming quite wealthy through his profession. He
was of a restless disposition, and after some years of pros-
perous practice went over the plains to Utah and then
to California, finally moving in 1846 to New Orleans,
where he again entered practice. Here he soon built up
a large business, especially among the river men, many
of whom had been his friends and patrons while he
was practicing in St. Louis. He was a skillful
surgeon, and is believed to have made the first suc-
cessful Cocsarian operation in the Mississippi valley.
He died in New Orleans about 1856, and his remains
were brought to St. Louis for interment.
Dr. Herman Laidley Hoffman, another pioneer
physician, was born Oct. 17, 1796, in Winchester
County, N. Y. Having had the advantages of a
superior literary and medical education, Dr. Hoffman
left New York in the fall of 1819, and, as he said,
" with his doctor's degree in his pocket and his
worldly goods in a valise," started for St. Louis, then
a place of about four thousand inhabitants. In those
days it was necessary for a physician to keep his own
drugs and medicines. Dr. Hoffman opened a drug
store on the west side of Main Street, about sixty feet
north of Market Street. His practice increased rap-
idly, and by the time he had been settled in St. Louis
four or five years he looked upon himself as a pros-
perous man. In 1826 he was one of sixty-five citi-
zens comprising the old Phoenix Fire Company.
While in Illinois in 1835 the stage in which he was
riding upset, and his right hand was so badly injured
as to necessitate its amputation at the wrist. By that
accident he was deprived of one of the greatest enjoy-
ments of his life, — that of hunting, as he could no longer
handle a gun. He soon learned to write with his
left hand, his first essay in that line being the signing
of the coupons to the city bonds, which, as treasurer,
he was required to do. The doctor, it appears, con-
tinued in practice but a few years, abandoning it some
fifty years ago. He subsequently resided principally
in Cincinnati and Cleveland, where he carried on an
extensive vineyard, but returned to St. Louis in 1874.
He died Nov. 5, 1878. He was a man of fine literary
ability, and an unpretending, upright citizen.
It was from the ranks of the medical profession
that the first mayor was selected when the city was
incorporated in 1823, and such an efficient and pop-
ular officer did Dr. William Carr Lane prove himself
that he was nine times elected to that office. A sketch
of his life will be found in the municipal chapter of
this work.1
1 The following fee bill, found among the papers of Dr. William
Carr Lane, was kindly loaned the author by Dr. Lane's grand-
son, Dr. William C. Glasgow, of St. Louis :
" At a meeting of the medical faculty of the city of St. Louis,
held at the City Hall, on the twenty-third day of November,
1829, the following regulations for fees were unanimously en-
tered into :
Charge
No. 1. For the first visit in the city $1.00
" 2. " two or more visits to regular patients, per
day.... 2.00
3. " a whole day's medical attention 10.00
4. " a night visit (expressly), after nine o'clock 2.00
5. " a whole night's medical attention 10.00
6. " application or dressing vesicatories .50
7. " any other simple dressing .50
8. " visit in the country, per mile 1.00
9. " consultation 5.00
10. " writing a prescription 1.00
11. ' verbal prescription or advice 1.00
12. ' treating syphilis 20.00
13. ' treating gonorrhoea 10.00
14. ' natural labors, from $8.00 to 20.00
15. ' preternatural, difficult, etc., labors, from
$30.00 to 40.00
1522
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Dr. Hardage Lane, another prominent physician of
that period, was a cousin of Dr. William Carr Lane,
and was regarded as one of the most accomplished
members of his profession in the State. He had a
large and lucrative practice among the best families of
the city, and gave his attention closely to professional
duties, so that he was less conspicuous in political
circles and not so generally known as his cousin Mayor
Lane. He died early in July, 1849, having practiced
medicine in St. Louis for more than a quarter of a
century. During the prevalence of cholera in that
year he was employed day and night in his ministra-
tions to those stricken with the pestilence. He was at
^arge . last forced to yield to physical exhaustion and disease,
No. 16. For amputating fingers, toes, and other small J r J
members $10.00 and after an illness of two weeks died, a sacrifice to
" 17. " amputating arm, leg, or thigh 50.00 ' ,. . . „ ,, . , , , . TT
« 18. " reducing luxation of the lower jaw 5.00 .his convictions of professional honor and duty. He
" 19. " wrist.... n5-'10' was very hospitable, and used to entertain a great deal
" 20. " " " " elbow-joint 25.00
« 21. " " " " shoulder-joint... 20.00 of company. His wife was an accomplished woman
" 23' « " " " knee!!!::.'.'!::.'!!!! 20.'oo i and a leader in society, and they frequently gave the
" 24. " " " " hip 50.00 j most elegant dinners and fashionable parties. Dr.
" 25. " reducing a simple fracture of the arm or I T . . ... . -
leg ° * 25.00 • Lane was a great reader, and kept himself abreast of
" 26. " reducing a simple fracture of the thigh... 40.00 the mogt recent progress in the profession.
« 27. " " clavicle 20.00 I J e
28. " " " " patella. 20.00 Dr. Stephen W. Adreon was born in Baltimore in
II: " K^Jg^A^^ft^pbiwi; 1806' His father was Capt. Christian Adreon, a
not used $5.00 to 10.00 j soldier of the Revolutionary war, and in the war of
31. " introducing catheter 5.00 1Q1O . . , ,-,.„, T> . r TIT i j
32. " vaccinating, under three persons, each 2.00 1812 a captain in the Fifth Regiment of Maryland.
33. ' over three persons, each i.oo In ear] jif Dr Adreon enjoyed all the requisite
34. ' extracting tooth 1.00 .,. . , ,
35. ' cupping i.oo facilities for acquiring a liberal education, and after
37 ' < ine? absces's from *$T 00 to 2*00 i a protracted course of study graduated finally at the
38. ' visit on the opposite side of the Missis- , University of Maryland. About 1832 he came to
39. " giving an injection'.*.'.:::*.::::: :::'.:::::::::::::: 1:00 st. Louis, turning his attention first to commercial
40. « every visit, per day, more than two .50 pursuits, engaging in the wholesale dry-goods business.
41. " » amputating carpus or tarsus 60.00 r '
42. " " the breast 50.00 He did not long continue in mercantile occupations.
It " ^&<^^"""^"'".'"'''J"""^ sKo His tastes for professional life led him to the study
45. " removing polypus from uterus $30.00 to 70.00 an(J practice of medicine, in which he continued with
46. " " " nares $10.00 to 20.00 .
47. " extirpating testicle 30.00 i success to the end of his life. During his long
' operating for fistula in ano $30 00 to 50.00 career in gt Louig he wag frequently Called to OCCUpy
49. " aneuriam $10.00 to 20.00 € n J _ _ rj
50. ' the operation of tracheotomy 25.00 positions of responsibility in the administration of
52' < « °r pMmosis"0818 5'00 1 municipal affairs. During the incumbency of Mayors
53. ' hare-lip 25.00 Kennett, King, and Filley he was a member of the
54. ' strangulated hernia 60.00 I _ ~ _, . , , . . . ,
55. ' reducing strangulated hernia by taxis 10.00 i Common Louncil. 1" or a considerable period he was
56. « operatmg for hydroceie from^O-OO^sO-OO president of th« Board of Health, discharging the
58. " applying a roller to the leg or arm i.oo responsible duties of that office with fidelity and
59. " introducing seton, or caustic, or pea-issue. 1.00 i -ii TT j ii i_i' n • io/?c ui,
skill. He served the public well in 1865 as health
CHARGES FOB MEDICINES. officer, and during the last year of his life was one of
8 1. For a simple dose of medicine $0.25 the managers of the House of Refuge, and ward
2. " a compound cathartic or emetic .50
I all tinctures per ounce 50 For attending to one person $20.00
4. •• syrups, mixtures, and compositions, per „ » tw() £,ons_. 25.00
, °,un,ce r" "T."; 50 « threepersons 30.00
5. bark (common), flowers, and bitters, per „ four or live persons 40.00
lce>" •-•"• ' : .•** All over five to ten, for each 5.00
diaphoretic and other powders, per dozen All over ten, for each 3.00
7. " pills, quinine, per dozen 1.00
8. " " opii, per dozen .50 i "Resolved (secondly), That every practicing physician in
9. ' " common, per dozen 50 j the city of St. Louis annex his signature to the above bill of
10. ' quinine solution (eight grains to the
ounce), per ounce .50 p ce?'
" 11. ' blistering plasters from 25 cents to 1.00 " We whose names are hereunto subscribed bind ourselves to
" 12. ' strengthening plasters from 50 cents to 1.00 I observe the above regulations, under the penalty of being de-
' common ointment, per ounce.. 25 nounced as unworthy members of the medical faculty:
" 14. ' compound ointment, more costly, per oz.. .oO
Signed by Breton, D.M.M. ; A. Moran, Docteur; B. Graham,
" It was also unanimously Horace Gaither, Samuel Merry, C. Tiffin, G. Brun, Cornelius
"Resolved, 1st. That in attending by the year the following Campbell, Stephen W. Roszett, John Woolfolk, Hardage Lane
charges be adopted : ' by Samuel Merry, G. W. Call, W. M. Millington."
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1523
physician for the poor of the Eighth Ward. He died
Dec. 9, 186*7, leaving a wife and two sons.
Dr. Adreon enjoyed the confidence and respect of
the community. He ranked well among his pro-
fessional brethren, by his personal qualities entitling
himself to the friendly esteem of the social circles in
which he moved, and by his municipal services com-
manding the honor of the public. Agreeable in dis-
position, and liberal in the devotion of time and money
to the interests of the city and to those who stood in
need of his services, he died regretted by all who
knew him.
Dr. Edwin Bathurst Smith, for nearly fifty years an
honored citizen of St. Louis, was born in Essex County,
Va.. towards the close of the last century. His father,
Edwin Bathurst Smith, of " Bathurst Place," Va.,
belonged to one of the most distinguished families of
the Old Dominion, and was the only brother of Gov-
ernor George W. Smith, who perished in the burning
of the Richmond Theatre in 1811, an event ren-
dered memorable as well as appalling on account of
the large number and high social position of those,
of both sexes, who perished in the flames on that
lamentable occasion.
His grandfather, Col. Merriwether Smith, bore a
conspicuous part in the struggle for independence,
both as a member of the House of Burgesses of Vir-
ginia (serving on the committee which framed the
Bill of Rights), and as the author of the American
" Crisis." He was subsequently a member of the
Congress of the United States from 1778 to 1783.
His mother, Sallie Monroe, descended through a long
line of distinguished ancestors from Sir Robert Mon-
roe, Bart., of Fulis, Scotland, who came to this country
in 1642, and settled in the northern neck of Virginia,
and whose descendants filled an important place in the
early history of the country.
Dr. Smith acquired his early education in the liter-
ary institutions of his native State, after completing
which he determined to qualify himself for the med-
ical profession. With this view he went to England,
bearing letters of introduction from his relative, Pres-
ident Monroe, to the nobility and gentry. On arriv-
ing in England he became the guest of the Marquis of
Hawkbury, at whose suggestion he matriculated in the (
University of Edinburgh, at that time the most cel-
ebrated seat of medical learning in the world. In this
institution he completed his medical education, after
which he spent some time in visiting the various cap- i
itals of Europe for the purpose of gratifying his taste
in the study of chemistry, botany, geology, and ento- ;
mology, the pursuit of which was to him a source of
peculiar pleasure through life.
On returning to America he settled in New Orleans,
where, with all the energy of youth and a well-stored
mind, he commenced the practice of medicine. As
might be expected, he soon became prominent, both
as a practitioner and a writer on medical subjects.
He was one of the founders of the Medical College
of Louisiana, in which institution he filled the chair
of Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics. He
felt a special interest in the treatment of yellow fever,
the scourge of the Southern metropolis, and was the
first one to introduce the refrigerant regimen in the
treatment of that formidable disease, by giving his
patients cold drinks to slake their thirst and allay
their burning fever.
In the first epidemic of cholera in this country in
1832, which proved so fatal in New Orleans, as well
as in other places in the South and West, he was un-
tiring in his efforts to stay the progress of the plague,
and in the same year was honored by the Governor of
Louisiana in being appointed a member of the Western
Medical Board, charged with the sanitary affairs of the
State. The periodicals of that date contain many arti-
cles from his pen on medical and scientific subjects,
which added to his reputation as a physician and sci-
entist.
In 1838, when in the prime of life and in the suc-
cessful practice of his profession, he was married to
Miss Virginia Christy, the youngest daughter of Maj.
William Christy, of St. Louis, so well known as one
of its early settlers and most enterprising and honored
citizens, a sketch of whose life and career is to be
found in another part of this volume. The climate
of New Orleans proved injurious to the health of his
youthful bride, on which account Dr. Smith reluc-
tantly consented to abandon the theatre of his suc-
cessful labors and moved to St. Louis to reside. Here
he spent the remainder of his life in literary and
scientific pursuits, in gratifying his taste for letters, in
looking after his property interests, and, assisted by his
accomplished wife, in rendering his hospitable home
the abode of domestic happiness and of social enjoy-
ment to his and her numerous friends. Dr. Smith
retained all his mental faculties to a ripe old age. Oo
the 2d of February, 1883, after a brief illness, he died
in his eighty-sixth year, respected and beloved by all
who knew him.
Dr. Smith was a man of fine native ability and of
refined and cultivated manners, — a high-toned gentle-
man of the old school, with whom honor and integrity
towered above all other considerations.
Dr. Meredith Martin, one of the oldest physicians
now living in St. Louis, was born in Kentucky in
1805, and studied medicine in the office of Dr. B. G.
1524
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Farrar, commencing in 1828, the first student of
medicine west of the Mississippi. He graduated in
medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in 1832,
and in 1838 married a daughter of John H. Gay, of
St. Louis. His second marriage occurred in 1864,
his wife being Mrs. Tracy, formerly Miss Morton, of
St. Louis. He commenced practice in 1832, and was
at once sent out to the Indian Territory to vaccinate
the Indians, in which service he was engaged for sev-
eral months, returning to the city at about the close of
the terrible cholera visitation of that year. He then
entered into general practice, and only within a few
years has withdrawn from active service in the pro-
fession. He was three times elected president of the
St. Louis Medical Society, viz., in 1840, 1842, and
1845.
Dr. E. H. McCabe was born in Adams County,
Pa., in 1801 ; received his collegiate education at
Georgetown College, and graduated in medicine at the
University of Maryland in 1822. He came to Mis-
souri in the following year, and practiced medicine for
two years at Fredericktown, and then at Kaskaskia,
111., for seven years. From the year 1833 to 1849
he was engaged in practice in St. Louis, being asso-
ciated in business with Dr Lewis- F. Lane, and after-
wards with Dr. Hardage Lane. He was highly es-
teemed as a physician and as a Christian gentleman.
In 1849 his health became so seriously aifected as to
necessitate his withdrawal from active professional
service. He died June 4, 1855, having suffered for
five years from epithelioma of the face.
Dr. William Beaumont, whose name is known all over
the world in connection with the observations made upon
the subject of gastric digestion in the case of Alexis
St. Martin, the Canadian boatman, was for many years
a resident of St. Louis, where he died April 25, 1853,
after a painful illness of a few weeks' duration. At
the time of his death Dr. Beaumont was in the
sixty-eighth year of his age, having been born in
Lebanon, Conn., in the year 1785. In 1812, after
studying medicine, at St. Albans, Vt., for two years,
he joined the Sixth Infantry, with the appointment
of assistant surgeon. For more than twenty years
he was a member of the medical staff of the regular
army, being stationed at various points on the North-
ern frontier. He served through the war of 1812
with distinction, being present, among other occasions
of interest, at the capture of Fort George in May,
1813. In 1830 he was stationed at Jefferson Bar-
racks, and afterwards in the arsenal at St. Louis.
Two or three years later he resigned from the army
and took up his residence in St. Louis. For many
years he was considered by all odds the most promi-
nent surgeon in the city, and enjoyed a large and
profitable practice. He was not only popular among
the people, but had an excellent reputation in the
profession.
That which has made his name best known to the
profession, however, is the publication of his papers
on the " Physiology of Digestion and Experiments on
the Gastric Juice" (published in Boston in 1834).
While stationed upon the northern frontier he was so
fortunate as to be called to attend a Canadian boat-
man named Alexis St. Martin, who had received a
gunshot-wound in the abdomen that healed up in
such a manner as to leave a fistulous opening. By
means of this accidental fistula Dr. Beaumont was
enabled to make a series of observations upon the
nature of the gastric juice, and to solve many prob-
lems with reference to the subject of digestion which
had previously been unknown.
Dr. George Engelmann was born at Frankfort-on-
the-Main, Feb. 2, 1809, was educated at Frankfort,
Berlin, Heidelberg, and Wiirzburg, removed to the
United States in 1832, and settled in St. Louis in
1835, where he has practiced medicine ever since.
He was president of the St. Louis Medical Society in
1852. In 1836 he was one of the founders of the
Western Academy of Natural Sciences, which held
regular sessions for several years. The St. Louis
Academy of Science was organized in March, 1856,
and continues a valuable organization to the present
time. Of this society Dr. Engelmann was for many
years the president, and has contributed much to
the value and interest of its sessions and its pub-
lications.
For many years he carried on a very large and
laborious practice, and was recognized as one of the
leading practitioners in the city. He had a large
midwifery practice, and was the first one in St. Louis
to use the forceps in difficult cases, in which he was
at first bitterly opposed by other practitioners.
In addition to the conduct of an arduous practice,
he has made original investigations which have given
him a world-wide fame as a botanist. He made me-
teorology an especial study, principally as connected
with the sanitary status, and has kept a record of
meteorological observations now for over forty-seven
years. Dr. Eugelmann has practiced medicine in St.
Louis longer than any other physician now living.
At the age of seventy-four he is still occupied with
study and work which many a younger man would
consider onerous, and manifests an enthusiastic in-
terest in professional and scientific affairs which
would put to shame the indifference of those who have
far less right to rest upon their laurels than he has.
itflfe
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1525
Dr. John Laughton was born in Sullivan County,
N. H., in 1804. He attended two courses of lec-
tures in the medical school of Woodstock, Vt., and
one at the Berkshire Medical Institute, at Pittsfield,
where he graduated Dec. 11, 1833. He then prac-
ticed medicine in Arlington, Vt., for six years, re-
moving to St. Louis in the autumn of 1839. He
built up a large business here, but of late failing
strength and impaired health, with advancing years,
have withdrawn him from active service in the pro-
fession. He was one of the incorporators of the St.
Louis Medical College at the time when it separated
from the St. Louis University, and has been one of
the board of trustees constantly to the present time.
Dr. Alexander Marshall was born eight miles from
Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1810, of Scotch-Irish parent-
age. His father dying when the boy was eight years
of age, he went with his mother to Ireland, where he
received his preliminary education. He pursued his
medical education in Edinburgh, in the college of
which the celebrated Professor Simpson filled the
chair of surgery. In 1838 or 1839, Dr. Marshall
came to the United States, and in selecting a location
he made a tour of the principal Southern cities, spend-
ing two or three months in New Orleans, whence he
came to St. Louis in the year 1840. He imme-
diately commenced the practice of his profession.
With reference to this portion of his life, he once
stated to an intimate friend that when he came to St.
Louis he had but six hundred dollars in his pocket,
which he expected would last him about six months,
but instead of consuming that amount his practice
was such that he added six hundred dollars to his
finances in that time. He continued to prosper in his
profession, and by good management and economy
accumulated an estate valued at three hundred thou-
sand dollars. A year previous to his death he married
a lady from Mississippi, who survives him. He died
Oct. 21, IS:.").
Dr. Henry Van Studdiford * was born on the 2d of
April, 1816, in Parcippeny. Morris Co., N. J. It
was intended by those to whose charge he had been
committed (having been left an orphan at the age of
eight years) to prepare and educate him for the min-
istry. This idea, however, was soon discarded as the
character of their young relative and ward began to
develop. While not lacking in that deep reverence
for everything connected with religion which is so
characteristic of the school in which he was reared,
his family being devout Presbyterians, he was gifted
with superabundant energy and activity of body and
97
1 Contributed by F. II. Burgess.
mind, and longed for a more exciting and combative
sphere of life than that which generally falls to the
lot of a clergyman. It was finally decided that he
should become a physician, and having finished his
academic course he entered the University of Penn-
sylvania, and in due time graduated at that institu-
tion. After practicing his profession for some time
in the town of Madison, N. J., he determined to seek
a more extended and a more promising field, and in
accordance with this resolution removed to St. Louis,
then a place of thirteen thousand or fourteen thou-
sand inhabitants, where he arrived in 1839. He at
once commenced the practice of his profession, and
soon secured a leading place among the physicians of
that period. Gifted with a suave and courteous man-
ner, together with a splendid physique, he speedily
won the confidence of his patients, which his skill as
a physician developed into implicit trust.
About this time he met and married Margaret
Thomas, the second daughter of Col. Martin Thomas,
founder and first commandant, it is said, of the United
States arsenal, a gentleman who, aside from his military
standing, held the highest social position among the
residents of old St. Louis, and possessed rare qualities
of head and heart. The young physician, though
a comparative stranger, mingled in that society, and
encountered with success the by no means undistin-
guished coterie of professional men and officers. At
this early period he had, aside from his professional
attainments, given evidence of rare business qualifica-
tions. His superior foresight and judgment, together
with an abiding faith which he seems ever to have
cherished in the ultimate growth and prosperity of
St. Louis, caused him to invest extensively in real
estate, the natural and rapid increase in the value of
which, together with the proceeds of a large and
lucrative practice, have yielded him an ample fortune.
Thus situated he has of late years withdrawn from
the more laborious part of his practice, but still re-
tains a large office business and occasionally responds
to the calls of old and cherished friends. Though
thus partially retired he has by no means lost his skill
or his interest in his profession, and frequent demands
are made by his professional brethren for his advice
in consultations, on which occasions his deep penetra-
tion, keen analytical powers of mind, and ripe expe-
rience enable him to be of invaluable service in ob-
taining a correct diagnosis of disease.
His retentive memory and wonderfully clear judg-
ment, aided by a long and varied practice and
great prognostic skill and knowledge in the treatment
of patients, fully account for his extended popularity
and success. Gifted with a commanding presence
1526
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
which would distinguish him in any assembly, his
manners in ordinary intercourse would be considered
rather reserved than otherwise ; but among his more
intimate friends this easily gives place to a more
genial bearing, which discloses a mind well stored with
professional and philosophical information, and a con-
versation full of anecdote and reminiscence, made
peculiarly interesting by his long and varied inter-
course with distinguished men. Strong in his likes
and dislikes, as men of his type generally are, he
seems to have adopted the advice of Polonius in
forming his friendships, and prefers, rather than
dull his palm with entertainment with each new-
hatched, unfledged comrade, to grapple to his soul
with hooks of steel those friends whom he has tried,
gathering about him a coterie of strong and faithful
companions, who, from many a quiet and unheralded
act of kindness and generosity, have learned how to
estimate his sterling personal virtues.
After a long, interesting, and active practice, Dr.
Van Studdiford is still in the enjoyment of unbroken
health and physical vigor, and of mental faculties
that give no sign of impairment, the result of a
careful observance of that moderation, temperance,
and cheerfulness which his profession inculcates as the
most effective agency of the prevention and cure of
disease. Indeed, he might still be responding to the
calls of an active and varied general practice but for
the demands of a large office and consulting business,
and a desire to enjoy the society of family and friends
and the pleasures of study and research.
In looking over the biographical sketches of a con-
siderable number of the eminent living and dead
practitioners of medicine in St. Louis, one will be
struck with the large number of those who came to
St. Louis in the course of a few years, from 1840 to
1845. Among them were Drs. McDowell, McPhee-
ters, C. W. Stevens, S. G. Moses, J. B. Johnson,
George Johnson, John S. Moore, M. M. Fallen,
Linton, and Wislizenus, all of whom have left the
impress of their minds and character upon the pro-
fession by their work as teachers or as men of science.
Dr. Joseph Nash McDowell, one of the best-known
physicians and surgeons who have ever practiced in
St. Louis, was born in 1805, and came to St. Louis
in the spring of 1840 from Cincinnati, where he had
been associated in the Cincinnati Medical College
with Drs. Drake, Gross, and other distinguished men.
On coming here he immediately set to work to or-
ganize a medical college.1 He was a fluent and eloquent
1 See history of the Missouri Medical College, farther on in
this chapter.
speaker, and was possessed of great wit. His voice
and manner were like those of John Randolph, of
Virginia. He was a natural orator, and possessed a
remarkable power of adapting himself to his audience,
so that he could entertain any company or society
into which he might be thrown. He had an inex-
haustible fund of anecdotes. It is said of him that
he had a story for every bone, muscle, nerve, and
vessel in the whole body, and that he used to enliven
his lectures and stimulate the memory of the students
by relating these stories, and so fixing the anatomical
facts in their minds.
He was proverbially careless and improvident in
pecuniary matters, kind and charitable to the poor,
but ready to take advantage whenever opportunity
afforded of those who had abundant means. He was
very eccentric in some particulars. In the early years
of his residence here he delivered a number of lectures
against Jesuitism, his ire being aroused against the
order, perhaps, by reason of the fact that the Jesuit
fathers of St. Louis University had allowed a rival
medical school to be organized under the charter of
their college. These lectures created some excitement
in the community, and Dr. McDowell was so im-
pressed with the belief that his life was in danger
that he made and wore a brass breast-plate, and
always carried arms. The medical college building
was so constructed as to be a formidable fortress, and
his residence on the opposite corner was also planned
so as to be capable of resisting an assault. He formed
a plan to go across the plains and capture Upper Cali-
fornia. For this purpose he purchased from the
United States government fourteen hundred discarded
muskets for two dollars and fifty cents each, which he
stored in his house and in the basement of the college
building. He also got together quantities of old brass
and melted them up, and even took down the large
bell of the college and had six cannon cast. All these
arms were given by Dr. McDowell to the Southern
Confederacy at the outbreak of the late war. It is
said that several hundred young men, most of them
graduates from the college, had promised to accompany
I Dr. McDowell on the proposed expedition to the Pa-
cific coast.
Among other strange fancies which he had were
. .
those with reference to the disposal of the remains of
deceased friends. Dr. Charles W. Stevens relates that
within a day or two after he first came to the city as
a medical student he attended the burial of one of
Dr. McDowell's little children. The coffin was lined
with metal, and after the body of the child had been
place in it, was filled with alcohol and sealed tight.
The grave was in Mr. Dillon's orchard. One year
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1527
afterward Dr. McDowell had the coffin exhumed, and
removed the body of the child to a copper vase of
suitable dimensions and shaped just like a diploma-
case. This again was filled with alcohol and hermeti-
cally sealed. Two or three children died and were
thus disposed of. No religious ceremony of any sort
was held. The copper vases were taken at night, and
a procession being formed by the students and other
immediate friends of the doctor, each one carrying a
light, were quietly deposited in a vault in the rear of
the premises where he resided.
Once when on a hunting excursion he was much
struck with a beautiful knoll at the commencement of
the high ground just east of Cahokia. He purchased
it, constructed a vault there, and when his wife died
he placed her remains in a vault which he had had
built there, where they remained until after his own
death, when their son had them removed to Bellefon-
taine. At another time he purchased a cave near
Hannibal and had masonry constructed with an iron
gate at the entrance. He took a copper vase contain-
ing the body of one of his little children preserved in
alcohol to this cave, and had it suspended from the
roof of the cave by means of hooks. The gate at
the entrance was broken down and the vase broken open
by a company of roughs not long after, and the doctor
gave up the idea of having it used as a place of de-
posit for the dead.
However, this method of disposal of the dead
seems to have taken a firm hold upon his mind, for
some time after, when he was quite sick and believed
himself to be at the point of death, he called to his
bedside his son, Drake McDowell, and his intimate
friend and associate in practice, Dr. C. W. Stevens,
and made them swear that in case of his death they
would have his body placed in a copper vase with al-
cohol, and that they would then take it to the Mam-
moth Cave of Kentucky, and have it suspended from
the roof of that cave, asserting that he had already
made arrangements with the proprietor to allow it to
be done.
In erecting the stone octagon building that served
so many years for the purposes of the college he
caused a foundation to be laid in the centre for a large
column which was to extend up to the peak of the
roof, and in which niches were to be prepared for the
reception of copper vases containing the bodies of
himself and members of his family.
It is said that the plan of the octagon building was
suggested to him by the form of a very handsome
stove which stood in the amphitheatre of the former
college building, and which the doctor greatly ad-
mired. It was his intention to carry the structure up
eight stories high, and surround the top with ramparts,
making it a regular fortress ; and the foundation walls
were laid six feet thick with this in view. Lack of
means alone prevented him from carrying out the
plan.
When the war broke out in 1861, Dr. McDowell
was very pronounced in the stand which he took in
favor of the cause of the South, and, as already men-
tioned, he turned over to the authorities of the South-
ern Confederacy the arms which he had purchased
and had had manufactured several years previously.
As the result of this his college building was con-
fiscated by the United States authorities, and was
used for some years as a military prison. Dr. Mc-
Dowell himself went South and served as surgeon and
medical director at different points during the war,
after which he returned to the city, reorganized the
faculty of the college, and practiced medicine until the
year 1868, when he died. His remains are interred
in Bellefontaine Cemetery.
Dr. John S. Moore was born in Orange County,
N. C., in 1807. He was educated at Cumberland Col-
lege, Princeton, Ky., graduating in 1826. He at-
tended one course of lectures at Miami University, in
Ohio. He then practiced for five years at Mount Ver-
non and Carlisle, 111., having married Miss Morrison,
of Princeton, Ky., daughter of one of the professors in
the college. He started for Philadelphia to complete
his medical education and secure a diploma, but
meeting Dr. McDowell in Cincinnati, he was per-
suaded by him to enter the first class of the Cincinnati
Medical College, at which he graduated in the spring
of 1832. He then practiced in Pulaski, Tenn. He
removed to St. Louis in September, 1840, and took
part in organizing the Medical Department of Kemper
College, with which institution, under its various
changes of name, he has been identified to the present
time.
In accordance with the usual custom in those days,
the various professors gave public lectures as intro-
ductory to their several courses. It fell to Dr. Moore,
as the youngest member of the faculty, thus to give
the first medical lecture delivered west of the Mis-
sissippi River.
He was dean of the college faculty and presi-
dent of the board of trustees for a number of
years. In 1869 he was elected vice-president of
the American Medical Association. From 1849 to
1860, and during the war, he had a very large prac-
tice, but of late years has withdrawn from active
business.
Dr. William M. McPheeters, who for more than
forty years has been one of the leading medical prac-
1528
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
titioners of St. Louis, was born in Raleigh, N. C.,
Dec. 3, 1815, and was the second son of the Rev. Wil-
liam McPheeters, D.D., a Presbyterian clergyman of
great prominence and ability. William M. McPheeters
was educated at the University of North Carolina, and
subsequently studied medicine under Professor Hugh
L. Hodge, of Philadelphia. In 1840 he graduated
from the Medical Department of the University of
Pennsylvania, after which he served for one year as
resident physician at the Blockley Hospital, Phila-
delphia. Upon relinquishing this position in the fall
of 1841, he removed to St. Louis, where he arrived
October 15th of the same year.
In company with Drs. Charles A. Pope, S. G.
Moses, J. B. Johnson, George Johnson, and J. I.
Clark, Dr. McPheeters assisted in establishing the
first public dispensary west of the Mississippi -River.
These gentlemen also inaugurated many important
reforms, and brought to the practice of their chosen
profession a devotion and skill which marked a new
era in the medical history of St. Louis.
The high esteem in which Dr. McPheeters was
held by those most competent to judge of his profes-
sional abilities is seen in the fact that he was early
chosen Professor of Clinical Medicine and Patho-
logical Anatomy, and afterwards of Materia Medica
and Therapeutics, in the St. Louis Medical College, in
which positions he served faithfully for fourteen years,
and until he left home to join the Confederate army.
He also occupied the same chair after the war in the
Missouri Medical College, from 1866 to 1874, when
he retired from the professorship to accept the posi-
tion of medical director of the St. Louis Mutual Life
Insurance Company.
From 1856 to 1861 he was surgeon of the United
States Marine Hospital at St. Louis, and for a num-
ber of years was physician in charge of the medical
wards of the St. Louis Hospital of the Sisters of
Charity.
For eighteen years (from 1843 to 1861) he edited
with great ability and success the St. Louis Medical
and Surgical Journal, in which appeared numerous
able articles from his incisive pen, among them being
a history of the cholera epidemic in St. Louis in 1849,
which attracted wide attention, and proved a valuable
contribution to medical science. He is a member of
the Obstetrical and Gynecological Society of St. Louis,
of the St. Louis Medical Society, and of the Medical
Association of the State of Missouri. Of the two
latter societies he has been president.
In 1872, at the annual meeting of the American
Medical Association, held in Philadelphia, he was
elected vice-president of that body. He is a member
also of the St. Louis Medico- Chirurgical Society, and
has been elected an honorary member of the State
Medical Associations of North Carolina and Arkansas.
During the late war Dr. McPheeters' sympathies
were with the Southern Confederacy, and for three
years he served as surgeon in the Confederate army,
filling many important positions, among them that of
medical director on Maj.-Gen. Sterling Prices staff.
At the close of the war he returned to St. Louis, and
resumed the practice of his profession. He has been
twice married, the first time to Miss Martha Selden,
of Virginia, who died about a year after her marriage ;
the second time to Miss Sallie Buchanan, of St. Louis,
who is the mother of six children, and who for more
than a third of a century has made his home one of
great peace and comfort.
Dr. McPheeters is a man of such decided Christian
character that a failure to refer to that fact would
render this outline of his life conspicuously incom-
plete. For many years he has been a ruling elder in
the Pine Street (now the Grand Avenue) Presbyterian
Church, in which position he has served with marked
fidelity. He was the first president of the St. Louis
branch of the Western Society for the Suppression of
Vice. Dr. McPheeters' learning and skill have won
for him a wide reputation and the confidence of the
entire medical profession wherever he is known, while
his unswerving devotion to the duties of religion has
endeared him to thousands who have received at his
hands not only remedies for the ills that flesh is heir
to, but also spiritual advice and consolation.
Dr. Adolph Wislizenus is a man of note among the
physicians in St. Louis, having made for himself a
name that is known all through the world of science
by reason of his original observations and the careful
researches which he has made. He was born in liu-
dolstadt in 1810. He came to St. Louis in 1840,
and was associated in practice for five years with Dr.
George Engelmann. He then made a tour through
the southwestern part of this country, and into Mex-
ico, making a thorough exploration of the regions
through which he traveled, taking the altitudes of
different points, examining the flora, the geological
features, and making other observations which en-
abled him on his return to prepare a report of such
value that it was published by the Senate of the
United States in 1846—47. So far as the territory of
the United States is concerned, this exploration has
been virtually superseded by the more exhaustive re-
searches of the government surveys ; but Dr. Wislize-
nus' report is still the most complete and reliable with
reference to the part of Mexico which he traversed.
His original plan was to explore the territory of
Qt IHE
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1529
Arizona and California, but he was taken prisoner at
Chihuahua, and after being released he joined the
United States army. On his return he spent some
time in Washington, and then came back to St. Louis,
where he has lived ever since, devoting his time, in
the intervals of leisure from the arduous duties of a
general practice, to scientific pursuits, being specially
interested in botany and meteorology.
Dr. Charles W. Stevens was born June 16, 1817,
in Pompey, Onondaga Co., N. Y. He was educated
as a civil engineer and surveyor, but having come
West, and finding little encouragement for success in
that vocation, he com-
menced the study of medi-
cine with Dr. Rogers, of
Rushville, 111. He gradu-
ated in 1842, at the Medi-
cal Department of Kemper
College (now the Missouri
Medical College), and lo-
cated for practice in St.
Louis. In 1844 he was
elected Demonstrator of
Anatomy in the Kemper
College, which position he
held for five years, when
he took the same position
in the St. Louis Medical
College. In 1855 he was
elected to the chair of gen-
eral, special, and surgical
anatomy in the St. Louis
Medical College. About
this time he went to Eu-
rope, and spent several
months in professional
study. After thirteen years'
service he resigned the
professorship in order to
take the position of super-
intendent and physician to the St. Louis County
Insane Asylum. This position he left in 1872,
and has since then been engaged in practice in St.
Louis, giving attention specially to the treatment
of diseases of the nervous system. In 1861 he was
appointed coroner of St. Louis County, to fill a
vacancy caused by the resignation of Dr. Boisliniere.
He saw several months of military service during the
war. In 1879 he was elected president of the St.
Louis Medical Society.
Dr. Charles Alexander Pope, one of St. Louis'
most distinguished surgeons, was born in the beauti-
ful town of Huntsville, Ala., March 15, 1818. His
father, Benjamin S. Pope, a man of rare literary cul-
ture himself, was careful that his son should have the
advantages of a complete education. After thorough
academic instruction in his native town, he entered the
University of Alabama, at which institution he gradu-
ated at a very early age. Soon thereafter he entered
upon the study of medicine with the same zeal and in-
dustry which ever characterized his whole professional
career. Attracted by the well-deserved reputation of
Dr. Daniel Drake, then at the height of his popularity
as a teacher and lecturer, he attended his first course
of medical lectures in the Cincinnati Medical College.
From Cincinnati he went
to Philadelphia, and en-
tered the University of
Pennsylvania, from which
institution he received the
degree of M.D. in the
spring of 1839, when just
twenty-one years of age.
The French school of medi-
cine being at that time the
most celebrated in Europe,
Dr. Pope immediately after
graduation went to Paris,
where for two years he de-
voted himself with untir-
ing industry to the special
study of surgery, for which
department of medicine he
had a strong natural incli-
nation, and for which he
possessed superior qualifi-
cations. After his resi-
dence in Paris he also
visited the great Conti-
nental schools, as well as
those of Great Britain and
Ireland. On returning
from Europe he came to
St. Louis, then the most attractive point in the Great
West, where in January, 1842, he commenced his pro-
fessional career. From the first he devoted himself with
industry to the study and practice of surgery, and it was
not long before his thorough medical training, studious
habits, urbane manner, and high moral qualities
brought him permanently before the public as a man
of mark in his profession. His career was one of un-
interrupted progress. Having already acquired repu-
tation as a judicious, skillful, and successful operator,
he was in 1843 chosen Professor of Anatomy in the
St. Louis Medical College, then the Medical Depart-
ment of the St. Louis University. His knowledge of
1530
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
anatomy was minute and accurate, and his success as
a teacher undisputed. In 1847, in accordance with
his cherished desire, he was transferred from the chair
of anatomy to that of surgery, which chair he con-
tinued to occupy and adorn for many years. In 1846
he was married to Miss Caroline, only daughter of
Col. John O'Fallon, who as a tribute to the merit
of his distinguished son-in-law erected out of his own
ample means the large and handsome building known
as the St. Louis Medical College ; so that Dr. Pope
was not only a distinguished professor in, but also a
real benefactor to, this still flourishing medical institu-
tion.
In 1854 he had the high honor conferred upon
him of being elected president of the American Medi-
cal Association, and the year following he presided at '
the meeting held in Philadelphia with dignity and
acceptance. This gave him a national reputation,
which he well sustained by his achievements in sur-
gery, being constantly called on to perform all the
more important and difficult operations, which he
always did with eminent skill and success. He con-
tinued in the diligent pursuit of his profession until
1865, when, reluctantly yielding to the solicitations of
his family, he resigned his professorship and gave up
his large and lucrative practice with the view of spend-
ing a few years in European travel.
In 1870 he returned to St. Louis on a visit, when
such a reception was given him as is rarely accorded
to any one. The whole city, as it were, rose up to do
him honor, and his entire visit was one continued
ovation. He returned, however, to Paris to join his
family, but scarce had tidings of his arrival been re-
ceived before the whole city was startled by the an-
nouncement of his sudden and unexpected death,
which occurred in the city of Paris, July 5, 1870, in
the fifty-second year of his age.
Dr. Pope was an accomplished and high-toned
gentleman and physician. He was not impelled as
some men are by strong passions, but the elements
were so combined in him as to form a character at
once symmetrical and admirable, a character in which
urbanity, suavity, candor, and high moral qualities
constituted the Corinthian column.
Dr. Moses M. Pallen died in St. Louis, Sept. 25,
1876, at the age of sixty-six. He took his literary
degree at the University of Virginia and his medical
degree at the University of Maryland, at Baltimore.
He practiced medicine for seven years at Vicksburg,
Miss., and in 1842 came to St. Louis, where he had
a remarkably successful career as a practitioner and
teacher of medicine. He teld the position of Pro-
fessor of Obstetrics in the St. Louis Medical College
for over twenty years, resigning about three years
before his death on account of failing health. During
the Mexican war he held the position of contracting
surgeon at the St. Louis arsenal. He also performed
the duties of health officer during Mayor Pratte's ad-
ministration, and held that position during the preva-
lence of the cholera epidemic of 1849. He was
one of the founders and earliest presidents of the St.
Louis Academy of Science, and he was also president
for several years of the St. Louis Medical Society.
Dr. Pallen was a terse and ready writer, and fre-
quently contributed articles to the medical journals
and newspapers on subjects of scientific and popular
interest. He left four sons and two daughters. Of
the former, Dr. M. A. Pallen, of New York, is well
known in the profession on both sides of the Atlantic.
Dr. M. L. Linton was a native of Kentucky, where
he studied his profession, but finished his preparatory
course in Paris and Edinburgh. Having practiced
with success in his native State, he came to St. Louis
in 1843, and was elected to a professorship in the
Medical Department of St. Louis University, which
position he retained under its re-establishment as the
St. Louis Medical College until the day of his death.
In his distinguished career as a teacher he was asso-
ciated both in friendship and fame with Dr. Pope,
whose untimely decease he greatly mourned, their
intimacy commencing when students together in
Paris, and continuing warm and unbroken until sev-
ered by death.
Dr. Linton did not confine himself exclusively to
matters pertaining to medical science, occasionally
taking active part in the political movements of the
day. He was a conspicuous member of the Missouri
State Convention in 1861-62, which formed a pro-
visional government for the State, with Hamilton R.
Gamble as Governor, and he was also a member of
the convention of 1865. As a teacher, he stood
with the ablest and best. He was also a philosopher
and a poet. Dr. Linton wa's an invalid for forty
years : his body moved slowly, and frequently re-
quired a long rest ; his mind was restless, resistless,
quick, brilliant, and vigorous ; his wit was sharp and
his repartee unrivaled. His limited early advantages
were only known to the associates of his youth. He
had by the force of intellect and untiring mental in-
dustry become a polished scholar, learned in the an-
cient and modern languages. He died in June, 1872,
in the sixty-fifth year of his age.
Dr. George Johnson was born in Georgetown, D.
C., Sept. 12, 1817, and in his seventeenth year came
to seek his fortune in St. Louis, which was then just
beginning to attract attention as a prominent business
LIBRARY
Of T'Hf
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1531
centre. Shortly afterwards he commenced the study
of medicine with Dr. Beaumont, and after graduating
at the University of Pennsylvania in 1841, became
and for many years remained his partner. During the
time he was pursuing his studies he received the ap-
pointment of assistant paymaster of the United States
army at the arsenal in St. Louis, the emoluments of
which office greatly facilitated his medical education.
In 1846 he was appointed surgeon to the St. Louis
Legion, under command of Col. A. R. Easton, and
participated in the stirring scenes of the Mexican
war. After his return from the war he was ap-
pointed surgeon to the United States Marine Hospital
at St. Louis, but owing to ill health he resigned in
1853 and went to Texas to recuperate. Repeatedly
he was obliged to leave the city on account of ill
health, only to return at the earliest possible moment, |
for he could not endure being long separated from
the many friends residing here, whom he loved and
who were devotedly attached to him. Dr. Johnson
was, in the highest sense of the term, a true man,
brave and chivalrous in his bearing, and one upon
whose hearty co-operation in every humane and phil-
anthropic enterprise people could always rely. Al-
though a man of delicate frame, and frequently a ;
great sufferer from disease, he pursued his profession
with a zeal and self-sacrificing devotion which greatly
endeared him to his patients. He was the very soul
of professional honor. No one had a more profound
or outspoken contempt for the tricks of the charlatan,
nor did any one ever more truly exemplify the char-
acter of the high-toned physician. He died in April,
1873.
Dr. Alfred Heacock is now the oldest medical prac-
titioner in St. Louis, having graduated in medicine
at the University of Pennsylvania in 1825, and hav-
ing been engaged in the practice of his profession ever
since, a period now of almost fifty-eight years. He
was born in Norristown, Pa., May 18, 1804. After
his graduation he located in Ohio, where he lived for
seven years. He then moved to Terre Haute, Ind.,
where he practiced for eleven years, after which he
removed to St. Louis, and has been here ever since.
He chose a location in what was then the extreme
northern part of the city, not far from the upper
ferry landing, and he was not infrequently called out
to cross the river and visit patients in the Illinois
bottom lands and as far over as Collinsville. In 1829
Dr. Heacock received an ad eundem degree from Jef-
ferson Medical College, and in 1847 the same honor
from the Missouri Medical College. In 1853 he was
elected to the Board of Aldermen, and was appointed
a member of the Board of Health.
At the first meeting of the St. Louis Medical So-
ciety in 1883, Dr. Heacock was unanimously elected
a member of that society without payment of dues
for the remainder of his life.
Dr. S. Gratz1 Moses was born in Philadelphia, Oct.
6, 1813. His ancestors, who were merchants noted for
their strict integrity, came to this country in the last
century, and settled in Pennsylvania. His father was
a Philadelphia merchant, a gentleman of means, who
gave his son a liberal education. In accordance with
his enlightened views, Dr. Moses received his prelim-
inary education at the school in Philadelphia of the
late John Sanderson, an accomplished scholar and
competent instructor. He then entered the Classical
Department of the University of Pennsylvania as a
sophomore, and graduated at that institution in 1832.
Dr. Moses commenced the study of medicine in
the fall of 1832, under the direction of Isaac Hays,
M.D., of Philadelphia, editor of the American
Journal of Medical Science, and graduated in 1835
at the Medical Department of the University of Penn-
sylvania.
During the same year he began the practice of
medicine at Bordentown, N. J., where he remained
until 1839, in which year, owing to the kind recom-
mendation of the well-known Professor Nathaniel
Chapman, of the university, he went to Europe as
the private physician of Joseph Bonaparte, eldest
brother of the great Napoleon, and ex-king of Spain,
who for many years had been a resident of Borden-
town. His connection with Bonaparte brought Dr.
Moses into contact with the most distinguished men
in France, especially the famous members of his own
profession, and from the adherents of the empire,
particularly from the Murat family, he received many
attentions.
Dr. Moses returned to Philadelphia in 1840, and in
the fall of 1841 removed to St. Louis, where he still
resides, having been engaged, with but one interrup-
tion, in the practice of medicine ever since.
In 1842, with the assistance of Drs. J. B. John-
son, William McPheeters, Charles A. Pope, J. I.
Clark, George Johnson, and others, Dr. Moses was
active in the establishment of the first organized
dispensary in St. Louis, and became its president,
continuing as such throughout its existence. This
praiseworthy enterprise was the suggestion of Mrs.
Vital M. Garesche, a lady noted for her charities,
and was sustained by contributions from the churches
and by private subscriptions, notably from the Mul-
lanphy family. The Rev. Dr. Eliot proffered the
1 Contributed by F. H. Burgess.
1532
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
basement of the Unitarian Church (then at the cor-
ner of Fourth and Pine Streets) for the dispensary,
and the institution was managed by the above-men-
tioned physicians, who gave their services gratuitously
for seven years, when the city established a dispensary
of its own.
Dr. Moses was city health officer when the Hon.
Luther M. Kennett was mayor, and assisted in organ-
izing the sewer system and other important sanitary
measures. He was also connected with the Medical
Department of Kemper College in 1842 as lecturer
on obstetrics and diseases of women, assisting Dr.
William Carr Lane (who
held that chair in the insti-
tution), and was afterwards
chosen professor of the same
branch of studies in Mis-
souri Medical College. He
resigned this position in
1853. During the civil war,
being known to have South-
ern sympathies, and both of
his sons being in the Con-
federate army, he was ar-
rested at his office, by order
of the United States provost-
marshal, and, after a few
days spent in the military
prison, was, in company with
other well-known citizens,
sent under guard into the
lines of the Confederacy. He
at once volunteered his ser-
vices, and assisted in caring
for the sick in hospitals at
Savannah, Ga. After the
close of the war he returned
to his home, and at once re-
sumed his occupation.
Dr. Moses was one of the
founders of the St. Louis Obstetrical and Gynecologi-
cal Society, and was twice its president. He also
assisted in establishing the Medico-Chirurgical So-
ciety, and continues to take an active interest in the
affairs and debates of these associations. He is also
a member of the St. Louis Medical Society.
In 1835, Dr. Moses married Miss Mary Porter
Ashe, of Wilmington, N. C., a daughter of Col.
Samuel P. Ashe, a planter and Revolutionary soldier,
who was taken prisoner at the siege of Charleston by
the British. Col. Ashe was a gentleman of high
standing and fine culture. By this marriage there
were two sons and two daughters. The eldest son,
Dr. Gratz A. Moses, is associated with his father in
the practice of his profession ; the younger, John A.,
is a merchant in Silver City, N. M.
In 1855, Dr. Moses married Mrs. Marie Atchison
(widow), nee Papin, a native of St. Louis, and a de-
scendant of old French settlers. There have been no
children by this marriage.
After forty-seven years of active practice of his
! profession, Dr. Moses is still in vigorous health, and
engages daily in the performance of his arduous
duties.
Dr. John B. Johnson was born at Fair Haven,
Mass., in 1817. He pre-
pared for Harvard College,
but his mother's ill health
interfered with his plans, and
he did not complete his col-
lege course. He attended
his first course of lectures
at the Berkshire Medical
College in Pittsfield, but
not having the facilities for
studying practical anatomy
there which he desired, he
went to Cambridge and en-
tered the Harvard Medical
School, and attended two
courses of lectures. He then
entered the competitive ex-
amination for a position as
house surgeon to the Massa-
chusetts General Hospital,
in which he was successful,
and held that position for a
year, while the correspond-
ing position of house physi-
cian was held by H. J. Bige-
low. Being detained by the
illness of a brother from at-
tending the examination pre-
liminary to graduation at Harvard, he passed the ex-
amination at Pittsfield, and received his diploma from
Berkshire College in 1840. Afterwards he received an
ad e.undem degree from Harvard. He came to St. Louis
in the spring of 1841, and, as previously stated, was as-
sociated with five other young physicians in establish-
ing the first dispensary organized in the city. He
ascribes much of his success in the early years of his
practice here to the kindly interest taken in him by
Theron Barnum, who was then the proprietor of the
City Hotel, the principal hotel at that time. Dr.
Johnson has for many years filled the chair of theory
and practice of medicine in the St. Louis Medical
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1533
College, and has had a very large and lucrative prac-
tice among the leading families of the city. He has
repeatedly been a delegate to the American Medical
Association, and was a constant member of the State
Medical Association, of which society he was the
president in 1852. Dr. Johnson's wife is a daughter
of the late James II. Lucas, and a lady of rare
accomplishments and graces of mind and character.
Dr. Thomas Barbour was a son of Philip C. Bar-
bour, of Virginia, one of the judges of the Supreme
Court of the United States. He was educated scho-
lastically at the University of Virginia, and profes-
sionally at the University of Pennsylvania, in Phila-
delphia. He received the degree of Doctor of
Medicine in 1830, and soon after settled for practice
in Columbia, Tenn., where he became distinguished
as a practitioner and as a man of science. He was
elected Professor of Chemistry in Lagrange College,
Alabama ; in 1842, Professor of Materia Medica in
the Medical Department of Kemper College ; in 1843,
to the chair of obstetrics and diseases of women
and children, and finally, in 1846, when the medical
professors of Kemper College were transferred to the
University of Missouri, he was elected to the same
chair, which he continued to occupy with distinguished
abilities until the time of his death, which occurred
in June, 1849.
At a meeting of the medical faculty of the Univer-
sity of the State of Missouri, held on the evening of
June 23, 1849, the following preamble and resolu-
tions were unanimously adopted :
"THAT WHERKAS, It has pleased an all-wise Providence to
remove by death from our faculty and from his active and dis-
tinguished career of usefulness Doctor Thomas Barbour, Pro-
fessor of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children in
this institution ; therefore,
" Be it resolved, That, as co-professors and friends of the hum-
ble dead, it gives us some consolation thus publicly to testify to
his pure character, his high professional attainments, and his
distinguished ability as a teacher, and that we mourn sincerely
the afflicting dispensation which has deprived our institution
of his talents and services, and the community of his useful-
ness.
" Resolved, That we desire to be permitted to mingle our sor-
rows with those of his bereft wife and family for the irreparable
loss they have sustained in the death of one so highly and so
justly esteemed; and that Professor Barret, as the organ of our
faculty, address a letter of condolence to Mrs. Barbour, and re-
quest of her the loan of the portrait of her lamented husband
that a copy may be taken and placed in the medical hall of the
university.
"Resolved, That the foregoing preamble and resolutions be
published in the city papers, and that a copy thereof be sent to
the widow and mother of the deceased.
"JoH.\ S. MOOHE, M.D.,
"Dean Medical Faculty of the University of the State of
Missouri."
Dr. Barbour was a man of high professional at-
tainments, and especially skillful in the treatment of
diseases of women and children.
Dr. Simon Pollak was born in Prague, Bohemia,
April 14, 1816, and received his medical education
in the universities of Prague and Vienna, graduating
at the latter place in 1836. He then spent some
months in visiting the hospitals of various European
cities, after which he came to the United States and
located in Nashville, Tenn., where he resided some
years. He came to St. Louis in 1845, March 14th.
About that time Dr. Clark resigned his position in
the dispensary, and Dr. Pollak was appointed to that
position.1 This opened the way for him to a vast
amount of unremunerative professional labor, and it
was not until August 1st that he received any com-
pensation for services rendered. His first profes-
sional fee was ten dollars, for attending a case of
obstetrics. After that time he went on prosperously,
and has been a very successful practitioner. In 1852
he secured the means through personal solicitation
from the charitably-inclined citizens of St. Louis
to establish the Missouri Institution for the Educa-
tion of the Blind, which was supported for five years
by such voluntary contributions, and then became a
State institution. Dr. Pollak has been the attending
physician to this institution ever since its establish-
ment.
Having visited Europe in 1860, where he spent some
months in the special study of ophthalmology, he re-
turned|to St. Louis, and in 1863 established the first eye
and ear infirmary west of the Mississippi River. This
institution is still maintained by Dr. Pollak, being
held now at the Sisters' Hospital, in the western part
of the city, as it had been for years at the same
institution when located on Fourth Street. Over
eighteen thousand cases have been recorded as treated
in connection with this infirmary. Dr. Pollak was a
member of the United States Sanitary Commission,
and of the Western Sanitary Commission during the
war, and also held the position of hospital inspector.
He is a member of the American Medical Association,
of the St. Louis Medical Society and Medico-Chirur-
gical Society, and has written many articles which
have appeared from time to time in the columns of
medical journals, especially those of the St. Louit
Medical and Surgical Journal.
Dr. B. F. Edwards, who practiced for over half a
century in Illinois and Missouri, was born at Darnes-
town, Md., July 2, 1797. In 1820 he removed from
1 Dr. Pollak says that Dr. Clark was the only physician in
St. Louis who drove in a buggy when he caine to the city : all
the others rode on horseback.
1534
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Kentucky to Old Franklin, in the Boone's Lick coun-
try, Mo., wjth Cyrus Edwards, his brother. There
were living there Gen. Duff Green, the Gambles, and
many other prominent Kentuckians. He then went
back to Kentucky, and after a while removed to
Edwardsville, 111., where he settled, obtaining an exten-
sive practice. His rides extended for forty miles, and
so constant day and night were the calls for his ser-
vices that he kept five horses as relays in responding
expeditiously to the demands on his professional ser-
vices. He next established himself for a short period
in Alton, and in 1846 removed to St. Louis, where
his reputation gave him at once an extensive practice.
About the year 1850 he engaged in the California
speculations, and shipped a lot of frame houses from
St. Louis via the Horn to San Francisco, and erected
them on the beach for sale to enterprising gold-seekers.
He returned to St. Louis and resumed his practice
until 1867, when he removed to Kirkwood, where he
continued in practice till about two years before his
death, which occurred April 27, 1877. Dr. Edwards
was a man of robust virtues, an humble Christian,
and a member of the Baptist Church.
Dr. E. S. Frazier was born in Todd County, Ky.,
in 1809. He was one of the first class which gradu-
ated from the Medical Department of Kemper College,
the whole class numbering but three. He had prac-
ticed for some time before graduating in Salem, 111.
He then located in Liberty, near Peoria, and removed
thence to Springfield. He married Miss Mary Moore,
of Montgomery County, Tenn., a sister of Dr. John
S. Moore, of St. Louis. Through the influence of
his brother-in-law, he removed to St. Louis in 1847,
being associated with Dr. George Johnson as resident
physician of the Hotel for Invalids. This institu-
tion being abandoned after a few years, he entered
general practice, and soon gained a large and lucrative
business. He still continues to practice, though not
so actively as in former years.
Dr. G. Fischer has been for a number of years one of
the most prominent German physicians of St. Louis.
He was born at Prague in 1812, and graduated at '
the university of that city in 1837. He practiced
with eminent success in the city of his birth, but in
1848, having become involved in political difficulties,
he found it necessary to leave that country, and deter- <
mined to come to the United States, that he might
rear his children in a free land. He has practiced
medicine in St. Louis ever since that time, and has
met with remarkable success, having won the respect
and esteem of the profession and achieved popularity
among the laity, two results by no means always at-
tained by one man.
Among the great men whose name and fame must
endure forever in the annals of surgery, that of John
Thompson Hodgen will stand deservedly pre-eminent.
He was born at Hodgenville, among the rugged hills of
La Rue County, Ky., not far from the birthplace of
Abraham Lincoln, on the 19th of January, 1826. His
father, Jacob Hodgen, was an elder of the Christian
Church. His mother, Frances Park Brown, was a
woman of sterling worth, who contributed greatly to
fashion the current of his infant thoughts, and to give
them a healthy direction. He regarded her as the
chief source of his aspirations for the good and noble,
and his affection for her was deep, tender, and rever-
ential. Her declining years were brightened by the
lustre of his renown, and her dying moments soothed
by his tender and matchless skill.
His early years were spent in the common schools
of Pittsfield, Pike Co., 111., and his collegiate course
at Bethany College, West Virginia. In childhood he
exhibited a fondness for medicine, and in his twen-
tieth year he entered the Medical Department of the
University of the State of Missouri, where, on the
threshold of his career, his ambition, industry, and
bright intellect marked him as a student of unusual
promise.
He graduated in March, 1848 ; was assistant resi-
dent physician of the St. Louis City Hospital from
April, 1848, to June, 1849, and was demonstrator
of anatomy in his Alma Mater from 1849 to 1853.
The energy with which he devoted himself to his
profession secured him the chair of anatomy, beside
Joseph Nash McDowell, which position he occupied
from 1854 to 1858. From 1858 to 1864 he filled
both the chairs of anatomy and physiology.
In 1864, the Missouri College building having been
seized by the government and transformed into the
Gratiot Street prison, and Dr. McDowell, its head,
having gone South, Dr. Hodgen led a remnant of the
shattered faculty in a noble effort to preserve the life
of his Alma Mater. After earnest but ineffectual
efforts he relinquished the task, and transferred his
allegiance to the St. Louis Medical College, where he
filled respectively the chairs of physiology and of
anatomy with eminent ability. In 1875 he assumed
the chair of surgical anatomy, of fractures and dis-
locations, and was created dean of the faculty, which
position he held at the time of his death. During
the eighteen years from 1864 to 1882 he taught
clinical surgery at the City Hospital.
Meantime his valuable services were sought and
employed by his country, then in the throes of civil
strife, in the capacities of surgeon-general of the
Western Sanitary Commission, 1861 ; surgeon United
>
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1535
States volunteers, 1861 to 1864 ; and surgeon-general
State of Missouri, 1862 to 1864. Upon the restora-
tion of peace he relaxed neither resolution nor in-
dustry, and wherever honor, science, or philanthropy
called, he was always in the van. He served as con-
sulting surgeon of the City Hospital from 1862 to
1882, and was president of the St. Louis Board of
Health from 1867 to 1868, and a member of that
body until 1871. In this position he was instrumental
in organizing on an efficient basis the charity hos-
pitals and dispensaries of the city, and in laying the
foundation of that sanitary improvement that has
since revolutionized the mortuary record of St. Louis.
He was president of the St. Louis Medical Society in
1872, was chairman of the surgical section of the
American Medical Association in 1873, was president
of the State Medical Association in 1876, and was
president of the American Medical Association in
1880.
Fame and emoluments crowned his labors, but he
never paused or halted in his eiforts to improve him-
self as physician, surgeon, and scholar. For renown
and wealth he cared but little ; he never sought an
honor, and his simple tastes, unselfish nature, and
busy habits suggested little thought of money. The
author of brilliant achievements, he never vaunted his
deeds, while his blunders were always in his mouth.
Devotion to duty was the mainspring of his life ; his
only boast that he had never refused to heed the call
of the suffering, had never paused to consider the
reward, and had never failed to do his best. Conserva-
tive, honest, earnest, original, and bold, he was emi-
nently a man of action, appalled by no difficulty, and
superior to any emergency in practice. Quick and ;
clear in apprehension, terse and forcible in expression, i
and a master of the elementary branches of the medi-
cal science, he was a powerful debater, whom no
sophistry confused, and one who never lost sight of
controlling principles nor confounded ideas with facts.
In debate with the most distinguished surgeons of all
nations, convened in the International Medical Con-
gress at Philadelphia in 1876, he won substantial
honors, and made a record that stamped him as a
great man in the midst of the greatest the civilized
world could produce.
Ho possessed decided mechanical genius, but many
inventions worthy of note have been lost to science
owing to the fact that he neglected to record them.
Among the most important of those recorded, some of
which have attained a world-wide renown, are wire-
splint for fracture of the thigh ; suspension-cord and
pulleys, permitting flexion, extension, and rotation in
fracture of the leg ; forceps-dilator for removal of
foreign bodies from the air-passages without trache-
otomy, cradle-splint for treatment of compound frac-
ture of the thigh, wire suspension-splint for injury of
the arm, double action syringe and stomach-pump,
hair-pin dilator for separating lips of the opening in
the trachea, and as a guide to the trachea tube.
His chief contributions to medical literature were,
Wiring the Clavicle and Acromion for Dislocation of
the Scapular End of the Clavicle ; Modification of Op-
eration for Lacerated Perineum ; Dislocation of both
Hips ; Two Deaths from Chloroform ; Use of Atropia
in Collapse of Cholera ; Three Cases of Extra-Uterine
Foetation ; Skin-Grafting; Nerve Section for Neuralgia
and Induration of Penis ; Report on Antiseptic
Surgery ; Shock, and Effects of Compressed Air, as
observed in the building of the St. Louis and Illinois
Bridge.
His literary, mechanical, and operative contribu-
tions made him known in Europe and America, and
afford the guarantee that his name and memory will
endure as long as medicine and surgery are taught.
He died in his fifty-seventh year, April 28, 1882,
of acute peritonitis, caused by ulceration of the gall-
bladder, and after a short and painful illness.
Remarkable for erudition and knowledge of the art
he professed, untiring in study, an extensive and thor-
ough reader, clearly digesting and appropriating ideas,
he was noted for his solidity and sobriety of under-
standing, the legitimate fruit of industry and appli-
cation. He loved his profession, and knelt at its
shrine with the devotion of a priest. He was quick
to cheer and help the meritorious and struggling
young student and practitioner, and of a free and open
nature. He was easy and familiar with the younger
members of the profession, rejoiced in their emolu-
ments, success, and honors, gave them their full meed
of praise when merited, and never sought to monopo-
lize the honors of his calling. Broad and liberal in
his views, and original and independent in thought
and action, he was the standard-bearer of progress in
the medical profession. Possessed of a bold heart
and a clear head, he yet had the keenest sympathy for
suffering humanity. The poor, the halt, the lame,
and the blind received his ministrations without price,
and he made no distinction in his treatment between
the rich and the poor.
In professional counsel and friendly intercourse he
was the comfort and help of the young practitioner.
No time was too inconvenient, no call too sudden, no
patient too humble to claim immediate attention.
Like the soldier on the eve of battle, he was ever
ready to respond to the bugle-call, no matter when or
where it sounded.
1536
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
He knew every medical man in the city, and a large
proportion of those in its vicinity and the adjoining
States, not merely by name and reputation, but by the
estimate he had formed of their personal and profes-
sional qualifications, and, remarkable for his knowledge
of human nature, he was rarely deceived, save when
sympathy swayed his judgment. His broad acquaint-
ance, great personal influence, and unselfish alacrity to
serve others made him, directly and indirectly, the •
almoner of many valuable professional places in the
governmental and municipal service and in civil life.
He always had a place for a deserving man, and a
deserving man for a place. Numbers of medical men
now prosperous and honored owe their first successes
to his disinterested kindness. Under his apparently i
brusque manner and calm exterior his heart pulsated
in sympathetic unison with the trials of all who came
in contact with him. A man in the fullest and highest
sense of the word, ever true to his convictions of ',
right, loyal to his friends, tender in sickness and sor-
row, wise and cultured from extensive and thoughtful
reading, but much more so from direct and constant \
insight into the human frame in health and disease,
the memory of John T. Hodgen will long be cherished
as an enduring honor to St. Louis, the city of his
adoption, and to the profession which he honored and
ornamented, and to which he was a benefactor.
Dr. R. S. Holmes was born in Pittsburgh, Pa.,
Feb. 25, 1814. At the early age of thirteen he lost
his father, but although deprived of parental guar-
dianship at this important period, his education was
not neglected. Having qualified himself he entered
Jefferson College, at Cannonsburg, Pa., in which in-
stitution he was admitted to the degree of A.B.
Sept. 30, 1835, just as he reached his majority. His
preliminary education having been completed, he lost
no time in commencing the study of his profession ;
and in October of the same year he went to Cincin-
nati and became the private pupil of Professor Gross,
then connected with the Ohio Medical College, in
which institution he attended his first course of medi-
cal lectures in the winter of 1835. After the close
of the session, in the spring of 1836, he went to
Philadelphia, and the following fall matriculated in
the Jefferson Medical College, which was then just
commencing its rivalry with the University of Penn-
sylvania. After remaining two winters in connection
with this institution, he was admitted to the degree
of Doctor of Medicine in the spring of 1838, his in-
augural thesis being on the subject of chlorosis.
Immediately after graduating, in May, 1838, he
went to Europe, where he spent a year in visiting the
different capitals of the Old World, and in pursuing
his studies in their various hospitals. In May, 1839,
he returned home, and shortly thereafter wrote an
article describing the church of Ste. Genevieve, in
Paris, which was published in the Knickerbocker for
1840, and which displayed both literary and critical
ability of a high order. In May, 1841, having ob-
tained permission from the Secretary of War to that
effect, he presented himself before the board convened
in Philadelphia for the purpose of examining appli-
cants for the post of assistant surgeon in the United
States army. Twenty-two candidates presented them-
selves, only fourteen of whom were admitted to an
examination, and of this number six only were ap-
proved. Dr. Holmes ranked third. On the 22d of
August of the same year he received his commission,
and immediately thereafter was ordered to Carlisle
Barracks, where he entered upon his duties as assist-
ant surgeon of the army.
From Carlisle he went to St. Peter's, where, how-
ever, he only remained a short time, having been
ordered to join the army in Florida during the exist-
ence of the Seminole war. At the close of this war
he was retained in that department until 1844, when
he was ordered to Fort Preble, in Maine, and re-
mained at that post until the succeeding year, when
he was again ordered with the First Regiment of artil-
lery to Florida, and was stationed at Fort Pinckney,
near Pensacola. During his several residences in
Florida, as in fact at other points where he was sta-
tioned, he occupied his leisure time in investigating
the geological character of the soil and in studying
the climate and diseases of those regions. The re-
sults of these investigations he gave to the world
through the medical periodicals of the country.
On the breaking out of the Mexican war he accom-
panied the army first into Texas and afterwards into
Mexico. His stay here, however, was of but short du-
ration, for on the 28th of June, 1847, while at Point
Isabel, Texas, he resigned his commission as assistant
surgeon in the army on account of the death of his
mother, which rendered his presence at home neces-
sary. His withdrawal from the army was regretted
by all the officers with whom he had been associated,
and by whom he was highly esteemed.
In the spring of 1848 he came to St. Louis and
commenced the practice of his profession, and in the
fall of the same year was chosen Professor of Physi-
ology and Medical Jurisprudence in the St. Louis
Medical College, then the Medical Department of the
St. Louis University. His first course of lectures
was delivered during the winter of 1848 and 1849,
and although but little time was allowed him for prep-
aration prior to entering upon the important duties of
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1537
his chair, he succeeded to the entire satisfaction of ;
his colleagues and class, as is shown by the fact that
at the close of the session a meeting of the students
of the college was held, at which resolutions were
adopted thanking him in the most complimentary
terms for his able and instructive course of lectures
on physiology, and expressing their high appreciation
of his character as a man and his ability as a lecturer.
In the spring of 1849, prior to the breaking out of
the cholera, he again sailed for Europe, where he
spent the summer in professional pursuits and espe-
cially in the study of microscopy. While in London
he procured one of Rosse's celebrated microscopes of
high power, and on his return devoted himself with
his accustomed zeal and industry to the study of mi-
croscopic anatomy, with special reference to its bear-
ings on physiology and pathology, in which depart-
ment he acquired considerable expertness.
During the subsequent four years Dr. Holmes con-
tinued to discharge the duties of his chair with marked
ability and with great acceptance to those who at-
tended on his instructions. But his career of useful-
ness was destined soon to be cut short. In the month
of August, 1854, worn out by close application to
study and by the extreme heat of the weather, he was
suddenly seized, while walking on the street, with an
attack of paralysis affecting the right side. After
lingering for two years the powers of body and mind
began to fail rapidly, and continued to do so until the
26th of June, 1856, when he died, in the forty-second
year of his age. As a practitioner of medicine, Dr.
Holmes was bold, original, and successful. While
connected with the army in Florida he had an oppor-
tunity of observing the malignant fevers of that cli-
mate, and he was among the first to recommend and
carry out the practice of administering large doses of
quinine in this form of disease, a practice the success
of which is now universally acknowledged.
As a medical writer he stood deservedly high. He
was a frequent contributor to the pages of the
American Journal of Medical Sciences and the
St. Louis Medical and Surgical Journal, in which
he published articles on the Climate and Diseases of
Florida and Texas, on Quinine, Malaria, and a number
of other subjects, all of which showed him to be a
close and faithful observer of nature, a bold and original
thinker, and a clear and logical reasoner. His report,
too, on Epidemic Erysipelas, read before the Ameri-
can Medical Association at its meeting held in May,
1854, and published in the transactions for that year,
exhibited marked ability, and attracted attention and
called forth complimentary notices from critics at
home and abroad.
But his talent as a writer was not displayed in his
contributions on medical subjects alone. In the domain
of general literature, also, he has left behind many
valuable evidences of the fertility of his intellect and
the variety of his attainments. While in Europe, as
well as after his return, he wrote frequently for the
leading literary journals of the country ; among them
may be mentioned the Knickerbocker, the New York
Literary New World, the New York Mirror, the
United States Gazette of Philadelphia, the Phila-
delphia Inquirer, the North American of Philadel-
phia, the Pittsburgh Advertiser, and the St. Louis
Republican, all of whose pages were at different times
adorned by his pen. Many of these contributions are
worthy of special notice, particularly the following:
" Beauty, a use of the Hair ;" " Use of the Hair
among the Ancients;" "The Birds of Florida;"
" Sketches of American Character," etc.
Dr. Louis Ch. Boisliniere was born Sept. 2, 1816,
on the island of Guadeloupe, W. I., of one of the
oldest families of the islands. His father was a
wealthy sugar-planter, and appreciating the value of
a thorough education, he took his son to France in
1825 in order that he might have every advantage
attainable. Here thirteen years were spent in scien-
tific, classical, and legal studies at the most celebrated
institutions of the day. He took a diploma as licen-
tiate-in-law at the University of France, and returned
to Guadeloupe in 1839, after the death of both
parents. After spending some months there, and sub-
sequently making an extensive journey through South
America, he determined to leave the West Indies en-
tirely and locate permanently in the United States.
In 1842 he landed in New Orleans, but went almost
immediately to Lexington, where he received polite
attention from Henry Clay's family, to whom he
had brought letters of introduction. He spent some
time in this place, acquainting himself with the lan-
guage and customs of the country. He then went to
Louisville and took charge of the classical institute
there, and the school prospered under his direction.
In 1847 his attention was attracted by the advan-
tages that seemed to be afforded to young men in St.
Louis, and after due deliberation he removed here. He
had continued in Kentucky his medical studies which
he had commenced in France, and in 1848 he grad-
uated in medicine in the Medical Department of the
St. Louis University. He immediately entered into
practice, and has remained here ever since. In 1853,
Dr. Boisliniere took part in establishing, under the
auspices of the Sisters of Charity, the first Ijing-in
hospital and foundling asylum founded in America,
and he still keeps up his connection with it.
1538
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
In 1858 he was elected coroner of St. Louis County,
the first physician who held that office. He was re-
elected to the position in 1860, but resigned in Decem-
ber, 1861. In 1865 he was elected a member of the
Anthropological Society of Paris. In 1870 he was
elected to the Professorship of Obstetrics and Diseases
of Women and Children in the St. Louis Medical Col-
lege. For a number of years he conducted a clinic
for the diseases of women at the St. Louis (Sisters')
Hospital, and now has a clinic at the St. Louis Med-
ical College Dispensary. He was elected for two suc-
cessive years president of the St. Louis Obstetrical
and Gynecological Society. In 1879 he received the
degree of LL.D. from the St. Louis University. He
has written a number of medical and literary essays,
which have appeared in various periodicals. In a
ripe old age he retains the mental faculties and
powers of his earlier manhood in full vigor, and is
still busy as ever with the care of a large and burden-
some practice.
Dr. F. Ernst Baumgarten was born Dec. 27, 1810,
at Nordheim, kingdom of Hanover. He studied at
Gottingen, and passed the State examination in sur-
gery in 1831. He was appointed " mining surgeon,"
a government office, at Clausthal, the centre of the
Harz Mountains mining districts. Later he went to
the University of Jena, where he graduated in 1844.
He edited a surgical journal, Zeitschrift fiir Chirurgen
von Chirurgen, also an annual CliirurgiscTie Alma-
nack, and was permanent secretary of the Society of
North German Surgeons. While still engaged in
writing a text-book of surgery, of which only one
part was published (" Lehrbuch d. primaer-mechan-
ischen Krankheiten." 8vo. Osterode, 1843), he was
pursuaded to emigrate to America in .1846. He
practiced at Galveston until 1849, when he was in-
duced, by repeated attacks of yellow fever, from
which he suffered there, to seek a home farther North.
He came to St. Louis in May, 1849, where he soon
acquired a large practice, chiefly medical and obstet-
rical. He was one of the founders and for many
years the secretary and librarian of the German
Medical Society of St. Louis. He died Nov. 13,
1869, in consequence of injuries received by a fall
from his buggy three days before.
Dr. Thomas O'Reilly was born in Virginia, County
Cavan, Ireland, Feb. 11, 1827. He commenced the
study of medicine in 1840, by apprenticeship to a
druggist. He studied and attended lectures first at
the Apothecaries' Hall, Dublin, and then at what was
at that time called the Original School of Medicine,
now the Ledwich School of Medicine. Next he
served three years in the Meath Hospital as a
clinical clerk to the celebrated Dr. William Stokes.
He graduated in London at the College of Surgeons
in 1849, and came to this country and to St. Louis
in the same year. Arriving here in the midst of the
epidemic of cholera, he immediately gained a large
practice, and has been a busy practitioner ever since.
Dr. Adam Hammer was born in the Grand Duchy
of Baden, Germany, Dec. 27, 1818, and received a
thorough preliminary and medical education in the
leading German universities, taking a special interest
in mathematical studies. He was most thoroughly
informed in all the literature of the profession. It
was his ambition to be known as a surgeon, and above
all things he abominated the practice of midwifery.
He was an admirable diagnostician, and twice diag-
nosticated in the living subject an occlusion of the
coronary artery of the heart, and the diagnosis was
confirmed by post-mortem examination. He per-
formed a number of successful plastic operations, and
in two cases removed an entire upper extremity, in-
cluding the scapula. He came to St. Louis in 1848.
He was an enthusiastic teacher. He organized the
Humboldt Medical College, and through his personal
influence secured the means to erect the building for
that institution, which still stands on the corner of
Soulard and Closey Streets. The college was broken
up during his absence in Europe, and on his return
he was offered a professorship in the Missouri Medical
College, which he accepted. After a few years he re-
turned to Europe, and died there Aug. 4, 1878.
Dr. Edward Montgomery was born at Ballymena,
near Belfast, Ireland, Dec. 20, 1816. He received
his preliminary education in Belfast, and graduated in
medicine at the University of Edinburgh in 1838. He
practiced medicine for about four years in his native
town, but removed to the United States in 1842, and
after spending some years in the South, settled in St.
Louis in 1849. Here he has continued in the practice
of medicine ever since, and has enjoyed a very large
and profitable practice. He has been an active mem-
ber of various medical societies and associations, hav-
ing been president and vice-president of the St. Louis
Medical Society, and of the State Medical Association.
He has contributed papers on a variety of medical
subjects to the medical journals. During the last few
years he has withdrawn to some extent from practice
on account of failing health, but he still attends a
good many of his old families, who prefer his advice
to that of any of the younger practitioners.
Dr. Benjamin Franklin Shumard, who died on the
14th of April, 1869, was esteemed as a physician,
having, during the last years of his life, filled the
chair of obstetrics in the Missouri Medical College, •
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1539
and was far famed throughout the scientific world
as a geologist and paleontologist. He was a corre-
sponding or honorary member of many scientific asso- i
ciations in the United States and in Europe, and was j
honored and beloved at home as the president of the i
Academy of Science of St. Louis, an office to which
he was re-elected at the beginning of the year, when
his lingering illness had already taken away all hope
that he would ever again personally preside over the
meetings of that body.
Dr. Shumard was born at Lancaster, Pa., on the
24th of November, 1820. His father was a merchant,
but he inherited his scientific tastes from his maternal
grandfather, Mr. Getz, well known as an inventor,
and who made delicate scales used in the Philadelphia
Mint. His father afterwards moved to Cincinnati,
and while living there, Dr. Shumard graduated at
Oxford, Ohio, and returning to Philadelphia, he went
through one course in the medical college of that city.
His father then moved to Louisville, Ky., where
young Shumard completed his medical studies in
1846. He then practiced for a short time in one of
the interior towns of Kentucky, but subsequently re-
moved to Louisville, where he devoted his leisure to
the study of the fossils and shells in the adjacent
county. He laid broad and deep, by arduous appli-
cation, the foundations upon which his scientific repu-
tation is built. His collection of organic remains was
visited by Sir Charles Lyell and Edward De Ver-
neuil when those distinguished savans were in Louis-
ville, and the last named manifested his appreciation
by the presentation of his magnificent work on the
geology of Russia.
He was then appointed by Dr. David Dale Owen
assistant geologist in the United States govern-
ment survey of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, for
which he had been commissioned by the national gov-
ernment in 1846. He remained in that survey until
the fall of 1856. The published reports of this im-
portant survey, in which Dr. Shumard took so promi-
nent a part, will remain monuments of the industry,
acquirements, and genius of their author. Besides
his share in the publication of the reports, Dr. Shu- ,
.mard published a monograph, entitled " Contributions •
to the Geology of Kentucky," which abounded in
original observations, and which made his name fa-
miliar to European geologists. This work is con-
stantly referred to by home and foreign writers on
the fossils of America.
In 1850, Dr. Shumard was appointed by Dr. John
Evans to aid him in a geological reconnoissance of
the Territory of Oregon, of which he prepared the
paleontological report. He spent eighteen months in
Oregon, and returned to Louisville in 1852, where he
occupied nearly a year in making out the reports on
paleontology for his brother, Dr. George Getz Shu-
mard, who was employed under Capt. R. B. Marcy
in the Red River exploration. In 1853, Dr. Shu-
mard came to St. Louis, and was appointed assistant
geologist and paleontologist of the Missouri Geo-
logical Survey, under Professor Swallow. He labored
,here until the summer of 1858, when he was ap-
pointed State geologist for Texas, and made a recon-
noissance of almost the entire eastern and middle
portions of that State, and had just got his speci-
mens collected and arranged, when the war broke out,
and he returned to St. Louis. In the survey of
Texas, he found within the limits of that State the
most complete series of geological formations to be
found in any State in the Union, ranging as they do
from the oldest paleozoic strata to the latest tertiary,
and presenting an aggregate thickness estimated at
not less than ten thousand feet. He succeeded in
rescuing his library from Austin at the end of the
war, but never returned to prosecute the survey.
Dr. S. T. Newman was born in Mississippi Nov.
30, 1816. His preliminary education was obtained
in Augusta College, Kentucky, and he graduated in
medicine at the Transylvania University, Lexington,
Ky., in 1839. He practiced medicine fof five years
at Amsterdam, Miss., and then removed to Richmond,
Ky., where he lived until 1856, when he came to St.
Louis. He identified himself at once with the St.
Louis Medical Society, and in 1860 was elected presi-
dent of that body.
Dr. T. L. Papin is a grandson of Laclede, who was
the founder of St. Louis. He was born in St. Louis
in January, 1825, and obtained his literary education
here, and his medical education partly here and partly
in Paris. He graduated from the Medical Department
of the St. Louis University, and then went to Paris,
where he pursued his studies some years longer. He
has been a teacher of medicine all through his profes-
sional life. In 1852 he was Professor of Clinical
Medicine in the St. Louis Hospital, and in 18*73 was
appointed Professor of Clinical Gynecology in the
Missouri Medical College, which position he resigned
last year.
He has been the attending physician at all the
Catholic asylums of various sorts, and was the origi-
nator of St. John's Hospital. After that hospital
was well established, he suggested to some of his
friends who were connected with the Missouri Medi-
cal College that they buy the property adjacent to the
hospital and erect a new college building. This was
done, and Dr. Papin was chosen president of the
1540
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Missouri College Building Association. In order to
raise the money necessary for the building, he and
Dr. Moore mortgaged their own property. The suc-
cess of the effort, and the remarkable prosperity of
the college since its removal, have been mentioned ,
elsewhere. Dr. Papin justly feels that he contributed
very largely to the success of the school, not only by i
carrying out the Building Association plans, but by i
the hospital facilities which he provided and secured i
for them. He is not now connected with the college,
and only retains his gynecological clinic at the hos- !
pital, which is probably the most largely attended of j
any in the city.
Dr. James C. Nidelet 1 is descended from some of i
the most noted pioneer families of Missouri. His ;
grandfather, the well-known Gen. Bernard Pratte,
was born in Ste. Genevieve, Mo., and was educated at
the Sulsipitian College, Montreal (Canada) ; and re-
turning to St. Louis, married Emilie I. Labadie, a
native of the town, and daughter of Sylvester Labadie
and Pelagic Chouteau. His father, Stephen F. Nide-
let, of French extraction and a native of San Domingo,
arrived in Philadelphia when but seven years old, and
ultimately became a member of the prominent silk
house of Chapman & Nidelet. While visiting St.
Louis he met and married on Aug. 12, 1826, Celeste i
E., daughter of the Gen. Pratte above mentioned. He
returned with his wife to Philadelphia, where, on the I
15th of January, 1834, James C. Nidelet was born. ;
Young Nidelet acquired his early education in Phil- i
adelphia, at the classical school of John D. Bryant, a
famous instructor in that city. In 1844 he was taken
by his parents to St. Louis, where his father spent
the rest of his life, dying in 1856, after having won
the respect of a large circle of friends. His widow
is yet living, a sprightly and well-preserved lady of
seventy-three years. In her day she was one of the
belles of St. Louis, and, despite the lapse of years,
her recollections of pioneer times are very distinct
and interesting.
James C. Nidelet attended the St. Louis University
for a year or two, and in 1847 and 1848 St. Mary's
College, Emmittsburg, Md. In 1849 he entered St.
Louis University again, and spent five years there,
but left in 1853 while on the point of graduating.
He then prepared for the Military Academy at West
Point, but failing to receive an appointment as cadet,
applied himself to the study of medicine. His first
tuition was obtained in the practical experience of a
drug store, and for three years he was employed in
the well-known houses of Bacon, Hyde & Co. and
1 Contributed by F. H. Burgess.
Barnard, Adams & Co. He then attended the St.
Louis Medical College, under Dr. C. A. Pope, and
the Missouri Medical College, under Dr. Joseph N.
McDowell. He graduated in 18(50, and began the
practice of medicine.
In December, 1861, he joined the Confederate
army, and served as chief surgeon under Gens. Price,
Maury, and Forney in the Army of East Tennessee
and Mississippi. During the last year of the war he
was transferred to the Trans-Mississippi Department.
His service embraced four years of desperate and
bloody warfare, and he was in every engagement in
which his army corps participated. Among the most
memorable of these conflicts may be mentioned those
attending the capture of Vicksburg, and the sanguin-
ary fields of Corinth, Big Black, luka, and the famous
retreat from Hatchie. During all this period of ex-
posure to the dangers and privations incident to the
war, Dr. Nidelet was never wounded and never lost
a day from sickness, his splendid constitution carry-
ing him safely through trials to which weaker natures
would have succumbed. He was always to be found
where the danger was greatest, and where there was
the greatest need of the prompt assistance of the
surgeon. His composure amid the storms of shot
and shell and the awful distractions of the battle-
field was proverbial, and repeatedly Avon the com-
mendation of his superiors.
Frequently, with the din of conflict raging about
him, he performed operations that would have made
many a hospital practitioner famous. His four years'
service in the war gave him a practically unlimited
experience in every branch of surgery, especially that
appertaining to the treatment of gunshot-wounds, and
in July, 1865, he returned to St. Louis rich in knowl-
edge of the surgeon's art but extremely poor in purse.
The " Drake Constitution," which was then in force,
forbade him to practice medicine, because he could
not take the oath, and at one time, while struggling
against adverse fortune, he was on the point of leaving
for the Pacific coast. During the winter of 1865-66,
however, he formed an engagement with his old Alma
Mater, the Missouri Medical College, and assisted in
gathering the scattered faculty together once more.
In the winter of 1866-67 the college was reopened,
and as Professor of Anatomy he was for four or five
years engaged in his favorite pursuit of teaching med-
icine. He had large classes, and contributed materi-
ally towards bringing the historic old institution into
popular favor again. He then engaged in the private
practice of medicine with distinguished success.
In 1875-76, Dr. Nidelet was appointed police com-
missioner, and for two of the four years of his term
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1541
was vice-president of the board. He signalized his
administration by a determined effort to suppress the
lottery business, which then flourished without let or
hindrance in St. Louis, and such success crowned his
labors that more than fifty dealers were convicted and
fined. As a consequence he incurred the hostility of
the " lottery ring," and charges of corruption were
made against him. His indictment was sought at the
hands of several successive grand juries, but he was
accorded a most searching investigation, which resulted
in the utter failure of his enemies to make even a
plausible case of official misconduct against him.
The following estimate of Dr. Nidelet's standing as
a physician and surgeon is furnished by a gentleman
who has known him from a boy, was several years in-
timately associated with him, and is familiar with his
professional career.
" Dr. Nidelet is a good physician in every sense of
the word, being thoroughly and scientifically educated
for his profession. His success has been as great as
that of any practitioner of his years in St. Louis, and
he has a very large and growing patronage. His
judgment is accurate, and in the diagnosis of diseases
and the selection of suitable remedies he is distin-
guished. I cannot say that he has any specialty,
but he strikes me as being a fine specimen of the
symmetrically-developed doctor. His professional
standing is excellent, and he enjoys the respect of his
associates in the profession as a high-toned and hon-
orable man."
Dr. James M. Youngblood was born in Tennessee
on the 16th of December, 1833. He was reared in
Tennessee and Kentucky, and graduated at the St.
Louis Medical College, receiving also the ad eundem
degree from Dr. Joseph N. McDowell, of McDowell
College.
On the breaking out of the civil war Dr. Young-
blood was at heart and in feeling a Southern man,
but was opposed to secession and in favor of upholding
the government. Hence he sought a position iu
which he could do the most good on both sides. He
accordingly joined the army as a surgeon, and in 1863
was placed in charge of Gratiot Street prison, and
served in that capacity till 1864. In that year he
was sent South with Col. Thomas C. Fletcher's regi-
ment, the Forty-seventh Missouri, and arrived just
after the battle of Nashville. Dr. Youngblood was a
man of benevolent disposition and charitable to the
poor. When his death, which occurred Jan. 24,
1879, became known in the neighborhood, many poor
children and their parents called at the office of their
benefactor, manifesting regret for the loss of a dear
friend.
98
He married a daughter of Edward J. Xaupi, who
survived him, together with five children. A few
months before his death he was chosen a member of
the School Board.
On April 1, 1881, Dr. A. B. Nichols died at his
home in Sparta, Wis. Dr. Nichols was well known
in St. Louis, where he had many friends. He was
born in Northfield, Vt., in 1842. After traveling
about the country for some time he settled at Racine,
Wis., where he studied and made wonderful progress
in medicine. In 1862 he entered the army as an
aid to an assistant hospital surgeon. He attended to
hospital duties for about two years. Dr. Nichols was
present at the battle of Pittsburgh Landing, and his
skillful treatment, during and after the battle, of
wounded soldiers gained him favor with the surgeon-
general and many other high officers. In 1864 he
removed to Sparta and settled there, following his
profession until his death. Dr. Nichols left a wife
and one child, a son.
That the complaint of over-crowding in the medical
profession is no new thing is apparent from the fol-
lowing paragraphs, which appeared editorially in the
Missouri Medical and Surgical Journal of August,
1845:
"We have a list of the names of one hundred and forty-six
persons who are endeavoring to obtain a livelihood by the prac-
tice of the healing art in this city, which includes the homceop-
athists, Botanies, Thompsonians, etc. Of this number prob-
ably ninety or one hundred hold diplomas. With a population
of forty thousand, each would have two hundred and seventy-
four persons to attend upon, supposing the whole number to be
equally divided; but when we consider the fact that about one-
third of the number have a large practice, we are not surprised
that a large number are not able to collect enough to pay their
expenses, and the consequence is that many, after spending
'from one to three years and the means which they brought to
the city,' leave and settle in the smaller towns in the surround-
ing country. Some, who are favored by circumstances, hold
on, hoping that with the rapid growth of the city they will
finally obtain a lucrative practice; others, determined to be
employed, resort to whatever will obtain their ends, regardless
of proper respect for themselves or their profession, by giving
their professional services for little or nothing and a constant
endeavor to build themselves up by injuring the professional
reputation of their colleagues. Real merit never goes lopg
unrequited, and it is an acknowledgment of weakness for any
one to slander the whole profession because forsooth he has not
sufficient merit to retain a lucrative practice.
"While the facilities for obtaining a medical education in
St. Louis are not surpassed by those of any city in the West,
and the city in its rapid strides to greatness has anything but
a sickly appearance, it cannot rationally be supposed that ita
inhabitants are bound to sustain all the ambitious of the pro-
fession who prefer to practice in the West ; nevertheless they are
always glad to rent them offices."
Medical Societies. — There are a number of med-
ical societies in St. Louis, which will be noticed in.
the order in which they were organized. Those of
1542
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
the regular school of medicine are the St. Louis
Medical Society, the German Medical Society, the St.
Louis Medico-Chirurgical Society, the St. Louis Ob-
stetrical and Gynecological Society, the Beaumont
Medical Club, and the Scientific Association of Ger-
man Physicians.
ST. Louis MEDICAL SOCIETY. — In 1836 a med-
ical society was organized, which was incorporated by
a special act of the Legislature Jan. 25, 1837, under
the name of the Medical Society of the State of Mis-
souri. For some years its meetings were held
monthly from May to November and semi-monthly
from November to May, but after 1846 it virtually
suspended. In 1850 a new organization was formed,
which, under the name of the St. Louis Medical So-
ciety, has done a good deal of valuable work and
wielded a large influence. Its first officers were B.
G. Farrar, M.D., president; Hardage Lane, M.D.,
vice-president; B. B. Brown, M.D., recording secre-
tary ; J. B. Johnson, M.D., corresponding secretary ;
Y. D. Boiling, M.D., treasurer. The presidents sinco
its first organization to the present time have been
the following: B. G. Farrar, M.D., in the years
1836 and 1837; Hardage Lane, M.D., in 1838,
'39, '43; Meredith Martin, M.D., in 1840, '42, '45,
'65; William Beaumont, M.D., 1841; Stephen W.
Adreon, M.D., 1844 ; Josephus W. Hall, M.D., 1846 ;
R. P. Simmons, M.D., 1850; David Prince, M.D.,
1851 ; George Engelmann, M.D., 1852 ; John
Barnes, M.D., 1853; Thomas Reyburn, M.D.,
1854. '57 ; John S. Moore, M.D., 1855 ; William
M. McPheeters, M.D., 1856 ; E. H. McGintie, M.D.,
1858; M. L. Lenton, M.D., 1859; S. T. Newman,
M.D., 1860 ; M. M. Fallen, M.D., 1861 ; J. S. B.
Alleyne, M.D., 1864; William Johnston, M.D.,
1866; A. Hammer, M.D., 1867; Edward Mont-
gomery, M.D., 1868 ; John H. Walters, M.D., 1869 ;
John T. Hodgen, M.D., 1870 ; E. H. Gregory, M.D.,
1871 ; E. F. Smith, M.D., 1872; Francis G. Porter,
M.D., 1873; G. Hunt, M.D., 1874; J. M. Scott,
M.D., 1875; G. M. B. Maughs, M.D., 1876; T. F.
Prewitt, M.D., 1877; Thomas Kennard, M.D.,
1878 ; L. Ch. Boisliniere. M.D., 1879 ; H. H. Mudd,
M.D., 1881; William Dickinson, M.D., 1882; and
William L. Barret, M.D., 1883.
It is a somewhat remarkable fact that two of the
greatest men in the profession that the medical society
has numbered among its members never occupied
the president's chair, viz. : Dr. Joseph N. McDowell
and Dr. Charles A. Pope, the former being a skilled
surgeon and the founder and for thirty years the
dean of the first medical college established west of
the Mississippi River, the latter a most skillful and
expert surgeon and for nearly thirty years Professor
of Surgery in the St. Louis Medical College.
The St. Louis Medical Society, like all such or-
ganizations, has had its times of special interest and
profit and its periods of depression and little value.
At times its meetings have been fully attended, papers
of interest and scientific value have been presented,
and discussions have taken place which attracted
the attention of physicians throughout this section of
country. At other times its halls have been the
scene of heated and bitter wrangling, mutual recrimi-
nation, charges and counter-charges of professional
discourtesy or of unprofessional conduct. On one or
two occasions the bitter animosities and differences of
opinion growing out of personal antagonism between
members have nearly wrecked the society ; but the
faithful work of some loyal members has kept it alive,
and it still continues to be a valuable and profitable
organization. Its meetings have been regularly held
on Saturday evening of every week.
For a number of years in the early history of the St.
Louis Medicaland SurgicalJournal, abstract reports of
the meetings of the Medical Society were published in
that journal. For several years now full reports, taken
by a short-hand reporter and revised by a committee on
publication, have formed a considerable and valuable
part of the Journal's contents. The meetings of the
society were held in 1835 in Masonic Hall, in 1850
at Westminster Church, afterwards in a hall at the
corner of Fourth and Chestnut Streets, then in the
commercial school, then for a time in the office of
Drs. Jordan and Shumard. When the Academy of
Science had its building at Seventh and Myrtle Streets,
adjoining the St. Louis Medical College, the building
erected by Col. O'Fallon, the Medical Society held its
sessions in the Academy Hall. After the burning of
that building, arrangements were soon made by which
the society meetings have been held at the Polytechnic
Building, at Seventh and Chestnut Streets, in a room
well adapted for the purpose. One valuable feature
of the society is the arrangement made some years
ago with the Public School Library, by which the
society turns over to the library the membership fees
of three dollars per annum for four years, thus se-
curing to the members not only the usual privileges of
membership during that time, but also a life-member-
ship ticket after that time, the library agreeing to
expend all money so received for medical publications
under the direction of the library committee of the
Medical Society.
Any reputable regular practitioner resident in the
city of St. Louis is eligible for membership in this
society. Application for membership may be made
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1543
in writing by the party seeking admission, or verbally
by some member. The application is referred to the
committee on elections, to whom must be exhibited
the diploma of the applicant. A favorable report of
this committee is equivalent to an election, although
formally a favorable vote of three- fourths of the mem-
bers present is necessary in order to constitute an ap-
plicant a member. An admission fee of five dollars
is required, and a payment of dues to the amount of
three dollars each year thereafter. The present mem-
bership of the society is not far from one hundred
and seventy-five.
The officers of the society for 1883 are : President,
William L. Barret, M.D. ; Vice-President, G. F. Dud-
ley, M.D. ; Recording Secretary, A. H. Ohmann-
Dumesnil, M.D. ; Corresponding Secretary, Garland
Hurt, M.D. ; Treasurer, W. E. Fischel, M.D.
THE GERMAN MEDICAL SOCIETY (" Deutsche Med-
iciuische Gesellschaft") was organized in 1850. The
society subscribes to the leading European medical
journals, and these circulate among the members ac-
cording to a definite plan. The membership is lim-
ited to twenty-five. The society has accumulated a
large library. The present officers are Dr. G. Baum-
garten, president ; Dr. Hugo Kinner, secretary ; Dr.
W. E. Fischel, treasurer ; Dr. George J. Engelmann,
librarian.
THE ST. Louis MEDICO-CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY
was first organized in 1873 under the name of the
Medical Club, as a result of a state of affairs in the
St. Louis Medical Society, which had led a consider-
able number of members to cease attending its ses-
sions. There is no permanent presiding officer of
this society, some member being chosen at each meet-
ing to preside on that occasion. The secretary, treas-
urer, and librarian each serve one year. The present
officers are George Homan, M.D., secretary ; J. P.
Kingsley, M.D., treasurer; W. A. Hardaway, M.D.,
librarian.
When first organized the club met in a hall at
Twelfth and Pine Streets, then for several years in
the directors' room of the Mercantile Library Asso-
ciation. Later, when an arrangement was made to
subscribe regularly for the most valuable European
journals, the meetings were held statedly at the office
of the librarian ; but as the membership of the so-
ciety increased and the value of the journal list be-
came more apparent, it was deemed best to secure
permanent quarters for the meetings of the society
and for a reading-room. Accordingly, a convenient
hall was secured in a most desirable location on Wash-
ington Avenue near Jefferson Avenue. This has
been fitted up with comfortable chairs, cases for
books and periodicals, tables for reading and writing,
etc. Already the nucleus of a valuable library has
been collected through gifts of members and by an
arrangement with the Medical Journal and Library
Association, by which the exchanges of the Courier
of Medicine and the books received by that journal
for review are deposited in this room, and are at the
disposal of its members.
The following is an alphabetical list of the mem-
bers of this society: G. Baumgarten, L. Ch. Bois-
iiniere, J. K. Bauduy, John P. Bryson,C. E. Briggs,
N. B. Carson, C. 0. Curtraan, D. V. Dean, J. O'F.
Delaney, George Engelmann, George J. Engelmann,
W. E. Fischel, W. H. Ford, W. A. Frazier, R. M.
Funkhouser, E. H. Gregory, E. C. Gehrung, D. C.
Gamble, W. C. Glasgow, A. A. Henske, B. M.
Hypes, T. E. Holland, W. A. Hardaway, George
Homan, J. B. Johnson, E. W. Jamison, W. C. Ken-
nett, J. P. Kingsley, A. P. Lankford, James M.
Leete, E. S. Lemoine, I. N. Love, E. Montgomery,
J. M. B. Maughs, C. E. Michel, S. G. Moses, G. A.
Moses, H. H. Mudd, M. P. Morrell, E. M. Nelson,
R. J. O'Reilly, T. F. Prewitt, T. L. Papin, S. Pollak,
M. H. Post, P. G. Robinson, E. W. Saunders, P. V.
Schenck, James M. Scott, A. B. Shaw, H. N. Spen-
cer, I. G. W. Steedman, A. J. Steele, F. L. Stuever,
H. Tuholske, C. A. Todd, 0. A. Wall, B. T. Whit-
more.
Applicants for membership must be recommended
by two members. The name is referred to the execu-
tive committee, and posted for two weeks in the hall
of the society. If the executive committee report
favorably upon the application the name comes before
the society, all the members having been notified by
postal card of the election. Two adverse ballots ex-
clude an applicant from membership. No physician
is eligible for membership in this society until after
having practiced medicine in the city for a period of
at least two years. The admission fee is ten dollars,
and the annual dues are the same amount. The
meetings of the society are held on alternate Tuesday
evenings throughout the year, and the discussions are
regularly reported in the St. Loin's Courier of Medi-
cine A paper is read at each meeting by some mem-
ber of the society, the order of reading being deter-
mined by lot.
THE ST. Louis OBSTETRICAL AND GYNECOLOGI-
CAL SOCIETY was organized in 1877. Meetings are
held on the third Thursday evening of each month,
except July and August. Papers are read by the
members in turn, and discussions follow upon the
paper or verbal reports of cases. The discussions are
taken down by a short-hand reporter, and are pubr
1544
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
lished in the St. Louis Courier of Medicine, and have
been generally regarded as of very considerable in-
terest and value. . The meetings are held at the houses
of the different members, and one fact that has had a
pronounced influence in sustaining the interest and at-
tendance upon the meetings has been the custom of
adding a social to a scientific interest by the serving
of a supper to the members after the regular busi-
ness meeting has been concluded.
The officers of the society for the current year are
T. L. Papin, M.D., president; W. H. Ford, M.D.,
vice-president ; Walter Coles, M.D., recording secre-
tary ; M. Yarnall, M.D., corresponding secretary ; T.
F. Prewitt, M.D., treasurer.
The following list embraces the present membership
of the society: W. L. Barret, L. Ch. Boisliniere, W.
Coles, George J. Engelmann, W. H. Ford, E. C.
Gehrung, E. H. Gregory, G. M. B. Maughs, E. Mont-
gomery, S. G. Moses, G. A. Moses, William McPhee- <
ters, T. L. Papin, T. F. Prewitt, and M. Yarnall.
Drs. George Engelmann and Adolph Wislizenus are
honorary members.
THE BEAUMONT MEDICAL CLUB was organized in
April, 1879, by a number of the younger men of the
profession, for the purpose of medical discussion and
social intercourse. The meetings were held monthly
for a couple of years, but have been discontinued of
late. The first officers were I. N. Levi, M.D., presi-
dent ; W. H. Frazier, M.D., secretary ; and George
Homan, M.D., treasurer. The officers last elected
were George Homan, M.D., president; E. M. Nelson,
M.D., secretary ; J. R. Lemen, M.D.. treasurer.
THE SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION OP GERMAN
PHYSICIANS (" Wissenschaftliche Verein Deutsche
Aerzte") was organized in the fall of 1881. The so-
ciety meets every other Friday, and at each meeting
an essay is read, followed by discussion, pathological
specimens are shown, cases presented, and the usual
business routine gone through with. Every member
is compelled to read an essay when his name is called
in the alphabetical order. The society has commenced
the formation of a library, for which there is already a
respectable nucleus. The present membership num-
bers twenty-one. There is no permanent president,
the presiding officer being selected at each meeting.
The secretary is Dr. George Richter; Treasurer, Dr.
Joseph Sprigelhalter ; Librarian, Dr. A. Alt.
Medical Schools. — The history of medical educa-
tion in St. Louis is an interesting chapter in the his-
tory of the profession.
MISSOURI MEDICAL COLLEGE. — In 1840, when
Joseph Nash McDowell came to St. Louis from Cin-
cinnati, there was a literary institution west of the
city, where the old county farm lies just east of the
insane asylum. Some of the original stone buildings
of the college are still standing. This institution was
incorporated with a university charter under the name
of " Kemper College." It was established under the
auspices of the Episcopal Church, and President
Hutchinson was then at its head. Dr. McDowell set
to work with enthusiasm, and organized a faculty of
medicine to work under the charter of this institu-
tion and to be known as the Medical Department of
Kemper College. The first course of lectures was
delivered in the winter of 1840-41 by the following
faculty : Joseph Nash McDowell. Professor of Anat-
omy and Surgery ; John S. Moore, Professor of Obstet-
trics and Diseases of Women and Children ; Josephus
W. Hall, Professor of Theory and Practice of Medicine ;
John De Wolf, Professor of Chemistry ; Hiram L.
Prout, Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeu-
tics.
These lectures were delivered in a building erected
for the purpose on the high bank of Chouteau's Pond,
at the corner of Ninth and Cerre Streets, where the
Wainwright brewery now stands.
In 1847, Kemper College having failed, owing to
the lack of financial backing, the Medical Depart-
ment became the Medical Department of the State
University, and was so conducted until the general
organization of the State University, when a separate
charter was procured, under which the college is now
conducted as the Medical Department of the Missouri
Institute of Science, more commonly known, however,
as the Missouri Medical College.
The stone octagonal building on the corner of Eighth
and Gratiot Streets was erected for the use of the
college, and was occupied by it until the war, when
it was confiscated by the United States government
and used as a military prison. After the close of
the war, when the faculty was reorganized, lectures
were again delivered in the same building for three
or four years. In 1874 a joint-stock company was
formed for the purpose of erecting a new college
building. The capital stock of this company amounted
to fifty thousand dollars, most of which was taken by
members of the faculty. The present site was pur-
chased, and an excellent building erected at the north-
east corner of Lucas Avenue and Twenty-third Street,
at a cost of twenty-five thousand dollars. During the
last year the building has been improved and enlarged
at an expense of fifteen thousand dollars.
The college is now in a most flourishing condition,
with classes numbering between two hundred and
three hundred each year. The faculty, as constituted
at present, is as follows :
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1545
William M. McPheeters, M.D., Emeritus Professor of Materia
Medica and Therapeutics; John S. Moore, M.D., Professor of
Principles of Medicine and Hygiene; G. M. B. Maughs, M.D.,
Professor of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women ; P. Gervais
Robinson, M.D., Professor of Practice of Medicine and Clinical
Medicine; J. K. Bauduy, M.D., LL.D., Professor of Psycho-
logical Medicine, Diseases of Nervous System and Clinical Medi-
cine; Charles E. Michel, M.D., Professor of Histology and
Ophthalmology; H. Tuholske, M.D., Professor of Clinical Sur-
gery and Surgical Pathology ; Otto A. Wall, M.D., Ph.G., Pro-
fessor of Materia Medica, Therapeutics, and Pharmacy; C. A.
Todd, M.D., Professor of Anatomy and Diseases of the Ear and
Throat ; J. P. Kingsley, M.D., Professor of Physiology and Clin-
ical Professor of Diseases of Children; T. F. Prewitt, M.D.,
Dean, Professor of Principles and Practice of Surgery and
Clinical Surgery; C. 0. Curtinan, M.D., Professor of Chemis-
try; P. V. Schenck, M.D., Clinical Teacher of Gynecology;
C. A. Todd, M.D., Demonstrator of Anatomy and Curator of
Museum; Justin Steer, M.D., Assistant Demonstrator; Ad-
juncts: A. B. Shaw, M.D., Adjunct to Professor of Clinical
Medicine and Lecturer on Physical Diagnosis ; F. Stuever, M.D.,
Adjunct to Professor of Ophthalmology; J. R. Lemen, M.D.,
Clinical Assistant to Chair of Surgery.
Hotel for Invalids. — In the summer of 1848 the
upper stories of the large house situated on the cor-
ner of Second and Walnut Streets, previously known
as the Paul House, were fitted up as a " hotel for in-
valids," which was conducted under the supervision
of Drs. W. L. Barret and John S. Moore, of Mis-
souri Medical College, as consulting physicians, and
Drs. Frazier and Johnson, as resident physicians and
surgeons.
Post- Graduate School of the Missouri Medical
College. — The object of this school is to give practi-
tioners of medicine and recent graduates facilities and
advantages for special studies and practical instruction
such as cannot be afforded in the ordinary courses of
lectures. The faculty of the Post-Graduate School is
constituted as follows :
Professor P. Gervais Robinson, M.D., Dean of the Faculty,
Physical Diagnosis; Professor John S. Moore, M.D., Malarial
Disuses; Professor A. B. Shaw, M.D., Clinical Medicine; Pro-
fessor A. P. Lankford, M.D., Surgerj' ; Professor H. Tuholske,
.M.D., Diseases of the Genito-Urinary Organs; Professor T. F.
Prewitt, M.D., Surgery; Professor T. L. Papin, M.D., LL.D.,
Diseases of Women ; Professor George J. Engelmann, M.D.,
Secretary of the Faculty, Operative Midwifery ; Professor J. P.
Kingsley, M.D., Diseases of Children ; Professor Charles E.
Michel, M.D., Diseases of the Eye; Professor H. N. Spencer,
M.I>., Diseases of the Ear; Professor W. A. Hardaway, M.D.,
Direases of the Skin; Professor 0. A. Wall, M.D., Ph.G.,
Urinology.
The school was organized in 1880 under the charter
of the Missouri Medical College, and its classes are
held in the building of that college.
ST. Louis MEDICAL COLLEGE. — In 1836, after
frequent consultations between the trustees of the St.
Louis University on the one hand and the St. Louis
Medical Society on the other, an agreement was entered
into for the appointment of a medical faculty in connec-
tion with the university. A constitution was prepared
and ratified by both parties, and the Medical Society
selected as the first faculty Drs C. J. Carpenter, J.
Johnson, William Beaumont, E. H. McCabe, H.
Lane, and H. King. A prospectus of the medical
lectures was published annually with that of the literary
department of the university, but the medical depart-
ment was not actually put into operation until the
fall of L842. In the mean time (in 1841) the St.
Louis Medical College had been organized, and in
1842 it was chartered as the Medical Department of
the St. Louis University. In 1855 it became inde-
pendent, and was incorporated under its present name,
incorporators being John O'Fallon, James H. Lucas,
Luther M. Kennett, James Clemens, A. L. Mills,
Trusten Polk, G. Penn, W. G. Eliot, James E.
Yeatman, J. Laughton, Thomas Allen, and H. D.
Bacon.
It was originally located on Washington Avenue
facing Tenth Street, where the building still stands,
on the grounds of the St. Louis University. The
present building is located on the northeast corner of
Seventh and Myrtle Streets. It is a large, well-con-
structed, and substantial building, which was erected
for the use of the college in 1850 by the late Col. John
O'Fallon. The whole building was remodeled and
renovated some three years ago, and an addition built at
the rear for the chemical laboratory. There are three
lecture-rooms and two dissecting-rooms and a library,
besides the museum and smaller rooms set apart for
the faculty and other uses.
Last year a building was erected upon the adjoin-
ing lot especially for dispensary purposes. On the
first floor area drug-room, waiting-rooms for male and
female patients, consultation-room, and amphitheatre
for clinical lectures. On the second floor are the
rooms for the gynecological clinic of Professor Bois-
li nitre, and those for the dental college, laboratory, and
operating-room. Several thousand patients have been
treated in the year and a half since the dispensary was
organized.
The faculty own the buildings, and supply the neces-
sary appliances for teaching and illustration from the
income derived from tuition fees. There is no en-
dowment. The course of study in this school is a
graded one, extending over three years, the first being
devoted to theoretical and demonstrative branches, and
the practical subjects and specialties being taken up
in the second and third years.
The first dean of the faculty was James V. Prather,
M.D., the second was Charles A. Pope, M.D., the
third John T. Hodgen, M.D., and the fourth and
1546
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
present dean is J. S. B. Alleyne, M.D. The faculty
is composed of the following physicians and surgeons :
A. Litton, M.D., Professor of Chemistry and Pharmacy; J.
B. Johnson, M.D., Professor of the Principles and Practice of
Medicine; E. H. Gregory, M.D., Professor of the Principles and
Practice of Surgery and Clinical Surgery; J. T. Hodgen, M.D.,1
Professor of Surgical Anatomy, Special Fractures and Disloca-
tions, and Clinical Surgery at the City Hospital; J. S. B. Al-
leyne, M.D., Dean. Professor of Therapeutics and Materia I
Medica and Diseases of Children ; E. F. Smith, M.D., Profes- j
sor of Clinical Medicine and Pathological Anatomy; L. Ch.
Boisliniere, M.D., Professor of Obstetrics; G. Baumgarten, M.D.,
Professor of Physiology; H. H. Mudd, M.D., Professor of An-
atomy and Clinical Surgery at the City Hospital : H. H. Mudd,
M.D., Demonstrator of Anatomy; John Green, M.D., Lecturer
on Ophthalmology ; W. L. Barret, M.D., Lecturer on Diseases
of Women; J. M. Scott, M.D., Lecturer on Clinical Medicine;
G. A. Moses, M.D., Lecturer on Clinical Gynecology ; N. B.
Carson, M.D., Assistant to the Chair of Surgery; W. C. Glas-
gow, M.D., Clinical Lecturer on Physical Diagnosis; W. E.
Fischel, M.D., Lecturer on Therapeutics; J. Friedman, M.D.,
Demonstrator on Chemistry; Edward Evers, M.D., Lecturer on
Histology; R. Luedeking, M.D., Lecturer on Pathological An-
atomy ; J. P. Bryson, M.D., Lecturer on Diseases of the Genito-
Urinary Organs; W. A. McCandless, M.D., Frank R. Fry,
M.D., Assistant Demonstrators of Anatomy.
HUMBOLDT INSTITUT ODER DEUTSCHE. — This in-
stitution was organized as a German medical college
in 1859. Lectures were delivered regularly, and two
classes were graduated. It was discontinued during
the war, and in 1866 was reorganized as the Hum-
boldt Medical College. The faculty included the
following : Dr. F. J. Bernays, Professor of Chemistry
and Pharmacy ; Dr. G. Bernays, Professor of Materia
Medica and Midwifery ; Dr. D. Goebel, Professor of
Physics and Higher Mathematics ; Dr. A. Hammer.
Professor of Anatomy, Surgery, and Diseases of the
Eye ; Dr. F. M. Hauck, Professor of Physiology ;
Dr. T. C. Hilgard, Professor of Botany, Zoology, and
Comparative Anatomy ; Dr. C. Roesch, Professor of
General and Special Pathology and Therapeutics and
Clinical Medicine; Dr. E. Schmidt, Professor of
Pathological Anatomy, gerichtlichen Medicine, and
Psychiatry.
The first course of lectures was given during the
winter of 1866-67. The organization of the college
was effected with a view to promoting a higher stan-
dard of medical education. In their prospectus the
faculty announced the purpose of having a longer
term than that of any other medical college in the
country, of arranging a graded course, and of afford-
ing facilities for instruction in the different special-
ties.
The faculty at that time consisted of the following
gentlemen : D. Goebel, Ph.D., Professor of Natural
1 Deceased.
Philosophy; A. Wadgymar, M.D., Professor of Chem-
istry and Botany ; H. S. Leffingwell, M.D., Professor
of General and Descriptive Anatomy; D. V. Dean,
M.D., Professor of Physiology, Histology, and Toxi-
cology; G. M. B. Maughs, M.D., Professor of Ob-
stetrics and Diseases of Women and Children, and
Acting Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeu-
tics; I. P. Vaughan, M.D., Professor of Theory and
Practice of Medicine ; A. Hammer, M.D., Professor
of Principles and Practice of Surgery, Ophthalmol-
ogy, and Clinical Surgery, and Acting Professor of
Pathological Anatomy ; Hon. James J. Lindley, Pro-
fessor of Legal Medicine; A. J. Steele, M.D., Pro-
sector and Demonstrator of Anatomy ; Charles Heyer,
Assistant to Chair of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cu-
rator of Museum ; P. J. Lingenfelder, Assistant to
Chair of Clinical Medicine.
The building of the Humboldt College stood and
still stands on the lot directly fronting the City Hos-
pital, extending from Linn to Closey Street, upon the
south side of Soulard Street. It was an admirable
location, and the building was convenient and well
arranged for the purpose.
Lectures were delivered for three successive winters,
but after the close of the session of 1868-69 most of
the members of the faculty resigned, and the college
was given up.
ST. Louis COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SUR-
GEONS.— After the abandonment of the Humboldt
Medical College in 1869, an organization was effected
under the name of the College of Physicians and
Surgeons, under the leadership of Professor Louis
Bauer, who had then recently come to St. Louis from
Brooklyn. The faculty consisted of
Louis Bauer, M.D., M.R.C.S., Professor of Surgery ; Mon-
trose A. Fallen, M.D., Professor of Gynecology ; Augustus F.
Barnes, M.D., Professor of Obstetrics; T. F. Prewitt, M.D.,
Professor of Surgical Anatomy and Diseases of the Skin ; J.
K. Bauduy, M.D., Professor of Diseases of the Mind and Ner-
vous System ; John Green, M.D., Professor of Ophthalmology ;
G. Baumgarten, M.D., Professor of General Pathology and
Pathological Anatomy ; I. G. W. Steedman, M.D., Professor
of Clinical Surgery and Diseases of the Genito-Urinary Organs;
W. B. Outten, M.D., Professor of Descriptive Anatomy: A. J.
Steele, M.D., Professor of Military and Minor Surgery, Frac-
tures and Dislocations; F. H. McArdle, M.D., Professor of
Chemistry ; J. M. Leete, M.D., Professor of Physical Diagnosis
and Diseases of the Chest; J. M. Scott, M.D., Professor of
Practice of Medicine ; Charles E. Briggs, M.D., Professor of
Physiology ; William L. Barret, M.D., Professor of Diseases
of Children ; James F. Johnson, M.D., Professor of Materia
Medica and Toxicology ; William T. Mason, LL.B., Professor
of Medical Jurisprudence : A. G. Jackes, M.D., Demonstrator
of Anatomy, and Curator of the Museum.
The second year Dr. Barret withdrew from the
faculty. Dr. Briggs took the Professorship of Dis-
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1547
eases of Children, and LeGrand Atwood, M.D., be-
came Professor of Physiology. In the course of this
second year dissensions sprang up between members
of the faculty, and the scheme was abandoned at the
close of the year. The building in which the two
years' lectures were delivered stands on Locust Street,
between Tenth and Eleventh Streets.
It is believed that the first endeavor in the way of
a " practitioners' course," with reference to which so
much has been said and done within the last few
years, was made in connection with the College of
Physicians and Surgeons. Special courses of lectures
were delivered on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
evenings at eight o'clock, commencing Monday, Nov.
1, 1869 ; gynecology, Mondays, by Professor Pallen ;
ophthalmology, Wednesdays, by Professor Green ; or-
thopedic surgery, Fridays, by Professor Bauer. Phy-
sicians and advanced students of medicine were cor-
dially invited to attend.
The present St. Louis College of Physicians and
Surgeons1 was incorporated in 1879 by James 0.
Broadhead, William Hyde, Louis Bauer, M.D.. Isaac
Cook, Gustav Woltman, Charles P. Warner, L. M.
Rumsey, A. A. Millier, Ellis Wainwright, and A. S.
Barnes, M.D., and a faculty was chosen. A building
was procured on the southwest corner of North Market
and Eleventh Streets, which had been previously used
for similar purposes. This was fitted up conveniently,
a dispensary was organized, and material was thus se-
cured for illustration by clinical lectures. The regular
work of the college was commenced in the autumn of
1879, a class of five members being graduated in the
spring of 1880. Each succeeding class has increased
in numbers.
This college demands of its students a certain amount
of knowledge and mental training as preliminary to
admission, and requires a three years' graded course of
study.
The present faculty is composed of
Louis Bauer, M.D., M.R.C.S., Eng., Dean; William B. Haz-
ard, M.D., Secretary and Registrar. General Departments:
Louis Bauer, M.D., M.R.C.S., Eng., Professor of Principles and
Practice of Surgery and Clinical Surgery; Algernon S. Barnes,
M.D., Professor of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women; Robert
M. King, A.M., M.D., Professor of Physiology, Histology, and
Clinical Medicine; William G. Moore, M.D., Professor of Materia
Medica, Therapeutics, and Clinical Medicine; G. Wiley Broome,
M.D., Professor of Anatomy; George AV. Hall, M.D., Professor
of Practice of Medicine and Clinical Professor of Infantile Dis-
eases; Frank L. James, M.D., Professor of Chemistry and
Toxicology. Special Departments: William B. Hazard, M.D.,
Professor of General Pathology and of Nervous and Mental
1 This institution, though having the same name, is entirely
distinct from and independent of that just mentioned, which
still has a legal though not an actual existence.
Diseases; L. H. Laidley, M.D., Professor of the Theory and
Practice of Gynecology; R. A. Vaughan, M.D., Professor of
Diseases of Children, with Clinic; Joseph G. Lodge, Esq., Pro-
fessor of Medical Jurisprudence ; John T. Larew, M.D., Pro-
fessor of Minor Surgery ; A. D. Williams, M.D., Professor of
Ophthalmology and Otology; Edward F. Raband, M.D., Lec-
turer on Pharmacy; G. AViley Broome, M.D., Demonstrator of
Anatomy.
THE ST. Lours SCHOOL OF MIDWIVES was
founded in 1854 as Mrs. Carpentier's School of Mid-
wives, and graduated one class after a four months'
term of instruction each fall. It was incorporated
and placed under its present director, Dr. George J.
Engelmann, in 1874, with an English and German
class. Dr. W. E. Fischel was the instructor of the
English class. This was given up after three years'
trial, as there seemed to be no demand for instruction
by English-speaking women, and now only the Ger-
man class is held. Two courses are given annually,
one continuing from March 1st to June 12th, the
other from September 1st to December 18th. The
names of the incorporators were Dr. George J. En-
gelmann, Mrs. L. Carpentier, Dr. G. Baumgarten,
Dr. John T. Hodgen, Dr. Ph. Weigel, Dr. A. Wis-
lizenus, the latter four constituting the board of ad-
visers. The present board consists of Dr. A. Wis-
lizenus, president ; Dr. G. Baumgarten, secretary ;
Dr. Hugo Kinner, and Dr. George J. Engelmann.
The school is held at the residence of Mrs. Car-
pentier, 911 Chouteau Avenue.
THE COLLEGE FOR MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS
was incorporated April 11, 1882, and its first session
commenced Nov. 11, 1882. It is intended to be
what is indicated by the name, a school for instruc-
tion in special branches, but does not grant diplomas,
only certificates of attendance upon the lectures in one
or more branches or in the full course as the case
may be. The faculty consists of the following :
Thomas F. Rumbold, M.D., Professor of Diseases of
the Nose, Throat, Ears, Lungs, and Heart ; Edward
Borck, A.M., M.D., Professor of Diseases of Chil-
dren and Clinical Surgery ; Hon. Frederick T. Leder-
gerber, Professor of Law, Forensic Medicine, and
Toxicology ; W. B. Outten, M.D., Professor of Rail-
road Surgery; J. H. Mclntyre, A.M., M.D., Pro-
fessor of Gynecology. Besides the instruction im-
parted by these members of the faculty lectures have
been given by William Dickinson, A.M., M.D., Pro-
fessor of Ophthalmology ; B. Roemer, M.D., Professor
of Diseases of the Nervous System and Venereal
Diseases ; Garland Hurt, M.D., Etiology, Hygiene,
and Management of Diseases; A. H. Ohmann-
Dumesnil, A.M., M.D., Skin Diseases; H. Marks,
M.D., Demonstrator of Anatomy, Lecturer on Pneu-
1548
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
raonia. Non-resident professors : David Prince,
M.D., Plastic Surgery, Electro-Therapeutics, and
Message; William A. Byrd, M.D., Surgical Lesions
of the Abdominal Viscera ; Hiram Christopher,
A.M., M.D., Medical Chemistry and Urinology ; A.
E. Prince, M.D., Demonstrator of Operative Ophthal-
mology.
THE ST. Louis COLLEGE OF PHARMACY was or-
ganized in the spring of 1865.1
At first the meetings of the college were held in
the dispensary building of the St. Louis Medical Col-
lege, and the chairs originally established were those
of chemistry and botany, materia medica, and phar-
macy. At this time the officers and faculty of the
college were :
President, A. Leitch ; Vice-Presidents, E. L. Massot and E.
Sauder; Corresponding Secretary, J. O'Gallagher, M.t>. ; Re-
cording Secretary, C. L. Lips, M.D. ; Treasurer, M. W. Alex-
ander; Register, J. R. Coleman, M.D.; Board of Trustees, ex
officio the officers of the College, E. L. Massot (chairman), J.
McBride (secretary), Col. J. O'Fallon, Henry Shaw, I. II. Stur-
geon, Drs. J. Barnes, C. Roesch, J. Laughton, M. M. Pallen,
G. Engelmann, J. T. Hodgen, and Messrs. W. Primm, H. Kirch-
ner, T. Kalb, F. W. Sennewald, E. Fasold, W. D'Oench ; Faculty,
A. Wadgyniar, Professor of Chemistry and Botany; J. S. B.
Alleyne, M.D., Professor of Materia Medica; J. O'Gallagher,
M.D., Professor of Pharmacy.
The college is now located at the southeast corner
of Fifth and Olive Streets, and its officers are F. W.
Sennewald, president; Charles Getner, vice-president;
Edmund P. Walsh, secretary; W. C. Bolm, corre-
sponding secretary ; and S. Boehm, treasurer.
Hospitals, Dispensaries, Medical Charities.—
ST. LOUIS MULLANPHY HOSPITAL (SISTERS' HOS-
PITAL). — It was in 1828 that the Sisters' Hospital
was first instituted. In that year John Mullanphy
donated to Joseph Rosatti, then bishop of the Catho-
lic diocese, in trust for this hospital, one hundred feet
of ground fronting on Fourth Street and running to
Third Street, on the south side of Spruce Street. A
small building was erected at first, the remainder of
the lot being devoted to a garden and orchard. As
1 "The opinion has long prevailed among the members of the
medical profession and the body of apothecaries of St. Louis
that some measure should he taken for the scientific development
of pharmacy in this city by more highly educating the apothe-
caries' clerks, and protecting the interests of both classes against
the baneful influence of illiterate men. At several preliminary
meetings of physicians and apothecaries to consider the steps
necessary for the above purpose an organization was perfected,
and now we have established among us a College of Pharmacv.
The institution, though yet in its infancy, bids fair to stand
firmly, and, like similar institutions of Eastern cities, to exert
a highly beneficial influence upon those whom it most nearly
concerns. Already its list of members is large, and rapidly
increasing from day to day." — Republican, April 1, IM;;,.
occasion required new buildings were erected, until
not only the whole frontage on all three streets was
covered, but the rear of the lot also, leaving a large
area in the centre, used as a promenade by convales-
cent patients. The first building occupied by the sis-
ters was a log cabin. The four sisters who came here
in 1 828 were Sister Frances Xavier, who was the first
Lady Superior here, Sister Rebecca Dellone, Sister
Frances Regis, and Sister Martina. They were mem-
bers of the order of the Sisters of Charity of St.
Vincent de Paul, which was established at Emmitts-
burg, Md., in 1809, by Mother Seton, a daughter of
Dr. Bailey, a celebrated surgeon of New York City.
In 1831 four more sisters joined the little community
in St. Louis.
In 1831 the corner-stone was laid of the brick
building which stood so many years on the corner of
Fourth and Spruce Streets. It was the first hospital
of the kind established west of the Mississippi, and
it has acquired the unquestioned confidence of the
community. It is not, however, a public charity in
the general acceptation of the term. The public use it,
but it is intended to be and should be self-sustaining.
Those who are able, go there and pay for attendance,
preferring it either to a public or a private hospital,
and strangers especially and persons who have no
homes of their own prefer it generally to other insti-
tutions of the kind.
In the growth of the city westward the original lo-
cation became an undesirable one for a hospital, and
in the middle of July, 1874, the patients were re-
moved to a fine new building in the western part of
the city, one square east of Grand Avenue. The
building fronts on Montgomery Street, toward the
south ; the north side is on Cardinal Street, the east
side on Colman Street, and the west on Bacon Street.
The cost of the building was not far from one hun-
dred and fifty thousand dollars. The area of the site
was five hundred by two hundred and fifty-five feet.
The hospital buildings present a stately appearance
as one approaches the place along Grand Avenue, the
vast pile of brick looming up, with the white facings,
above the surrounding elevations. The main build-
ings, together with the east and west wings, are four
stories high, while the connecting wings have a height
of only three stories. The interior arrangements of
the hospital are all that modern improvements could
suggest. The buildings will accommodate three hun-
dred patients comfortably, and contain fifty private
rooms, which are all large and elegantly furnished,
also large and well-ventilated wards devoted to the
different departments of medicine and surgery. The
specialties are thoroughly recognized, and we find
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1549
distinct departments of surgery, general medicine,
diseases of the chest and throat, diseases of women,
and diseases of the eye and ear. In addition to the
usual hospital accommodations, there is also a large
and rich polyclinic, consisting of the departments of
surgery, medicine, diseases of chest and throat, dis-
eases of women and children, and diseases of the eye
and ear. In these clinics patients are treated gratui-
tously, and medicine is furnished at moderate rates.
There are at present twenty sisters connected with
the hospital, the entire institution being in charge of I
Sisters Theresa and Servente.
The names of the Sisters Superior who have had
charge of this hospital, with their terms of service,
are the following : Sister Frances Xavier, for five
years; Sister Rebecca Delorne, for one year; Sister
Seraphina, three years ; Sister Alexis, twenty-five
years ; Sister Anacaria, two years ; Sister Mary Rosa,
four years ; Sister Theresa, one year. The medical
staff at present comprises the following : E. H. Greg-
ory, M.D., surgeon-in-chief; N. B. Carson, M.D.,
surgeon ; P. Y. Tupper, M.D., assistant ; S. Pollak,
M.D., surgeon to department of eye and ear ; W. C.
Glasgow, M.D., physician to department of diseases
of the chest and throat; L. L. McCabe, M.D., physi-
cian to male medical department ; B. T. Whitraore,
M.D., assistant; G. A. Moses, M.D., physician to
female medical department; F. A. Glasgow, M.D.,
assistant.
Dr. E. H. Gregory, surgeon-in-chief of the hospi-
tal, was born near Russellville, Ky., Sept. 10, 1824.
He was educated in Kentucky, at an institution of
which his father had charge. He graduated in med-
icine from the Medical Department of the St. Louis
University in 1849, and after practicing medicine for !
two or three years in Cooper and Morgan Counties,
Mo., removed to St. Louis in 1852. He has been
connected with the St. Louis Medical College as ,
Demonstrator of Anatomy and Professor of Surgery '
since 1852, and has for many years been at the head !
of the medical organization of the Sisters' Hospital.
He is a popular lecturer, an able surgeon of conserv-
ative tendency, and has had the best success in ovari-
otomy of any operator in St. Louis.
ST. ANN'S WIDOWS' HOME, LYING-IN HOSPI-
TAL, AND FOUNDLING ASYLUM. — This institution
was organized May 12, 1853, and was incorporated I
in March, 1859, in the name of the Sisters of Char-
ity. It was originally situated in the southern part
of the city, on the corner of Marion and Minard
Streets, in a house hired for the purpose. The pres- ;
ent building on the southeast corner of O'Fallon and
Tenth Streets was erected in 1857-58, and was first
occupied Sept. 8, 1858. The physicians who have
had professional charge of the lying-in hospital were
Dr. L. Ch. Boisliniere, from 1853 to 1861 ; Dr. Shu-
mard, 1861 to 1865 ; E. L. Feehan, 1865 to 1874 ;
Dr. William Reilly, 1874 to 1879 ; Dr. A. A. Henske,
from 1879 to the present time.
The ground on which this building was erected
was donated by Mrs. Ann Biddle, and the institution
takes its name from her. The lying-in patients ac-
commodated in this hospital (including private pa-
tients) number from one hundred and twenty-five to
one hundred and fifty per annum. The number of in-
fants received (born in the house" and brought thither
as foundlings) was three hundred and eighty-five in
the year 1882.
ST. VINCENT'S INSTITUTION FOR THE INSANE,
situated on the southeast corner of Marion and Deca-
tur Streets, was founded Aug. 10, 1858, by the Sis-
ters of Charity. The archbishop by way of encour-
agement gave them a lease for ten years on their
present building, which was originally built for an
orphanage. By 1867 the sisters had paid for the
house. During the next year they built an addition
and raised the old building one story. There is now
a centre building fronting on Decatur Street and two
wings. In 1881 the sisters were incorporated under
the name of St. Vincent's Institution for the Insane,
under the management of the Sisters of Charity, with
Sister Julia as superior. The building is large, well
ventilated, and fitted up with every convenience neces-
sary for an institution of that character. The grounds
on which the building stands cover an entire block,
and are laid out in shady walks. All classes of in-
sane persons and of all denominations, without regard
to the duration of the disease or its curability, are
admitted ; also a limited number of those addicted to
the use of opium and other stimulants to excess. A
farm belonging to the institution, a short distance in
the country, affords a source of much pleasure and
recreation for the patients during the spring and sum-
mer. The asylum is private. Patients who are able
pay, and what is left after defraying the actual expenses
goes towards the support of the charity patients, of
whom there is an average of forty-five in the house.
Dr. John A. Seavy was the first physician in charge
of the institution, and its present medical attendants
are Dr. Jerome K. Bauduy, who has been the at-
tending physician for nearly a score of years, and Dr.
A. B. Shaw, who has recently been associated with
him.
DISPENSARY. — As heretofore stated, the first free
dispensary for the gratuitous treatment of the poor
was established by Drs. S. G. Moses, William Me-
1550
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Pheeters, George Johnson, J. B. Johnson, C. A.
Pope, and Joseph Clark. Drs. Beaumont and Hard- j
age Lane were the consulting physicians. The six
young physicians first mentioned pledged each other
that they would each give an hour a day to the work
at the dispensary and take charge of out-door cases
in one of the city wards, and that they would carry
on the work for five years. The out-door service in
the different wards was changed every six months, so
as to equalize the work as much as possible. Dr.
Moses was president of the organization. Through
the kind offer of Dr. Eliot, the basement of the Uni-
tarian Church, which then stood on the northwest
corner of Pine and Fourth Streets, was placed at
their disposal, and was occupied for some years. At
the end of the first year the dispensary was several j
hundred dollars in debt. At that time an ordinance
was passed by virtue of which the president of the
dispensary was made an honorary member of the
Board of Health, and an appropriation of five hundred
dollars per annum was secured, thus enabling them
to procure a stock of medicine and lighten the ex-
pense materially. A number of philanthropic citizens
contributed generously to the support of the under-
taking, among whom the Mullanphy family may be
mentioned specially. Collections were taken up in
the churches for the same object. Gradually the
debt was extinguished, and when the dispensary was
given up, seven years after its establishment, it
owed nothing. It was discontinued because the city
established a public dispensary and withdrew the ap-
propriation for medicines for this charity. The col-
leges also had established dispensaries, and the original
dispensary seemed to be no longer needed.
CITY HOSPITAL. — At the meeting of the City
Council on the 10th of July, 1845, an ordinance
was passed directing the appointment of a committee
of five to select a building site and cause plans to be
made for a city hospital. The committee selected a tract
of ground, embracing about twenty-eight acres, in the
city common, at the head of Soulard Street and west
of St. Ange Avenue, bounded north by Linn Street and
south by Lafayette Avenue, the same ground where
the hospital now stands. This site was originally oc- I
cupied by the St. Louis cemetery. The land was sur- i
veyed by Henry Kayser, city engineer, and contracts !
were awarded in August of that year for the con-
struction of the building. The hospital was partly
completed (the original plans as prepared by Thomas
Walsh were not fully carried out), and was immedi-
ately put to use in August, 1846. The building was
then one hundred and eleven feet long by fifty and a
half feet wide, which was but the northern half of
the whole front, originally designed to be two hun-
dred and thirteen feet in length, with extended wings
on each side running westwardly. It was three stories
in height, inclusive of stone basement nine feet above
ground. Besides rooms for domestic purposes and
officers' quarters, there were on the principal floor
three wards for patients, and on the second floor six
wards. The wards measured from nineteen by nine-
teen and a half to nineteen by thirty-eight feet. The
part of the building then completed cost $17,068.57.
Drs. John S. Moore and M. M. Pallen, health officers
under Mayor Bernard Pratte, were appointed to take
charge of the hospital, and to have the sick removed
from the St. Louis Hospital, where they had pre-
viously been attended to at the city's expense.
The succeeding mayor, Peter G. Camden, was em-
powered to appoint, by and with the consent of the
Council, a resident physician to serve one year at a
salary of two hundred dollars per annum ; four attend-
ing physicians, to be selected from the medical schools
of the city alternately, each physician to serve three
months ; four consulting physicians to serve one year,
and one steward and one matron, at a yearly salary,
respectively, of six hundred and two hundred dollars.
The hospital could accommodate about ninety pa-
tients, and was supplied with few conveniences. The
grounds were not inclosed. The following was the
staff of officers under the first organization : Dr. David
0. Glasscock, resident physician ; Col. N. Wyman,
steward ; Mrs. Susan F. Wyman, matron ; Drs. B.
Bush Mitchell, J. B. Johnson, Charles A. Pope, and
Thomas Barbour, attending physicians ; Drs. William
Beaumont, John S. Moore, Thomas Reyburn, and J.
N. McDowell, consulting surgeons. The second resi-
dent physician was Dr. D. M. Cooper, assisted by Drs.
E. F. Smith and John T. Hodgen. Dr. David Prince,
now of Jacksonville, 111., was resident physician of
the hospital during the cholera season of 1849 until
the epidemic had to a great extent subsided, when he
was succeeded by Dr. T. Y. Bannister, who held the
position until 1857. He was succeeded by Dr. 0. C.
Johnson, and he by Dr. L. T. Pine ; then followed in
order Drs. A. Jaminet, J. V. L. Brokaw, R. H.
Paddock, Charles Spinzig, J. W. Hall, E. D. Clark,
J. G. Morgan, T. F. Prewitt, G. Hurt, and D. V.
Dean, who still holds the position, and under whose
charge the institution has been greatly improved in
efficiency and equipment, while the expense of admin-
istration has been materially diminished.
On May 15, 1856, the hospital was almost wholly
destroyed by fire, which broke out about three o'clock
in the morning in the lecture-room in the southwest
wing of the building, and in a few hours only a ruin
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1551
was left. The patients were all removed, and those
who were unable to assist themselves were carried to
the Sisters' Hospital at Fourth and Spruce Streets,
where they were cared for. Only one life was lost,
that of an insane Italian, who rushed back into the
flames after having been once rescued. Arrange-
ments were then made for the use of a part of the
United States Marine Hospital and of the buildings
on the county farm until the hospital could be re-
built. In May, 1857, the main building and exten-
sion of the hospital were completed, but were not
occupied until the following July. The total cost of
rebuilding the hospital was $46,079.16; the engines,
outhouses, fences, etc., cost about $16,000.
The grounds of the hospital contain some eight
acres. An ornamental garden about forty feet wide
lies between the front of the building and Linn Street,
on which it fronts. The main building is in the shape
of an " L," the wing facing toward Lafayette Avenue.
During the years 1873-74 a new wing was erected
on the Lafayette Avenue side of the lot four stories
in height, including the basement. It is "T"-shaped,
measuring thirty-four by one hundred and twenty
feet and thirty-eight by fifty-six feet. This has re-
lieved to a considerable degree the overcrowded con-
dition of the hospital, but the building is still inade-
quate to the requirements of so large a city as St.
Louis.
THE HOUSE OF INDUSTRY was opened Oct. 1,
1872, for the reception of patients, and was devoted
to the treatment of women who were sent thither on
certificate of the examining physicians under the
" social evil" registration law. Dr. E. P. Powers was
the resident physician until the spring of 1875, when
Dr. P. V. Schenck was appointed to that position,
and the hospital was made a general female hospital
for the reception of all the female patients of the city,
except such cases of emergency and night cases as
cannot be carried to such a distance. The building
is a fine brick structure, situated upon high ground in
the western part of the city, one mile west of Tower
Grove Park. The present superintendent is Dr.
George F. Hulbert.
THE UNITED STATES MARINE HOSPITAL/ for the
treatment of sick and disabled seamen of the mer-
chant marine, is situated on Marine Avenue, south of
the United States Arsenal, in the southern portion of
the city overlooking the river, and is distant about
three miles from the custom-house. The surgeon in
1 The author is indebted for the greater part of the material
from which this sketch is compiled to Dr. Henry W. Sawtelle,
surgeon in charge of the United States Marine Hospital.
charge is Dr. Henry W. Sawtelle. The local quaran-
tine station is about twelve miles below the city, and
during the sickly season all vessels hailing from epi-
demic regions are carefully inspected, good accommo-
dations being provided for those persons who are de-
tained for examination or treatment.
By the act of 3d March, 1837, an appropriation
was made, and authority given the President of the
United States to cause to be selected suitable sites for
marine hospitals on the Western waters for the benefit
of sick seamen, boatmen, and all other navigators on
the Western rivers and lakes, restricting the number
to three on the Mississippi, three on the Ohio, and
one on Lake Erie. To accomplish its provisions the
President was authorized to call to his aid a board of
the medical staff of the army. The commission ap-
pointed under the provisions of this act reported in
November, 1837, which report was laid before Con-
gress with the documents accompanying the Presi-
dent's message to the second session of the Twenty-
fifth Congress. In that report, among other sites
selected and contracted for, was one at St. Louis, for
the sum of seven thousand four hundred and sixty-
eight dollars.
The board of surgeons, in their report, state : " From
the most authentic information in their reach, there
were at that time navigating the Ohio and Missis-
sippi Rivers 638 steamboats, requiring the employ-
ment of 15,950 hands, and the number of officers
and hands navigating those rivers in keel- and flat-
boats was estimated at 30,000, making the aggregate
number engaged in navigating those rivers 45,940
men." The same report, when remarking on the site
selected at St. Louis, says, " St. Louis, as the site
selected for the third and last hospital on the Missis-
sippi River, presents such superior and evident claims
over every other town on the upper portion of the
river that it is hardly necessary to enumerate them."
By the act of the 29th of August, 1842, Congress
appropriated the sum of seven thousand four hundred
and sixty-eight dollars, the amount which had been
stipulated in the contract made by the board of sur-
geons with William C. Carr for the site selected by
them at St. Louis. The money not having been ap-
propriated and paid within the time stipulated, Mr.
Carr having declined executing the conveyance, and
no further action having been taken by Congress, the
money appropriated reverted back to the treasury.
The Treasury Department, however, contracted for
the maintenance of patients at the Charity Hospital
in St. Louis, at three dollars per week for each one,
board, lodging, nursing, medical attendance, etc., sup-
plied by the hospital. At these prices the funds
1552
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
assigned went but little way in supplying the numer-
ous persons claiming aid.
On the 13th of January, 1846, Hon. James H.
Relfe introduced into Congress a resolution instruct-
ing the Committee on Commerce to inquire into the
expediency of establishing a marine hospital at St.
Louis. The necessary legislation was secured, and a
board of surgeons appointed in 1848 to select a site,
the amount of the purchase-money being limited to
ten thousand dollars. In 1849 the additional sum
of twenty thousand dollars was appropriated. A site
was selected on the ground known as the Magazine
lot, situated about half a mile below the United States
Arsenal, and between Carondelet Avenue and the
Mississippi River, which was transferred to the medi-
cal service by the War Department in 1850. In
January, 1852, the hospital was under roof, and
about the 1st of August, 1855, was occupied by the
Marine Hospital patients, who were then divided
between the City Hospital and the Charity Hos-
pital. After the act passed for the erection of the
Marine Hospital, Dr. J. N. McDowell was appointed
hospital physician.
The building erected in 1855 is a parallelogram,
one hundred and eight feet by eighty-seven. It has
three floors, a basement, an attic, and a cupola, and
the roof is pyramidal. Each floor on both east and
west sides has open porticoes, fifty-four feet by ten,
which are connected with the wards by large central
and end halls. On each floor are eight large rooms
or wards, with small rooms on the extreme corners,
which open into the side hallways. The kitchen,
convalescents' and attendants' dining-rooms, dispen-
sary, office, and surgeon's quarters are on the first floor,
the wards for patients being on the second and third.
While the external conditions are excellent, the
grounds being high and rolling, with a free circula-
tion of air, the internal arrangements, both as re-
gards ventilation and easy management, are defective,
the only escape for the impure air, except through the
windows and doors, being found in the octagonal cu-
pola, four sheet-iron pipes passing through the roof,
six small skylights, and four wooden shafts opening
from the outside into the east and west attic rooms,
with no provision to convey the foul air from the
wards to the attic.
During the civil war the hospital was used for
the sick and wounded of the army, and to meet the
emergency temporary wards were constructed of
rough material after the barrack plan on three sides
of a square just north of the main building, the
stone walls around the court forming an oblong
square, within which were built a large stone powder
magazine and a wooden tank-house. The wards are
four hundred and fifty-one feet in length, nineteen
and one-fourth in width, and nine and one-half in
height, which, with the present average number of
patients, gives sixteen hundred and forty-nine cubic
feet of air-space per man. They are well ventilated
by thirteen wooden shafts passing through the centre
of the roof. A piazza extends entirely around the
outside of the building.
Three experiments have been made at heating the
main building. Originally hot-air furnaces were
used, and subsequently fireplaces and stoves, which
in turn gave place to a steam-heating apparatus.
Through some defect, however, sufficient heat could
not be maintained by the latter method, and the ap-
paratus was removed several years ago. Stoves and
open grates have since been depended upon. The
pavilion wards are also heated by means of large
stoves.
In the autumn of 1879 the temporary pavilion
wards were repaired sufficiently to make them suitable
for winter use. The walls were clap-boarded, a new
composition roof and stone porches were built, and
the open spaces under the veranda sheathed. During
the summer of the same year an abundant water sup-
ply was obtained by tapping the city main on Marine
Avenue in front of the hospital, and the old tank-
house was torn down, together with the remaining
portion of the stone wall at the south end of the
court which originally formed the square. The stone
powder-house or magazine still remains, and is used to
accommodate the engine, boiler, and laundry. Ground
was broken for the new executive building of the
hospital Sept. 15, 1881, and the building was com-
pleted and ready for occupation Feb. 15, 1882. The
plans were prepared under the direction of the sur-
geon-general. The building stands on the northwest
portion of the reservation, commanding a fine view
of the river and surrounding country. It is a brick
structure, forty-four feet front by forty-two, with lime-
stone caps for the windows and doors, and a veranda
in front, and is connected with the pavilion wards by
a covered way. It has two floors and a basement,
attic and observatory. The basement rooms are used
principally for store-rooms.
The surgeon's office, reception-room, dispensary,
and operating-room are on the first floor, and the
second, floor is occupied as quarters for the steward
and attendants. The main hall is ten feet wide, with
a marble-tiled floor, and the interior trimmings are
of Eastlake design. All the doors have transoms,
which operate by patent fastenings. The rooms are
provided with ventilating registers which open into
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1553
flues and terminate in the attic, from which point tin
tubes are carried immediately under the slate roof to
the ventilating louvres in the roof lunettes of the ob-
servatory. The first floor is heated by a furnace and
open grates, with anthracite coal as fuel. The second
floor is heated by means of small stoves. The dis-
pensary, operating-room, and officers' bath-room are
provided with hot water from a cylinder boiler, with
proper attachments to a small base-heater. The build-
ing contains all the latest improvements and con-
veniences, and is admirably adapted for its purposes.
QUARANTINE HOSPITAL. — Prior to 1854 the
quarantine station was on Arsenal Island, but as the
southern part of the city became more densely
peopled, objections were made to the hospital being
kept in that location, and arrangements were made
for its removal to a location some eleven and a half
miles south of the city. In 1855 two small, badly-
ventilated buildings were constructed for the recep-
tion of such patients as might be taken from the
boats, and a stone house already upon the property
refitted for the residence of the officers. In 1867
four large buildings upon Arsenal Island were re-
moved to quarantine, and thus a first-class hospital
was established there. This hospital was discontinued
as a general hospital, but is continued now as a small-
pox hospital, and during the yellow fever season of
1878 yellow fever cases were taken there. Dr. A.
Montgomery was the resident physician in 1867 ; in
1869, Dr. Thomas Fox had charge, and in 1870, Dr.
Robert A. Burgess. Then followed Drs. S. H. Bro-
kaw and R. A. Anderson. The latter officer was in
charge of the hospital when it was discontinued as a
general hospital.
ST. LUKE'S HOSPITAL. — Two preliminary meet-
ings were held in the early part of the month of
November, 1865, in a room in the Mercantile Library
by a few zealous Episcopalians, for the purpose of con-
sidering the advisability and the need of establishing
a hospital for the sick, and for furthering other church
work in a portion of the city needing the labors of a
missionary. Those present were Rev. J. P. Cannon,
M.D., and William H. Thompson, R. H. Spenger,
H. S. Brown, J. R. Triplett, E. H. Mead, B. E.
Walker, Charles Thaw, R. M. Wilson, W. T. Mason,
E. A. Corbett, E. P. Curtis, M. N. Burchard, J.
Percival, F. A. Lane, Henry Brown, V. W. Knapp,
Herbert Bell, M. Williams, James Mitchell, W. B.
Crittenden, and Mr. Donaldson.
At their suggestion a meeting was called by Bishop
Hawks in the basement of St. George's Church of the
rectors and members of the Episcopal Church in the
city, to which the whole matter was referred. At
that meeting there were present of the clergy the Rev.
Drs. Berkley and Schuyler, and the Rev. Messrs.
McKim and Spencer ; of the laity, J. P. Down, J.
W. Luke, Edward Mead, R. H. Franklin, J. F.
Madison, Francis Hawks, H. S. Brown, Charles
Mauro, Judge W. F. Ferguson, and Dr. J. J. Clark.
Articles of organization were approved, and the name
" St. Luke's Association" was adopted.
A building was erected for a hospital on an elevated
plateau with spacious grounds between Ohio and
Sumner Streets, and was in many respects admirably
adapted to the purpose. The first patient was not ad-
mitted until the following April. The first medical
staff was composed of Drs. J. B. Johnson, J. S. B.
Alleyne, J. J. McDowell, J. J. Clark, E. S. Lemoine,
F. V. L. Brokaw, T. F. Prewitt, and James P. Gal-
lagher.
During the summer of 1866, St. Louis was visited
by that fearful scourge, Asiatic cholera, and St.
Luke's Infirmary was thrown open to the public for
gratuitous treatment of cholera patients during its
continuance. The history of the hospital was for
years one of financial embarrassment and painstaking,
earnest endeavor on the part of the board of trustees
to secure and wisely dispose of the funds necessary
to make it a success.
In September, 1867, an important step was taken
in the right direction. It was resolved " that, for the
purpose of insuring greater efficiency in the house-
hold management, a board of lady visitors be consti-
tuted, to consist of two ladies for each city parish."
The experience of over three years convinced the
friends of the hospital that in its then location it was
too far removed from the centre of population, and
particularly inaccessible for surgical patients brought
in from railroads and demanding immediate care. A
removal was, therefore, determined upon and effected
in the month of March, 1870, to the corner of Elm
and Sixth Streets.
Upon this removal rooms were furnished by the
ladies of Christ Church and St. George's, and also
the Good Samaritan room by Mrs. Triplett. A new in-
terested seem to be aroused among the ladies by reason
of the nearness and accessibility of the hospital. In
November, 1873, Dr. Pottinger was elected visiting
physician, and Dr. Hodgen invited to act as surgeon-
in-chief, and Dr. Pallen as assistant. In June, 1873,
the hospital was removed to a building on the north
side of Pine Street, between Ninth and Tenth Streets.
At the annual meeting in 1874 the board reported
the hospital as entirely out of debt. For some years
every effort has been put forth to secure the means
for erecting a building for the hospital. This has at
1554
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
length been accomplished, and now the hospital (the
corner-stone of which was laid on the 26th of June,
1881) is located at the northeast corner of Washing-
ton Avenue and Twentieth Street. The structure,
which cost forty-one thousand dollars, is built on land
donated by Henry Shaw, and was dedicated on Whit-
sunday, May 28, 1882. Messrs. Barnett & Taylor
were the architects of the building, in the internal
arrangements of which, under the supervision of Dr.
John Green, every device and appliance for the care
of the sick suggested by modern science has been
carried out. The outside walls are double, with air-
chambers between, and the floors are of marble or of
yellow-pine stained and waxed. The other woodwork
is of sweet-gum, with ash and cypress, oiled. The
plumbing and ventilation are in accordance with strict
sanitary conditions. There is a fire-proof Whittier
elevator, large enough for a cot and patient, and the
rooms are furnished luxuriously, most of them being
memorial gifts, as, for instance, the reception-room,
furnished by Mrs. Kennett ; the waiting-room, by
Mrs. Sides ; the private parlor, by Mrs. Foster ; two
rooms to the memory of the late Dr. John T. Hodgen,
by E. C. Simmons and Mrs. Tyler ; the Schuyler
room, by Christ Church ; the Holy Communion room,
by the church of that name ; Trinity room, by Trinity
Church ; Mount Calvary room, by Mount Calvary
Church ; the Susan R. Larkin, St. Barbara's, and Bu-
chanan memorial rooms, by ladies who withhold their
names ; and other rooms by Mrs. Wainwright, Mrs.
Thornburgh, Mrs. Whitelaw, Mrs. Pickham, Mrs.
Plant, Mrs. Dimmock, Mrs. Lewis, and others. The
internal management of the hospital since 1872 has
been under the control of the Sisterhood of the Good
Shepherd.
In that year the Sisterhood transferred their residence
from Baltimore to St. Louis, and immediately took
charge of the internal management of the hospital.
They also have control of the Protestant Episcopal
Orphans' Home, which they relinquished in 1874 to
establish the School of the Good Shepherd for Girls.
This was carried on for three years at 1532 Wash-
ington Avenue, and was then removed to 2029 Park
Avenue, where it is now. There are now in the order
eight full sisters, one probationer, and three asso-
ciated sisters.
The present medical staff of St. Luke's Hospital
are Drs. H. H. Mudd, junior surgeon ; E. S. Lemoine,
J. S. B. Alleyne, John Green, W. L. Barret, W. E.
Fischel, M. H. Post, William Porter, R. H. Real-
hofer, G. F. Gill.
THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL ORPHANS' HOME,
on Grand Avenue, at the head of Lafayette Avenue,
was organized in 1848 by Rev. Whiting Griswold,
rector of St. John's Church. Its first site was the
corner of Eleventh and North Market Streets. Its
present home was erected in 1873 at a cost of forty
thousand dollars, on land given by Henry Shaw. It
has endowments amounting to about forty thousand
dollars, and provides for about sixty children at a
time. Carrie V. Burchard is matron, and Rev. Ben-
jamin E. Reed is chaplain.
THE ST. Louis EYE AND EAR INFIRMARY, AND
INFIRMARY FOR DISEASES OF THE THROAT, was
incorporated Dec. 23, 1871. It was located at Nos.
1407 and 1409 North Twelfth Street (between
O'Fallon Street and Cass Avenue), and was estab-
lished for the gratuitous treatment of all poor persons
suffering from affections of the eye, ear, and throat.
The dispensary was open daily (except Sunday) from
1 to 2.30 o'clock P.M.
The following gentlemen composed the board of
trustees :
James E. Yeatman, president, William G. Eliot, John B. John-
son, Albert Todd, Carlos S. Greeley, Henry Hitchcock, William
Glasgow, Jr., secretary and treasurer ; consulting physicians,
J. B. Johnson, M.D., William M. McPheeters, M.D., T. L.
Papin, M.D., John T. Hodgen, M.D., E. H. Gregory, M.D., G.
Baumgarten, M.D. ; attending surgeons, John Green, M.D., H.
N. Spencer, M.D., William C. Glasgow, M.D., Charles A. Todd,
M.D.
After being sustained for a couple of years at the
site mentioned, the staff discontinued their service as
such, and Dr. John Green transferred the infirmary
to St. Luke's Hospital, in connection with which it
is still carried on.
ST. JOHN'S HOSPITAL is one of several enterprises
carried on under the fostering care of the Sisters of
Mercy, an order established in the city of Dublin,
Ireland, by Miss Catherine McAuley. The sisters
first came to St. Louis in 1856, and established a
school at Tenth and Morgan Streets. As they gained
influence and means they undertook other work, and
in 1871, at the suggestion of Drs. Papin and Yarnall,
they established an infirmary for women and children.
This rapidly grew and necessitated enlargement of ac-
commodations and extension of facilities until now,
besides the main building on the corner of Morgan
and Twenty-third Streets, to which they moved in
1861, wings have been erected on each of those
streets, and accommodations are now afforded for one
hundred and fifty patients, which can readily be in-
creased to two hundred as occasion demands. The
medical service is now under the direclion of the
faculty of the Missouri Medical College, whose fine
building on Twenty-third Street and Lucas Avenue
is directly connected with the hospital. One wing of
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1555
the building is devoted to male aud another to female
patients, and different wards are set apart for surgical
and medical cases, while there is a considerable num-
ber of single rooms which patients can have to them-
selves with the privilege of employing any physician ,
whom they may choose. The sisters also conduct a ;
school for poor girls, and an industrial school for chil-
dren, and supply lodging for deserving women out of
employment. Mother De Pazzi, the Superior, has
been with the convent since its organization.
ALEXIAN BROTHERS' HOSPITAL. — The order
which conducts this institution was established in
Germany in the fourteenth century, during the prev-
alence of the plague known as the " black death," and
for the purpose of ministering to its victims. It has
since been devoted to the care of the sick and insane.
The St. Louis branch was established in October, 1869,
and chartered March, 1870, with Brother Stanislaus
Schwiperich as its first president, and Brother Prochus i
Schutte as secretary. The first house occupied (a small
one) was bought with the grounds in 1870 ; the pres-
ent building (the corner-stone of which was laid June
6, 1873) has a front of one hundred and seventy-six
feet by a depth of thirty feet, and was opened for pa-
tients June 4, 1874. The building, which is situated
at Jefferson Avenue and Osage Street, is of an im-
posing exterior, and is fitted up with every appliance
for the care and comfort of its inmates. It will ac-
commodate one hundred patients. The grounds con-
tain about four and a half acres, and bear eloquent
testimony to the industry and gardening skill of the
brothers. During the year 1881 nine hundred and
thirty-six patients were treated. The hospital is open
to people of all denominations, and the poor are re-
ceived without charge, but those able are expected to
pay. It is mainly supported, however, by collections
and donations. The present officers are Brother
Jodacus Schiffer, president ; Brother Hubert Cremer,
vice-president ; Brother Dominicus, secretary; Brother
Prochus, treasurer. The hospital is attended by Drs.
Gregory, Lutz, and Wesseler.
THE ST. Louis LYING-IN CHARITY AND LYING-
IN HOSPITAL. — This charity was incorporated Nov.
30, 1874, its object being " to inaugurate an institu-
tion whereby a mother with a family of dependent
children could be, in the hour of her extremity, at-
tended to and relieved of her suffering, as also one
whereat the sick and helpless of her sex could at all
times apply for medical and surgical aid."
A board of directors was appointed, consisting of
Drs. John B. Johnson, president ; George J. Engel-
mann, secretary; John T. Hodgen, Philip Weigel,
A. Wislizenus, and G. Baumgarten. The medical
staff consisted of Dr. George J. Engelmann, physi-
cian-in-chief ; Dr. G. Baumgarten, consulting physi-
cian ; and Drs. E. M. Nelson, Edward Evers, W.
Wyman, W. E. Fischel, A. M. Bierwirth, and I. N.
Love, attending physicians. The members of the
graduating classes at the St. Louis School of Mid-
wives volunteered their services to nurse patients of
the charity during the following year.
A committee of prominent ladies from different
parts of the city was organized, and took an active
part in raising funds, and in other ways extending
the influence and usefulness of the organization, while
the leading druggists filled gratuitously prescriptions
written by the medical staff for patients of the
charity. The first patient was attended at her own
home under the auspices of the charity Jan. 22,
1875.
One year after the organization of the out-door
department it was deemed practicable to inaugurate
the hospital. This was done by renting the building
2834 Franklin Avenue, now occupied by the Chil-
dren's Hospital, which was partially furnished and
opened Dec. 1, 1875.
In March, 1877, the hospital was moved to the
building on the northwest corner of Clark Avenue
and Fifteenth Street, where the work was continued
until the close of the year 1879, when it was found
necessary to give it up for lack of means to continue
it. During the five years of its existence a great
deal of good was accomplished.
THE MISSOURI EYE AND EAR INFIRMARY was
founded in 1876 by Dr. R. Gebser, and incorporated
in August of that year. Dr. Gebser carried on the
infirmary at his own expense for three and a half
years, until his death, since which time it has been
kept up by Dr. W. A. Frazier, who was associated
with Dr. Gebser. The infirmary is located at 1304
Chestnut Street, and has been the means of affording
relief to a large number of worthy poor.
CONVENT AND HOSPITAL OF THE FRANCISCAN
SISTERS. — In 1865 four sisters of the Order of St.
Francis (better known as Franciscan Sisters) came
from Germany and built a convent near Carondelet,
south of the River des Peres. This was burned in
1877, and the sisters removed to St. Louis, pur-
chasing from Father Henry, of St. Lawrence
O'Toole's Church, the lot (one hundred by one hun-
dred and twenty-seven and a half feet) on which their
convent now stands, at the southeast corner of O'Fal-
lon and Fourteenth Streets. The sisters who first
came in 1865 afterwards returned to Germany, but
not before others had come to supply their places.
In 1877, Sister Bernarda Passman, banished from
1556
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Germany for political reasons, came to St. Louis, and
was made Mother Superior, which position she has
since retained. In January, 1878, the Order at St.
Louis was chartered, with Sisters Bernarda Passman,
Alfonsa Cormann, and Cecilia Hawig as incorpo-
rators. Their house was erected in 1878-79, and
Pius Hospital (as they call it) received its first pa-
tient on Jan. 1, 1880. The sisters, of whom there
are now twenty in the establishment, also provide
board and lodging for servant-girls out of place, at
low rates and on easy terms of payment.
ST. Louis PROTESTANT HOSPITAL. — In the spring
of 1881 a " Medical Mission" was organized under
the supervision of a committee from the board of di-
rectors of the Young Men's Christian Association.
Rooms were fitted up in a building that belonged to
the association, a small stock of drugs was procured,
and a medical staff was appointed consisting of Drs.
L. H. Laidley, E. M. Nelson, F. R. Fry, E. W. Saun-
ders, and M. H. Post. Circulars were sent out, and
one of the physicians was in attendance at certain
hours every day. The dispensary work was carried on
under this form of organization, except that Dr. Saun-
ders withdrew from the medical staff, until about the
end of the year, when the work was enlarged by fit-
ting up the remaining rooms of the building as a
hospital for the reception of patients. In the autumn
of 1882 an organization was effected under the name
of the St. Louis Protestant Hospital Association, and
a charter was procured. The incorporators were E.
0. Stanard, E. H. Semple, Charles W. Barstow, J.
G. Chapman, S. M. Dodd, George W. Parker, W. P.
Mullen, E. P. V. Ritter, George A. Baker, F. L.
Johnston, George S. Edgell, James H. Wear, and I.
M. Mason.
The officers of the Medical Mission transferred to
the new association all their medicines and hospital
stores and furnishings. The following gentlemen
constitute the medical staff of the hospital, in connec-
tion with which the regular dispensary service is still
maintained: Drs. L. H. Laidley, E. M. Nelson, M.
H. Post, G. Armstrong, W. G. Moore, P. Y. Tupper,
and Frank P. Johnson.
It is still the day of small things with this institu-
tion, but it promises to become one of great value
and usefulness.
ST. Louis INSANE ASYLUM. — In St. Louis City
and County, up to within a few years, no provision
for the insane poor had been made, and the county
authorities were finally compelled to make such ar-
rangements as enabled them to send their insane to
the State asylum at Fulton. This plan, however,
was found expensive and inconvenient, and the ne-
cessity of having a county insane asylum was plainly
suggested. The matter came up before the County
Court at different times during the years of 1861 and
1862, but no definite action was taken until the 20th
of April, 1864, when the motion of Judge Fisse, sub-
mitted Dec. 10, 1863, to erect a county insane asylum,
was taken under consideration by the court. The
original motion contemplated a building with a ca-
pacity for one hundred patients, but when the matter
came to be discussed it was generally admitted this
was insufficient to meet the wants of the county. In
the mean time, William Rumbold, county architect,
was instructed to prepare plans to be submitted to the
court. On the 21st of July, 1864, the first allowance
in connection with the project was made by the court
for the purchase of a tract of land in the vicinity of
the county poor-house, which was deemed advisable
to include in the ground, consisting of one hundred
and forty arpens. The inception of the enterprise
was attended with the usual delays and difficulties.
On the 21st of August, 1864, the plan prepared and
submitted by Mr. Rumbold was approved, but the
work did not commence till late in the fall. The site
chosen was an elevated piece of ground a short dis-
tance west of the county poor-house, being part of
what is known as the county farm, from which there
is a wide prospect on all sides of an undulating and
fertile country. The work progressed steadily, and
as the design of the architect, in character and ex-
tent, became evident the magnitude of the under-
taking began to excite alarm. Mr. Rumbold always
maintained that the building could not have been
made smaller and meet the wants of the county, and
that the future would even render necessary a further
increase of accommodation, and time has shown that
even he underestimated the demands that would be
made upon the asylum. Mr. Rumbold died during
the progress of the work, and was succeeded by Ed-
ward Mortimer, superintendent, and John F. Durham,
assistant.
The general appearance of the edifice is that of a
massive, substantial structure, built to endure, and for a
practical purpose rather than for architectural display.
It consists of a centre building five stories in height,
with wings three stories in height branching out at
the east and west sides. Each of these wings termi-
nates in what architects call " an arm," or, more in-
telligibly, a building broader and higher than the
body of the wing, and forming a cross at either end
of the edifice. The projections thus formed, and also
by the centre building, which is considerably broader
than the wings, relieve the structure from monotony
of appearance. The centre building is ninety-six.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1557
feet by seventy-six feet. The body of each wing is
seventy-six feet in length by forty-four feet wide, and
the arms are sixty-seven feet in length by forty feet
wide. The total length of building is three hun-
dred and thirteen feet ten inches. The foundation
walls are built of stone, and are constructed of solid
masonry, and descend six feet below the surface of
the ground. The basement walls are also of stone,
and are strong and solid ; their height to floor of first
story is eleven feet. At the highest point, the altitude
is one hundred and ninety-four feet. In the arms of
the wings there are five stories. There are in the
entire building about four hundred and thirty-seven
windows. On the first story, in either arm of the
wings, and also in the main buildings, there are large
windows, adorned by beautiful stone pillars of the
Corinthian order. The main entrance is on the north
side, to which there is an approach of massive stone
steps, and is also handsomely ornamented. The walls
are of brick, with stone facings, and the stone used
in the construction of the base is all North St. Louis
limestone, and is a handsome and compact material.
All the other cut stone is from Joliet, 111. On the
south side of the centre building there is an open
portico, supported by brick piers running up the
entire height of the main building, thus affording
a pleasant out-door promenade for patients on each
story.
The lower part of the dome is of brick, and the
dome proper of iron rib work, similar to that of the
court-house, covered with copper. There is also an
observatory, from which a magnificent view may be
obtained.
The interior of the building is admirably arranged
for the treatment of insane persons, and is well sup-
plied with every convenience. The ventilation is ex-
cellent, and the water supply ample. The boilers and
engines, the main kitchen, laundry, and officers' quar-
ters are located in a brick out-building about one hun-
dred feet distant from the main building, which is con-
nected with it by a subterranean railway running
through a tunnel of about one hundred and four feet
in length, through which food and other necessaries
are carried to the main building. The cost of con-
struction, etc., was about seven hundred thousand dol-
lars. The building was first occupied April 23, 1869.
The only fault to be found with the asylum is that it is
inadequate to the demands made upon it. In the re-
port of N. de V. Howard, superintendent, to Charles
W; Francis, health commissioner, April 1, 1881, he
says, " I must again call your attention to our crowded
condition. Although one hundred and nine patients
have been discharged and sixty-six transferred to
99
other institutions, there are still three hundred and
forty-three in a house which was built to contain
two hundred and fifty. I can't pack them much
closer. The number admitted, two hundred and
fifteen, is larger than that of any preceding year.
It should be borne in mind that an insane asylum
is not like a hotel in that it has ' always room for
one more.' If the insane are herded together like
sheep they may be expected to fight like tigers. If
the overcrowding here becomes much worse you must
prepare for the occurrence of homicides and other
serious accidents in spite of all the surveillance that
can be exercised, and then the cry of bad manage-
ment will be raised. In my violent hall I have only
five available single rooms : it contains thirty-nine
patients. One small associate dormitory contains
seven patients every night."
The superintendents have been successively Drs.
Charles W. Stevens, T. R. H. Smith, William B.
Hazard, J. K. Bauduy, E. S. Frazer, and N. de V.
Howard, the present incumbent, who has served for
seven years. Drs. Bauduy and Frazer were what were
then styled " visiting superintendents," Drs. Fichten-
kamp, Leffingwell, and Howard being successively the
" resident physicians."
THE HOUSE OP REFUGE. — The present building,
on Louisiana Avenue, between Gasconade and Osage
Streets, was erected in 1858, and cost about sixty-four
thousand dollars. It originally consisted of a centre
building four stories in height, with wings on the
east and west sides of three stories each. When the
institution was opened it had a capacity of about
three hundred inmates and all the necessary business
offices and apartments. Previous to its erection, the
building used for house of refuge purposes was the
small structure some little distance east, and now used
for the female branch of the institution. On the 15th
of February, 1865, the east wing and centre of the
new building were destroyed by fire. The value of
furniture, clothing, and bedding was five thousand
dollars. There was an insurance of twenty thousand
dollars on the building, which was applied to restoring
the west wing. This wing is the principal branch of
the institution, and is occupied by the male depart-
ment. The old building is still occupied by the
girls' department. The daily average of children for
the year ending April 10, 1881, was two hundred
and thirty-four. The amount expended in the main-
tenance of the institution during the same time was
about thirty-five thousand dollars. John D. Schaef-
fer is the superintendent, and the managers are the
mayor, ex officio, Theophile Papin, John Schnell,
James E. Cowan, and George Bain.
1558
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR. — In May, 1868,
several French sisters arrived in St. Louis and estab-
lished the order of Little Sisters of the Poor. The
location of their first house was on Morgan Street,
near Eighteenth, but it was subsequently removed to
its present location at Nineteenth and Hebert Streets.
The incorporators were Hortense Marie, Marie Bar-
nard, Barbara Vackeus, Elizabeth Vergne. Elizabeth
M. Neville, Frances Schever, Elizabeth Stern, Marie
Brent, Marie Garabalda, and Anselme Bouvidase.
The object of the institution is to aid the poor and care
for the aged and infirm. The institution was char-
tered July 14, 1870, and the corner-stone of the
present building was laid in the following year.
The structure was finished in 1875, and dedicated Oc-
tober 24th of the same year. Although commodious,
it was insufficient on account of the increasing num-
ber of poor and infirm inmates, and in September,
1882, the corner-stone of an addition which nearly
equals the original house was laid. Sister Hortense
Marie became first president of the board of officers.
She was followed by Sister Marie Blanche, the
present manager.
Medical Journalism. — The greatest part of the
literary effort of St. Louis physicians has found ex-
pression in the pages of medical journals, and the St.
Louis periodicals of this class have contained much
of real value to the profession. In the order in which
they were established, the various medical journals
of the city have been as follows:
St. Louis Medical and Surgical Journal. — The
first number of this periodical, which was the first
medical journal published west of the Mississippi
River, was issued in April, 1843. Many other medi-
cal journals have been staited in St. Louis since its
advent, but most of them have had a brief existence,
while the Journal has continued to the present time,
increasing in influence and circulation. Its publica-
tion was temporarily suspended during the war, but
with that exception and the omission of one issue
at the time of the great fire that occurred during
the epidemic of cholera in 1849, it has appeared
regularly from the time of its establishment to the
present day. The founder of the journal was Dr. M.
L. Linton, who was at first the sole editor and pro-
prietor, but after a time he associated with himself
Drs. McPheeters and Fourgeaud, the former of whom
continued to assist Dr. Linton in the management of
the journal until the war. At the close of the war
the journal was revived by Dr. T. J. White, who was
succeeded in the editorial chair by Dr. G. Baum-
garten, who conducted the publication with marked
ability for three years. In 1871, Drs. Edgar and Gill
assumed the editorial and business control. In 1878,
Dr. Edgar sold the journal to its present proprietor,
Dr. Thomas F. Rumbold, under whose management
it has been enlarged and its circulation greatly in-
creased. It is at the present writing in the fortieth
year of its publication, and is in a very prosperous
condition. For three years prior to 1883, Dr. A. H.
Ohinann-Dumesnil was associated with Dr. Rumbold
in the editorial management. A feature of special
interest and value in the journal for several years has
been the publication of full reports of the discussions
at the meetings of the St. Louis Medical Society.
These discussions are reported by short-hand, and
then corrected and revised by the publication com-
mittee of the society, thus securing a complete re-
port of the meetings, and preserving in a permanent
form much valuable medical truth that would other-
wise fail to be brought before the profession.
The Missouri Medical and Surgical Journal was
started in May, 1845. It was under the editorial
management of Dr. R. F. Stevens, and was a twenty-
four-page monthly, the subscription price being two
dollars per annum. Towards the close of the year it
passed into the hands of Drs. J. N. McDowell and
Thomas Barbour, the latter of whom assumed the
entire charge in April, 1846, Dr. McDowell's time
being taken up with the preparation of a work on sur-
gery and surgical anatomy. In May, 1847, Dr.
Coons was associated with Dr. Barbour in the conduct
of the periodical. At the commencement of the
third volume the proprietors congratulated themselves
on having a subscription-list of three hundred, and
upon the fact that during the preceding few weeks
they had received " some fifteen or more new sub-
scribers." In September, 1848, this journal was
merged into the St. Louis Medical and Surgical
Journal.
The St. Louis Probe was established in 1850, by
Drs. Coons and Atkinson. It had only an ephemeral
existence, and we have been unable to learn any par-
ticulars in regard to it.
The St. Louis Medical Reporter was established in
1866 under the editorial management of Drs. 0. F.
Potter and J. S. B. Alleyne. It was a thirty-two-
: page semi-monthly. It continued for three years,
and was then discontinued. It was ably edited and
well printed, and illustrations were liberally used.
Changes in the publishing house and editorial man-
I agement had an unfavorable effect, and after the
completion of the third volume the publication was
discontinued.
The Ifumboldt Medical Archives was established
1 in 1868 by Drs. A. Hammer and J. C. Whitehill.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1559
It was designed to be an exponent of the teachings of
the school of pathology of which Virchow was the
leader, and to take an advanced position in all pro-
fessional matters. Dr. Hammer's connection with
the Archives ceased at the end of the first year, but
Dr. Whitehill continued to edit and publish it until
1874, about which time he left St. Louis. During
a part of this time he was alone, but most of the
time he had assistant and associate editors, among
whom were Drs. E. A. Clark, E. F. Smith, E. H.
Gregory, J. S. Moore, L. Ch. Boisliniere, E. Mont-
gomery, A. Hammer, J. S. B. Alleyne, and Thomas
Kennard. After the first two volumes were pub-
lished the word '•' Humboldt" was dropped from the
title, and the journal was known simply as the Med-
ical Archives.
The St. Louis Clinical Record was established in
1874 by Drs. W. A. Hardaway and A. B. Shaw, the
latter of whom only remained in connection with the
journal one year. After two years the journal passed
into the hands of Dr. W. B. Hazard, who carried it
on until the middle of 1882, at which time the pub-
lication was discontinued.
St. Louis Courier of Medicine. — In the fall of
1878 a number of physicians in St. Louis, together
with some of their friends, formed an association
under the style of the Medical Journal Association of
Missouri. The object of the association was to estab-
lish and sustain a first-class medical journal, which
should be devoted exclusively to medical and scientific
matters, and maintain the highest possible standard of
literary merit with the best attainable mechanical ex-
ecution. The officers of the association during its
first year were John T. Hodgen, president ; H. N.
Spencer, secretary and treasurer ; P. G. Robinson,
G. A. Moses, and John P. Bryson, executive com-
mittee.
The name chosen for the new journal was The St.
Louis Courier of Medicine and Collateral Sciences.
The first number appeared in January, 1879, under
the editorial management of Dr. A. J. Steele, with
Dr. W. A. Hardaway as associate editor, and Dr.
E. W. Schauffler, of Kansas City, as correspond-
ing editor. At the end of that year Dr. E. M. Nel-
son was appointed editor, and has filled that position
ever since. Drs. G. A. Moses, John P. Bryson,
Isaac N. Love, C. A. Todd, W. A. Hardaway, and
W. C. Glasgow have been members of the corps of
editors for one or more years, the present staff com-
prising Drs. E. M. Nelson, W. A. Hardaway, John
P. Bryson, and W. C. Glasgow, together with several
corresponding editors in other leading Western
cities.
At the end of the first year the membership of the
association was extended and the name was changed
to " The Medical Journal Association of the Missis-
sippi Valley." In 1881 the association was formally
incorporated under the name of the Medical Journal
and Library Association of the Mississippi Valley.
In accordance with an arrangement made in the
establishment of the Courier of Medicine, the ex-
changes and books for review are preserved in a
library, to which all members of the association have
free and unrestricted access for purposes of consulta-
tion, and already quite a valuable reference library
has been accumulated. This is at present kept with
the library of the Medico-Chirurgical Society in the
hall of the latter. After publishing the Courier for
two years an arrangement was made with the medical
; publishing house of James H. Chambers & Co. by
which they assumed charge of the business manage-
ment, while the association retains control of the lit-
1 erary management, appointing the editor and directing
! the general policy of the Courier.
The arrangement has proved a very satisfactory
! one. The influence of the Courier is constantly in-
creasing, and it has become a very handsome property,
J as well as a credit to those who have been concerned
I in founding and carrying it on.
The Alienist and Neurologist is a journal devoted
to a consideration of affections of the mind and ner-
vous system. It is a quarterly, owned and edited by
Dr. C. H. Hughes, whom long experience as super-
intendent of the State Insane Asylum and years of
! special study of all forms of nervous disease have
qualified to edit such a journal with credit to him-
self and satisfaction to the readers. The Alienist
and Neurologist is making a fine success in every way
and constantly gaining in reputation and value.
Medical Books. — The following list comprises the
titles and authors of the medical books which have
been written by St. Louis physicians so far as the
editor has been able to ascertain them :
A Practical Treatise on Diseases of the Eye. By B. B. Carter,
M.D. Edited, with additions and test-types,1 by John Green,
M.D. Philadelphia : Henry C. Lea & Co., 1875.
Outlines of General Pathology.* By M. L. Linton, M.D.
Lectures on Diseases of the Nervous System. By J. K.
Bauduy, M.D. Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1874.
Reports on Yellow Fever. By W. Hutson Ford, M.D. St.
Louis : George 0. Rumbold <fc Co., 1879.
1 Dr. Green's observations and writings on the subject of as-
tigmatism have made his name known to the profession all
through this country and in Europe as well.
3 This work appeared first in the St. Louis Medical and Sur-
gical Journal, under the title of Medical Essays, by L. After-
wards they were reprinted in a volume, and a small edition
published for the benefit of his classes.
1560
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Prolapse of the Umbilical Cord, its Causation and Treatment.1 J
By George J. Engehnnnn, A.M., M.D., etc. New York : Wil- i
liam Wood & Co., 1874.
The Mucous Membrane of the Uterus, with Special Refer-
ence to the Development and Structure of the Deeiduae.1 By |
George J. Engelmann, A.M., M.D. New York : William Wood I
A Co., 1875.
Labor among Primitive Peoples, showing the Development of \
the Obstetric Science of to-day from the Natural and Instinctive |
Customs of all Races, Civilized and Uncivilized, Past and Pres- (
ent. St. Louis: J. H. Chambers & Co., 1882.
The Nurse and Mother. By Walter Coles, M.D. St. Louis :
J. H. Chambers A Co., 1882.
Lectures on Orthopedic Surgery. By L. Bauer, M.D.
Diseases of the Ear. By A. D. Williams, M.D. Cincinnati,
1873.
Hygiene and Treatment of Catarrh. By Thomas F. Rumbold,
M.D. St. Louis : George 0. Rumbold & Co., 1881.
Essentials of Vaccination. By W. A. Hardaway, M.D. Chi-
cago : Jansen, McClurg & Co.
Holmes' System of Surgery. American edition. Sections on
Injuries of the Chest, by Alfred Poland; and Injuries of the
Abdomen, by George Pollock. Edited by Dr. John T. Hodgen.
The American Encyclopedia of Medicine, now in course of
publication by AVilliain Wood & Co., has articles on Measles
and Roetheln, by Dr. W. A. Hardaway, and on Abortion and
its Importance to the General Practitioner, by Dr. George J.
Engelmann.
Specialties. — A noticeable feature in the history
of the medical profession is the remarkable develop-
ment of specialism within the past few years. The
first department to be differentiated from the rest as a
specialty was that concerned with diseases of the eye
and ear, and for many years this was the only special
department represented in St. Louis. Then the treat-
ment of diseases of the throat became more and more
prominent as a special branch of practice, and still
later the treatment of diseases peculiar to women, of
diseases of the skin, and of diseases of the genito- I
urinary organs has been made more or less distinctly
the work of individuals whose peculiar skill or ad-
vantages have qualified them as specialists in these
departments. The men whose success and skill have :
so notably developed this tendency to specialism and
whose names are identified with their several depart-
ments, in some cases with a national or even European
reputation, are still among the active workers of the '
day. They are now making their records, and their '
fame is still increasing. They are not yet a part of
the history of the profession, but when the time shall '
come in which it may be proper to commemorate
their lives and work, it will be to the historian a
pleasant task to note and record the eminent success
and skill of a considerable number of St. Louis
specialists.
In ending this brief sketch the writer is aware that
1 These works are cited by all recent writers on gynecology
and obstetrics as authorities on the subjects treated in them.
many readers will close the book in disappointment at
not finding here the names of the middle-aged and
younger men of the profession, who are doing the
greater part of the practice and are wielding the
strongest influence in the profession and among the
laity, so far as matters medical are concerned, at the
present time. But it has seemed to him that history
deals with work done and records completed, and that
a history of the medical profession in St. Louis has
to do with the men now living and working here only
so far as these men were associated more or less inti-
mately with those whose work is done, or as they are
identified with institutions which may be considered
permanent elements in the life of the city. In accor-
dance with this view it has seemed to him best to
leave unsaid much that might with truth and pleas-
ure be said of men with whom he is daily in more or
less intimate association, having full confidence that
when the time shall come in which their lives shall be
a part of the history of their city, able pens will be
found to delineate those lives and set them in their
proper places.
Homoeopathy in St. Louis.2 — The pioneer of
homoeopathy in Missouri was John T. Temple, A.M.,
M.D., who settled in St. Louis in 1844. Dr. Temple
was a native of King William County, Va., and had
a classical and collegiate education, obtained at Lex-
ington, Va. He graduated in medicine at the Uni-
versity of Maryland in 18£4, and practiced in Wash-
ington, D. C., until 1833, at which time he moved
to Chicago, 111., then a frontier post. In 1843, Dr.
Temple became a convert to homoeopathy, and in the
following year, as stated, removed to St. Louis. In
1848 he established the Southwestern Homoeopathic
Journal, which he maintained for two years, until he
went to California, where he remained two years. In
1857 he assisted in founding the Homoeopathic Med-
ical College of Missouri, and was its dean and Professor
of Materia Medicaand Therapeutics until shortly before
his death, which occurred in 1877. Dr. Temple was
a skillful physician and worthy man, and was known
among his fellow-practitioners in St. Louis as the
" Nestor of homoeopathy." He was a valuable con-
tributor to the medical literature of the day, many of
his articles being copied into foreign journals, and
was constantly on the alert to defend the cause of
homoeopathy. The next in order of arrival was Dr.
Spaulding, who moved to St. Louis from Flatbush,
N. Y., in 1846. He also was a convert to homoeop-
athy, a man of fine attainments, and an excellent
physician. He died two years after his arrival.
J Written for this work by Dr. F. T. Knox, of St. Louis.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1561
During the same year four other homoeopathists
made St. Louis their home, — Dr. Ira Vail, from Ken-
tucky, a fine physician, who remained only a short
time, removing to New Orleans, where he obtained a
large practice ; Dr. Steinestel, an accomplished scholar
and excellent physician, who had a large practice, but
died in 1849 of cholera; and Drs. Houghton and
Hough, partners, from Tennessee. Dr. Hough died
of consumption in the following year, and Dr. Hough-
ton removed to New York in 1853.
Dr. J. T. Vastine, a well-educated physician, came to
St. Louis from Pennsylvania in 1849. He won many
friends to homoeopathy, and became a professor in
the Homodopathic Medical College of Missouri. He
died in 1872. greatly mourned and honored. He was
succeeded in his practice by his son, Dr. Charles Vas-
tine.
Dr. Thomas Griswold Comstock,1 next in order
among the homoeopathic physicians of St. Louis, was
born at Le Roy, Genesee Co., N. Y., July 27, 1828.
His parents, Lee and Sarah Comstock, were natives
of Lyme, Conn., and his mother was a lineal descend-
ant (seventh generation) of one of the English Pilgrim
families that came over in the " Mayflower." His
father was a soldier in the war of 1812, and his uncle,
the late Dr. John L. Comstock, of Hartford, was the
author of Comstock's " Philosophy," " Geology,''
" Chemistry," etc., standard text-books, which were
popular in the schools of thirty years ago. He also
served in the war of 1812 as a surgeon.
Young Comstock, after finishing his education at
Le Roy, removed to St. Louis, and studied medicine
with the late Dr. J. V. Prather, one of the founders
of the St. Louis Medical College, and its first Pro-
fessor of Surgery. Dr. Prather resigned in 1847,
and subsequently the late Dr. Pope received the ap-
pointment. The present St. Louis Medical College
was then the Medical Department of the St. Louis
University. Under the tutelage of Professor Prather,
Dr. Comstock entered the Medical Department
of the St. Louis University, and in March, 1849,
received the degree of Doctor of Medicine.
Immediately after graduation he began to investi-
gate the merits of the homoeopathic system of medi-
cine, having formed the idea that in the treatment of
some diseases it was superior to the " old school."
In 1851 he went to Philadelphia, and having attended
lectures, graduated at the Homoeopathic Medical Col-
lege of Pennsylvania.
He then returned to St. Louis and began practice,
meeting with flattering success, but, regarding him-
1 Prepared by F. H. Burgess.
self as still a student, he went to Europe a year later,
and spent some time at the medical schools of Berlin,
Prague, London, Paris, and Vienna. He remained
two years at the University of Vienna, and was ad-
mitted to the degree of Doctor of Midwifery after
a rigorous examination before the faculty of Vienna,
made in the German language.
In 1857, Dr. Comstock returned to St. Louis and
resumed practice. Although he had adopted the
homoeopathic system, he became noted for his con-
servatism, or, rather, a liberal eclecticism which will-
ingly accepted all that seemed to be good in both
schools.
During the late war he was appointed surgeon of
the First Division of the enrolled militia of Missouri,
but he declined the appointment. He has been at-
tending physician of the Good Samaritan Hospital
for twenty years, and at present is one of the con-
sulting physicians. He is a frequent contributor to
medical journals, and his writings are characterized by
exceptional breadth and vigor.
The cares and responsibilities of a large practice do
not appear to absorb him to the exclusion of affairs
around him, and he exhibits a keen interest in all
movements for the benefit of the community. Among
the enterprises which have elicited his warm sym-
pathy and support are the Humane Society and the
Citizens' Committee. In religion he is an earnest
Episcopalian.
A friend of Dr. Comstock, who has known him inti-
mately for many years, describes his character in the
following words :
" He is a man of broad intellect and catholic views.
Always liberal in thought, he exercises charity where
differences begin. He has acquired various cultures,
and made large attainments beyond the limits of his
profession. Choice and rare objects of art have an
unusual interest for him. The idea of beauty in all
its forms seems to delight and fascinate him. The
world would have lost a first-class physician, but
would have gained in the fields of art had he chosen
another profession. He possesses a choice library,
probably the most extensive and costly of any physi-
cian in St. Louis. It abounds in works not only in
the mother tongue, but in learned volumes in Latin,
French, German, and other languages, in all of which
the doctor is very proficient. He is a man of wide
and varied reading in every field of thought.
" As a physician, he stands very high. He could
not be content with any abbreviated or partial course
of study. He has made himself equally master of
the allopathic and the homoeopathic systems of prac-
tice. He has not only an exact and exhaustive knowl-
1562
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
edge of his chosen profession, but he also has what
culture and science do not always give, a curious run j
of luck. It seems to follow him in all things. He
belongs to that fortunate class of men to whom work
and study come easily, and is able to indulge in culti- |
vated tastes and beautiful things. Feeling the need j
of rest and change, he consigns his patients to proper
hands, drops all things, runs off to Europe, attends a
course of lectures in London, Vienna, or Paris, gathers
up the points of medical advancement there, and
comes back as quietly as he went, and resumes an
immense practice, and all his home work comes to
him again. His ideal of a doctor seems to keep him
a perpetual student.
" A full, rounded intellect, well developed, and well
informed, characterizes the doctor. He enjoys society
and clubs and art, but none the less close application
to his professional and literary studies. In the very
prime of life, there can be no reason why he should
not continue to grow intellectually, and in full ripe-
ness of his years become one of the leading physicians
in the West."
Although a general practitioner, his specialty in
medicine is gynecology, and in this branch he has
superior attainments and a large experience.
Homoeopathy made steady progress from 1849 to
1857, during which time Drs. B. M. Peterson, D. R.
Luyties, E. A. Fellerer, and others appeared on the
scene.
It was in 1857 that the charter of the Homoeo-
pathic Medical College of Missouri was obtained by
Drs. Temple and Peterson, and in this year also Dr.
E. C. Franklin moved to St. Louis from Dubuque,
Iowa. This gentleman was already well and favor-
ably known in New York, San Francisco, Panama,
and Iowa, but his fame has since become widespread
as the " chief founder, teacher, and acknowledged
authority in homoeopathic surgery." It is due largely
to his skill as a surgeon and instructor that homoeo-
pathic surgery has reached the proud place it now occu-
pies. Dr. Franklin was converted to homoeopathy by
being himself cured by homoeopathic remedies when
all others had failed. In 1860 he was appointed
demonstrator of anatomy in the Homosopathic
Medical College of Missouri. In 1861 he entered
the United States army as surgeon ; in 1864 was ap-
pointed to the chair of surgery in the Homoeopathic
Medical College of Missouri, and in 1867 published
"The Science and Art of Surgery." Soon after this
Drs. Franklin, P. G. Valentine, and others succeeded
in prevailing upon the city Board of Health to give
the homoeopaths a day to lecture in the City Hospital.
In 1871, Dr. Franklin was appointed surgeon of the
Good Samaritan Hospital, and in 1876 became dean
of the Homoeopathic Medical College of Missouri.
In 1879 he received and accepted a call to a profes-
sorship in the Michigan State University at Ann
Arbor, where he now resides.
In 1858, Dr. William Tod Helmuth— another
physician who has since won a national reputation —
came to St. Louis from Philadelphia. At the age of
twenty (in 1853) he graduated in medicine at the
Homoeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania, and
in two years thereafter was Professor of Anatomy in
the same college, which position he held until he
came West. In 1855 he published a work entitled
" Surgery, and its Adaptation to Homoeopathic Prac-
tice," a late new edition of which is a large handsome
volume, and is a text-book in the homoeopathic
colleges. In 1859 he was appointed to the chair of
anatomy in the Homoeopathic Medical College of
Missouri, and elected registrar of the faculty. He
held the same chair until 1865, when he took the
chair of theory and practice. About this time he
visited Europe, and on his return, finding disagree-
ments in the faculty of the college, he used his influ-
ence in 1869 to aid the establishment of a new medi-
cal school, to be called the St. Louis College of
Homoeopathic Physicians and Surgeons. In this
new school he filled the chair of surgery until 1870,
when he accepted a call to the chair of surgery in
the New York Homoeopathic Medical College.
It would be impossible, in so brief a history of ho-
moeopathy in St. Louis, to give a sketch of all the
physicians, but no history would be valuable for ref-
erence or correct in facts that did not allude to one
other physician, Dr. G. S. Walker.
George S. Walker1 was born June 19, 1820, in
Allegheny County, Pa. His medical training was
preceded by a thorough literary course in Jefferson
College, Pennsylvania, from which institution he was
graduated in 1844. This preliminary training doubt-
less laid the foundation for those eminent attainments
in literature and art by which he has been especially
distinguished among the men of his profession, and
which, while they adorn his domestic and social life,
give added vigor, precision, and breadth to his medical
opinions.
After leaving college he taught for two years in the
academies of South Carolina and Georgia, thus con-
firming and establishing his literary tastes and culture,
while at the same time he was constantly exploring
the field of professional knowledge. To enlarge and
perfect his medical acquirements, he devoted the years
1 Prepared by F. H. Burgess.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1563
of 1846-47 to attendance upon lectures in the schools
of Philadelphia, and then began the practice of his
profession near Pittsburgh. Soon, however, the gold
fever of 1849 broke out, and Dr. Walker was one of
its earliest subjects. Yielding to the prevailing excite-
ment for profitable adventure, he became an " Argo-
naut," and remained nearly three years on the Pacific
coast. With a mind stored with reminiscences of the
struggles of those exciting days, he returned to the
States by the Isthmian route, entered upon another
course of lectures in Philadelphia, and was graduated
in 1852. In the previous autumn he had been mar-
ried to Miss A. C. McKain, of Allegheny City, Pa.,
a lady whose high social qualities and varied accom-
plishments, and especially her pure and cultivated taste
in music and art, have long made her the delight and or-
nament of the beautiful home over which she so grace-
fully presides. Of the four children of this union
but one survives, a promising boy, who inherits appar-
ently his father's strength, energy, and fine mental
balance, with his mother's refined and delicate tastes.
While visiting St. Louis, in April, 1852, Dr. Walker
was so much impressed with its advantages as a field
of professional labor that he determined to make it
his home. He was then of the allopathic school in
medicine, and so remained until 1860. The claims of
homoeopathy having been presented to his attention, he
candidly investigated them and became satisfied of their
validity. He did not conceal his convictions, and was
summoned by his professional brethren to appear be-
fore the medical society of which he was a prominent
member and answer to the charge of infidelity to
their faith. He replied in a defense which has be-
come memorable as the vigorous protest of an inde-
pendent mind, but, though unable to answer him, they
" cast him out of their synagogue." This, however,
was an unintentional kindness, for it resulted in plac-
ing him at the head of the new school of medicine.
In May, 1861, Dr. Walker entered the United
States army as surgeon of the Sixth Missouri Infantry }
Volunteers, but acted during the greater portion of i
his service as brigade surgeon under Gen. Sherman.
He has held the chair of obstetrics, or gynecology,
in medical colleges of the city for eleven years, i
occupying prominent official positions in the medi-
cal societies of which he has been a member, and
'
has repeatedly been elevated to the presidency of
the Society of Homoeopaths. He has also been \
president of the Western Academy and American
Institute of Homoeopathy, and an honored mem-
ber of the American Medical Association (allopathic). '
In these places and relations his profound learning,
his sparkling wit and genial humor, and above all '
his great talents and accomplishments have made him
of the first consideration, and responsibilities have de-
volved upon him which were as honorable as they were
onerous. He is a member of the Academy of Science
of St. Louis, and takes a warm interest in all its pro-
ceedings, notwithstanding the absorbing demands of
a large and successful practice. He is also a member
of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science. He was for some time associated with Dr.
William Tod Helmuth in the editorial labors of the
Homoeopathic Observer, and with Dr. T. G. Corn-
stock in the conduct of the Occidental, medical jour-
nals published in St. Louis. His lectures, addresses,
and orations, of which a number are preserved in
permanent form, have attracted the attention of first-
class minds throughout the country.
Dr. Walker has a fine physique, is exceedingly fond
of field sports, and devotes to them the brief intervals
for recreation which he is able to snatch from absorb-
ing professional labor. He has purchased land near
Lake Detroit, Minnesota, on which he is about to
erect a cottage for summer resort, where, with his
family and friends, he proposes to enjoy his few remis-
sions from arduous professional toil.
A career of such unbroken success and distinction
would seem to lack none of the conditions of happi-
ness, but Dr. Walker is no exception to the common
rule of life. Death has not spared his household
treasures, and he has suffered much and keenly from
their loss. He has, however, had the consolation in
all his afflictions of the wide and generous sympathy
of unnumbered friends.
With unimpaired mental and physical health and
vigor, Dr. Walker is still devoted to the labors of his
profession.
There are upwards of seventy-five homoeopathic
physicians in St. Louis, a few of whom are devoting
their skill to specialties with marked success. Among
the latter may be mentioned Drs. J. A. Campbell,
oculist and aurist; J. Martin Kershaw, mental and
nervous diseases ; and S. B. Parsons, surgery. Dr.
Campbell, however, is the only one who has entirely
given up general practice.
The first homoeopathic pharmacy in St. Louis was
established by Dr. Wesselhoeft, and the next by Dr.
John T. Temple. Subsequently Dr. D. R. Luyties
established one, which in 1859 passed into the hands
of R. & H. Luyties. In 1861, H. C. G. Luyties,
brother of the doctor, became its proprietor, and is
still the owner of what has grown from small begin-
nings to be one of the finest homoeopathic pharma-
cies in the West. Mr. Luyties edits and publishes a
journal called the Homoeopathic News.
1564
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
In 1867, John W. Munson opened Munson's
Western Homeopathic Pharmacy. Under the suc-
cessful management of Mr. Munson and his chief
assistant, William F. Bockstruck, who is now a part-
ner, this has also become one of the prominent phar-
macies of the West. This pharmacy also publishes
a journal called Munson & Co.'s Homoeopathic Bul-
letin.
HOMOEOPATHIC MEDICAL COLLEGE OF MIS-
SOURI.— On the 23d of November, 1857, the Gen-
eral Assembly of Missouri passed an act to incorporate
the Homoeopathic Medical College of Missouri, lo-
cated at St. Louis, and appointed the following trus-
tees : John M. Wimer, George R. Taylor, Robert
Renick, Samuel C. Davis, and Gen. Bernard Pratte.
This charter was proposed and drawn up by Dr. John
C. Morgan, and after revision was enacted through
the combined influence of Drs. John T. Temple and
H. B. Peterson, who were at that time the leading
homoeopathic physicians in St. Louis. In 1859, by
invitation, several of the most prominent representa-
tives of homoeopathy in the West met in St. Louis
to make arrangements for the establishment of a col-
lege under the charter. In accordance therewith the
following persons were appointed professors in the
first faculty of the college : R. E. W. Adams, M.D.,
of Springfield, 111., Professor of Theory and Practice
of Medicine ; B. L. Hill, M.D., of Cleveland, Ohio,
Professor of Institutes and Practice of Surgery ; J.
Brainard, M.D., of Cleveland, Ohio, Professor of
Chemistry and Medical Botany; A. R. Bartlett, M.D.,
of Aurora, 111.. Professor of Physiology and General
Pathology ; E. A. Guilbert, M.D., of Dubuque, Iowa,
Professor of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and
Children ; John T. Temple, M.D., of St. Louis, Mo.,
Professor of Materia Medica ; and William Tod Hel-
muth, M.D., of St. Louis, Mo., Professor of Anat-
omy. The officers of the faculty were John T.
Temple, dean, and William Tod Helmuth, registrar.
The calamity of civil war determined the board of
trustees to close the doors of the college during the
years of 1860, '61, '62, and '63. In 1864 lectures
were renewed under more favorable auspices than
during any of the foregoing sessions, and an entire
change of organization was effected in the faculty by
the appointment of resident professors. With but few
changes in the faculty the college continued to prosper
and had little to contend with until the fall of 1869,
when, as has been previously mentioned, Dr. Helmuth
organized the " St. Louis College of Homoeopathic
Physicians and Surgeons," with almost an entirely
new faculty.
The Homoeopathic Medical College of Missouri,
however, still maintained its prestige and popularity,
and though the classes in each were small, both col-
leges labored with determined zeal and vigor to be
foremost in the race for educational preferment. After
the close of the second year, in 1871 the new college
succumbed and closed its doors.
In the spring of 1872 another college sprang into
existence styled the " St. Louis Homoeopathic College
of Medicine and Surgery ;" but it met with such
feeble encouragement from the profession that the
enterprise was abandoned before the lecture season
opened.
From this time until 1880 the college was pros-
perous and harmonious. At the close of the spring
session of that year (1880) the managers of the insti-
tution, for financial reasons, decided upon a change,
and obtained a new charter and a new name, the " St.
Louis College of Homoeopathic Physicians and Sur-
geons." This new enterprise, however, did not meet
with the approval of all the profession, and accor-
dingly some of the friends of the old college, under
the leadership of Dr. William C. Richardson, issued
an announcement for the next season, 1880-81, which
contained a " Note to the Alumni and Profession," of
which the following are extracts : " The faculty and
board of trustees to whom were confided, a few years
since, the interests and welfare of the Homoeopathic
Medical College of Missouri saw fit at the close of
the last course of lectures, for reasons best known to
themselves, to abandon the name and prestige estab-
lished during an honorable and praiseworthy career
of over twenty years. They have organized an en-
tirely new college, under a new name, ignoring the
old, thus throwing the alumni out of an acknowledged
Alma Mater." ..." It is now the intention of the
present board, under a new charter, to perpetuate the
record and maintain the good reputation of the old
institution and its graduates." Accordingly the col-
lege was re-established under its old name, and for two
years both institutions were maintained.
The number of students in both colleges being
about equal to and no more than the former classes
of the old college, the faculties of both colleges,
though they had become somewhat estranged, were
finally convinced that, divided, neither college was
likely to prosper. The union of the two faculties
was therefore proposed and consummated, and the
college, under the old name, the Homoeopathic Med-
ical College of Missouri, in the fall of 1882 com-
menced the college term under more promising aus-
pices and with better educational advantages than it
had ever had during its long and eventful history.
The following are the officers and faculty for the
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1565
present year, 1882-83, viz. : C. W. Spalding, M.D.,
president ; S. B. Parsons, M.D., secretary ; William
Collison, M.D , treasurer; Philo G. Valentine, A.M.,
M.D., business manager. Honorary Board of Trus-
tees, John M. Harney, John H. Crane, Azel B. How-
ard, Gen. John W. Noble, Hon. E. 0. Stanard, Hon.
John B. Henderson, Right Rev. C. F. Robertson,
D.D., Bishop of Missouri. Officers of Faculty, W. A.
Edmonds, A.M., M.D., dean ; W. B. Morgan, A.M.,
M.D., registrar. Faculty of Medicine, W. A. Ed-
monds, M.D., Professor of Diseases of Children, and
dean ; C. W. Spalding, M.D., Professor of Physiology
and Clinical Surgery; William C. Richardson, M.D.,
Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology ; J. Martine
Kershaw, M.D., Professor of Brain, Spinal, and
Nervous Diseases; James A. Campbell, M.D., Pro-
fessor of Ophthalmology and Otology ; Philo G. Val-
entine, M.D., Professor of Theory and Practice ;
Adolph Ulemeyer, M.D., Professor of Materia Med-
ica and Therapeutics; W.John Harris, M.D., Pro-
fessor of Clinical Medicine, Hygiene,
and Sanitation ; Irenseus D. Foulon,
A.M., LL.B., Professor of Medical
Jurisprudence ; J. T, Kent, A.M.,
M.D., Professor of Principles and
Practice of Surgery ; W. B. Morgan,
M.D., Professor of Anatomy and De.
monstrator ; Lee H. Dowling, M.D.,
Professor of Chemistry and Toxicol-
ogy. There have been upwards of
three hundred and fifty graduates of
this college since its organization.
THE MISSOURI SCHOOL OF MID-
WIFERY was chartered in 1875. It
holds two sessions yearly, each of
twelve weeks' duration, and has a
lying-in hospital attached, and a course
for physicians desiring to pursue this
specialty. The first president was Al-
fred E. Reiss, M.D., now dead. He occupied the chair
of obstetrics, and the same chair in the Homoeopathic
Medical College of Missouri. He graduated from
the latter college in 1868, and went to Europe, where
he spent three years in the Obstetrical Department of
the University of Vienna, taking the highest honors.
He then entered the Prussian army as assistant sur-
geon in the Franco-German war, was promoted to sur-
geon, and had charge of the general hospital at Sedan,
for the management of which he received acknowl-
edgment and thanks from the eminent Dr. Bilroth.
As a lecturer he had good command of language, and
was altogether an excellent instructor.
Dr. Wm. C. Richardson was the first secretary, and
is now president of the Missouri School of Midwifery,
and also Professor of Diseases of Women and Children,
which chair he also held in the Homoeopathic College
of Missouri. He graduated in the same class with
Dr. Reiss. He was for several years editor of the
obstetrical department of the Western Homoeopathic
Observer, and was afterwards editor and proprietor of
the Homoeopathic Courier. In 1876 he published
a small treatise on " Cholera Infantum, and other
Diseases of Children," and in 1878 a text-book on
" Obstetrics," which has become a standard authority,
not only in the medical schools of this country but
of Europe. He is a fine, free, and ready speaker,
and a very successful lecturer.
THE GOOD SAMARITAN HOSPITAL was founded
in 1857 by the Rev. Lewis E. Nollau, at that time
pastor of St. Peter's Lutheran Church. It was
opened in a modest way, occupying a small building
which contained about seven rooms. For the first
few years it was supported mainly through the per-
GOOD SAMARITAN HOSPITAL.
sonal efforts of Rev. Mr. Nollau, aided by voluntary
subscriptions principally from among the German
population. Dr. E. A. Fellerer was the first phy-
sician, and continued in charge until early in 1859,
when Dr. T. G. Comstock was also appointed attend-
ing physician. These two gentlemen were the medi-
cal attendants until 1862. The hospital was first in-
corporated in 1859, when a new hospital building was
begun, the corner-stone being laid in August of that
year and finished in 1861. The board of trustees, to
whom the credit of erecting the new hospital was
due, were Samuel Plant, Russell Scarritt, Francis
Whittaker, Adolphus Meier, Frederick Bolte, Francis
Hackemeier, and Rev. Louis E. Nollau. The patients
1566
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
were removed to the new quarters in March, 1861.
The building is situated on Jefferson Avenue, at the
head of O'Fallon Street, and is a fine edifice, capable of
accommodating one hundred and sixty patients. It
was scarcely opened when the civil war broke out.
Soldiers wounded at the memorable capture of Camp
Jackson, and many patients from the military camps,
who at that time could not be accommodated in the
military hospitals, were admitted. In the fall of
1861 arrangements were made to care for a larger
number of patients from the army for a reasonable
compensation from the government. Afterwards the
board of directors rented the building to the United
States government for use as a military hospital for
two years.
The hospital was originally intended for a charita-
ble institution, and during the lifetime of Mr. Nollau
this idea was carried out as far as practicable, but
there being no permanent endowment for its support,
it is now maintained in part by patients paying when
they have the means, only a limited number being
treated gratuitously. Mr. Nollau, the founder, died
Feb. 6, 1869.
Besides the two physicians mentioned as having
been connected with the institution since its organi-
zation, Drs. Helmuth, Walker, Luyties, Gundelach,
Franklin, Parsons, Campbell, and others have served
at different periods as medical attendants. The hos-
pital has a number of well-arranged rooms, where
private patients may be treated in accordance with
any practice and by physicians of their own selec-
tion.
THE ST. Louis HOMOEOPATHIC DISPENSARY
was organized in 1864, and was opened in March,
1865, with the following officers, viz.: Dr. C. W.
Spalding, president; Mrs. Dr. William Tod Hel-
muth, treasurer; and Dr. E. C. Franklin, secretary.
The board of trustees consisted of Drs. C. W. Spald-
ing, E. C. Franklin, and T. J. Vastine, Mrs. T. G.
Comstock, Mrs. W. T. Helmuth, Mrs. G-. S. Walker,
and Mrs. John T. Temple. A charter of incorpora-
tion was procured from the Circuit Court in March,
1866, and a constitution and by-laws were adopted
during the same month. Dr. S. B. Parsons was ap-
pointed attending physician for the first year. In
1868, Dr. E. C. Franklin was appointed to the entire
charge of the dispensary, the duties of which position
he faithfully performed for a number of years. The
dispensary has been carried on in the building of the
Homoeopathic Medical College of Missouri, and large
numbers have been treated daily by the different
members of the faculty. At this free dispensary,
during the college term, clinics are held daily, and
patients are examined and prescribed for before the
classes.
THE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL was organized by cer-
tain benevolent ladies and gentlemen of St. Louis,
with Dr. W. A. Edmonds at the head of the medical
department.
HOMOEOPATHIC SOCIETIES. — There are two organi-
zations of homoeopathic physicians in St. Louis which
are specially worthy of mention, the Hahnemann
Club and the St. Louis Society of Homoeopathic Phy-
sicians and Surgeons. The former is intended for
social as well as literary purposes. The latter, which
is composed of physicians in the city and vicinity,
elects its officers quarterly, except the secretary, who
is elected annually. The present secretary is Dr. W.
B. Morgan.
Of works by homoeopathic practitioners we find the
following from the pens of St. Louis physicians :
Helps to Hear. By James A. Campbell, M.D. 12mo, pp.
108. Chicago : Duncan & Brothers, 1882.
Diseases of Infants and Children. By W. A. Edmonds,
M.D., etc. 8vo, pp. 293. New York : Boericke & Tafel, 1881.
Richardson's Obstetrics. By William C. Richardson, M.D.
Diseases of the Brain and Nervous System. By J. M.
Kershaw, M.D.
A Complete Minor Surgery, the Practitioner's Vade-Mecum,
including a Treatise on Venereal Diseases. By E. C. Frank-
lin, M.D., 1882.
The St. Louis Clinical Review is the principal
homoeopathic journal of the city, edited by Dr. Philo
G-. Valentine.1
The Eclectic School of Medicine.2 — Eclecticism
as a distinctive branch of medical practice may be
said to have first presented itself for public recognition
in St. Louis with the incorporation of the American
Medical College of St. Louis in May, 1873. The
first session of the college was held in the fall of that
year and the spring of 1874. The following gentle-
men compose its board of trustees : J. S. Merrell,
president; N. C. Hudson, vice-president; Dr. P. D.
Yost, secretary ; Dr. E. Younkin, treasurer ; Dr. Al-
bert Merrell, A. Sumner, Dr. W. V. Rutledge, Dr.
John W. Thraillkill, Dr. George C. Pitzer, Dr. W.
W. Houser, and B. H/Dye, B.L. The faculty con-
sists of the following members : George C. Pitzer,
M.D., dean, Professor of Theory and Practice of
Medicine, and Clinical Lecturer at City Hospital and
the College; Albert Merrell, M.D., Professor of
Chemistry, Pharmacy, and Toxicology, and Clinical
1 The writer of the foregoing outline of homoeopathy in St.
Louis is largely indebted to Vol. II. of "Transactions of the
World's Homceopathic Convention of 1876" for facts, as well as
to various individuals for information furnished.
2 The material for this sketch was furnished by Dr. A. B.
Merrell.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1567
Lecturer on Diseases of Children at the College ; P.
D. Yost, M.D., Professor of Obstetrics and Diseases
of Women and Children, and Clinical Lecturer on
Diseases of Women at the College ; E. Younkin,
M.D., Professor of Principles and Practice of Sur-
gery and Clinical Surgery, and Clinical Lecturer on
surgical cases at City Hospital and at the College ; W.
V. Rutledge, M.D., Professor of Materia Medica and
Therapeutics; T. B. Owens, M.D., Professor of
Anatomy and Physiology ; John W. Thraillkill,
M.D., Professor of Ophthalmology and Otology, and
Clinical Lecturer on Ophthalmic and Aural Surgery ;
J. H. Wright, M.D., Professor of Microscopy and
Histology ; B. H. Dye, B.L., Professor of Medical
Jurisprudence.
Professor Thraillkill came to the city in 1861, and
has enjoyed a lucrative practice up to within a year,
when failing health compelled his retirement from
active professional life. Professor Rutledge came to
the city in 1868, and has been in active practice ever
since. Professor Merrell moved to St. Louis from
Cincinnati in 1871, and Professor Yost came at the
time the college started. These gentlemen have been
identified with the college since its foundation, and
Professors Pitzer and Younkin joined them shortly
after the first course of lectures.
The American Medical College has enjoyed uninter-
rupted prosperity since its foundation, and its gradu-
ates now number but a few less than three hundred
and fifty. The college was first located on the south-
east corner of Olive and Seventh Streets, afterwards at
913 Pine Street, and now occupies a building erected
by the faculty expressly for the purpose at 310 North
Eleventh Street in 1878, the corner-stone having been
laid July 15, 1878.
Among the practitioners of the eclectic school, Dr.
John W. Thraillkill published in 1869 a small volume
entitled " Essay on the Causes of Infant Mortality ;"
and Dr. George C. Pitzer published last year one on
" Electricity in Medicine and Surgery."
The Dental Profession.1 — The early history of the
dental profession in St. Louis is involved in consider-
able obscurity. From the very nature of the calling,
especially when St. Louis was in its infancy, it at-
tracted but little public attention. The profession
itself was only in embryo ; the individual members of
which it was finally composed were only slowly gravi-
tating towards each other, and had not as yet felt the
effects of organization and associated action. But
the spirit of inquiry had taken strong hold of the in-
1 This sketch of the dental profession of St. Louis was pre-
pared by Dr. Homer Judd, of Upper Alton, 111.
dividual members, and where societies and associa-
tions had been formed for mutual consultation and
improvement they were stimulated to new exertions
in the direction of dental progress. The enthusiasm
of the leading members of the new profession knew
no bounds. No specialty of the healing art had
more earnest or more able seekers after truth in its
ranks than this.
The earliest regular practitioner of whom any
record remains is Dr. Paul, who published the follow-
! ing card in the Missouri Gazette of Dec. 21, 1809:
" A well-bred surgeon dentist, Dr. Paul, has the
honor of informing his friends in particular, and the
public in general, that he is prepared to practice in
all the branches belonging to his profession, viz., ex-
tracting, cleaning, plugging, and strengthening the
teeth, also making artificial ones."
On the 28th of December, 1830, Dr. D. T. Evans
informed " the citizens of St. Louis and its vicinity
that he has established himself in this place for the
purpose of devoting himself to the practice of dental
surgery."
When Dr. Isaiah Forbes settled in St. Louis in
1837 there were ten dentists in the city, including
Dr. Forbes. Most of these, however, seem to have
been transient practitioners, as the next year found
them all gone but three, Dr. Forbes, Dr. Edward
Hale, Sr., and Dr. B. B. Brown. Drs. Hale and
Brown both remained long enough to build up lucra-
tive practices. These three dentists were the only
ones who achieved any considerable degree of success
in the next seven years, and in them the dental fra-
ternity were well represented. Affable and courteous
in their deportment, skillful in all that pertained to
dental operations, and warmly attached to the calling
which they had chosen, they exerted a benign influ-
ence upon the future of the profession, which has
reached down to this day. Dr. Brown left for Cali-
fornia in 1849, during the gold mania, and died in
Sacramento about 1875. Dr. Hale became known as
one of the best practitioners in the Mississippi valley,
and remained in practice till about 1864, when failing
health compelled him to give up his profession, and a few
years afterwards he died in New Jersey. About 1840
Dr. A. M. Leslie located in St. Louis. Although a
dentist, he had also been trained as a gold-beater, and
he soon turned his attention to making gold foil. Not
long afterwards he established a dental depot, having
purchased a small stock of goods in the dental line
which had been sent out to St. Louis from Troy, N. Y.
That was the beginning of the extensive establishment
long known in the entire West as A. M. Leslie &
Co.'s Dental and Surgical Depot, which has but re-
1568
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
cently been transferred to the St. Louis Dental Man-
ufacturing Company. Alexander Heburn established
a dental depot in St. Louis in 1877 or 1878, and the
St. Louis Dental Manufacturing Company has the
consolidated stocks of the two former companies,
making one of the largest dental establishments in
the West. Between 1840 and 1845 the number of
dentists in the city was increased by the arrival of
Drs. Aaron Blake, Isaac Comstock, J. S. Clark, and
Edgerly, and in the next few years Dr. Potts, Dr.
Samuel B. Fithian, Dr. H. J. McKellops, Dr. C.
W. Spalding, and a little later Dr. H. E. Peebles
and Dr. Dunham. Many others in the mean time
had made more or less persistent efforts to establish
themselves, but failing to meet with sufficient encour-
agement sought other fields of labor. Drs. Potts,
Blake, Comstock, Peebles, Edgerly, Dunham, Barron,
and Clark have all passed away, while Drs. McKellops,
Spalding, and Forbes are still practicing their profes-
sion in St. Louis. These were for the most part men
of sterling worth, and it was to a great extent through
their efforts, and especially through their liberal and
enlightened views as regards the amenities and re-
sponsibilities of professional life, that the St. Louis
dentists canae to be held in so high repute among
their confreres in the profession throughout the United
States. Among them, Dr. John S. Clark was some-
what prominent in the advocacy of new methods of
practice. If not the first who made use of rolled
cylinders of gold foil for filling teeth, he was certainly
entitled to the credit of bringing the new method into
general use and carrying it up to a high degree of
perfection, but he conferred a much greater boon upon
the profession by his investigations in relation to the
treatment of teeth with dead pulps. He claimed that
he first made use of barbed broaches for the removal
of dead and decaying pulps, and for carrying disin-
fecting agents into the pulp canals, thus preparing
them for being filled in such manner as to avoid sub-
sequent inflammation and formation of alveolar ab-
scess. Dr. Clark spent several years in New Orleans,
where he published a dental journal, but subsequently
returned to St. Louis, where he died in 1866. Dr.
Forbes is at this time the oldest practitioner in the
city, having been identified with nearly all of the
beneficent and progressive efforts of the profession for
forty-six years. He had constructed, upon plans fur-
nished by himself, a dental chair in 1838, which is
still in existence, and which shows unmistaken evi-
dences of constructive ability, and adaptation to the
purposes for which it was intended. It is now in
possession of Dr. Fisher, on Washington Avenue.
Dr. C. W. Spalding reached St. Louis April 4,
1849. He was an earnest advocate of the use of
cylinders in filling teeth, and had for a long time a
lucrative practice ; was for several years a professor in
the Ohio College of Dental Surgeons at Cincinnati,
and was president for one year of the American
Dental Association during its early history.
Dr. McKellops was energetic and tireless in his
efforts to attain a high position as an operator, and at
an early period of his professional career acquired an
enviable reputation among his St. Louis associates,
which gradually extended throughout the United
States.
He has been for many years an active member of
the American Association, of which he has been
elected president. Although Dr. McKellops was
closely associated with the group which has just been
considered, he is no less closely identified with the
next group, which comprises the active members of
which the profession is now composed.
The period from 1840 to 1865 was one during
which were wrought many changes of the most vital
character in the dental profession, and in no other
place were these changes more marked than in St.
Louis. Before the commencement of this period
dentists were to a great extent unassociated, and, as
an almost necessary consequence, selfish and reticent,
each one claiming that he was in possession of the
knowledge which enabled him to perform many im-
portant operations which others could not perform.
Operating-rooms and laboratories were closed with the
most sedulous care against all intruders, lest some less
enlightened practitioner should avail himself of the
opportunity of inspecting instruments, and perhaps
also gain some knowledge of methods of manipu-
lation, and thus become more formidable as a com-
petitor in business.
The St. Louis dentists, almost to a man, discarded
these narrow and unprofessional views, and no body
of practitioners in any country exerted a greater in-
fluence in bringing about those radical changes which
resulted in a complete revolution in sentiment and
practice throughout the whole profession. Organ-
ization into associations, thereby bringing the mem-
bers into closer relationship with one another, aided
these beneficent movements, and the formation in
1850 of the St. Louis Dental Society was an impor-
tant step in the development of the profession.
This society was organized with Dr. Dunham as
presiding officer, and has ever since numbered among
! its members the leading practitioners of the city. In
1858 the American Dented Review was established
j by A. M. Leslie, and was edited by C. W. Spalding,
Isaiah Forbes, and Henry E. Peebles. The Review
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1569
was at first a quarterly, and did good work until 1863.
It was conducted with ability, and exerted a powerful
influence for good upon the mass of the profession.
For about a quarter of a century the standing of the
dental fraternity was determined by those who have
been already mentioned, but about 1865 the influence
of a younger class of practitioners began to be felt,
which has steadily increased as the years have passed
by. Of these some have attained a degree of ex-
cellence and skill in their operations which cannot be
surpassed by any other operators wherever found, and
although the number of those who have reached the
goal which is nearest to perfection is small, it is not
relatively smaller than in the most favored cities of
this or any other country. At the commencement of
this epoch in the history of the profession, or shortly
afterwards, societies of dentists had been formed in
nearly all of the States and cities in the Union, the
members of which met at stated periods, when every
practitioner freely imparted what he had gained by
experience and observation to his fellow-members, in
the true spirit of professional fraternity. The St.
Louis dentists took an active part not only in the city
and State societies, but also in the American Associ-
ation, the Western and Mississippi valley societies,
and the State associations of the neighboring States.
The Missouri State Association was organized in
1865 in St. Louis, principally through the efforts of
St. Louis dentists, and it is still wielding a great in-
fluence for good upon the profession through the
State.
The Missouri Dental College, of St. Louis, was
organized in July, 1866, chartered the following
month, and reincorporated April 21, 1881. The pres-
ent officers are H. H. Mudd, president ; A. H. Ful-
ler, secretary; Gr. Baumgarten, treasurer. The loca-
tion of the college .is on the northeast corner of
Seventh and Myrtle Streets, in the building of the
St. Louis Medical College, and the infirmary is situ-
ated on the adjoining lots on Myrtle Street. The plan
of organization in this school differed somewhat from
that of other dental schools in that it was more closely
connected with the medical system of education, the
students being required to take the regular medical
course of the St. Louis Medical College, so far as the
chairs of anatomy, physiology, chemistry, materia
medica, and surgery were concerned, while the peculiar
training which was necessary to fit them for the special
practice of dentistry was furnished by a corps of pro-
fessors and demonstrators who were dental practi-
tioners.
The dental school, however, was a separate organiza-
tion, and managed its own business concerns, the occu-
pants of the medical chairs named above being also mem-
bers of the dental faculty. The theory upon which
the school was founded was that the proper basis of a
dental education was the same as of a medical educa-
tion ; that a knowledge of anatomy, physiology, chem-
istry, materia medica, and surgery was necessary in
both ; that the best possible opportunity for obtaining
a knowledge of these branches was found in a medical
school, and that the special instruction should com-
mence where the divergence from the courses in general
medicine took place which led to the studies that were
required by the special dental practitioner. The impor-
tance of this " new departure" will be more clearly ap-
preciated when we turn for a moment to the history
of the dental schools which have been subsequently
established.
A few years after the Missouri School had com-
menced its operations, the Harvard Dental School
was established upon a similar basis in connection
with the Medical Department of Harvard University,
another essentially upon the same principle at Ann
Arbor in connection with the Medical Department of
Michigan University, and soon another connected
with the Medical Department of the University of
Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia, besides schools con-
nected with medical colleges and essentially upon the
same plan established at Indianapolis, Iowa City,
Kansas City, Chicago, and San Francisco. Since
then a majority of the dental colleges in this country
have followed to a greater or less extent the example
set them by the Missouri Dental College. The high
prices charged for admission to the Missouri School,
together with the rigid examinations to which stu-
dents are subjected before they can obtain a degree,
are not favorable to the production of large classes,
but no school has turned out a larger proportion of
good operators or more judicious practitioners than
this. The first faculty of the Missouri Dental College
was made up of the incumbents of the five chairs of
the St. Louis Medical College mentioned before,
while the three special chairs were filled by Drs.
Henry E. Peebles and William H. Eames, and Dr.
Homer Judd, who was also dean of the faculty.
The first president of the college was Dr. Isaiah
Forbes, who filled that position for fifteen years. His
successor, the present incumbent, is H. H. Mudd,
M.D. The present dean is H. H. Mudd, M.D. The
first secretary was Frank White, M.D. ; the present
secretary and treasurer have already been named.
The faculty is constituted as follows : Isaiah Forbes,
D.D.S., Emeritus Professor o.f Institutes of Dental
Science ; A. Litton, M.D., Professor of Chemistry and
Pharmacy ; J. S. B. Alleyne, M.D., Professor of Ther-
1570
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
apeutics and Materia Mcdiea ; G. Baumgarten, M.D.,
Professor of Physiology ; H. H. Mudd, M.D., Pro-
fessor of Anatomy; W. H. Eames, D.D.S., Professor
of Institutes of Dental Science; A. H. Fuller, M.D.,
D.D.S., Professor of Operative Dentistry ; W. N. Mor-
rison, D.D.S., Professor of Mechanical Dentistry; J.
G. Harper, D.D.S., Demonstrator of Operative Den- ;
tistry; C. Mathiason, D.D.S., Demonstrator of Me- ;
chanical Dentistry ; J. Friedman, M.D., Demonstrator
of Chemistry ; H. H. Mudd, M.D., Demonstrator of
Anatomy.
The new infirmary erected one year ago, in con-
nection with the dispensary of the medical college, i
affords every facility for practical laboratory work;
and a dental clinic has been organized, which has
already become a valuable means of instruction, be-
sides affording relief to a large number of charity
patients.
The curriculum is so arranged that the dental stu-
dent can, by the study of a few additional subjects,
put himself in a position to enter, at the completion
of his dental course, the third or senior class of the
St. Louis Medical College, and eventually obtain the
degree of Doctor of Medicine by one additional year's
work.
In 1869 the Missouri Dental Journal made its first
appearance. It differed somewhat from other dental
journals in that each number was divided into three
separate departments, each one of which was under
the supervision of one or more members of the edi-
torial corps. It was hoped that by this method each
department would receive adequate attention, and
that none would be neglected, as had too often been
the case with the older journals. The success of the
Missouri Dental Journal in finding favor with the
profession was demonstrated by the rapid increase in
the number of its subscribers, as in a few years its
patrons were found in nearly every State in the Union,
as well as in South America, Europe, Asia, and else-
where. The Journal was edited by Dr. Homer Judd,
assisted in the operative department by Drs. Henry
S. Chase and Edgar Park, and by William H. Eames
and William N. Morrison in the mechanical depart-
ment.
Most prominent as an inventor of useful imple-
ments in the profession of St. Louis stands the name of
Dr. James Morrison, the senior member of the former
firm of Morrison Brothers. After practicing a few
years in St. Louis, he turned his attention to the con-
struction of dental chairs and other dental appliances.
He went to England, where he remained six years,
during which time he invented and patented a dental
chair, which was admirably adapted to meet the wants
of the dental practitioner. He then returned to St.
Louis, and from 1869 to 1873 was engaged in con-
structing an iron chair, for which it is claimed that it
has the greatest range of motions of any chair brought
out before or since, and which is now in very general
use. His next effort was to construct a dental engine,
by means of which a rotary motion could be conveyed
to a variety of instruments from a fixed lathe,
making use of a flexible shafting and jointed arm,
with belts and pulleys, in order to enable the operator
to use the engine in his operations within the mouth.
This effort was a complete success, and a dental engine
constructed essentially upon the Morrison plan is now
considered an almost indispensable appliance in every
dental office. Seven different patents were obtained
by Dr. Morrison upon his various improvements. Dr.
William N. Morrison claims to have constructed the
first gold crown of a tooth from heavy plate gold, and
he has also been much interested in testing the feasi-
bility of replanting and transplanting teeth, which has
attracted considerable attention during the last ten or
twelve years in this country.
Dr. Bowman has been quite prominent among the
dentists of the West as an earnest advocate of the
use of gutta-percha dissolved in chloroform for filling
pulp canals, especially when the canals are very small.
Dr. Homer Judd, whose name figures prominently
in the history of the dental profession of St. Louis,
was born at Otis, Berkshire Co., Mass., March 29,
1820, the son of Asa and Ada Judd. The Judd
family emigrated to Massachusetts from England at
an early period, and a genealogical record of the
family has been published which embraces more than
eighteen hundred names, and extends down to the
year 1845. Dr. Judd's father, Asa Judd, was a
farmer of respectable standing, and represented his
town several years in the General Assembly of Massa-
chusetts. Homer attended the common schools of the
neighborhood, and afterwards enjoyed the higher
advantages of Lee and Worthington academies. In
1847 he graduated from the Berkshire Medical Col-
lege at Pittsfield, Mass. He was a good student both
at the academies and at college, and in addition to
the Greek and Latin learned during his scholastic
course, has since acquired a knowledge of the French,
Spanish, German, and Italian languages, and some
acquaintance with Hebrew and Sanscrit. His tastes,
in fact, have always had a literary cast, and he has
spent much time in study and research.
Dr. Judd commenced the practice of medicine and
dentistry at Ravenna, Ohio, but after two years' resi-
dence at that place he removed to Santa Fe, New
Mexico, and was the first professional dentist to fill
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1571
a tooth in that Territory. After remaining there one
summer he returned to Ohio, and subsequently moved
to Warsaw, 111., where he practiced medicine and
dentistry for twelve years. At Warsaw he served as
a member of the school board for several years, and
one year as superintendent of the public schools. In
1847 he became a member of the Independent Order
of Odd-Fellows at Ravenna, Ohio, passed through the
chairs of his lodge at Warsaw, and was chosen as its
representative to the Grand Lodge which met at Chi-
cago in 1859. He then removed to St. Louis, where
for many years he was actively engaged in the prac-
tice of dentistry, and was looked up to as one of the
leaders in his profession. Dr. Judd has been called
upon by his brethren to fill a number of important
positions, among them those of president of the Ameri-
can Dental Association, Missouri State Dental Asso-
ciation, and St. Louis Dental Society, dean of the
Missouri Dental College for seven years, and editor
of the Missouri Dental Journal for five years.
During the civil war he served as acting assisting
surgeon, United States army, on the hospital steamers
running to Vicksburg; and after the battle of Shiloh,
Dr. Judd offered his services and was employed as
one of the four surgeons charged with the care of
five hundred wounded soldiers on board a hospital
steamer. His labors in this connection were so ar-
duous that his health became impaired, and he was
compelled to visit Minnesota for rest and recreation.
Subsequently he was appointed surgeon of the Forr
tieth Regiment Missouri Volunteers, and served with
them at the battles of Franklin, Nashville, and Spanish
Fort. For some months after the close of the war he
remained in the service, being stationed at Huntsville,
Ala. In August, 1865, he was honorably mustered
out of service, and returned to St. Louis, where he
resumed the practice of dentistry.
Dr. Judd now resides at Upper Alton, 111., and is
justly regarded as being one of the most distinguished
men in his profession. He is a member of the
American Medical Association, St. Louis Medical
Society, St. Louis Academy of Science, American
Dental Association, St. Louis Dental Society, and
various other associations, being also an honorary
member of the California, Illinois, Iowa, Sixth Dis-
trict of New York, and other dental societies. In
March, 1853, he was married, in Pittsfield, 111., to
Miss Emily F. Hodgen, of that place. They have
had three children, — one son, who died at the age of
six years, and two daughters.1
1 The above sketch of Dr. Judd was prepared by a friend of
that gentleman, at the request of the author of this work.
Public Health in St. Louis — the Epidemics of
the City. — St. Louis has become a very healthy city
from a very unhealthy one, and this change, which
has taken place since the adoption of a system of gen-
eral drainage, is probably due to the fact that the
porous underlying rock on which the city stands is
dry and permits foul matters and poisonous moistures
to filter through it speedily. There seems to be a
general consent of opinion as to the wholesomeness of
the Mississippi River water for drinking purposes, and
the climate of the city, although changeable and sub-
ject to sudden and extreme periods of heat and cold,
does not appear to be provocative of pulmonary affec-
tions. Malarial and intestinal disorders have very
generally baen ameliorated with improved sewerage
and good water, and these facts represent probably
about the sum of the advantages which St. Louis has
over competing cities from a sanitary stand-point. Of
course more is claimed, as, for example, this, from a
newspaper in April, 1880, —
" Dr. J. Berrien Lindsley, of Nashville, Tenn., member of the
sanitary council of the Mississippi valley, asks the very perti-
nent question, ' How is it that St. Louis is, by its mortality re-
ports, shown to be the most healthful large city in the world?'
"The question of Dr. Lindsley, so often asked, is certainly
capable of an answer which will perfectly elucidate the causes,
and it is worth being answered. In the first place, the geo-
graphical position of the city favors its sanitation. Near the
centre of a valley extending from the Northwest mountains to
the Gulf of Mexico, traversed by an immense and rapidly-
moving current of water, which occasions a constant series of
atmospheric currents of frequent alternation and in velocity of
from five to seventeen miles per hour, -weekly mean, the pure,
almost frosty air of the mountains sweeps to the gulf, alter-
nating with the breezes from that warm sea backwards to the
north, thus preventing, as a usual thing, any prolonged season
of very high or extremely low temperature. It is exceptional
that we suffer from prolonged hot or cold seasons, although we
may at times have to contend for a short space with both ex-
tremes. While this constant aerial movement tempers the at-
mosphere, it serves also to remove constantly the exhalations of
a large city, replacing the foul with fresh air, which, by our
system of streets and alleys, permeates every nook of our
domiciles.
" Our streetage is in excess of any other city. The squares
or blocks are small, few larger than three hundred feet square,
each square or block intersected by broad paved alleys, which
secure free ventilation to the rear of all dwellings.
"Secondly, the topographical features of the city are, in the
main, most favorable both to underground artificial and surface
natural drainage. From the river-front westward the ground
rises in gradually increasing series of undulations, the surface
of porous clay resting, at varying depths, upon a limestone sub-
stratum. The elevations permit of an admirable system of sew-
age, which extends to a length of about two hundred miles (the
last official report is 195.26 miles), being daily extended. The
law requires, and the requirement is complied with, that every
house shall be connected with the sewer wherever it can be
reached, so that with few exceptions, and these in the outskirts
of the city, all foul matter is washed directly to the river by
1572
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
twenty-five million gallons of water, which is daily furnished
by the water-works, in addition to the varying rainfall.
" The natural drainage is favored by our lack of what is
called good paving, the loose macadam allowing rapid penetra-
tion to the porous clay, through which the water finds ready un-
derground access to the neighboring streams. Besides favoring
water drainage, the configuration of the city site, as shown by
a physician of the city, favors another very important drainage
in the form of surface air-currents, diurnal, and especially noc-
turnal, when the heavier air, falling to the ground, occasions
movements which simulate those of fluids, creating, even with-
out wind, constant change, as the heavier atmosphere, sink-
ing toward the lower outlets, is replaced by the lighter,
newer air. St. Louis has no need for crowding its popu-
lation, and does not. There are no underground tenements,
those lurking-places and breeding-nests of diseased minds,
morals, and bodies, and indeed but very few above-ground
tenements such as most large cities are cursed with. Thou-
sands of the laboring class own their homes, and, with few
exceptional localities, dense crowding is unknown, and even
then it does not compare with what is considered crowding in
other cities.
" Another most important factor in causing good health is
an abundance of water unequaled for healthfulness. It is a
common joke for the citizens of the North and East to ridicule
the hue that our drinking-water at times possesses, but it is a
fact well known to seamen that no water throughout the world
is as self-preservative as that which stains the blue waters of
the gulf for miles beyond the jetties. A cask of Mississippi
water may travel a year, and at the last be sweet, pure, and
wholesome. It is consumed at the rate of more than fifty gal-
lons per diem to each person, estimating the population at half
a million."
To these things must be added good food, abundant,
cheap, and various ; a frugal working class, having
good wages, steady and constant employment, tem-
perate habits, and the domestic ways of the Germans,
and thus securing a good degree of exemption from
the nervous afflictions of the average American
people.
The claim that a vastly improved condition of the
public health of St. Louis has resulted from a more
effective sanitary and drainage system is certainly
substantiated by the results of the following tables,
when we eliminate from them the vitiated figures
which prove nothing whatever. It is to be observed
that each of the census years happens to be bad for
comparison, showing a heavier mortality bill than the
years preceding and succeeding it :
Year. Population. Mortality.
IMi
1848
*i,yii
2425 «
1849
63,471
8423
1850
74,438
4361
1853
84,116
3766
1855
95,542
5122
1856
121,813
3602
1857
126,266
3103
1858
135,355
4104
1859
143,800
4621
1860
153,800
5945
1861
5035
Population.
Year.
1862
1863 157,182
1864 164,456
1865 178,690
1866 204,327
1867 216,477
1868 250,000
1869 284,967
1870 310,000
1871 350,000
1872 375,000
1873 400,000
1874 435,000
1875 460,000
1876 480,000
1877 500,000
Mortality.
5866
5744
6720
5501
9465
6538
5193
5884
6670
5265
8047
8551
6506
7532
6019
5560
1 Eight months.
2 Eleven months.
Here is the evidence of a very substantial, not to
say remarkable improvement, and it accords with the
development of the sanitary improvements. The re-
turns of mortality statistics only begin in 1847, in
which year we have the data for eight months, on the
basis of which the deaths for twelve months that
year were 3600 in a population of 48,000, in round
numbers, equal to a rate of 75 in the 1000. In
1848 the rate was about 41.6 in a thousand ; in 1849
(the cholera year) it was 132.7 per thousand, or 13J
in a hundred. In 1850 (reflex cholera year) the rate
was 58.5 ; 1860, it was 38.5 ; 1870, for population
returned, 21.5, for actual population, 26.67; 1880,
the total was 7035 in a total of 350,000, equal to
20.1 per thousand. The steady and persistent ratio
of amelioration is very apparent in these figures, in
which, besides, we have presented the maximum of
adverse circumstances and the minimum of popula-
Jion.
The proper mortality statistics of St. Louis, as has
been observed, do not begin until 1847, and we have
only fragmentary data relating to antecedent periods,
such as may be gleaned from the meagre chronicles
and from the newspapers. The only great epidemic
that has visited St. Louis was the cholera in 1849,
when the disease more than decimated the people.
The cholera was severe also in 1866, and its effects
were felt at two or three other dates. Of other epi-
demics we have no certain data, but on several occa-
sions a bilious form of malarial fever appears to have
prevailed with great severity, and to have been very
fatal. This was the case probably in 1821, and the
Spanish garrison seems to have suffered considerably
at times.
The smallpox has visited St. Louis at regular in-
tervals, and once or twice has been epidemic. This
seems to have been the case in 1801, which year is
known in the annals of the village as '' Vannee des
2>icnt<'s, or de la picote" (year of the pitted, or
smallpox year). There are no details of this visita-
tion, but it was repeated several times, the Mississippi
River providing a thoroughfare for its travel, such as
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1573
this loathsome disease likes to take possession of.
Inoculation began to be susperseded by vaccination
about the time that St. Louis became an American
town. In 1803 the doctors of Philadelphia had is-
sued a circular to the whole profession, inculcating the
virtue and duty of vaccination. That circular is as
follows :
•'PHILADELPHIA, April 12, 1803.
'• We, the subscribers, physicians of Philadelphia, having
carefully considered the nature and effects of the newly-dis-
covered means of preventing, by vaccination, the fatal conse-
quence of the smallpox, think it is a duty thus publicly to
declare our opinion that inoculation for the kine or cowpox is
a certain preventive of the smallpox, that it is attended with
no danger, may be practiced at all ages and seasons of the
year, and we do, therefore, recommend it for general use.
John Redman, A. Kuhn, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Say, C.
Wistar, Jr., John R. Coxe, S. F. Conover, E. Perkins, M. Leib,
F. Pascalis, James Dunlap, T. T. Hewson, Charles Caldwell,
W. P. Dewees, Isaac Sermon, J. P. Minnick, Adam Seybert,
W. J. Jacobs, Isaac Cathrall, John Kmeele, J. C. Rousseau,
Rene La Roche, Elijah Griffiths, G. F. Alberti, Joseph Strong,
W. Shippen, Samuel Duffield, Thomas Parke, P. S. Physick,
S. P. Griffiths, J. Woodhouse, P. E. Glentworth, William Currie,
John Porter, James Stuart, James Proudfit, James Gallaher,
Thomas C. James, B. S. Barton, George Pfeiffer, William Barn-
well, James Mease, John C. Otto, J. Reynolds, J. Church, A.
Blayney, William Budd, Joseph Pfeiffer, Edward Cutbush."
" Philadelphia Dispensary. — The attending and consulting
physicians have informed the managers ' that they had for
these eighteen months past inoculated for the cowpox, and
found it mild, unattended with danger, and a full security
against the smallpox, and expressing their wishes that the
superior advantages of the cowpox may be fully experienced
by the objects of this charity.' Therefore, Resolved, That we
do entirely accord with the sentiments of the physicians, and
earnestly recommend to the poor of the city to embrace the
means now offered of preserving themselves and families from
a dangerous and loathsome disease by the newly-discovered and
happy mode of inoculation for the cowpox, which will be daily
performed by the physicians at the dispensary.
" Published by order of the board of managers,
"W»r. WHITE, Prest.
" Aug. 25, 1803."
Not long after the establishment of the Missouri
Gazette, as heretofore stated, Dr. Saugrain, the lead-
ing physician of St. Louis, a man of great scientific
attainments and liberal culture, published a card,
offering his services in vaccination, and alluding to
the above-quoted circular as if it were indeed (as it
was) a convincing and final argument.
On the 30th of October, 1822, the Missouri Ga-
zette published the following mortuary statistics of St.
Louis, the first we have been able to come across :
" The number of interments in this town from the 17th of
March last to the 29th inst., in the several burying-grounds,
amounts to one hundred and three, as appears by the following
statement :
" Number of interments in the Catholic burying-ground from
the 17th of March to the 29th of October:
100
Male adults 16
Female adults 9
Children 28
'' In the burying-grounds out of town :
Male adults 33
Female adults 11
Children 2
" From the hospital :
Age and sex not specified..
46
4
Total 103
"It is worthy of remark that most of the adults buried
in the Catholic churchyard were of an advanced age. Of
twenty-five, the whole number, two, a man and his wife, were
considerably over ninety, three over seventy, and several over
sixty. It is observable also that a majority of burials in that
ground were children.
" In the other burying-grounds it seems that almost the
whole number of burials during the time above specified were
of grown persons, and two-thirds of them males."
These are pretty good data, and they do not show
by any means a good bill of health. The population
of the town in 1822 did not exceed 4500. It was
estimated at 4000 in 1820, and 103 deaths for seven
months and a half means 165 deaths per annum,
equal to 36.66 per 1000 of population.
On Aug. 20, 1823, was passed the first ordinance
of the new city looking to an effectual mode of gath-
ering the actual statistics of mortality. The title of
this is sufficiently definite, —
"An ordinance to compel a report of the deaths in the city
of St. Louis." In this ordinance it was provided that every
practicing physician or association of physicians within the
city shall, on the Monday of each week during the months of
June, July, August, September, and October, and the first day
of every other month in each year, make a report in writing to
the mayor of the city of each death happening under his or
their immediate notice, stating in such report as accurate as
may be the disease or cause of death, age, sex, name, and
length of residence of deceased within the city.
This was intended to give fuller effect to a previous
health ordinance looking to the annual appointment
of a health commissioner for each ward, " whose duty
it shall be, under the direction and superintendence
of the mayor, to watch over the health of the city,
and to carry into effect" the various ordinances relat-
ing to their functions.
In 1832 the cholera made its first appearance in
this country, and after devastating the Eastern sea-
board, traveled westward to the Mississippi. Its
dreaded approach was not unheeded by the citizens
of St. Louis, who, on September 10th of that year,
convened in town-meeting, with the following result :
"Town-meeting, Monday evening, Sept. 10, 1832. Pur-
suant to public notice previously given, a large and respectable
meeting of the citizens of St. Louis assembled at the town hall
for the purpose of taking into consideration measures for clean-
ing the city, to avert as far as possible the dreadful disease
called cholera.
1574
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
"Gen. Bernard Pratte was called to the cbair, and Dr. H. L.
Hoffman appointed secretary. On motion of Dr. II. Lane, an
address from the special medical Board of Health of New York
was read for the information of the meeting.
" Mr. Cohen, Col. Strothcr, Mr. Rule, N. Newman, Esq., Mr.
Grimsley, and Dr. II. Lane severally addressed the meeting,
when, on motion of J. Newman, Esq., the following resolutions
were unanimously adopted:
" llesolved, That the chair appoint ft committee of ten to re-
port to the Board of Aldermen such measures as they may deem
necessary for cleaning and purifying our city, and such other
measures as they may think requisite to avert the dreadful dis-
ease now raging in our Eastern cities, and that Gen. Prutte be
chairman of said committee. Thereupon the chairman ap-
pointed the following gentlemen: Dr. William Carr Lane, Dr.
C. Campbell, T. Grimsley, Edward Tracy, Thomas Cohen, John
Newman, Esq., Col. Strother, N. Ranney, and William K.
Rule."
In a short time the disease invaded the town, and
the Missouri Republican said, about a month after
the town-meeting, that, —
" we had hoped to be able to furnish a complete report of the
number of cases and deaths since our last publication, but we
find it impracticable. The physicians, whose duty it is to re-
port daily, cannot obtain time from their professional duties to
attend to this requisition. All of them are unremittingly en-
gaged in the discharge of their cheerless labor. The whole
number of cases reported since the 9th instant up to last even-
ing is 93, of which 33 have terminated fatally."
On the 6th of November we find the following
happy report :
" The cholera is rapidly disappearing from among us, very
few cases having occurred in the past week, and those few in a
comparatively mild and mitigated form. Many of our citizens
fled from the disease, and are scattered throughout the sur-
rounding country. We hope they will find themselves in as
much safety at home. Some of our city officers have thought
it best to retire to the country nnd take care of number one.
As they no doubt take a lively interest in the welfare of their
constituents, and will be glad to hear how we get along without
them, it is proper to state that the people of the city have borne
the deprivation of their services with fortitude. The remain-
ing public authorities, aided by the zealous charity of the rev-
erend clergy and of private individuals, have done much for the
interest of the city and for the cause of humanity. The sick
have been ' visited,' the dying comforted, and the dead decently
buried.
" The clergy have been active and zealous in relieving the
sufferers, and especially the Catholic priests have been untiring
in the work of kindness. Day and night they followed close
upon the track of the destroyer, ready to administer to the
sufferers the comforts of both worlds. But, above all, that pious
and self-devoted band, the Sisters of Charity, deserve and will
receive the thanks of the community. In addition to the
regular hospital in their care, they have volunteered to take
care of the cholera patients, and while many others, much more
responsible to society, thought only of their own safety, these ex-
cellent persons courted the danger and labor and privation, and
all for ' the luxury of doing good.' Truly their reward is not
here.
" We should be doing injustice to our own feelings, we should
do injustice to the feelings of our whole community if we were
to pass unnoticed the excellent conduct of the medical faculty
throughout th;s trying emergency. They were incessantly en-
gaged in the duties of their profession, and most of them were
allowed but little rest during the two weeks in which the disease
prevailed with the greatest violence. They as cheerfully
visited the abodes of infamy and misery as the residence of the
more wealthy citizen, and to all who asked their time and tal-
ents were assiduously devoted, without the prospect of fee or
reward. Their services will long be remembered by our citi-
zens."
And at the end of the next week the last vestige
of the disease had disappeared.
But St. Louis did not escape so lightly when vis-
ited by the cholera in 1849. The epidemic of that
year was terribly fatal, and we do not think that even
the records of mortality from yellow fever in New
Orleans can show a parallel degree of severity in an
attack of pestilence. This year was one which " old
inhabitants" will not soon forget, for it was fraught
with peculiar disasters. In London the great fire
followed the plague and did service as a purifier, thus
making amends iu some degree for the havoc, ruin,
and calamity it wrought. But in St. Louis, in 1849,
the plague followed the fire. At least, although the
cholera had begun to rage before that disaster, it did
not rise to its greatest height until several weeks after.
The day of the fire was the 17th of May ; the cholera
had made its first appearance in the last days of De-
cember, 1848. The first week of January, 1849, there
were 8 deaths from cholera reported, one-eleventh of
the total mortality. In the week ending July 2d there
were 903 deaths, 619 from cholera, showing a very
sickly season independent of the epidemic. For the
week ending July 16th the deaths were 867; from
cholera, 639. On the 10th of July the deaths from
cholera alone were 145, a very high death-rate indeed,
if it was ever equaled in any city of the same popu-
lation outside the tropics. The large increase of
deaths from other causes besides cholera proceeded
from malaria, nervous and physical exhaustion in
consequence of anxiety, loss of rest, and nursing, and
from what the doctors called bilious diarrhosa, doubt-
less the well-known choleraic disorder of the bowels,
modified by climatic and malarious complications,
which always seem to attend upon an epidemic of
cholera. During the week of the maximum intensity
of the disease — that ending July 16th — the deaths
from cholera alone were at the rate of 36,400 per an-
num, 57.3 per cent, of the entire population. The
deaths from all diseases were at the rate of 47,944
per annum, 75.5 per cent, of the entire population.
The contemporary journals give what is probably
the best, certainly the most graphic, history of the
ravages and desolations of this epidemic. But, pre-
liminary to quoting these, it will be best to give an
THE MEDICAL PKOFESSION.
1575
abstract of the corrected mortality statistics as they
are given, in a revised form, in the Western Journal
for 1851, pp. 264-65:
Deaths in 1849. Penths in 1850.
Week ending Total. Cholera. Total. Cholera.
Jan. 8 77 8 72 7
" 15 68 3 44
" 22 77 17 57 2
" 29 49 5 53 1
Feb. 5 37 4 45 3
" 12 65 11 37 1
" 19 70 4 35
" 26 69 ... 45 1
March 6 59 3 39 1
" 13 64 7 36
" 20 92 26 44
" 27 79 25 49
April 2 65 17 51 2
" 9 74 16 55 2
" 16 80 24 56 2
" 23 106 27 53 2
" M 131 41 44
Mny 7 135 78 72 22
" 14 273 185 111 33
" 21 192 127 65 9
" 28 185 115 57 7
June 4 144 75 73 24
" 11 283 191 77 13
« 18 510 404 100 40
« 25 763 589 144 44
July 2 903 619 196 67
" 9 773 591 244 83
" 16 867 639 212 77
" 23 442 269 391 210
" 30 225 93 217 69
Aug. 6 152 35 169 25
" l:» 117 12 227 20
" .20 94 4 167 15
" 27 73 3 129 7
Sept. 3 71 4 74 2
" 10 66 3 84 4
" 17 88 1 7t 8
" 24 80 5 66 2
Oct. 1 77 ... 62 2
" 8 69 ... 59
" 15 63 2 64 3
" 22 44 ... 39 8
" 29 57 ... 51 7
Nov. 5 63 1 49 6
" 12 44 ... 72 17
" 19 53 ... 75 11
" 20 39 1 146 5
Dec. 3 47 2 38 3
" 10 42 1 41 2
" 17 46 2 46 1
" 24 31 ... 46 1
" 31 36 ... 47
Total 8445 4285 4595 872
The first mention of the appearance of the disease
is in a journal of the date of January 19th, in which
we are told that, —
" Since our last we have ascertained that five deaths from this
disease have occurred in this city during yesterday and the
evening previous, and one new case on Collins Street, reported
to the health officer. Two of the deaths were in a family on
Sixth Street, between Locust and St. Charles, one at the corner
of Eighth and Wash, one on Wash, between Eighth and Ninth,
and one at the Sisters' Hospital. From two of the families
where death occurred several members were sent to the hospital,
prostrated with the disease: these, wo are informed, are cases
of local cholera. In view of the appearance of this disease in
our city four additional street inspectors were yesterday sworn
in by the recorder."
But there was no panic ; the disease was allowed to
run along. There is no further mention of it until
May 5th, when it is simply said that the sexton of a
single cemetery reported to the register ten interments
of persons dead of cholera in twenty-four hours. On
May llth the fact that the disease was making progress
was recognized :
" The physicians report to the register the existence of
twenty-six new cases of cholera from seven o'clock P.M. of
Wednesday to six P.M. of Thursday. During the same time
nine deaths from cholera were reported to the register, but we
are inclined to believe the entire return at the end of the week
from the several places of interment will show a greater mor-
tality than is here set down."
May 13th,—
" Forty-seven cases were reported to the city register yester-
day, of which twelve proved fatal. Nine of the above cases
were taken from the boats, of which three have died."
May 14th, —
" At six o'clock last evening twenty-four cholera cases had
been reported at the register's office, six of which terminated
fatally. This is a falling off from the average mortality of last
week of four per day.
"The city having purchased of John A. Stephenson the
steamer ' Hannibal' for the purpose of using her as a quaran-
tine or a hospital boat, she was towed down to the quarantine
station on Wednesday evening by the steamer ' Whirlwind.'
One great difficulty which has heretofore been much complained
of has been the trouble of landing steamboats at the island,
and on this account boats have sometimes violated the quaran-
tine regulations. This move on the part of the city will obvi-
ate this difficulty entirely, as it will be as easy to land beside
the quarantine boat as at the wharf. It is intended, we are in-
formed, to use the boat as a hospital in case of an epidemic.
She is to be moored at a point near the foot of Duncan's Island,
where there is plenty of water for the largest class boats at any
season of the year. The price paid for the ' Hannibal' was
ten hundred and fifty dollars, which, in addition to the expense
of towing her down and mooring her, will make her cost about
eleven hundred dollars. The machinery of the ' Hannibal'
had been removed previous to the purchase. Dr. Leavenworth,
quarantine physician, is having his laboratory and lodgings
removed to the boat, so that at all hours of the night and at all
times of the day he will be on hand for the examination of ar-
riving steamers."
May 16th, —
" The city register makes the following statement in regard
to the health of the city :
" The whole number of deaths from all causes for the seven
days ending Sunday night, the 13th inst., was 273, of which
181 were from cholera. The interments daily from the last dis-
ease were as follows :
Monday, May 7 16
Tuesday, May 8. 36
Wednesday, May 9 25
Thursday. May 10 30
Friday, May 11 33
Saturday, May 12 19
Sunday, May 13 22
Total in seven days 181
From other diseases 92
Whole number 273
" The number of deaths reported for Monday, the 14th inst.,
was twenty-one, being eleven less than on the 8th, the heaviest
1576
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
day, showing a decrease in this particular disease. The entire
number of deaths on Monday was thirty-six. This is really
frightful mortality, and although it may be argued that the
pestilence is abating in the number of its victims and in its
virulence, it still has terrors enough to alarm most any one."
Next day after this, Maj 17th, the great fire took
place, and public attention was so exclusively directed
to that as to leave the cholera out of sight. Indeed,
in a narrative written next year, it was said that, —
" As at the battle of Aboukir the blowing up of the ' L'Ori- |
ent' had the effect of causing an utter suspension of hostilities
for the space of half an hour, only to be resumed with in-
creased fury, at least on the part of the British, so this confla-
gration had the effect, for a few days, of so far drawing public
attention from the presence of the cholera as almost to cause it
to be generally believed to have been actually superseded by
the fire. But this delusion was of but short duration. In a j
few days, the excitement caused by the fire having subsided, j
the cholera again began to command the public attention by, i
not a return (for it had not disappeared, being only tempo-
rarily merged and lost sight of in the accompanying great
calamity), but an increase of virulence."
The next current mention of the progress of the
disease is on June 15th :
"The sexton of seven cemeteries, viz.: the City, Catholic,
Methodist, Holy Ghost, Christ Church, German Protestant, and
Lutheran, reported fifty-nine interments during Tuesday, forty-
seven of which were reported as having died of cholera."
On the 19th of June the following was the report :
" For the week ending Sunday the number of interments, as
reported to the register, was as follows:
" Monday, 8 cemeteries reported 48 in all, 40 of the cholera.
" Tuesday, 7 cemeteries reported 60 in all, 47 of the cholera.
" Wednesday, 9 cemeteries reported 83 in all, 65 of the
cholera.
" Thursday, 10 cemeteries reported 68 in all, 58 of the
cholera.
" Friday, 9 cemeteries reported 74 in all, 62 of the cholera.
" Saturday, 9 cemeteries reported 74 in all, 61 of the
i
cholera.
" Sunday, 8 cemeteries reported 85 in all, 69 of the cholera. ;
"Total, 492; 402 of the cholera."
There was complaint at the showing of these fig- i
ures, and a disposition to charge neglect. It was said i
that,—
"The cholera is still sweeping off its scores of victims every i
day, and this at a time when the atmosphere is pure and elas-
tic, and there appears to be no good reason for the prevalence
of the mortality. It seems to be well ascertained, however, j
that the epidemic is confined to particular localities, and that
efforts of a sanitary kind must be directed to these districts, if !
anything is to be done at all, to arrest the progress of the mal-
ady. St. Charles Street and Washington Avenue, west of
Eighth, parts of North St. Louis, and some localities in the
southern part of the city are represented to be the principal
seats of the pestilence. Efforts should now be directed to the
purification of these quarters."
June 24th, —
" The week previous to this the mortality was 224, and the i
deaths by cholera 173, showing an increase of 49 on the whole
number, and 26 on deaths by cholera.
" The cholera proper appears to confine itself entirely among
the newly-arrived immigrants, who are compelled by their re-
stricted means to lodge in the city suburbs or in low, unhealthy
places in the city, where disease very naturally is most readily
contracted. The strangers who visit us from the neighboring
States may, if they take the ordinary precautions, do so with
impunity. Nearly one-third of the deaths, it will be seen by
the above table, occurred among children five years of age or
under."
But this did not satisfy the citizens. They deter-
mined to take things in their own hands, called a
public meeting, and appointed a committee to look
after the proper sanitary measures which should be
adopted in an emergency of this sort. On June 26th,
as the current report informs us, —
"The committee appointed by the chairman of the mass-
meeting, at least a portion of them, met yesterday morning at
the Planters' House, and an address to the mayor and City Coun-
cil, and an ordinance embracing the provisions of the recom-
mendations of the mass-meeting were adopted, and forthwith
the committee in a body waited upon the mayor at the town
hall and laid them before him. In response to the address, the
mayor assured the committee of his hearty wish and entire
willingness to co-operate with the citizens and the Council in
any measures that might be adopted to stay the ravages of the
disease, or mitigate the sufferings of the destitute who might
be attacked with it. He gave some painful and frightful ac-
counts of what he had already witnessed, and his inability to
do more than he had done. The two boards of the City Coun-
cil having adjourned over until Wednesday evening, the mayor
instantly summoned them to meet at four o'clock P.M. yester-
day.
" Said ordinance was then taken up for consideration, and
after slight amendment, read three several times and passed,
the vote being ayes eight, noes one. The ordinance as passed
by the aldermen is in substance as follows :
" First, that in order to check the future spread of the chol-
era now raging among us, and to carry into effect in the best
manner the views of our citizens, as expressed by them in pub-
lic meeting, touching said disease, a committee shall be and
hereby is appointed, to be termed 'the Committee of Public
Health,' consisting of the following-named persons, heretofore
named at said public meeting, to wit: T. T. Gantt, R. S. Blen-
nerhassett, A. 13. Chambers, Isaac A. Hedges, James Clemens,
Jr., J. M. Field, George Collier, L. M. Kennett, Trusten Polk,
Lewis Bach, Thomas Gray, William G. Clark."
But nothing could arrest the headway of the dis-
ease now. On June 28th the report said, —
"The official reports of interments for the week ending Mon-
day last, and including all the cemeteries in the neighborhood
of the city, shows the total number for that period to be 763,
of which 164 were children from the age of five and under. The
deaths from cholera for the same period are reported at 589.
"In view of the terrible pestilence now prevailing in our
midst, the officers of Washington University have deemed it
expedient to bring their scholastic year to a rather sudden and
premature termination, and permit those students residing at a
distnnce to return to their homes.
" The clergy of the Presbyterian Church in this city have set
apart this day (Thursday) as a day of public fasting, humilia-
tion, and prayer. All persons are affectionately invited to join
with them in the religious services of the day.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1577
"At a meeting of the committee designated by the ordinance
passed by the City Council, held yesterday evening at the
Planters' House, were present Messrs. Gantt, Chambers, Clark,
Field, Hedges, Gray, Polk, and Blennerhassett. Absent, Messrs.
Clemens, Collier, Kennett, and Bach. On motion, T. T. Gantt,
Esq., was called to the chair, and J. M. Field appointed secre-
tary.
" The meeting being informal, they not having been officially
advised of the passage of the ordinance, the following address
and proceedings were had :
" Resolved, That the public school-house on Seventh Street,
in the First Ward; the public school-house in the Fifth Ward,
on the corner of Ninth and Wash; public school-house near
Mound Market, in the Sixth Ward ; and the St. Vincent school-
room (Catholic), in the Fourth Ward, be and they are hereby set
apart as temporary hospitals, and we request that all destitute
poor be sent to those places. Arrangements will be made in
the other wards as soon as the city can procure proper tene-
ments.
"Resolved, That Messrs. Blennerhassett, for the First Ward;
Polk, for the Fifth Ward; William G. Clark, for the Sixth
Ward : Thomas Gray, for St. Vincent's school-room, in the
Fourth Ward, be appointed to carry out the above resolutions,
and provide for the temporary accommodations of patients
until other provisions are made.
" Resolrvd, That two physicians be appointed to attend to each
of the temporary hospitals hereby established, and that they
be empowered to procure all the medicine and attendance neces-
sary, and establish a medical depot not only for the sick in the
hospitals, but also for all destitute poor in the ward."
This was the way to fight the epidemic, but it would
not yield to any such measures at present. On June
29th we read, —
" We have been flattering ourselves that the prevailing epi-
demic was abating, but on collecting the facts our hopes are
dissipated. It is, in fact, on the increase, and now becomes a
serious, and the only question, ' What shall be done to stay it?'
By the report below it will be seen that, according to the returns
of eleven cemeteries, there were on AVednesday 132 interments,
of which 109 were from cholera, only 23 from other causes.
These returns do not include the Methodist cemetery in an
authentic shape, nor the Hebrew. We learn indirectly that
there were interments in the Methodist cemetery, 6 of which
were from cholera, and 2 from other causes. If this be true, it
gives a total for Wednesday of 140 deaths, of which 115 were
by the prevailing sickness, considerably exceeding the reported
mortality of any other day. Even if the report from the
Methodist be not correct, those which are known to be so show
that this disease is on the increase, and give just and sufficient
cause to awaken all good and humane men to prompt and effi-
cient action."
June -30th there was a wail of querulous despond-
ency,—
"An examination of the daily reports which have been
published for some weeks past of the ravages of the cholera in
this city presents the melancholy fact that at least three-fourths
of the mortality is confined to emigrants from foreign countries.
We think that this is quite a reasonable estimate, and we call
attention to it now with the hope of inducing some effort to
improve the condition of those who seem, from local or other
causes, doomed to the grave.
"At least one-third of the population of St. Louis is com-
posed of foreigners. They have been increasing every year,
bringing much wealth to the city, improving their own condi-
tion, and enhancing the value of everything around them, con-
tracting too many of the habits and enjoying the comforts of
Americans. Within the last few months, however, a greatly
increased number of foreigners, principally from England and
Germany, have arrived, and thus they have unfortunately
brought disease and death with them to such an extent as to
carry alarm whenever an arrival is announced."
July 1st the Committee of Public Health was vig-
orously at work, employing every means in its power,
as evidenced by the following :
" Resolved, That the special block inspectors observe the
following regulations:
" 1. To visit and thoroughly examine each tenement and the
premises in their several districts at least once every day, and
notify the occupants, and also the owners thereof, forthwith to
remove to the most convenient street or alley anything that
they may deem injurious or offensive, or that ought to be re-
moved. And if the same shall not forthwith be removed, then
they will immediately remove the same, and charge the ex-
penses thereof to the occupants first, if they be able to pay
them ; if not, then to the owners ; and if neither the occupants
nor the owners can pay the same, then shall the same be paid
by the city.
"2. That such examination be made at least once every
day.
" 3. That they procure a sufficiency of scavenger- and slop-
carts to remove all the filth from every part of their district
once each day.
"4. To examine and ascertain the number of persons occu-
pying any tenement and their condition; and whenever the
number and condition is such as in the opinion of the inspec-
tor endangers the health of the occupants or the neighborhood,
to report immediately the facts to the president of the com-
mittee, or to the members of the committee from the ward in
which it exists.
" 5. To cause forthwith all sick, destitute persons to be re-
moved to some one of the hospitals selected and designated by
this committee.
"6. Keep a strict account of every expense necessarily in-
curred in removing nuisances or sick persons, and report the
same to this committee.
" 7. They shall have power to engage the necessary vehi-
cles and means for carrying the sick to the hospitals above
specified.
" 8. That all the matter carried off by the scavenger- and
slop-carts be hauled to the scavenger-boat near the foot of
Walnut Street*
"9. That such inspectors immediately report to the mem-
bers of the committee for their ward all such persons as may
either neglect, refuse, or oppose any order or step given or
taken to effect the objects of their appointment, in order that
the members of this committee may effectually enforce the
provisions and objects of the ordinance of the 27th June inst.
" NOTICE. — The attention of the block inspectors and citi-
zens generally is particularly directed to the order with regard
to the disinfecting fires to-night, so that the whole city may
be thus purified at once. The materials should be procured by
the block inspectors to-day, and deposited in prescribed quan-
tities at the proper places ready for use at 8 o'clock P.M.
"NOTICE. — The Committee of Public Health hereby give
notice that they have made arrangements for the immediate
reception of all indigent persons suffering with cholera at the
Hotel for Invalids, corner of Second and Walnut Streets; at
1578
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
the St. Louis Hospital, corner of Spruce and Fourth Streets; at
the City Hospital, and at the public school-houses in the First
and Sixth Wards.
" Suitable cars for the conveyance of the sick will be kept
in waiting at the various hospitals, and also at tho public
school-houses in the Fourth and Fifth Ward?, and will be
sent immediately on application to the parties in need of them.
The block inspectors and all friends to humanity are requested
to use their endeavors to have all indigent persons attacked
with the epidemic removed from their dwellings to the hos-
pitals at the earliest possible moment, as upon this depends the
greatest chance of relief being afforded.
" The Committee of Health have recommended that Monday
(to-morrow) shall be observed as a day of humiliation, fasting,
and prayer. As a Christian community, and recognizing the
overruling power of Providence, this recommendation will not
be disregarded. Never was there a time in the history of any
city that more imperiously demanded a humble and contrite
appeal to the interposition of the Almighty than now exists in
St. Louis. The churches and all religious denominations, we
have no doubt, will cordially and zealously unite in observing
the recommendation. All must admit its propriety and ne-
cessity.
" Every good and right-thinking man will, out of respect to the
religious opinions and belief of his neighbors, give it his acquies-
cence. He will close his store or place of business and sur-
render the day to the purposes indicated, and permit those in
his employ to participate in devotional exercises, and to enjoy
some relaxation from toil. The prompt and hearty co-operation
of the citizens thus far in all the recommendations and sugges-
tions of the committee gives assurance that this request will
be strictly observed by all.
" In compliance with the recommendation of the Committee
of Health, we will not issue a paper on Tuesday morning.
Advertisers for that day will please send in their favors to-
On July 4th there was the following mortality :
" Total, one hundred and sixty in all, one hundred and twenty-
eight of cholera. This report shows five more deaths from
cholera than has occurred any day since the epidemic has pre-
vailed in our city."
And new and greater additions were made to the
authority of the Committee of Public Health :
"Yesterday evening the City Council passed an ordinance
vesting in the mayor and Committee of Public Health the
necessary powers to enforce quarantine regulations on all emi-
grants from shipboard, and on all sick, diseased, infectious, or
unclean persons. The ordinance, we have no doubt, will receive
the sanction of the mayor."
The weekly report at this time was enough to
cause a panic :
" By the daily report made to the register's office, for the
week ending Sunday last, it appears the total number of inter-
ments was as follows :
In all. Cholera.
Monday 127 99
Tuesday 114 94
Wednesday 140 115
Thursday 155 12?,
Friday 162 119
Saturday 122 83
Sunday 125 100
Total for the week
On July 6th we are told, —
945
733
" Yesterday afternoon His Honor the mnyor, Dr. Barret, the
visiting physician, nnd several other gentlemen visited the
quarantine grounds, and were well satisfied with the arrange-
ment and condition of the persons there. As yet the committee
have not been able to perfect their arrangements, but in the
course of to-day and to-morrow they will have accommodations
erected on shore sufficient for any present probable demand.
" There are now at the quarantine ground one hundred and
one persons, all of whom are comfortably provided for on board
the steamboat ' St. Louis.' These are all Germans, of whom
there were yesterday evening only four sick, two women and
two children. An Englishman landed at the quarantine ground
died yesterday, the only death that had occurred up to a late
hour last evening. Dr. Haussler, a German, is resident physi-
cian at quarantine. Dr. Carrow continues to perform the duties
of health officer. Ho is stationed at the Montesano House with
a boat and crew, and boards all boats from the South."
The point selected for quarantine was the lower end
of Arsenal Island. July 16th the following is re-
ported :
" The following shows the number of interments daily for the
week ending yesterday :
In all.
Monday 125
Tuesday 184
Wednesday 144
Thursday 136
Friday 110
Saturday 131
Sunday 92
922
Of Cholera.
101
145
115
105
87
89
58
700
July 19th, —
" The total number of interments in the several cemeteries of
the city for the week ending Monday, July 16th, is shown by
the following table, copied from the register's official report :
Cemeteries. Of Cholera.
City 150
Holy Ghost 66
Lutheran 26
St. Vincent 39
German Protestant 63
Catholic (old) 94
Catholic (new) 64
Wesleyan 52
Methodist 38
Christ Church 26
Presbyterian 10
Baptist 9
United Hebrew..., 2
Of other
Diseases.
47
28
12
19
31
39
15
9
15
9
4
0
0
639 228
" Total for the week, 867.
"Of the above number, 197 were children of the age of five
years and under."
July 22d,—
"The following table shows the number of interments each
day for the week ending Saturday, the 2Ist:
Of Cholera. Other Disease*.
Sunday 58 34
Mondny 61 27
Tuesday 61 23
Wednesday 50 34
Thursday 36 30
Friday 37 29
Saturday' 33 20
336
Cholera.
197
336
533
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1579
" For the same period last week there were 722 deaths from
cholera and 215 from other diseases. Compared with the same
period the previous week, the above table shows a decrease of i
386 deaths from the cholera and 18 from other diseases."
The disease now suddenly lost its terrors, and the
mortality fell off at once almost to nearly normal rates.
The causes of this were (1) the new quarantine ar-
rangements ; (2) a general betterment in the state of
the atmosphere and temperature ; (3) a general flight
of citizens from the place. This last cause probably
was much more efficient than the others in checking
the ravages of the pestilence. The proof that there
was such a general expatriation at this time is found
in the sudden drop in the number of deaths from
other diseases besides cholera between the middle of
July and the middle of August.
On August 8th, the journal heretofore quoted
said, —
" The following report is copied from the statements of the
several sextons, made to the register, for the week ending Mon-
day, the 6th. It exhibits a greatly reduced mortality in this city,
and the almost total disappearance of the cholera from among us.
It justifies us, also, in inviiing the return of our own citizens,
and the visits of all who have business or desire intercourse
with us. The re-establishment of quarantine regulations and
proper attention to cleanliness of our streets will insure us
against any further disease during the present season :
Cemeteries.
Total. Cholera.
German Protestant .................. 18
Baptist .................................. 5
Methodist .............................. 6
Christ Church ........................ 9
Wesleyan ............................... 6
St. Vincent ............................. 11
Presbyterian ........................... 9
Lutheran ............................... 4
Holy Ghost ............................. 16
Catholic (old) ......................... 20
" (new) ........................ 20
City ...................................... 28
United Hebrew .................. 0
152 34
72'
The same paper reviews the facts and points the
moral of the epidemic in the excellent article which
follows :
" We have taken the trouble to procure from the register's
office an authentic statement of the whole number of interments
in the cemeteries of this city from the 23d day of April to the
6th day of August, 1849. The laws of this State in regard to
interments in public burial-grounds are very severe, and we
have no reason to suppose that they have been disregarded in
any instance. In some cemeteries it is understood that they
report a greater number of deaths, for two or three weeks, than
is here set down, amounting to some fifty or sixty, but we ac-
count for the discrepancy by supposing that there were cases
of interments of persons dying at the coal-mines, several miles
from the city, and in which no regular certificates, such as the
law requires, were furnished. It has been stated that large
numbers of persons dying in St. Louis have been interred in
Illinois and in the surrounding country, of which no note has
been taken. We do not believe this is true to any considerable
extent, and we are quite certain that more persons have been
brought to the city graveyards from abroad, for the purpose of
interment, than have been taken from the city with a view to
interment elsewhere.
" What a fearful tale is told in this chronicle of death's
doings! In a little over one hundred days six thousand per-
sons have been committed to the grave, and this out of a popu-
lation of less than sixty thousand ! This is an awful mortality,
perhaps greater than has ever occurred in any city of the
United States with the same population. It is to be observed,
however, that a good many hundreds of these persons were not
really citizens of St. Louis, but had just landed here, bringing
the seeds of death within them, and, still more unfortunate,
carrying death into whatever quarter they went. To this cause,
indeed, is to be attributed a vast portion of the mortality which
has been recorded ; and if the people are wise they will avoid,
as far as possible, contributing to similar epidemics hereafter,
by insisting upon greater regard to cleanliness and the proper
ventilation of the houses occupied by these people, and by com-
pelling the owners of all such places as ' Shepard's Graveyard' to
fill them up and put the houses in proper and healthy condition.
There are numberless such places in the city, and we only
specify this one because the people are more familiar with it
than with others.
"TABLE OF INTERMENTS in the several public cemeteries at-
tached to St. Louis from the 23d day of April to the 6th of
August, 1849.
Total.
For
the week ending April 30
" May 7
" " 14
131
135
273
" " 21
192
' " 28
186
' June 4
144
' " 11
283
' " 18
510
' " 25
163
1 July 2
" 9
903
773
' " 16
867
' " 23
442
.
' " 30
..... 225
Aug. 6.
152
5989
These figures, in fact,
were beS
™ „. Under
Cholera. Five YeAra.
41
50
78
28
185
46
127
24
115
44
75
34
191
72
404
106
589
164
619
230
591
192
639
197
269
140
93
94
34
72
4060
1493"
frightful aggregate, as the revised table given in a
preceding page proves. The results of this terrible
pestilence, which retarded the city's progress tempo-
rarily, were important in their bearing upon the im-
provements made in the city's sanitary condition.
Better quarantine arrangements were at once made ;
better provision for cleanliness in streets and high-
ways, and improvements in every other sanitary re-
gard. But, more than all, the determination to give
St. Louis a thorough and effective sewer and drainage
system was a consequence of this epidemic.
The cholera could not be completely got rid of for
several years. In January, 1852, the following table
was made up from the register's records :
Table showing the weekly mortality of St. Louis during the
years 1849-51.
Total. Cholera.
Deaths in 1849 8431 4144
" " 1850 4595 372
" " 1851..., .. 4377 791
1580
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
There was a slight outbreak of the cholera in 1855,
but the disease did not again visit St. Louis with any
violence until 1866. In that year it became epidemic
once more, and threatened at one time to get beyond
control, as it had done in 1849.
The approach of the disease, slow and gradual, was I
not unheeded by the citizens who bore 1849 still
fresh in their memories. The newspapers recited the
history of that stricken year as an example, and some
of the articles written on the subject have a positive
value, for example, —
" As early as 1 847, the first year of that decade so remarkable
for the vast immigration from Europe, there were numerous
cases of ship fever, some of which were brought to St. Louis,
and communicated the contagion of that disease to some of
our citizens. The next year, cholera prevailing in Europe, the
emigrant ships brought over a great deal of disease, which was j
pronounced cholera ; and in the latter part of the year infected
New Orleans, where, before January, 1849, cholera had as-
sumed an epidemic form. The New Orleans Picayune of Dec.
14, 1848, noticed the arrival of the ship 'Swinton,' from Havre,
with German emigrants, after a passage of only thirty-nine
days, and sixteen deaths on the passage, which were subse- [
quently acknowledged to have been of cholera. On the 27th
of that month there was an alarm in St. Louis on account of f
deaths supposed to be from cholera, on board the steamer .
'Alton,' from New Orleans. The cholera prevailed through
the winter months in New Orleans, and on all the boats from j
thence going up the Mississippi and Ohio there were cases of it.
On the 17th of January the St. Louis board reported six cases
of local origin, though it was doubted whether so early as this
there were any cases not traceable to communication with New
Orleans. An ice-blockade in February stopped navigation, and
little mention of the disease was made until its reopening. On
the 28th of March the St. Louis Board of Health reported twenty-
four cases of cholera for the week before, mostly from New
Orleans. On the 9th twenty-six cases for the week were re-
ported, but only four residents of the city. During April and
May the cholera broke out at several points on the Missouri
River, and was on every boat on the Mississippi and Missouri.
On the 8th of May, in St. Louis, the weekly deaths by cholera :
had gone up to one hundred and seventy-eight, and on May !
14th to one hundred and eighty-five, but fell off for two weeks
after the great fire."
And so forth, the article concluding with a pretty
complete account of the course and progress of the
pestilence by way of warning. This article was
written in April, but the disease did not break out
until July. On the 9th of August one of the daily
journals reported the progress it had made in the fol-
lowing terms, which, though calm and cautious, give
evidence of the little under-current of alarm :
" As was to be anticipated from the prevalence of the disease
throughout the country and the unusual heat of the weather,
some cases of sporadic cholera have occurred in this city. So
far, however, the cases have been comparatively few and iso-
lated, and have mostly occurred among persons whose constitu- -
tions were weakened and deteriorated by vicious or irregular
habits, or whose residence and modes of living were unfavorable
to health.
" Since the appearance of the disease the members of the
Board of Health, the mayor, and other city officers connected
with the health department, have been actively engaged in
taking precautionary measures, and endeavoring to improve the
somewhat objectionable sanitary condition of the city, and to
this end, at a recent meeting of the Board of Health, the fol-
lowing address to the citizens was promulgated :
" ' ST. Louis, Mo., Aug. 8, 1866.
"'To THE CITIZENS OP ST. Louis:
" 'As it is now fully ascertained by the Board of Health of
the city of St. Louis that there are some cases of cholera among
us, and having taken all the precautions in our power, we would
most earnestly request of the citizens of St. Louis to assist us
in carrying out the sanitary regulations of the city.
'"JOHN FINN,
" ' President of Board of Health.
" ' I hereby cordially concur in the above recommendations.
, "'JAMES S. THOMAS,
"'Mayor of St. Louis.'"
The disease made progress, but active steps were
taken to meet it. Under date of August llth we read
that,—
"The sudden and unusual coolness of Thursday night, fol-
lowed by the close murky atmosphere of yesterday, resulted, as
might be expected, in a somewhat increased number of cases of
cholera. Forty-three cases were reported at the health office.
Many of these, however, were of a mild character, yielding
easily to medical treatment.
" The following are the names of the physicians appointed
by the board to attend to those unable to pay :
" First District. D. A. Roach. Orders can be left at the drug
store on Carondelet Avenue between Russell and Anne.
"Second District, Dr. William S. Golding. Leave orders ut
his office, corner Fourth and Walnut.
"Third District, Dr. S. T. Newman, corner of Washington
Avenue and Fifth Street.
"Fourth District, Dr. R. B. McAuliff, corner of Broadway
and Carr.
" Fifth District, Dr. James 0. Gallaher. Orders can be left
at 722 Broadway, Tenth Ward, and at James McBride's drug
store, on Fifth between O'Fallon and Biddle.
" They also resolved to appoint two drug stores in each ward
at which medicines can be obtained by poor people free of
charge."
On the 16th, the following was issued:
" MAYOR'S PROCLAMATION.
" MAYOR'S OFFICE,
"ST. Louis, Aug. 15, 1866.
" Whereas, It has been represented to me that the wants of
those suffering from cholera might be alleviated and the sani-
tary condition of the city more fully attained by the appoint-
ment of a number of citizens in each ward, whose duty it should
be to inquire into the condition of the infected neighborhoods,
to use such remedies as necessity demands by supplying to the
poor medical advice, having medicines made up for them, and
using disinfectants.
" Now, therefore, I, James S. Thomas, mayor of the city of
St. Louis, do hereby appoint the following citizens, and request
them to carry out the objects above set forth :
"First Ward, Col. Koehler, Col. Vahlkamp, John C. Finck,
Charles Strittwetter, Toney Faust, George Meisbach.
"Medicines will be supplied at drug store 259 Carondelet
Avenue; also at Mol's drug store, Carondelet Avenue.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1581
"Second Ward, Col. Chris. Ploeser, Julius Conrad, Charles
W. Gottschalk, Phil. Michel, Capt. Chris. Overbeck, John Pul-
lis, Henry Amburg, Charles R. Fritsch.
"Medicines will be supplied at Geniff's drug store, 35 Ca-
rondelet Avenue; also at H. Distlehorst's, corner of Seventh
and Soulard.
"Third Ward, William Rumbold, Amadee Vall6, C. C. Sim-
mons, William H. Maurice, Edward Mead, John G. Copelin,
Dr. William Taussig, E. P. Rice, R. C. Rennick, Frederick
Heitkamp, Emile Winter, Herman Schepmaun, Dr. T. F. Rum-
bold.
"Medicines to be supplied at drug store corner Seventh and
Chouteau Avenue.
" Fourth Ward, William H. Godfrey, G. W. Dreyer, Tony
Niederweiser, George Walbrecht, Frank Boehm, D. C. L. Lips,
Limberg, Dr. Thomas Scott, J. C. Barlow, P. Wiles, W.
Vanzandt.
" Medicines will be supplied at drug store of Enno Sanders,
corner of Fourth and Walnut Streets, and at drug store corner
of Seventeenth and Market.
"This committee is requested to convene at Tony Nieder-
weiser's at ten o'clock A.M. to-day.
" Fifth Ward, Erastus Wells, John Cairns, Joseph Conn, A.
J. P. Garescbe, James Quigley, John McBride, John Jackson,
L. Burns, John Ivory, Hampton Woodruff. Medicines can
be supplied at drug store corner of Fifth and Market, and at
drug store corner of Seventeenth and Market Streets.
•• The committee is requested to meet at the hall of the Board
of Aldermen at ten o'clock to-day.
"Sixth Ward, William G. Eliot, B. R. Bonner, Joshua
Cheever, James Blakely, Charles G. Ramsey, John S. Thomp-
son, Levin Baker, Jacob Merrell, James Scollay, William II.
Benton. Medicines to be supplied at Crawford's drug store,
corner of Eighth and Washington Avenue, and McGintie, cor-
ner of Olive and Fifteenth Streets.
"Seventh Ward, James T. Mercer, C. F. Walther, J. H. Ger-
deniann, Anson Coinstock, John O'Brien, William Laninann, H.
Steinberg, A. Heute, Ernst Krepper. Medicines to be supplied
at Walton & Co., Morgan and Third Streets, and at the drug
store corner of Seventeenth Street and Franklin Avenue.
"This committee is requested to convene at J. H. Gerde-
mann's, corner Seventeenth and Franklin Avenue.
" Eighth Ward. The committee of this ward will be appointed
by Dr. Horatio Wood, and will receive instructions from him.
Medicine will be supplied at drug store corner of Washington
Avenue and Broadway, and at drug store corner of Seventeenth
and Franklin Avenue.
"Ninth Ward, M. W. Hogan, P. Driscoll, D. McAuliffe, John
H. Neirmeyer, William Powers, John Amende, William Stenke-
meyer, Edward Quinlivan, H. J. Shauhoest, Phil. McDonald,
Casper Stalle. Medicines will be supplied at James J. McBride's
drug store, on Fifth Street, between Biddle and O'Fallon, and
at Knawb's drug store, corner of Fifteenth and Cass Ave-
nue.
"Tenth Ward, Charles W. Irwin, Joseph Hodgeman, John
McGuire, E. P. Gray, Frank Overstolz, Samuel Gaty, Charles
R. Anderson, L. Garnett, Levy Ashbrook, J. 0. Codding, L.
Vanderwater, N. Madden, E. D. Jones. Medicines will be sup-
plied at corner of North Market and Broadway, at drug store
corner of Ninth and Chambers Streets, and at drug store corner
of Broadway and Salisbury.
" The committee is requested to convene at National Hall,
corner of Chambers Street and Broadway, at ten o'clock A.M.,
16th inst.
" The citizens named in the above will act under the direc-
tion of the gentleman first named in their respective wards,
and his action in the premises will be sustained by the chief
executive.
" In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and
caused the seal of the city of St. Louis to be affixed this 15th
day of August, 1866.
"JAMES S. THOMAS,
"J. W. HEATH, "Mayor of St. Lou!*.
"City Register."
At that time the Board of Health was proceeding
with energy, suppressing nuisances and promoting
hygienic measures of every kind. The commissioners,
Messrs. Belt, Stifel, King, Finn, Krieger, and the
health officer, made short work of everything preju-
dicial to hygiene that was brought to their attention.
Stagnant ponds, offal, garbage, public and private nui-
sances of all sorts were dealt with by the strong hand.
One of the hotels was declared a nuisance, and so were
slaughter-houses, alleys, and everything that was mal-
odorous. Many donations were received ; much gratu-
itous advice likewise. It was all gravely reported, for
example, —
" Communication of James Lyttle, in regard to a cheap and
simple preventive of cholera, received and read.
"This disease will never spread among people with sulphur
in their stockings. Put half a teaspoonful of flour of sulphur
into each of your stockings and go about your business ; never
go out with an empty stomach; eat no fresh bread nor sour
food.
" Not one of the many thousand who have followed this, my
advice, has been attacked by cholera. So says the celebrated
Dr. Hering in his medical work published some years ago.
" The most powerful disinfectant is sulphuric acid gas (the
fumes of melted sulphur)."
Meantime the disease had become quite severe.
"The following is the mortuary report for the week ending
Friday, 17th of August, so far as included in the reports from
the different cemeteries :
White males 386
White females 365
Colored males 6
Colored females 11
Total
768
Nativitie
United States 434
Germany 110
Ireland 188
France 6
Italy 7
Switzerland 5
Cn nada 4
England 13
Nova Scotia 1
Total .
768
" Of the above, 241 were children under five years of age,
and 2 still-born. Deaths from cholera, 532.
"Owing to the press of business at the health office, the reg-
ular mortuary report has not been made up, and the above
1582
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
figures comprise only the cemetery returns, without including
deaths at City Hospital, quarantine, and smallpox hospital.
Subsequently we were informed that the report from the city
cemetery was 127 deaths, of which all but 11 were of cholera.
We were unable to ascertain whether this includes the deaths
occurring at quarantine and the smallpox hospital. The total
number treated at the City Dispensary during the week by Drs.
Folsom and Grissom was 489 cases. The various committees
still prosecute their labors energetically, and lime, copperas,
and other disinfectants were liberally distributed."
Among those whom the pestilence carried off were
Col. I. Weidemeyer, county auditor. He was fifty-
three years old, and had served the Union cause
efficiently during the civil war, being colonel in com-
mand of the Forty-first Missouri Infantry. On Sep-
tember 24th, Hampton Woodruff succumbed to the
plague. He was a member of the Board of Delegates
in the City Council, and highly esteemed. Since the
outbreak of the cholera he had done great service as
an active member of the sanitary committee of his
ward. He was forty-eight years old at the time of
his death, a native of Baltimore, Md., but for twenty-
five years a citizen of St. Louis. He was a butcher
and wholesale cattle-dealer, president of the Butchers'
Association, a " bright" Mason, and a man of honor-
able prominence for scrupulous integrity and exem-
plary business capacity.
For the week ending August 24th the death table
was as follows :
n.m Total Of
Cemeteries. T, . ™_ .
Burials. Cholera.
Arsenal Island, from City Eospital. 123 108
Holy Ghost 130 112
Rock Spring 177 106
Calvary , 182 148
Wesleyan 38 28
Lutheran '. 9 9
Bellefontaine 123 118
Salem 6 6
St. Mark 1 1
St. Peter 55 44
St. Peter and Paul 69 45
Beni el Hebrew 5 3
United Hebrew 8 6
St. John 9 4
Holy Trinity 216 175
Concordia 1 1
Friedens 4 4
Total 1156 918
" Nativities. — United States, 526 ; Ireland, 260 ; Germany,
297; England, 17; Belgium, 2; France, 22; Canada, 14;
Switzerland, 6; Italy, 8; Sweden, 4. Total, 1156.
"Seres, — White males, 647; white females, 470; colored
males, 28; colored females, 11. Total, 1156. Of this number
206 were children under five years of age.
"Admissions to the City Hospital during the week, 275;
ditto to quarantine, 2; treated at the dispensary by Drs. Fol-
som and Grissom during the week, 290.
" The above total of the deaths is somewhat below the actual
aggregate, inasmuch as the returns from Arsenal Island are
only partial, including only those persons who died in the City
Hospital, no return being made as to the number of poor per-
sons interred on the island during the week who died in other
parts of the city. The number of interments of this nature
must at least be over one hundred, which will increase the total
mortality to nearly thirteen hundred. This is somewhat a
startling aggregate when compared to the weekly returns we
are accustomed to see published, which rarely exceed one-fifth
of the above number, but now that the mysterious and merciless
epidemic, which has caused so much sorrow and desolation, is
rapidly subsiding, it is comparatively easy to contemplate the
fact with calmness, and to realize that after all the cholera has
paid us but a flying visit, far less destructive and prolonged
than its former well-remembered visitations.
"By one of the strange fluctuations common to our anoma-
lous climate, the usually hot, sultry weather incident to August
has been exchanged for the cool atmosphere and cloudless skies
of the Indian summer. Within the last few days thin coats and
light pants have been at a discount; people have ceased to sit
on their door-steps in the evening, or to lie uncovered under
breezy mosquito-bars, while some have twinges of rheumatism,
and others gloomy intermittents and chills. We are not dis-
posed, however, to quarrel with the weather just now. Who
knows how much these clear, cool breezes have assisted in ex-
purging from the air the invisible blight which has shed the
gloom of the 'shadow of death' round so many households?
Certain it. is that the decrease of mortality and the cool weather
were simultaneous in their commencement."
The press and the people consoled themselves with
the reflection that things were not nearly so bad as
they had been in 1849. They said, —
" The cholera this year broke out on the 29th of July, the first
case of which proved fatal.
" The mortality report for the week ending July 6th of the
present year was : Total number of deaths, 135, of which 89
were children under five years of age. Friday, July 13tb, 122;
Friday, July 20th, 183; Friday, July 27th, 190; Friday, Au-
gust 3*d, 208. No cholera cases as yet officially reported.
"On the 10th instant no report was furnished. For the week
ending Friday, August 17th, there were 895 deaths, of which
648 were from cholera ; for the week ending Friday, August
24th, there were 1156 deaths, of which 918 were reported as
cholera cases.
"During the month of December, 1848, the census of the
city was taken preliminary to a revision of the wards for the
adjustment of ward representation in the City Council. It was
then found to be 63,781, and the highest number of deaths from
cholera for one week during 1849, by the above table, is found to
be 639.
"The census, which has lately been completed, gives us a
population of over 204,000. The deaths from cholera during
the past week, being but 918, in proportion to the population of
the city as compared with that of 1 849. would show that as yet
there is no reason for alarm, and the more especially so as will
be seen from the above table that we are rapidly approaching
the season when the cholera ceased to be an epidemic in 1849.
Severe as has been the visitation upon ovy city, it has been far
less destructive than at the time above alluded to. Vigilance
should not as yet be relaxed; sanitary measures should still be
enforced with rigor until the frosty nights come.
"During the past day or two the cholera seems to be far less
malignant and deadly than during the early part of the week,
and we have good reason to believe that it will soon disappear
altogether, notwithstanding the mortuary report for this week
shows an increase over the past week."
The disease now began to subside, as the report for
September 9th shows :
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1583
Cemeteries.
Total
Interments.
Arsenal Island, from City Hospital 63
Rock Spring 81
Cnlvary 85
Wesleyan 24
Lutheran.
Bellefontaine
Salem
St. Peter
SS. Peter and Paul.
Beni el Hebrew
United Hebrew
St. John....
7
60
4
52
50
5
Holy Trinity 131
Total ... .. 580
Cholera.
27
47*
51
14
4
43
3
31
27
2
4
2
73
329
" Nativities. — United States, 349 ; Belgium, 2 ; Sweden, 1 ;
England, 11; Canada, 2 ; Germany, 80; Ireland, 122; Italy,
1; Norway, 2; France, 10. Total, 580.
" Sej-es. — White, males 271, females 282; colored, males 17,
females 10. Total, 580. Of these 209 were children of five
years and under, and 13 infants still-born.
"Deaths at City Hospital during the week, 61; St. Louis, 2;
Good Samaritan, 1.
"Admissions to City Hospital, 132; Quarantine, 12.
" Treated at City Dispensary during the week by Drs. Folsoin
and Grissom, 235.
"The above report is complete, with the exception of the re-
turns of a few of the cemeteries which had not been received at
the health office up to a late hour Saturday evening. It also does
not include the full number of interments at Arsenal Island.
The interments on the island from the City Hospital are given,
but owing to some confusion on the island, the old clerk having
been discharged, no return was made on Saturday as to the num-
ber of those who died on the island during the week, or of those
bodies sent there for interment from various parts of the city.
In the absence of the actual figures, the health office estimates
the number of interments on the island, irrespective of those
from City Hospital, given above, as 158, of which about 100
were of cholera. This increases the total mortality arising from
the epidemic during the week to 429, which, even allowing for
the incompleteness of the cemetery returns, must be considered
as a very satisfactory total as compared with that of the pre-
ceding.
" The cemetery returns for Friday are embodied in the above
report, and hence it is unnecessary to give the details. The
total number of deaths from cholera was 27, indicating, as on
previous days, the rapid decrease of the disease. The police
reports for the twenty four hours ending Saturday morning at
eight o'clock show 29 cases and 23 deaths."
The subsidence of the epidemic was officially an-
nounced by the mayor, who issued the following
address :
"MAYOR'S OFFICE,
"ST. Louis, Sept. 13, 1866.
" Whereas, from information received from various sources,
and also a resolution from the honorable the Board of Health,
and from my own knowledge, I am gratified in being able to
proclaim to our citizens that the cholera no longer prevails as
an epidemic in our midst.
" I desire to return the sincere thanks of myself and the citi-
zens of St. Louis to the honorable the Board of Health, and to
the several ward committees, for their efficient action in assist-
ing the sick, aiding in the burial of the dead, and disinfecting
the houses, yards, and alleys throughout the city.
" I request the committees not to desist from their labors,
but continue for a while longer, and desire the citizens to con-
tinue to be watchful in regard to the cleanliness of their prem-
ises and in their diet.
,__*_, " In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my
L.s. hand and caused the seal of the city of St. Louis
to be affixed this 13th day of September, A.D. 1866.
"Attest:
" J. H. HEATH, " JAMES S. THOMAS,
" City Register. Mayor."
ABSTRACT OF DEATHS IN THE CITY OF ST. LOUIS FOR THE
WEEK ENDING SEPT. 14, 1866.
Cemeteries. Total. Cholera.
City Hospital 47 25
Holy Ghost 54 32
Rock Spring 27 13
German Protestant 6 6
Calvary 66 32
Wesleyan 26 9
Bellefontaine 43 20
Salem 6 5
St. Mark 14 11
St. Peter 26 15
SS. Peter and Paul 51 33
Beni el Hebrew 3 - 1
United Hebrew 1 1
St. John 10 6
Holy Trinity 98 57
Friedens 13 12
Arsenal Island 21 10
St. Paul 11 7
Total 522 297
Nativities.
England '. 14
Ireland 108
Germany 125
United States 218
France 3
Scotland 7
Unknown 47
Total 522
Deaths at the City Hospital, 33 ; at the St. Louis Hospital,
15 ; at the Good Samaritan Hospital, 2.
Admissions to the City Hospital, 102; to the Quarantine
Hospital, 2.
Treated at the City Dispensary by Drs. Folsom and Grissom,
213; treated at the Third District Health Office by Dr. Gill,
89.
Next week there was a still further reduction of
the death rate:
" The following is an abstract of deaths in St. Louis for the
week ending Friday, September 21st :
Total Number Cholera
of Deaths. Cases.
Total 381 202"
The city in a short time returned to its customary
salubrity.
1584
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
The following are the mortality returns for St. Louis according to the census of 1880 :
MORTALITY BY AGE, SEX, AND COLOR.
i
1*
1
•e
c
•2
•o
S
•a ' «
= ' 3
•B
C
E
•o
a
00
« '!
•o
a
£
•o
a
E
•9
•
i
a
a
«
cS
z a 1 8
OS
s
09
a %
I
08
I
a
E
COI.OH.
1
I
Under One Ye(
One Year.
Two Years.
Three Years.
Four Years.
Under Five Ye
N
*0
o
E
*c
*!
S
gc
Xg
B«
8
e
''-
Twenty Years
Over.
Twenty-five Y
and Over.
E
«
o
|
H
Thirty-five Y
and Over.
2 *:
« £
o >
Ho
>>
Forty-five Y
and Over.
i*
*0
g
£
Fifty-five Y
and Over.
Sixty Years a
Over.
Sixty-five Y
and Over.
Seventy Years
Over.
Seventy-five Y
and Over.
!-•
>£
>.<=>
I
5
Eighty-five Y
and Over.
Ninety Years
Over.
Ninety-five Y
and Over.
Unknown.
,
V
3523 1305 248
76
57
40
1726
101 56
71
102
129
166
138
178
1(17
163
138
1W
104
57
34
24
2
2
3
II
F.
27901022 220
90
58 42 1432
9o 49 84
126
131 101 112 101
99
74
75
70
78
66
54
25
12
3
1
2
(
M
394 123 33
7
7
6 176
16
3
9
33
26
21
28
19
11
11
9
9
6
4
7
2
1
1
2
328
107
25
19
4
,5
160
17
10
12
16
27
15
14
7
11
6
8
8
1
7
3
2
••
4
Totals
7035
2557
526
192
126
n
3494
229
118
176
277
313
303
292
305
318
254
230
207
189
134
95
54
17
6
10
14
MORTALITY BY AGE, SEX, AND MONTH.
MONTHS.
X
A
"3
Under One Year.
One Year.
Two Years.
Three Years.
Four Years.
Under Five Years.
1
Efe
a
OS
S-'
9 >
fi
1
•o
\
E
8g
a®
I
Twenty Years and
Over.
Twenty-five Years
mid Over.
•B
=
08
1
Thirty-Five Years
and Over.
•0
09
E .
8 fe
>>
1
Forty-five Years
and Over.
•9
§
E
? '-'
Fifty-five Years
and Over.
•o
a
e9
35
Sixty-five Years
and Over.
Seventy Years and
Over.
Seventy-five Years
and Over.
•e
e
*3i
—
tc
H
Eighty-five Years
and Over.
=
09
to
Ij
p
B
Ninety-five Years
aud Over.
Unknown.
Jan
Feb
March-
April ...
May
June....
July
Aug....
Sept
Oct
NOT
Dec
M.
F.
M.
F
M.
F.
M.
F.
M.
F.
M.
F.
M.
F.
M.
F.
M.
F.
M.
F.
M.
F.
205 65
158 37
279 82
223 50
310 94
24',) 77
344 124
276 86
319 115
242 86
383 213
313 158
468 202
327 168
384 142
288 119
288 103
269 100
257 92
201 64
:«I3 77
229 64
377 119
343 114
9
7
17
24
21
25
31
25
23
23
16
40
36
3'J
41
IB
in
11
15
20
8
18
5
9
6
9
6
6
9
24
8
10
c
4
5
4
13
5
9
8
0
7
6
11
6
12
5
3
4
8
3
7
6
5
5
3
6
6
12
7
6
8
6
5
4
2
5
2
3
6
4
4
2
4
8
3
1
2
3
2
6
1
•1
5
4
5
4
6
4
8
87
60
113
84
131
115
172
149
156
127
247
186
217
206
174
145
137
116
93
112
91
155
159
2
10
10
8
13
10
7
11
12
13
14
8
4
10
7
12
S
it
12
11
13
11
4
3
5
3
6
4
4
5
6
1
1
7
10
5
4
11
6
6
\
7
6
7
4
5
10
8
5
8
3
3
6
4
12
9
9
7
13
9
16
e
9
.s
G
12
11
10
12
11
15
13
10
12
6
7
14
14
10
8
11
10
12
9
13
15
13
14
15
10
7
8
17
16
12
15
14
15
12
6
16
14
13
11
10
12
22
10
8
15
14
13
13
15
11
6
11
10
14
12
12
14
7
21
8
16
13
19
154
10
20
8
22
14
7
7
13
17
10
19
7
13
15
14
5
12
8
11
10
5
8
10
10
18
12
19
21
12
4
15
10
7
1-2
11
12
9
10
8
27
13
24
7
20
7
11
8
21
11
Bl
ia
8
9
24
17
23
10
16
7
18
8
17
10
23
5
1
9
5
16
8
20
S
15
13
7
16
7
17
8
15
5
13
6
10
3
17
6
12
5
8
11
18
5
13
6
11
8
6
14
7
18
10
13
11
9
7
10
<;
13
6
11
4
14
3
12
7
13
7
9
9
5
12
6
10
6
11
121
8
7
9
14
5
11
6
6
6
10
*
6
1
7
5
8
8
12
12
3
7
8
14
6
13
8
5
8
6
5
10
5
10
13
6
3
5
5
8
5
8
8
4
G
7
6
9
5
6
2
2
7
2
6
5
5
12
2
1
5
7
2
3
5
5
4
3
4
3
4
4
4
3
4
3
3
5
6
2
11
2
2
2
4
2
3
2
3
3
2
2
5
2
2
1
1
i
1
1
3
"i
'i
"i
"i
"i
"i
1
1
3
1
2
i
i
"i
i
i
2
1
1
1
1
"i
i
"i
3
2
3
2
5
2
i
i
3
"2
3
14
i
3
"i
"i
5
5
Males
3917
3118
1428
11211
m
245
83 64
109 62
4(1
47
1902
1592
117
112
59
59
80
1)6
|86
142
155
158
187
116
166
126
108
208
110
174
80
147
83
129
78
110
79
61
73
41
54
26
28
12
•J
Females
Totals
7035
2557
•r,26
192
12G
93
3494
229
118
176
277
313
303
292
305
318
254
230
207
189
134
95
54
17
G
10
14
Among the annual reports to the mayor and Coun-
cil of St. Louis in May, 1882, none are more full and
interesting than those of the clerk to the health com-
missioner, from which we abstract the following mat-
ters of durable interest :
" During the year 1881 there occurred in St. Louis
8410 deaths from all causes, which sum total was ex-
ceeded in the last fifteen years only by that of 1873,
when the deaths aggregated a sum of 8551, and the
annual death-rate was 30.5 per thousand. In that
year 837 deaths occurred from smallpox, and the
deaths from the seven principal zymotic causes were
29.7 per cent, of the total mortality. In the pre-
ceding year, with 1591 deaths from smallpox, a total
of 8047 deaths occurred, and the annual death-rate
was 29.8 per thousand. It will become apparent
from a consideration of the tables which will fol-
low, that the advance in the number of deaths and
the annual death-rates has been universal throughout
the land.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1585
COMPARATIVE MORTALITY IN ST. LOUIS DURING FOURTEEN YEARS.
YEAR.
Population.
Total Deaths.
Death Rate per
Thousand.
Deaths under Five
Years.
1 _
"Si
«s
— ®
3«
k
f£
Smallpox.
Measles.
Scarlatina.
Diphtheria.
B,
1
0
Whooping-Cough.
Typlius and Ty-
phoid Fever.
Diarrhoaal Diseases,
under Five Years.
Other Diarrhoeal
Diseases.
Total from Fore-
going Causes.
Per Cent, of Total
Deaths.
Malarial Fevers.
3
15
H
"°%
Jo
1
Phthisis Pulmonum.
o
ft
• jj
= 1
3o
k
£
Pneumonia.
Per Cent, of Deaths.
Still-Births (not in-
cluded in Mortality).
1867
220,000 6538
230,<X)0 5193
240.000 5884
250,001. ! 6070
200,000 5265
270,000 8047
280,000 8551
290,000 6506
300,01(0 753-2
310,000 6019
3-20,000 ' 5(i60
330,000 6002
340,000 6167
350,622 6635
29.7
22.5
24.5
26.6
20.2
29.8
30.5
22.4
25.10
19.41
17.68
18.18
18.11
18.92
2953
2582
3225
3449
2585
4058
4H14
34(3
3755
2840
2391
2635
2666
2937
45.1
49.7
54.8
517
49.0
50.4
46.9
52.7
49.8
47.1
42.2
43.9
432
44.2
3
"214
375
9
1591
837
447
603
90
28
8
112
32
39
57
35
51
70
55
1
35
25
55
27
28
55
263
68
47
22
87
508
124
40
36
39
47
48
35
49
75
68
76
61
56
160
167
165
156
141
113
68
44
51
92
79
66
78
53
1'i
157
69
85
62
01
00
20
59
97
60
7
30
58
10
54
70
46
41
79
194
294
202
269
174
176
167
131
131
103
130
74
11-2
139
173
409
469
371
221
456
496
400
378
314
197
238
477
488
1507
512
409
534
317
549
822
295
315
248
234
213
189
101
2098
1356
1620
2108
1035
3025
2548
1638
2247
1312
906
883
1086
1143
31.9
26.1
27.5
31.6
196
37.5
29.7
25.1
29.8
21.6
16.0
14.7
17.6
17.2
227
127
147
180
124
124
140
88
212
216
240
279
|197
241
3.4
24
2.4
2.7
2.3
1.5
1.6
1.3
2.8
3.6
4.2
4.6
3.1
3.6
464
503
671
620
599
568
751
581
740
721
686
736
781
786
7.1
9.6
9.7
9.2
11.3
7.0
8.7
8.9
98
11.9
1-2.1
12.2
12.6
11.8
309
371
410
350
381
382
510
413
450
460
427
375
432
639
4.7
7.1
6.9
5.2
7.2
4.7
6.9
6.3
5.9
7.6
7.6
6.2
7.0
8.1
371
481
421
407
363
630
514
510
421
401
467
434
541
561
1868
1869
1870
1871
1872
1873
1874
1875
1876
1877
1878
1879
1880
COMPARATIVE DETAILS OF MORTALITY IN NINETEEN CITIES IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1881.
CITIES, AND TOTAL
POPULATION.
POPULATION,
CENSUS 1880.
DEATHS.
Death Rate per 1000,
Census 1880.
Death Rate per 1000,
White.
Death Rate per 1000,
Colored.
Mortality under Five
Years.
3
o
<M DO
0,0
. a
«Q
3
k
<O
PH
47.9
35.8
47.9
53.8
38.0
42.1
44.4
40.3
27.0
31.4
40.9
46'.6
50.7
37.9
47.0
33.8
40.1
Smallpox.
Measles.
Scarlatina.
Diphtheria.
Whooping-Cough .
Typhus and Typhoid
Fever.
All Diarrhoeal Dis-
eases.
1
H
>.
- ^
a
*i tt
C 0
3*
1
Phthisis Pulmonum.
I
o£
«•"*
oC
3|
1
Pneumonia.
I
•s*
*!
3s
£
•3
I
Whites.
Colored.
Whites.
Col'd.
New York, 1,206,577
Philadelphia, 840,980...
Brooklyn, 566,689
Chicago, 503,3(4
1,186,144
815,182
558,474
49(5,620
356,535
328,232
20,433
31,798
8,215
6,084
6,00(1
22,290
38,624
19,525
14,533
13,692
9,015
8,410
8,816
6,219
4,178
6,406
4,504
3,727
3,972
•2,689
2,761
4,49:5
2,145
2,049
1,341
37,888
18,362
14,223
13,530
8,812
7,591
6,719
5,939
"4" 127
2,386
"aioo'i
2,687
2,000
4,315
2,040
865
1,018
736
1163
310
162
203
819
2097
280
2279
2118
21
2
761
178
105
1184
323
32.1
23.0
25.6
27.2
248
23.9
205
247
17.8
29.1
25.0
23.2
'25.6
23.2
22.3
'28.7
20.4
3-2.1
31.5
31.9
22.6
2f2
24.7
23.1
23.9
26.0
19.8
25.6
233
19.4
28.3
20.1
24.1
27.4
36.0
365
24.2
33.8
36.7
34"2
394
35.3
24.8
6.6
27.5
43.5
•28.8
42.2
58.9
17,737
6,996
6,907
7,370
3,432
3,541
3,919
2,507
1,136
2,015
1,846
l"854
1,5-26
1,049
2,169
727
822
516
451
1336
35
854
6
5
11
60
70
5
' 2
1
4
2
16
448
"io'o
120
429
11
56
103
110
27
75
82
S
26
9
32
32
23
4
46
25
14
3
1964
486
651
189
34
108
215
65
11
197
23
90
162
137
10
382
45
39
2249
449
1170
613
602
157
639
105
63
92
105
188
193
122
21
210
116
16
24
286
110
118
168
78
61
93
36
19
2{
11
2
1
37
41
35
9
606
634
103
568
204
191
200
190
90
66
111
180
109
49
135
248
38
72
44
4270 26.5
975 20.5
3147 36.3
1785 31.1
1615 29.3
881 10.8
907 ', 24.2
585 17.0
84 8.1
695 16.8
492i 16.9
6091 27.2
651 29.7
241 21.4
234 15.2
393 39.0
163 19.9
190 23.1
75 23.4
531213 +
2758 14 +
1784112 +
1034 7.5
1549 17 +
913 10.8
1206 13 +
1900 14 +
630 15 +
900 14 +
81818 +
210' 5 +
357 8 +
228 8 +
481:17 +
382 8 +
344 16 +
281 13+
193 i 14 +
3261 8 +
911 4+
1022 7 +
7075 +
6847 +
4755 +
4665 +
373 6—
3087 +
3275 +
317 7 +
1664 +
253 6 +
1274 +
1796 +
221 4 +
1738 +
834+
342 +
Boston, 362.535
St. Louis, 350,5-22
Baltimore 332190
Cincinnati, 255,708
San KrimdHco, 233.056..
New Orleans, 216,140...
Washington, 180,000....
Cleveland, 160,140
Buffalo. 155,137
247,538
210,515
158,379
120.0' K>
158,094
154,292
115,275
102,842
182,290
101.211
86,756
37,023
8,170
23,441
57,701
00,000
2,040
845
303
20,920
4,091
3,646
28,047
5,476
Milwaukee, 115.578
Louisville, 123,045
PittKl.nrfrli, 150,381
Pmvi.letu-e, 104.857
Richmond, 63,803
Wilmington, 42,499
" The relative percentages of the deaths by classes
for the past three years is as follows :
1879. 1880. 1881.
Zymotic diseases 30.1 27.6 31.7
Constitutional diseases 216 20.4 18.8
Local diseases 38.9 40.0 37.6
Developmental diseases 5.0 7.0 7.1
Violence ... 4.0 4.8 4.6
" It will be seen that the zymotic deaths have ad-
vanced four per cent, in the year 1881 over that of
1880. This increase is due in special to the heavy
mortality in 1881 from cerebro-spinal fever, from
which cause 314 deaths occurred. The mortality
from diarrhoeal diseases in children under five years
of age also largely increased, being 686 against 488
in 1880."
NATIVITY OF PERSONS DECEASED IN ST. LOUIS DURING
THE CALENDAR YEAR 1881.
City of St. Louis 3943
State of Missouri 250
Other parts of the United States 1586
Canada 31
England 144
Scotland 32
Wales , 3
Ireland 787
Germany 1330
France 44
Switzerland 52
Austrian Empire 55
Sweden and Norway 25
Russia 3
Netherlands 3
Denmark; 5
Italy 23
Other foreign countries 21
Unknown 61
At sea
Total.
8410
1586
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
STATEMENT OF MORTALITY IN THE CITY OF ST. LOUIS FOR
THE CALENDAR YEAR 1881.
•?•*••••
•
DISTRIBUTION OF TOTAL MORTALITY, 1881.
Total deaths from all causes 1889 2023 2597 1901 8410
Zymotic diseases 430j 682 978| 57920(59
Constitutional diseases 352 363 449 4181582
Local disease- , 879 729 872! 68fi 3106
Developmental diseases 153 146 175 130 604
Deaths by violence 75
Deaths from zymotic diseases :
Smallpox
Measles
Scarlatina
Diphtheria
Croup I 25
Whooping-cough ; 12
Typhoid fever 24
Cerebro-spinal lever 90
Malarial fevers ; 58
Puerperal fever... 24
Diarrhoaal disea.es {^4^-;;;;;;;;;;;; £
Erysipelas 20
Pyaemia and septicaemia 10
7
Inanition, want of breast-milk, etc..
Alcoholism
Other zymotic diseases
Deaths from constitutional diseases:
Rheumatism and gout 7
Cancer and malignant tumor 33
Phthisis and tuberculosis pulmon , 243
Marasmus tubes mesenterica, and scrofula... 55
Hydrocephalns, tubercular meningitis, etc...
Other constitutional diseases
Deaths from local diseases :
Bronchitis
Pneumonia
Other diseases respiiatory organs
Diseases of the circulatory system
Meningitis and encephalitis
Convulsions and trismus
Heat-stroke
Apoplexy
Other diseases of the brain and nervous sys-
tem
Cirrhosis of the liver and hepatitis 28
Enteritis, gastroenteritis, peritonitis, and gas-
tritis 76
Bright's disease and nephritis 26
Other diseases urinary organs
Diseases of the generative organs
Diseases of the locomotory organs
Diseases of the integument
Deaths from developmental diseases:
Accidents of pregnancy and childbirth
Congenital debility, malformation, etc
Senility
Deaths by violence :
Surgical operations
Deaths by suicide
Deaths by homicide
Deaths by accident
Execution by warrant of law
103
12
28 31
12 31
21 59
187 24
62 157
21 22
9 190 411
23 90
12 7
17 6
11 4
88 389
5
1 27
35 108
07 157
28 68
6 61
87 191
13 :;14
116 393
11 7S
76 686
62 195
5 44
11, 44
3 25
29 162
14 70
11 41
1 2 12
34 50 158
2d7 232 91M
65 174 103 31)7
62
40
51
36
76
89
181
105
23
07
475
182
304
304
529
108
350
147
294
28
352
224
6
84
203
1
TOTAL DEATHS FROM ALL CAUSES, BY CALENDAR MONTHS.
1881. 1880. 1879.
January 598 448 550
February 550 461 430
March 691 632 431
April 725 574 397
May 526 512 451
June 765 692 611
July 1036 702 693
August 897 637 704
September 703 551 424
October 687 524 492
November 678 493 440
December... 654 509 544
Total 8410 6635 6167
WARD.
First
Quarter.
Second
Quarter.
Third
Quarter.
Fourth
Quarter.
1
84
44
75
150
65
39
68
33
46
117
24
139
43
96
146
55
65
72
40
53
20
22
25
72
7
13
83
37
289
93
62
78
164
111
48
77
31
69
109
40
118
48
101
210
51
84
73
39
69
19
26
24
59
6
11
80
41
337
138
66
112
238
143
65
125
53
80
135
51
209
42
175
215
90
102
86
64
104
35
55
28
"I
12
86
59
393
100
65
84
169
98
36
79
21
79
128
43
153
33
99
197
70
70
87
27
78
30
29
17
87
12
92
62
347
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
Deaths in
Pub. last..
Total.
415
237
349
721
417
188
349
138
274
489
158
619
166
471
768
266
321
318
170
304
104
132
94
33fi
18
48
341
199
Deaths in
Pub. Inat.
7
22
168
22
3
18
38
11
540
37
8
3
3
96
2
91
"22
270
1366
DEATHS, ABEAS, AND CAUSES IN 1880.
1
|3
2
0
|-|
•D
C
•ss-=fs
c a
eg
c
T •- =
§
- i £ 1 ^ 2
£
cS
WARD.
a
g
0
- fj
H
I. u = '3
^
~ IB
00
-5 o
h
- - - - '•= 3
"3
§" "
•
o
5^3 =
C.
*~~ i =-r -
I
—to
•
*<s(?~
0
^ 5 •* -5' * J
£
(2
«"
1
£
1
268.5
17,435
64.9
304
17.4
3.3
2
233.8
13,997
59.8
223
lo.'J
2.2
3
247.5
14,494
58.5
233
160
2.5
4
316.9
24,502
77.3
402
163
2.7
5
287.1
19,445
67.7
207
13.7
2.3
6
284.9
9,9 J9
34.9
140
140
3.2
7
265.6
13,143
49.4
272
20.6
3.1
8
582.1
6,058
11.4
137
20.5
3.7
9
462.8
10,812
23.3
139
12.8
2.3
10
325.4
26,904
82.6
397
14.7
2.3
11
670.0
5,584
8.3
84
15.0
3.0
12
391.0
28,536
72.9
558
19.5
35
13
3168
8,773
27.6
176
20.0
2.6
14
408.4
20,333
49.7
392
19.2
4.0
15
443.4
13,562
30.5
161
11.8
2.5
16
7045
11.099
16.6
165
14.1
2.3
17
327.1
17,227
52.6
243
14.1
2.0
18
780.9
24,073
31.5
292
11.8
1.8
19
864.0
7,229
8.3
128
17.7
2.6
20
550.7
12,248
2-'.0
137
11. 1
2.3
21
1012.0
4,1X7
4.1
88
21.0
3.6
22
1332.0
3,294
2.4
38
11.5
30
23
5,737
109
18.3
3.8
24
1305.0
12,256
9.3
187
15.2
2.5
25
1,015
16
15.7
1.9
26
2,594
44
16.9
4.6
27
4,824
83
17.2
4.5
28
9,412
162
17.2
Total..
350,522
5573
...™
....
Area within the old city limits, acres 12,380.00
Population within the old city limits, United States Census,
1880 326,940.00
Persons to an acre within the old city limits 26.39
Death rate per thousand for entire city (excluding public
institution mortality) 15.89
Death rate per thousand, public institution mortality 303
Death rate per thousand, seven principal zymotic diseases 3.08
CULTURE AND LITERARY GROWTH IN SAINT LOUIS.
1587
NUMBER OF BIRTHS REPORTED DURING 1881.
COLOR. SEX.
NATIVITY OF PARENTS.
NAME OF
CHILD.
Nativity of
Nativity of
u
Kntlier
JlotlKT
8
£
stated only.
stated only.
"%
•o
I
t£ =A
i
i
C Q
c
c
•
0
g
•g
"3
—
bo
>
boo
tl 0
P
y
to
*-
•a
£
o
+i
tS
e
^
C
£
0
a<
£
-M
i
p
a
i
*
£
i
1
£
£
ft
ft
N
o
ft
2036
1928
108
1066
969
1
773
724
402
94
3
i
7
6
20
1731
305
IG'JO
83
855
765
6.r>0
543
27S
87
6
15
11
3
27
236
2239
2138
101
1110
1123
788
820
404
In2
8
3
1C
2
30
2 j'j
2171
2101
70
1110
1060
1
738
843
441
'J5
3
10
1
36
1U10
255
8066
2
Total
7704
362
4147
3917
2949
2936
1585
378
20
23
44
12
119
7027
1039
CHAPTER XXXVI.
CULTURE AND LITERARY GROWTH IN ST. LOUIS.*
HENRY M. BRACKENRIDGE, in his charming little
work, so often quoted in this volume,2 speaking of
his renewal of intimacy with the friends of his child-
hood, the Beauvois family, in Ste. Genevieve, relates
that he was " much amused one evening with the
tartness of Madame Beauvois," when a young Euro-
pean merchant, whom she had taken as a boarder,
" adapting his discourse to the ignorance of his hear-
ers, informed them ' there was once a certain man
called Mohammed who pretended to have received
direct revelations from heaven, who wrote a book called
the Koran, but that he was a great impostor.' ' My
friend,' said the old lady, ' I believe you Europeans
look upon us Creoles (country born) as no better than
savages, as you regard the savages as baboons. As
you have given us a piece of news, I must return the
favor by informing you that there is such a place as
Rome, somewhere on the other side of the great ocean,
and that a person called the pope, of whom, I pre-
sume, you have never heard, resides there, and is con-
sidered by all good Catholics as the head of their
church.' Monsieur Beauvois and I laughed heartily
at this little sally, while the coxcomb was not a little
mortified."
It is not to be wondered at that in some parts of
the country the opinion should exist that there never
has been any culture nor literary activity until very
recently in St. Louis, yet it is surprising that such
views should be held by a considerable body of people
1 The author is indebted to Professor H. H. Morgan for that
portion of this chapter, indicated in the text, which treats of
the contemporary period of literary growth and culture in St.
Louis, beginning about 1857.
2 Recollections of the West.
i to the manner born. Such seems to be the case, how
ever, and it will be a pleasing task to prove their error.
The mistake probably would not exist were it not for
narrow and fallacious opinions in regard to what con-
stitutes culture and literature. These cannot properly
be restricted within one class of thoughts in regard to
speculative science, morals, and art, and yet there
have been times when it was pretended that all phil-
osophy was bounded by the limits of Aristotle and
Aquinas, and other times when it was asserted that
there could be no poetry except such as was written
by the rules of Horace and Monsieur Boileau. To-
day, in St. Louis, the philosophical school of Aquinas
has a distinct and coherent existence alongside the
school of Hegel and Schelling and Kant, and the
comedy of the situation is that each of these schools
ignores and denies the existence of the other with
perfect sincerity and good faith.
The professors of the St. Louis University, pro-
gressive as they are in other respects, will probably
tell you, if you press them hard, that philosophy
cannot go beyond that dictum of Anselm, " credo ut
intelligam" upon which rests the system of scholasti-
cism perfected by Aquinas and Duns Scotus." On the
other hand, the school which has grown up around the
Journal of Speculative Philosophy looks for truth
in the absolute consciousness, the thought knowing
itself, and demands understanding as the root of be-
lief. It is not necessary to assume that either school
is entirely right or entirely wrong, or that the ex-
8 See that excellent manual, "Ethics; or, Moral Philosophy,"
by Walter H. Hill, S.J., Professor of Philosophy in the St. Louis
University. Professor Hill says in his preface thnt "those ven-
erable philosophers of the oldun times reached their conclusions
by rigorous logic, and their conclusions were right nnd true be-
cause derived by necessary sequence from matter not subject to
mutation. . . . Indeed, there is little doubt that nothing is
gained by theorists who reject the teachings and the axioms
received as certain among those sagacious thinkers."
1588
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
demands the extinction of the
istence of the one
other.
As with philosophy, so with culture, literature, and
art. The modern evolution does not make it neces-
sary to assume an utter absence of progress in the
past. " There were brave men before Agamemnon,"
and there was culture in St. Louis before the founda-
tion of the schools of philosophy which originated with
Professor William T. Harris. It is true the culture of
old St. Louis was not very productive in the limited
direction of book-making and lecturing ; its motto was
prodesse quani conspici, but it was a genuine, solid
culture nevertheless, and in some respects of a very
exquisite quality, the culture of the ancien regime
of France. It did not produce nor aspire at produc-
tion, because its modesty was satisfied with the mas-
terpieces of French, Latin, and Greek literature. Why
should one attempt to produce inferior prose and poetry
when he had the classics and Racine, Corneille, Vol-
taire, Rousseau, Pascal, Moliere to turn to? Why
seek deeper depths in philosophy, science, and art
when he could consult the memoirs of the Institute
and the Academy, the works of the encyclopaedists
and philosophers, all at his elbow? The student, the
inquirer, the gentleman of leisure, all found enough to
satisfy them in their libraries and in the books sent to
them by their correspondents in Paris.
Nor were these libraries inferior or insignificant.
H. M. Brackenridge, when preparing his papers for
the Missouri Gazette (1811-12), which were after-
wards gathered in the volume called " Views of Loui-
siana," had access to the library of Auguste Chouteau.
" Here I found," said he, " several of the early writers
of travels, and descriptions of Louisiana and Illinois,
such as La Houton, Lafiteau, Hennepin, Charlevoix,
etc., which I took to my lodgings to read at night,
being always a night-student ; but I spent some hours
in the day in examining and in perusing this fine col-
lection." Some of the chapters in his " Glimpses of
Louisiana" show that this collection, which, it has
been conjectured, included the remains of the library
of the Jesuit College at Kaskaskia, embraced, in
adding to patriotic writers, a line of contributions to
"Americana" such as were not known at all in New
England at that time, were not studied by Irving and
Prescott, only imperfectly examined by Bancroft, and
never completely brought to the front of appreciation
by Englibh-speaking students until unearthed by Dr.
O'Callaghan, and expounded by John Gilmary Shea
and Francis Parkman.
In fact, in Upper and Lower Louisiana, in the
period between 1760 and 1830, there was a very fine
quality of culture among the people of the leisure
classes. We only have glimpses of this, because, as we
have said, it was a culture which did not produce, but
contented itself with having information and knowl-
edge for its own use. But these chance glimpses
reveal its fine quality. Note the instances above,
and the fact that Brackenridge studied Louisiana law
from a manual (in two volumes, quarto) of the " Cou-
tume de Paris," which he found in Mr. Beauvais'
two-roomed " house of posts" in Ste. Genevieve. So,
when James H. Lucas went to Arkansas Post from
college, he found there a highly-educated and accom-
plished French gentleman, whose influence probably
saved him from going to the bad, and whose books
and knowledge made a lawyer of him.
Such gentlemen were found throughout the coun-
try, and there were many such in St. Louis, scholarly
and highly-educated French and Spanish gentlemen,
and professional men from the United States colleges,
whose intercourse could attract and charm a man so
accomplished as J. B. C. Lucas. The odd, eccentric
doctor and professor, Shewe, the Prussian, of whom
Brackenridge delights to tell, was " a scholar, a
chemist, a painter, a divine, a philosopher, a pro-
fessor of languages," with six diplomas, four in
Latin, — " von from de Eleziac Academy from Baris,
von from de Gollege aus Berlin, von from der School
of Mines in Saxony," etc. Dr. Saugrain, another of
his friends, both in Galliopolis and St. Louis, was a
man of fine scholarship and science, and an original
microscopist. Gen. William Clark was a man who
had made great progress in the pursuit of Indian
archaeological subjects, as the unique museum gath-
ered by him witnessed sufficiently well. What a pity
and what a reflection it is upon the generation that
succeeded these early settlers that that museum,
which attracted the inquiries of both hemispheres,
was not retained in St. Louis ! Brackenridge has
put on record the fact that Mr. Bates (Frederick, the
secretary of the Territory) was a man who " had an
extensive library, and whose mind was richly stored
with literature." He speaks, too, of the elder Char-
less, the founder of the Missouri Gazette, as a man
capable of appreciating and forwarding his literary
pursuits.
Nor is this all. As he goes up the Missouri River,
beyond the limits of civilization, we have glimpses of
him and the trapper and hunter, Manuel Lisa, — the
man of action par excellence, — reading " Don Quixote"
together, with the yells of the wild Arrapahoes ringing
in their ears. In Moses Austin's house at Mine a,
Breton he came across copies of Cuvier's '' Theory of
the Earth" and Sir Humphry Davy's " Agiicultural
Chemistry," books which presuppose both knowledge
CULTURE AND LITERARY GROWTH IN SAINT LOUIS.
1589
and taste. In New Madrid he lodged at the house
of Madame Peyroux, widow of a former commandant
of the place, and here was also a fine library, Peyroux
having been a man of literary standing. " Monsieur
Peyroux was the author of several publications,
chiefly geological, of considerable merit. In one of
his essays he maintains the opinion, with much in-
genuity, that the northern lakes formerly discharged
themselves into the Mississippi, by the Illinois as well
as by the St. Lawrence."
It was in St. Louis that Brackenridge met the bot-
anists Bradbury and Thomas Nuttall. The latter, one
of the most enthusiastic and distinguished men in his
science, came to this country from Yorkshire, and made
St. Louis his headquarters while examining and clas-
sifying the flora of the regions west of the Mississippi.
His {; Geological Sketch of the Mississippi Valley,"
and his " Travels in Arkansas," etc., are only two of
the several works which he here found materials for
writing. At Baton Rouge, again, our author came
across " an enlightened Spaniard, Don Juan Lopez,
an old bachelor, who resembled Don Quixote in person,
and had the same passion for spending a considerable
portion of his income in the purchase of books, not of
knight-errantry, but embracing general literature in
its various branches." Here he found the works of
Feejoo, Mariana, Ercila, Cervantes, and all the Spanish
and Latin writers on the civil law and the Spanish
codes and institutes.
Other similar glimpses might be afforded of this
high culture of the leisure classes in Upper Louisiana,
but enough has been given to illustrate the proposition.
The early French inhabitants of St. Louis and vicinity,
in fact, maintained a close and constant intercourse
with France, and French culture in its highest types
was reflected in their thought and speech. They were
contemporary with some of the most active and burn-
ing epochs of the French intellect, beginning with the
scientific and politico-economical revolt of the ency- j
clopsedists, and ending with the literary rebellion of i
the romanticists under Hugo and Dumas, and it took
active, fresh, inquiring minds like those of these quick
Frenchmen — men like Lucas and Gratiot — to keep
abreast of such a rushing tide. The early American
inhabitants, on the other hand, — army officers, and col-
lege youths just endowed with their professions and
with fortunes and reputations both to make, — were
thoroughly imbued with the spirit of English litera-
ture before there was any American literature to speak
of. Easton, Dr. Simpson, Col. Hammond, the Bateses,
Bartons, Bentons, Riddicks, Hempsteads, Tuckers,
Lanes, Charless, and the circle in which they moved,
having classical tastes and a thorough acquaintance
101
with the English literature of Queen Anne and the
Georges, were eager to welcome everything new which
fell from the pen of Byron, Scott, Campbell, Edge-
worth, Wordsworth, and their followers and satellites.
In addition to this, St. Louis was a focal point for
distinguished European travelers, from Chateaubriand
and Talleyrand to Lafayette and the Grand Duke of
Weimar. These travelers, after traversing the East,
came to St. Louis as to a place where they might re-
fresh themselves once more with a not faint reflection
of continental manners and culture, nor did they (if
we may believe their own testimony) go away unre-
warded. The mental activity of at least the early
lawyers of St. Louis was prodigious. They were
giants, earning large fees, taking a large and liberal
interest in affairs, and studying hard in order to be
able to cope with one another. We find Senator Ben-
ton taking French lessons from Herr Shewe, and giving
more time to the midnight lamp than to the midnight
caucus. Dr. Linn, his colleague in the Senate, a man
of very broad and generous culture, pursued his pro-
fession as a science, and made curious studies into
the natural phenomena of the strange region (New
Madrid) in which was his home. The eccentric
Judge N. Beverley Tucker, of St. Louis County Court,
who had his office, his library, and his study in the
stump of a hollow tree, did not waste the intervals of
leisure which were spared him from the bench. It
was in this stump that he wrote " George Balcombe,"
one of the best novels extant descriptive of Western
border life, — " one of the most vigorous of American
novels," says Gilmore Simms, " as a narrative of action
and the delineation of mental power." Here, too, he
wrote " The Partisan Leader," truly what maybe styled
"an epoch-making book," for, published in 1837, it
yet anticipated and mapped out, so to speak, the entire
programme of the secession of 1861 as clearly and
accurately as if he had been in the confidence of the
leaders who conducted affairs at Montgomery, Ala.,
in the winter of 1861. This book, always a favorite
at the South and much read, did a great deal towards
inclining, shaping, and moulding the Southern mind
to secession, familiarizing two generations with the
idea, the expediency, and the practicability of such a
last political resort. It crystallized and gave a con-
crete form and body to the abstract speculations of
John C. Calhoun, Robert Y. Hayne, and others of
their opinions. Probably no single work of fiction,
except " Uncle Tom's Cabin," ever accomplished so
much in paving the way for revolution. Judge
Tucker, who lived in Missouri from 1815 to 1830,
always on his farm in Florissant, St. Louis Co., was a
half-brother to John Randolph, eccentric as he, a
1590
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
States' rights doctrinaire, but a man of remarkably
clear, logical mind, and of singularly fine reasoning
powers. " In bis style," says Mr. Simms, " I regard
him as one of the best prose writers in the United
States, at once rich, flowing, and classical ; ornate and
copious, yet pure and classic ; full of energy, yet full
of grace; intense, yet stately; passionate, yet never |
with a forfeiture of dignity." After he returned to
Virginia from St. Louis he became Professor of Juris-
prudence in William and Mary College.
In a school where men like Judge Tucker, Rufus
Easton, John Scott, Edward Hempstead, and Carr
Lane were teachers, and where such talents and such
rivalry existed as at the St. Louis bar, it was natural,
nay more, it was imperative, that a strong tendency
towards high and ornate culture should exist among
the members. Other things being equal, the best-
read and most polished orator bore off" the palm. Ac-
cordingly we find what, for a new and wild Western
community, must be regarded as a surprising amount
of literature among the earlier and later members of
the St. Louis bar, not only a superficial smattering for
convenience of ready use, but deep draughts at the
fountains undefiled of pure literature, and those special
studies of particular authors and branches which ordi-
narily only exist in communities where there is a very
advanced state of culture. Here and there would be
a lawyer or a doctor who turned his special attention
to Horace, or Homer, or Catullus, or the Greek tra-
gedians or comic writers ; here one who had read all
the epigrammatists and satirists ; another who was a
specialist in the works of the Greek and Latin fathers ;
a third who had made a study of the whole Spanish
comedy ; a fourth with a criiical knowledge of the
Elizabethan and Jacobean drama ; and a fifth with an
exhaustive apprehension of the philosophy of Bacon
and Locke and the whole sensationist school. One
had a gift at quoting from the Latin poets in his ad-
dresses to court and jury, another had Sheridan, the
Coltnans, Gibber, Otway, and all the dramatists of
Charles and Anne at his tongue's tip.
This sort of thing gave a zest to the oratory of the
bar, and influenced it and the society collected about
it very sensibly. No one can pick up Hon. Thomas
Hart Benton's " Thirty Years' View" without detect-
ing the fact that the author, without being a very ex-
act or profound scholar himself, was one who looked
upon the possession of scholarship as the greatest of
treasures, and was willing to toil unceasingly and be-
stow immense pains to bring himself within the magic
circle. His work is elaborated as carefully as William
Wirt's (another self-educated man), who thought cul-
ture a gem more precious than diamonds. So Hon.
Henry S. Geyer, a lifelong lawyer, and scarcely aspiring
to become anything else, used to polish all his speeches
as if they were cameos. Mr. Geyer, by the way, was
one of the earliest persons in St. Louis to publish a
book, his compilation of the statutes of Missouri
Territory having come out in 181*7. We discover
the same scholarly tendency and desire for classical
decoration in the false and egotistical memoirs of Gen.
James Wilkinson, and in the valuable Tennessee Re-
ports of Return Jonathan Meigs, both of them men in-
timately identified with St. Louis, where both lived, and
they are apparent also in Brackenridge's " Views of
Louisiana" and Stoddard's " Sketches of Louisiana,"
as if they knew that the people of and for whom they
wrote were at once scholarly, critical, and capable of
criticising severely what was offensive to their good
taste.
This period of fine culture among the leisure
classes, in the literary history of St. Louis, under or-
dinary circumstances and in an average state of
society, would have been succeeded by a period of
literary production and creation. But neither the
circumstances nor the state of society were ordinary.
The material and actual crowded in and pressed
the intellectual and spiritual into the background ;
flood after flood, wave after wave of population and
material progress swept over the germs of culture and
smothered them out of sight under masses of the
alluvion of wealth fructifying substance, and the
plants did not seem to grow at all, for they were
covered under faster than they could shoot up. It
was a period of physical growth and of the coarse-fed
toil which makes muscle swell and welter like the
tight, constricted fold of the python, and this was
swiftly succeeded by the volcanic period of intense
political excitement, bourgeoning forth into civil war
and the thrilling strain of a four years' struggle for
national existence. This whole period of forty years,
therefore, from 1825 to 1865, was unfavorable for the
efflorescent and fruit-yielding stage of literary devel-
opment, which demands comparative restfulness, ease,
and quiet. The plowman in the field does not
carve and engrave his plow-handles, nor does the
soldier in the battle-front or the bivouac engrave his
sword-blade. It was time for felling the forest, for
preparing the glebe ; it was seed-time, but not yet
harvest.
The first part of this epoch was the period of the
great irruption of immigration, and of the intense and
mighty toil necessary to clear the woods away and
prepare homes for population in the wilderness. This
immigration came from the South, from Kentucky,
Tennessee, Virginia, and Maryland, from Indiana,
CULTURE AND LITERARY GROWTH. IN SAINT LOUIS.
1591
Illinois, Ohio, New England, Pennsylvania, and New
York. There were plenty of educated people, younger
sons of culivated families, old merchants and planters
who had failed in the East and who now essayed the
virgin West, which offered them a fair chance to
"pick flint and try it again;" but the backwoods
people exceeded those of education and culture, and
the backwoods manner, with axe and saw and plow
and steamboat, overcrowded all culture and education,
for it was what the times and the situation demanded.
If a man could not put his education and culture in
his pocket and go to work with his hands with all
his might, he would expose himself to what was wit-
nessed a thousand times in the flush days of the early
gold excitement in California and Australia, where
the " navigators" and convicts and mechanics got out
the gold, and the scholars, divines, lawyers, doctors,
and statesmen waited upon them and did menial
service.
Necessarily and essentially it was a period of work,
of physical toil, of the exhaustive labor of building
an empire and digging out roads to connect it with
the rest of the world. .Yet this labor was sweetened
and this time of toil prevented from degenerating
into the mere animalism of the drudge and the beast
of burden by the strong, steady influence of the
educated, professional classes, so largely represented at
all times in the history of St. Louis, — a body always
influential, even by mere force and weight of num-
bers, but trebly so by force of strong, vigorous in-
tellect and fresh, original characters.
After a generation had passed away, and the city
began to be strong in numbers and solidly built, there
was a sufficient accumulation of wealth in the hands i
of the commercial and professional classes to encour-
age the cultivation of leisure and the arts and ameni-
ties which wait upon it. The foundations began to
be laid of American literary institutions, scholarship,
and culture to supply the place of the last expiring
embers of the old European culture of early St.
Louis. Schools, colleges, libraries, historical societies,
academies of science and galleries of art, the germs
of all these were being planted in a purely American
way. At this time, however (1848), the great Ger-
man immigration to St. Louis began, in consequence
of the general failure of the revolutionary upheaval in
Europe. The first consequence of the introduction of
this new element was disturbance, in consequence of a
want of coalescence between the new and old factors
in St. Louis society. The original St. Louis people
were essentially and strongly conservative in politics,
opinions, and morals. Pioneers in enterprise and in-
dustry and all material objects of human effort, they
were anything but pioneers in thought and specula-
tion. They would not venture to lead here, and they
would only consent to follow upon beaten and well-
known tracks. The German refugees, on the other
hand, were exacting and offensive in the temerity of
their radicalism.
To make things worse and widen the gulf sep-
arating the two classes of the population, the anti-
slavery agitation began to culminate soon after, the
Germans all taking sides with the abolitionists, while
three- fourths of the remaining inhabitants at first were
pro-slavery, or at least opposed to the methods and
the propaganda of abolitionism. As this agitation in-
creased and intensified, there was a serious widening
of the breach between the two classes of the commu-
nity, and a coalition, political but not social, was
formed between the Germans and what may be
termed the (New England element in St. Louis, con-
sisting of either natives of the Eastern States or their
descendants, immigrants into St. Louis from every
part of the West north of the Ohio River. These,
with some idealogues and fanatics among them, in-
cluded many of the thriftiest, most enterprising, and
most useful citizens of the place, the men who put
up the work-shops and built the railroads, who fos-
tered industry and developed trade in every direction,
— men like Thomas Allen, for instance.
The breach widened, the bitter feelings deepened
and intensified, and when at last the coalition secured
control of the city government, there was almost prac-
tical non-intercourse between the two elements. Po-
litical violence culminated in physical violence and civil
war, and during four bitter years there was almost an
entire suspension of all intellectual action and growth,
all energies concentrated upon doing and feeling,
all brain and nerve-force directed to the one end of
co-operation with muscular force.
But it was only a suspension, not a paralysis of in-
tellectual power, and when the war ended and all the
new and fully-developed energies of the community
were turned back into the old normal and peaceful
channels, a new epoch was found to be inaugurated, —
that of the present, — one of the strongest elements of
which was an energetic and virile mental vigor which
demanded and even clamored for expression. It may
not have cried always articulately at first, but there
can be no mistake about its crying loudly. This
epoch has been characterized by a vast and remark-
able material and financial development in St. Louis,
splendid rivalries, grand conquests over time and space,
far-reaching connections, and ambitious international
alliances. Intellectual growth and expansion have
attempted to keep pace with this great material
1592
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
growth and expansion, and thought, despising the old
grooves and refusing to work in the used, familiar
traces, has tried to shake itself free from tradition
and leap at once upon the new plane of absolute
originality. This we believe to be a fair presentation
of what is sometimes called the " St. Louis move-
ment," an attempt, naturally not always successful, to
give the schools the go-by, and ally the thinking
classes of St. Louis with the most radical opinion-
founders of New England and Germany. The attempt
is entirely sincere and earnest in its purposes and
honestly original in its methods, and nothing but good
can finally come out of it, though in its present stages
it is hampered by crudities and too much absorbed in
self-contemplation. But of this more presently.
We have preferred rapidly to sketch the outline of
this literary progress of St. Louis before descending
to the details. Let us now go back and glance at some
of the writers whose names can be fairly mentioned
in connection with the second period, — that of mate-
rial growth and of the sweat and toil of building up
the city. Neither the names nor the written works
are very numerous, — people had no time to spare.
Yet in this period the St. Louis University and the
Washington University were founded, the Historical
Society and the Mercantile Library and the Academy
of Science. The public school system was wrought
out upon a definite and comprehensive plan, and all
the germs planted which are now beginning to show
such an orderly and stately growth. Of authors
proper, the name of Timothy Flint must always be
associated with that early tide of immigration from
the East, of which he was a pioneer and the earliest
chronicler. Born and reared in Massachusetts, his
Missouri residence was St. Charles, and yet all he
wrote from the West was imbued with the true St.
Louis local flavor. He and the Rev. Dr. J. M. Peck
were St. Louisan authors by the law of natural selec-
tion, just as Drake and Hall were Cincinnatians.
Hall lived at Shawneetown, and wrote most pleasantly
of old and new Illinois, but Cincinnati was the hub
of his thought, and so Timothy Flint's and John
Mason Peck's cargoes of fact and fancy all broke bulk
at St. Louis. Peck lived at Rock Spring, 111., but St.
Louis was his centre, and his best work was done for
St. Louis journals.
The place was so active and energetic, so entirely
honest and naive in those early days, that it had a
great attraction for fresh minds bent upon frank and
free inquiry. All Illinois at that time was just t( over
the river," and Kaskaskia, Belleville, Kdwardsville,
Alton were tributary to St. Louis. Robert Owen
used to come here to escape from the stagnant pessi-
mism of his impossible perfection at New Harmony,
and here he and Madame D'Arusmont (Fanny Wright)
used to lecture and have seances, at which the most
advanced radicalism was disseminated without hurting
any one or even disturbing the general good humor,
any more than if rose-water had been sprayed abroad
upon the tolerant air. Here, too, Governors Tom
Ford and Tom Reynolds and Ninian Edwards used to
come, in search of breezes that the flat prairie did not
afford. St. Louis was vacation to them after Illinois.
John James Audubon used to stroll in too, when he
could escape from Louisville, or had time to come out
of the woods long enough to gaze and see what civili-
zation looked like. There was a magic charm about
the town, and it has not even yet been civilized out
of that charm. It abounded in original characters,
such as the active mind delights to study. It was
here that " Mark Twain" picked up his Col. Sellers, in
" The Gilded Age," and gave immortality to John T.
Raymond. Sellers was a steamboat captain, and
" Twain" probably clerked for him. Mrs. Farnham
here got the characters for her speaking portraits of
emigrant life, and Mrs. C. M. Kirkland also picked up
some of the fioriture which she needed to embellish
her comic pictures from the Michigan flats.
Frederic L. Billon has recorded the fact that he
had no sooner arrived here in 1818, with his father,
than he began to think of getting materials together
for a portrait of the picturesque old town, and he has
been employed upon that labor of love ever since,
giving to it all the antiquarian's patient research, until
he is almost as familiar with the ancient population
as he was with his own contemporaries, and far more
so than with the present generation. We look upon
Mr. Billon's work as almost unique of its kind, and it
is so positively un-American. Who else in all this
land has done, or attempted to do, such work, except
Peter Force, of Washington, D. C. ? It must be in
his blood, — the patient, careful devotion to minute,
microscopic detail of the hereditary Swiss watch-
maker,— for while Mr. Billon's mother was French,
and a refugee from insurgent San Domingo, his
father was Swiss, and a watch-maker, though born
in Paris.
Mr. Billon was born in the city of Philadelphia, at
the southeast corner of Third and Chestnut Streets,
on Thursday, April 23, 1801. He lived in and about
that locality, then the business centre of the city, for
more than seventeen years. During his youth he went
to school for some seven or eight years to Peter Wid-
dows, an Irish gentleman of thorough education, a
Free Quaker, who taught his school in Church Alley,
adjoining Christ Episcopal Church, and just opposite
CULTURE AND LITERARY GROWTH IN SAINT LOUIS.
1593
to another school, under the charge of Capt. Talbot
Hamilton, formerly of the British navy, who had
served with Nelson in the Mediterranean. At that
day there were but few schools in the large cities of
the United States taught by Americans, the popular
belief then prevalent among all classes being that
thorough information could only be obtained from
those of foreign birth.
When a school-boy he cared little for such sports
as marbles, tops, kites, and balls, etc., but delighted
in athletic recreations, such as running and jumping,
swimming, skating, rowing, or any amusement that
required activity of body or limbs, long walks, etc.
During his boyhood he was frequently indulged in
holidays, and made many excursions into the country
adjacent to the city in all directions, even to the
adjoining counties, from which he became familiar
with the surroundings of Philadelphia in almost
every direction to the distance of some thirty or
forty miles from the city.
During the progress of the war with England in
1812-15, he spent many evenings at home, reading
to his father, an indifferent English scholar, from the
papers of the passing occurrences of the day. When,
in 1814, the British took Washington, and attempted
the capture of Baltimore by their attacks on North
Point and Fort McHenry, and ascended Chesapeake
Bay to its head, although but a lad of fourteen years,
he was one of those detailed by the authorities of Phil-
adelphia to work on the fortifications erected south-
west of the city, below Gray's Ferry, on the Baltimore
turnpike-road, and was on several occasions a visitor
at the encampments of volunteers at Kennett Square,
Chester Co. ; at Camp Dupont, on the Brandy wine ;
and at Marcus Hook, Delaware Co., where some ten
thousand men were concentrated.
Leaving school upon the conclusion of the war, in
1815, at the age of fourteen years, he assisted in his
father's business, that of an importer of watches and
clocks from his native country, Switzerland, and on
the occasion of his father's last visit to his native
place, in the summer of 1815, following the battle of
Waterloo and the second abdication of the first Na-
poleon, he was left in sole charge of his father's busi-
ness during his absence of some six or eight months
in Europe, as also during his father's frequent business
trips to New York, and south as far as Charleston,
S. C.
In the summer of the year 1818, business being
completely prostrated in all the principal cities at the
East, and many turning their attention to the " Far
West" beyond the Mississippi, his father, with nine
children to set afloat in the world, falling in with the
popular sentiment of the day, concluded to abandon
the city with which he had been identified for nearly
a quarter of a century and seek a new home for his
infant colony in the West beyond the " Father of
Waters."
Accordingly, on the morning of Sunday, Aug. 30,
1818, accompanied by his oldest son, the subject of
FREDERIC L. BILLON.
this sketch, then a young man in his eighteenth year,
they left Philadelphia in the mail-stage for Pittsburgh,
three hundred miles, which place they reached on
Friday, September 4th, in six days. From this point
they descended the Ohio in a keel-boat, reaching Shaw-
neetown, one thousand miles from Pittsburgh, about
the middle of October. Thence they proceeded by
land through Illinois to'Kaskaskia, crossing the Mis-
sissippi to Ste. Genevieve in a canoe, and thence to
St. Louis, which .point they reached on Wednesday,
October 28th, having consumed just sixty days on the
route, about the usual time required for the trip at
that day.
After spending the winter of 1818-19 in the place
selected for their future domicile, and purchasing the
old stone mansion of the Labadies, at the northeast
corner of Main and Chestnut Streets, for the reception
of his family when he should arrive with them in the
ensuing fall, his father set out on his return to
Philadelphia on horseback in April, 1819, leaving
Frederic in charge of his business, and to attend to
the alterations and improvements necessary to make
his purchase habitable. He reached Philadelphia in
1594
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
May, remained there a couple of months, and left with
his family in July, arriving in St. Louis in September.
The family were domiciled in their new home at the
close of the month.
The summer of 1819 was a noted one. in the annals
of St. Louis, for, notwithstanding the great sickness
and mortality of that particular year, in the shape of
bilious and intermittent fevers, which prevailed to a
great extent throughout the settlements on the
Western waters, it was the year of extensive military
operations on the part of the United States in extend-
ing their outposts far beyond their former limits, the
old frontier post at Bellefontaine, on the Missouri.
Maj. Stephen H. Long's scientific expedition to the
Yellowstone in the " Western Engineer;" Col. Henry
Atkinson's ascent of the Missouri with the Sixth
Regiment United States Infantry, to establish Fort
Atkinson, Council Bluffs ; Col. Josiah Snelling's ex-
pedition with the Fifth Regiment to establish Fort
Snelling at St. Peter's, and other movements of minor
importance, requiring the use of numerous steamboats
and paddle-wheel barges, of which a number were lost
in the Missouri, are vividly impressed upon the
memory of Mr. Billon, that being his first summer
in the then remote West.
Late in the year 1819 the first " uniformed" com-
pany of volunteer infantry west of the Mississippi,
styled the " St. Louis Guards," was raised in St.
Louis, of which Mr. Billon became a member in the
following year, and in 1824 received his commission
as ensign of the same from Gen. William H. Ashley,
Lieutenant-Governor.
In 1820 he witnessed the excitements attending
the adoption of the State Constitution and the estab-
lishment of the State government. In September,
1822, his father, Charles F. Billon, Sr., died, leaving
the charge of his widow and children to his oldest
son, F. L. Billon, who had just attained his majority.
His first vote was cast for the acceptance of the
city charter in February, 1822, from which date he
has been a voter at every city and State election down
to the present day, as also at every Presidential elec-
tion in the State from the first in 1824, and was an
eye-witness and participant in many interesting events
and occurrences connected with the town, city, and
State governments in that early period of St. Louis'
history.
In the year 1827, while absent on business in Phil-
adelphia, he was elected an alderman from the central
ward of the three into which the city was then di-
vided, and in 1828 was re-elected to the same posi-
tion.
On May 20, 1829, his brothers and sisters being
mostly grown to maturity and disposed of, he him-
self entered the married state with Miss E. L. Geu-
erelly, like himself a native of Philadelphia of French
parentage. With this lady he passed thirty-six years
of wedded life until her death, Feb. 4, 1865. He
was the father of twelve children, but three of whom
survive.
In the year 1834, his health being materially im-
paired by his constant devotion to business, he, by the
advice of his physician, the late Dr. William Carr
Lane, made a trip to'Santa Fe and the Rocky Moun-
tains, then not a trifling undertaking, requiring some
ninety to one hundred days in crossing the plains
with wagons and ox-teams, and returned in the fall
much improved in health.
In 1851-52 he was twice nominated by Mayor
Luther M. Kennett to the position of city comptroller,
and on each occasion unanimously confirmed by the
board.
In 1853 he was appointed the first auditor and
general book-keeper of the Missouri Pacific Railroad,
filling the position for five years, and then succeeded,
in 1858, to that of secretary and treasurer of the
same company, resigning the office at the close of the
year 1863, after some eleven years in the service of
the company. Since that period he has devoted
much time to literary matters, more particularly to
the task of gathering up the data and materials for
an early history of the country bordering the Missis-
sippi in its entire course, in the pursuit of which he
is still occupied at the age of eighty-two years.
Lewis C. Beck came to St. Louis in 1820 from
Albany, N. Y., looked around him and took notes, and
then returning, published in 1823 the first gazetteer
of the State, and the pioneer of many other publica-
tions of this hard-working compiler. Senator Ben-
ton, besides his self-drill in his library and that of
Congress, had a practical training as editor before he
began to write that " Thirty Years' View," that pon-
derous royal octavo, of the first volume of which sixty-
five thousand copies were sold almost on the day of
publication. He used to write the notices of his own
speeches, but besides that he was an editor in his own
person.
Sergeant Hall, lawyer, came from Cincinnati early
in 1817, and assumed charge of the paper gotten up
two years previously in opposition to Charless' Missouri
Gazette, the first number of which had been issued by
Joshua Norvell, from Nashville. Tenn., in May, 1815,
under the title of the Western Journal. Hall issued
his first number on May 17, 1817, under the title of
the Western Emigrant, and two years later still, in the
summer of 1819, it was again changed- to the St. Louis
CULTURE AND LITERARY GROWTH IN SAINT LOUIS.
1595
Inquirer, under the management of Col. Thomas H.
Benton. After the charge of the paper passed from
Mr. Hall he returned to Cincinnati.
Edmund Flagg, born in Wicasset, Me., can show
one of the most industrious and reputable literary
careers in the country. Graduating at Bowdoin Col-
lege in 1835, he removed to St. Louis and established
a school, but subsequently studied law in the office of
Hon. Harrison Gamble, and in 1837 was admitted to
the bar. Throughout this period he wrote for the
Republican, and at the request of A. B. Chambers
made a stenographic report of the speech of Daniel
Webster, delivered at a barbecue in Lucas Grove in
1837. He also wrote an ode which was sung at the
Fourth of July celebration of that year. The " New
Year's Address" of the Republican carriers for 1838
was written by Mr. Flagg, and in the same year a series
of articles on Western life and scenery, which he had
contributed to the Republican, were compiled and
published by the Harpers, of New York, in two vol-
umes, under the title of " The Far West, or a Tour
Beyond the Mountains."
During 1838, Mr. Flagg became associated with
Col. S. B. Churchill in the editorial management of
the St. Louis Bulletin. Subsequently he edited the
News- Letter, published by George D. Prentice, at the
office of the Louisville Journal, in 1840 ; the Whig,
published at Vicksburg, where he was severely
wounded in a duel with Dr. James Hagan, editor of
the Sentinel, the Gazette at Marietta, Ohio, and the
Evening Gazette at St. Louis. While at Marietta,
in addition to the discharge of his editorial duties, he
wrote a series of " Tales" and political papers for the
New York New World, published by Park Benjamin,
in 1842 and 1843. After his removal to St. Louis
he became agent of the Home Mutual Insurance
Company, and in 1845 was appointed reporter for
the State Constitutional Convention of Missouri.
During all this time (subsequent to the termination
of his connection with the Evening Gazette) he con-
tinued to contribute articles to the Republican. In
1847 he was appointed official reporter of the courts
of St. Louis, and afterwards wrote several plays, one
of which, " Mary Tudor," was adapted to the stage for
Mrs. Farren, and was produced by Sol Smith at
New Orleans and elsewhere with marked success.
In the spring of 1848, in conjunction with Pierre
C. Grace, he wrote the address for a mass-meeting of
the citizens of St. Louis to the revolutionists of
Europe, and about the same time produced the
" Howard Queen," a prize tale for the St. Louis
Union. Soon after this he went abroad as secretary
to Hon. Edward A. Hannegan, minister to Berlin.
During his stay at Berlin he corresponded for New
York papers, and wrote a sequel, entitled " Edmond
Dantes," to Dumas' novel " Monte Christo." In
1850 he wrote a prize tale for the Louisville Courier.
For this and an address for the opening of Bates'
new theatre and the amphitheatre he received three
prizes in one month, aggregating three hundred dol-
lars. In 1851 he was appointed consul to Venice,
and on his return became the editor of the St. Louis
Times. During this year (1853) he wrote " Venice,
the City of the Sea," which was published by Scrib-
ner, of New York, in two finely illustrated volumes,
and in the following year furnished a series of articles
for Myers' " United States Illustrated." About this
time he was appointed superintendent of statistics in
the State Department by Secretary Marcy, and while
occupying that position prepared four quarto volumes
on the commercial relations of the United States. In
1860 he resigned his position, and became the Wash-
ington correspondent of the New Yorlc Tribune,
Louisville Journal, and St. Louis Democrat. He
was afterwards appointed librarian of copyrights in
the Interior Department, and on the transfer of the
collection to the Congressional Library retired to
private life. Mr. Flagg wrote the novels " Carraro,
the Prime Minister," " Francis of Valois," " The
Howard Queen," " Blanche of Artois," and several
other romances and plays, all in print.
James D. Nourse, who, while editor of the St. Louis
Intelligencer, died of cholera, in 1854, was an author
of prominence and a contributor to many periodicals.
He was born in Bardstown, Ky., in 1816, studied
both law and medicine, and had a wide and varied
editorial experience. His two novels, " The Forest
Knight" and " Leavenworth," have both been praised
by Dr. R. W. Griswold for their accuracy and spirit
in the delineation of Western life ; his " Philosophy
of History" won the commendation of so fastidious
a critic as H. T. Tuckerman, and Horace Binney
Wallace found weighty and original thinking in his
last work, " Remarks on the Past, and its Relations
to American Society, or God in History."
Another of the newspaper literati of St. Louis was
John S. Robb (the " Solitaire" of the St. Louis Reveille
and of the New Orleans Picayune}, the humorist,
who, in conjunction with Madison Tensas, wrote
" The Swamp Doctor," a book famous in its day, and
which still holds its own with Drake's " Mike Fink,"
Thorpe's " Tom Owen, the Bee-Hunter," and Hoop-
er's " Simon Suggs." Charles D. Drake, by the way,
was a St. Louis editor himself, besides being one of the
original founders of the St. Louis Law Library. The
brothers, Joseph M. and M. C. Field, were prominent
1596
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
writers for the brilliant Reveille, of which Joseph was
one of the editors. Both were poets of no common
order, and their verses had a very wide circulation.
There was a certain mingled grace and fire in their
timbre which was exceedingly attractive. Joseph
Field was one of the favorite writers of the New
Orleans Picayune, in which his well-known nom de
plume was " Straws." He was a dramatic writer of
skill, and many of his plays were successful upon the
boards. He was very fond of the theatre, and was,
indeed, the first manager of the old " Varieties." It
was through him that Solomon Franklin ("Sol") Smith
first came to write for the press and became a regular
contributor to the Reveille.
John Hogan (Rev.) used to be one of the best-
known and most useful writers for the press in St.
Louis. He was a native of Ireland, born in 1805,
and came to this country in 1817, making his first
home in Baltimore, where he was apprenticed to a
shoemaker. He taught himself to read by spelling
over the columns of the old Federal Gazette, and so
may be said to have taken naturally to newspapers.
When he grew up he became an itinerant Methodist
preacher, and drifted westward to the Illinois Confer-
ence. After engaging in business in Edwardsville
and Alton, he removed to St. Louis in 1845, clerked,
was in the grocery business, and then insurance agent.
He began at this time to write those studied and
thoughtful papers on the resources of St. Louis
which attracted such attention and did the business
interests of the town so much good. The merchants
presented him with a testimonial service of silver,
and his political friends secured for him from Mr.
Buchanan the appointment of postmaster. Mr. Ho-
gan's " History of Methodism in the West" is a careful
and useful compilation, prepared in his customary
painstaking way.
The history of the press of St. Louis is given so
fully and completely in another place that, to avoid
repetition here,- we are able to say but little concern-
ing the writers who have contributed to its re-
sources. Joseph Charless, the founder of the Gazette,
not content with being a simple editor, with patient
toil and study, sought to grasp at his ideal of literary
excellence in scholarship and style. His successor,
Nathaniel Paschall, had the same thirst for letters,
and studied as patiently to excel. No editor ever
wielded the leading writer's pen for a longer time or
to a better purpose than Mr. Paschall. He was a
recognized force, an embodied influence in the com-
munity, and always for the community's advantage
and betterment, writing solid argument on the truth's
side, for the truth's sake, and without abuse or per-
sonality. In this good work George Knapp has
always been by his side, — a man, self-made, who
deserved all his successes and prosperity.
Charles Keemle, born in Philadelphia in 1800, was
as early as 1817 in charge of the St. Louis Emigrant,
the second journal west of the Mississippi, afterwards
merged in the Inquirer. Keemle's life bristled with
adventure. He went to the Rocky Mountains as
clerk to the American Fur Company before he had
attained his majority, and fought a desperate battle
on the Yellowstone fifteen years before Custer was
born. He had half a dozen newspapers in St. Louis
at different times, and filled many public offices. He,
with J. M. Field and his brother, founded the Re-
veille in 1845, and during the five years of its exist-
ence it was undoubtedly the best literary paper in the
West.
„ The late Thomas Allen was what might be called a
born newspaper man, and if his fortunes had required
it he could readily have made his living as editor,
leader-writer, correspondent, or literary contributor.
He had the talent, the aptitude, the training, and the
taste which go to make the first-class utility man for
the press. Part of one of his letters to An"drew Jack-
son Downing, of the Horticulturist, quoted in another
part of this work, reveals what must be considered as
a rare faculty for the delicate and difficult parts of
authorship. He was in boyhood a pupil of Mark
Hopkins, and that great teacher never had better
material put under his hands to shape. Allen began
to write from the jump, and edited a juvenile Miscel-
lany before he was sixteen. While studying law his
pen earned his support, and he edited a family maga-
zine so well that he ran it up to twenty thousand
subscribers. In 1837 he started a newspaper in
Washington City, and got the public printing, in spite
of Blair & Rives and Gales & Seaton. In 1842 he
came to St. Louis. Here, without identifying him-
self with the press, he wrote much, and his pamph-
lets are notable for the apposite manner and force
with which the marrow of a subject is probed. None
ever knew better than Mr. Allen how to say the right
thing in the right place, and to say it forcibly without
offense, and genially without dulling the edge of the
argument.
Hon. John Fletcher Darby rounded up the leisure
and slippered ease of a long and useful life in St.
Louis by contributing his " Personal Recollections"
to the press. These were collected into a neat and
comely volume before he died, and this kindly and
single-hearted old gentleman could not have a more
appropriate or better monument. The book is as
unpretentious as it is valuable, such a fund of rem-
CULTURE AND LITERARY GROWTH IN SAINT LOUIS.
1597
iniscence as each succeeding age will treasure the
more dearly as it recedes from the present.
Dr. M. L. Linton, a professor in the St. Louis
University, medical department, and a leading physi-
cian, established the St. Louis Medical Journal in
1843, and has written professional works which bear
the stamp of great ability. Of such is his " Out-
lines of Pathology," a text-book in several colleges,
and consulted both East and West. Dr. Charles A.
Pope, Linton 's colleague, classmate, and contempo-
rary, is at least his equal in literary ability, and his su- j
perior in wide-spread surgical renown. As the eighth
president of the American Medical Association, he
took a position which was national in its prominence, j
It was in the school of Benton, Geyer, Easton, and j
the other brilliant luminaries of the St. Louis bar
that Judge Wilson Primni learned to embellish his
legal attainments with the decorative apparatus of
literature. Well did he weave the ornamental and
the useful together, so that one could scarce distin-
guish the essential from the non-essential in his
speeches and addresses, full of fire and flow, full
of scholarship, and full, also, of quaint antiquarian
lore, such as only the enthusiast would think of
gathering together from the disjointed memories and
babbling lips of granddames and nurses. Out of
these, however, Primm was skillful to frame a con-
nected and coherent narrative, and capable to launch
it with sensational effect upon his roused and excited
audiences. Probably nothing ever did so much
towards rousing a genuine inquiry and a sympa-
thetic interest in the cradle period of St. Louis as
the several commemorative addresses of Wilson
Primm, which, in addition to their sincerity and
fire, are literary productions of merit and value, em- j
bellished with neat classical touches, and not too
florid in style for the theme and the occasion. It
was upon one of these very occasions, by the way, if
we mistake not, or a nearly similar one, that the Abbe"
Adrian Rouquette, of Louisiana, seminarian of New
Orleans, and recluse of Mandeville, St. Tammany, de-
livered his animated and eloquent French discourse
at the St. Louis Cathedral, keeping up and re-
newing, with singular appropriateness and excellent
effect, the old connection and kinship between Upper
and Lower Louisiana. Judge John Marshall Krum,
one of Primm's associates and contemporaries, was
the author of a most laborious work, " Missouri Jus
tice." Maun Butler, the original and vigorous his-
torian of Kentucky, was practicing law in St. Louis
at the time he began the preparation of his work, to
complete which he had to remove to Louisville, in
order to consult the State's records.
Right Rev. Cicero Stephens Hawks, D.D., Bishop
of Missouri of the Protestant Episcopal Church, was
another scholar of comprehensive and signal ability,
worthy representative of a family eminent in literature
and the church. He was consecrated Bishop of Mis-
souri at the early age of thirty-two years, and he
wrote some things which make us regret that the
church had superior claims upon him to literature.
Two of the brightest of our early juvenile series, quite
the pioneers in that difficult but most fascinating walk
of letters, were edited by him, — Harpers' " Boys' and
Girls' Library" and Appleton's "Library for my
Young Countrymen," the latter one of the best of
the kind ever published anywhere. Dr. Hawks also
wrote several of the volumes of " Uncle Philip's Con-
versations," and was the author of " Friday Chris-
tian, the First-Born of Pitcairn's Island." Old boys
of fifty will remember these books with the kindliest
and most friendly interest, as the friends whom they
took to bed with them that they might hold converse
together by surreptitious candle-light.
Rev. N. L. Rice, D.D., was pastor of the Second
Presbyterian Church of St. Louis. Dr. Rice wrote
many tracts and pamphlets, revealing profound ac-
quaintance with theology, skill in dialectic fence, and
that gaudia certaminis which drives so many of his
brethren to plunge to the neck in the hot waters of
polemical controversy. His " Debates on Baptism,"
his "Debates on Slavery and Universal Salvation,"
and his tract against " Romanism" are still remem-
bered by persons of his way of thinking. Rev. Wil-
liam Stephen Potts, pastor of the First Presbyterian
Church, president of Marion College, etc., whose con-
nection with St. Louis began in 1828, published many
sermons and addresses, and he is ranked very high
among divines of literary ability by Dr. Sprague in
his " Annals of the Pulpit."
In 1867 died Edward William Johnston, a littera-
teur and newspaper writer of very rare and unusual
talent and experience. He was sixty-eight years old,
native of Virginia, brother of Gen. Joseph E. John-
ston, and a man of very high culture and delicate
literary perceptions. In early youth he was Professor
of History and Belles-Lettres in the University of
South Carolina, but abandoned the professor's chair
for journalism. He was first associated with John
Hampden Pleasants in the editorial management of
the Richmond Whig. Afterwards, for ten years, he
was associated with the National Intelligencer as lit-
erary editor of that journal. He was subsequently
connected with the editorial staff of the New York
Times, and is remembered for his brilliant correspond-
ence with the Philadelphia North American and the
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Louisville Journal. In 1855 he came to St. Louis,
and was associated with Mr. Mitchell in the editorial
direction of the Intelligencer. When the Leader was
established, Mr. Johnston was invited to take the place
of associate editor of that journal. He continued in
that relation till the paper closed its career, when he
was elected librarian of the Mercantile Library in
1858, occupying that post for three years. In that
capacity his rare knowledge of books and his famil-
iarity with the whole range of literature, his judgment
and taste made him a most valuable auxiliary in build-
ing up that magnificent library, and establishing its
character as one of solid and substantial value in the
various departments of science, philosophy, history,
and general literature. A catalogue of the library
was compiled by him, the principle of its arrange-
ment and classification being his own.
Mr. Johnston was conspicuous for the versatility
and range of his knowledge, for' his refined, discern-
ing taste, and his ripe, masculine judgment. He
thought robustly, had the courage of his opinions, and
could state them with suave courtesy in a style as cor-
rect and graceful as it was brilliant and vigorous.
The history of St. Louis University is elsewhere
written, but it deserves mention here in connection
with the development and promotion of literature and
culture in the city. The people who founded this
university were highly educated, and as capable of
appreciating the value of education as any religious
denomination in the world. The Jesuit, indeed,
counts upon ruling the world as much by force of
superior knowledge and wisdom as by the superior
quality of his faith. St. Louis was the Western
outpost of civilization, and the church and it should
be strongly guarded. Bishop Dubourg, Bishop
Rosatti, the neighboring bishops, Flaget, of Bards-
town, and Brute, of Vincennes, and Fathers Van
Quickenbourne, Verhaegen, Vandervelde, Ellet, Car-
roll, Van Assche, and De Smct^ who were all associ-
ated with the foundation of the university, were
men of exceptional learning and culture, well bred,
highly educated, and many of them born to affluence
and rank. Who does not know the history, the
labor, the toils and triumphs of De Smet, a Jesuit
worthy to be the successor of Brebauf and L'Alle-
mand, of Jogues and Marquette? His simple and
naive account of his mission work has all the attrac-
tiveness of a romance. Is it not a romance, — the
romance of religious devotion ? De Smet sleeps and
is at rest in beautiful Florissant, but his work goes
nobly on. We will not pretend to enumerate the
literary achievements of the professors and graduates
of St. Louis University.
Does Oscar W. Collet, now the genial secretary of
the Missouri Historical Society, recollect the speech
which, in 1837, while he was still a student, he fired
off at Daniel Webster when that statesman visited
the University ? It was young then, like Mr. Collet.
It has reached a grown age now, like Mr. Collet, and
doubtless can look back upon its past career with a
satisfactory amount of complacency. To-day the
institution is doing very good work, never better,
and it deserves the esteem in which it is held.
Among the fine scholars who have taught in this
university we may name Professor Rudolph Leonard
Tafel, Ph.D., who emigrated to the United States in
1847, and became Professor of Modern Languages
and Comparative Philology in the university. He
has written an " English Pronunciation and Orthog-
raphy," translated Le Bois de Guays' " Letters" into
German, and written a volume on Emanuel Sweden-
borg. In conjunction with his father, he published in
1860 a work on " Latin Pronunciation and the Latin
Alphabet," and he has written several articles for the
" Bibliotheca Sacra." John Frederick Leonard Tafel,
his father,, has a still more considerable record. He
too lived in St. Louis, after having been Professor
of Languages at Urbana (Ohio) University. Be-
fore emigrating to the United States he taught in
the Gymnasiums of Ulna and Stuttgart and the Acad-
emy of Schorndorf, being an alumnus of Tubingen.
In 1836 he wrote a book in defense of the Hamil-
tonian system of teaching, and he published many
text-books on the modern languages in accordance
with this system. The subject of school reform and
radical changes in all the principles and practices of
pedagogy engaged his earnest attention. He edited
and published a complete edition of Livy, and made
German translations of Xenophon's Anabasis, Dio
Cassius, the greater part of Scott's novels, with one
each of Cooper's, Dickens', and Thackeray's. He
also wrote two theological works, " Staat und Christ-
enthum" and " Der Christ und der Atheist," and at
different times was editor of the Ausland (published
by Cotta), the Reichstag Zeitung. and the Beobachter.
To crown all, he published a " New and Complete
English-German and German-English Pocket Dic-
tionary."
We have already alluded indirectly to some of the
work of Professor Walter H. Hill, S.J., who fills the
chair of moral philosophy in the St. Louis Uni-
versity. He has written a treatise on " General
Metaphysics, or Logic and Ontology," in addition to
his " Moral Philosophy," and is, moreover, the his-
toriographer of the institution, — a man profoundly
read in the works upon the scholastic philosophy, and
CULTURE AND LITERARY GROWTH IN SAINT LOUIS.
1599
with quite a faculty for direct logical statement. In-
deed, it would be impossible for any one to reason
more close to the line. He follows the syllogism as
closely as the plowman follows the plow in the
newly-opened furrow. It is seldom that we come
across text-books so learned as those two tractates of
Professor Hill. They are founded upon Aristotle, to
the Latin versions of whom there are continual mar-
ginal references ; but the references do not stop here.
They show an acquaintance with all the commentators
and with all the shining lights of the scholastic phi-
losophy. Irenfeus, Billuart, Suarez, Lessius, Mill,
Blackstone, St. Augustine, Becanus, Gonat, Des
Charmes, Gotti, St. Thomas Aquinas, Gregory Ni-
censis, Jeremy Bentham, Brande, Aulus Gellius, Sir
John Fortescue, Kent, Sir Francis Palgrave, Jus-
tinian, Tacitus, Plato, Seneca, Isidore, Paley, Bar-
tolus, Cajalan, Cardinalis, Toleti, Wheaton, Vattel,
Judge Dillon, Timothy Walker, De Maistre, Hobbes,
Rousseau, Monboddo, Cornelius a, Lapide, Bellar-
mine, Bishop Ullathorne, Orestes A. Brownson, Pub-
lius Syrus, Cardinal Manning, each in his turn,
ancient or modern, renowned or obscure, is made to
contribute something to strengthen the learned author's
argument or illustrate his position.
It must be confessed that the above is a rather
meagre record to cover the literary performances of
nearly forty years. But it was, as we have said be-
fore, the period of action and muscular growth, and
not the period of brain-work, and especially the re-
flective work of the brain. As the eloquent William
Henry Milburn, the blind preacher, said in one of
his lectures, " The demands upon American mind
have been of too pressing and urgent a character to
allow it to devote much time or attention to the spe-
cific pursuit of letters. Here was a continent to sub-
due , a wilderness to' be reclaimed ; mountains to be
scaled ; lakes, oceans, and gulfs to be joined together;
and meantime the supplies for daily necessity and
daily consumption to be raised and conveyed to mar-
ket. Men must have bread before books. Men
must build barns before they establish colleges. Men
must learn the language of the rifle, the axe, and the
plow before they learn the lessons of Grecian and
Roman philosophy and history ; and to these pursuits
was the early American intellect obliged to devote
itself by a sort of simple and hearty and constant
consecration. There was no possibility of escape, no
freedom or exemption from this obligation."
This exactly fits the case of the transition period
we have been describing in the history of the litera-
ture of St. Louis. For the period which succeeded
it, the modern and contemporary period, we present
the following record, prepared for the present work
by Professor H. H. Morgan, of St. Louis. We must
say that in many instances we do not accept Mr.
Morgan's conclusions, and are far from approving his
judgments, though we do not for a moment question
his sincerity. But his facts have been carefully
gathered, and are laboriously put together and skill-
fully grouped, and with these facts before him (the
essential matter, after all) the reader will easily be able
to form his own conclusions.
Mr. Morgan thinks and contends that " the lit-
erary interests of St. Louis are recent. For a long
period politics, the press, and occasions of cere-
mony absorbed all the energies of our writers. To
be sure, there have always been individual citizens
who, like Dr. Eliot, have kept alive their enthusiasm
for literature and the other fine arts ; but the influ-
ence of these individuals, while uniformly great,
could not make short the period which elapsed be-,
fore the results of their labors should become mani-
fest. Continuous progress began about 1857, when
Dr. W. T. Harris removed to St. Louis and formed
the acquaintance of Governor Brockmeyer, whose
stimulating influence has counted for so much in our
city, while at the same time his written work has
been anything but voluminous. This acquaintance
led to an active interest in metaphysics, and was
directly productive of the Philosophical Society.
The original membership of this body embraced
Governor Brockmeyer, Dr. Harris, D. J. Snider,
Judge Jones, Dr. Hall, Dr. Walters, C. F. Childs,
Professor Howison, Dr. Hammer, and B. A. Hill,
and their efforts had sufficient validity to justify
visits from Ralph Waldo Emerson, A. Bronson Al-
cott, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, and others of the spec-
ulative illuminati of the East. Out of this society
there naturally grew the publication of The Journal
of Speculative Philosophy, the earliest Western peri-
odical of more than local reputation and influence.
Through his work upon the Journal, and his ad-
dresses and reports while acting as superintendent of
our public schools, Dr. Harris gave to much of the
literary effort of St. Louis a distinctive character, and
drew around him, either for co-operation or oppo-
sition, almost all who were interested in intellectual
activity. The third step was the publication of The
Western, in 1875, a miscellaneous magazine, begun
by those who 1'ecognized Dr. Harris as the most emi-
nent figure in our local life. The welcome given
both by the Journal and by the Western to sterling
contributions, irrespective of the section from which
they proceeded, soon made St. Louis known to stu-
dents throughout the country.
1600
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
" The fourth step in this movement was the estab-
lishment of clubs, which drew together men like Gov-
ernor Brockmeyer, W. T. Harris, F. L. Soldan, Pro-
fessor Howison, D. J. Snider, A. E. Kroeger, Thomas
Davidson, B. V. B. Dixon, F. E. Cook, H. H. Morgan,
William M. Bryant ; and from among the ladies of
the city, Miss Mary E. Beedy, Miss A. C. Brackett,
Miss Grace C. Bibb, Miss Fannie M. Bacon, Miss Sue
V. Beeson. Miss Julia A. Dutro, Mrs. E. S. Morgan,
Miss Gertrude Garrigues, and Miss Hope Goodson.
The fifth stage was the formation of classes of ladies
by Dr. Harris, D. J. Snider, F. L. Soldan, W. M.
Bryant, B. V. B. Dixon, Professor J. K. Hosmer, and
Rev. J. C. Learned. These classes, having chosen one
of these gentlemen as director, studied the philosophy
of history, the philosophy of art, Shakespeare, Greek
poetry, or German, French, and Italian literature.
Simultaneous with this period was the beginning of
clubs which do or do not represent the direct influ-
ence of Dr. Harris and his co-laborers. The Novel
Club flourished for several years, and, under the lead-
ership of Rev. John Snyder, Professor J. K. Hosmer,
Professor M. S. Snow, Judge Thayer, and Mrs. Hope
Goodson Reed, accomplished much of value. Subse-
quently, but sufficiently near in time to find this a
proper place for mention, there were formed numerous
clubs of ladies, who met to pursue some study. A
club met at the house of Mrs. Charles Nagel and pur-
sued the study of Greek history, specially Greek
literary history. Another group of ladies gathered
around Mrs. Dr. W. E. Fischel and took up the
medieval history. Other associations of similar char-
acter were carried on at the homes of Mrs. Nathan
Stevens, Mrs. Dr. Briggs, and Mrs. William Ware.
" The sixth stage introduced classes which met
under the special conduct of gentlemen such as Dr.
Harris, D. J. Snider, William M. Bryant, Professor
J. K. Hosmer, F. L. Soldan, and B. V. B. Dixon.
Miss Susie Blow, Mrs. J. W. Noble, and Mrs. R. J.
Lackland were the most earnest movers for this spe-
cial activity. The seventh and present stage has in-
troduced the formation of similar classes upon the
part of gentlemen, and these classes include many of
our most capable students as well as large numbers of
our most promising young men.
" These stages represent what has sometimes been
called the ' St. Louis movement.' To Governor
Brockmeyer is due the honor of its inauguration and
the responsibility for its special characteristics; to
Dr. Harris is due the credit of working out in con-
crete form and upon a large scale an influence which
in its inception was wholly individual. The ' St.
Louis movement' may be sufficiently characterized as
an attempt to find the idea which inspires and con-
trols all rhetorical and literary forms which are not
empty, and this characteristic will be traceable in the
writings of all the co-laborers, no matter how diverse
the nature of their specialties.
' " The educational efforts to which also St. Louis
owes much of its literary activity began earlier than
the period which we are considering, but owe much
of their value to Dr. Harris and the others whom we
have had occasion to mention.
" The earliest name of note in our educational
history is doubtless that of the Rev. W. G. Eliot,
whose direct efforts began during his connection with
the Board of Public Schools, and have since been
continued through his services in connection with the
university of which he is the chancellor. While
this is not the proper place for the full discussion of
our educational history, yet as to an unusually large
extent the laborers in the fields of literature and art
have been found among our professors and teachers,
the most eminent must receive mention. Beginning
with teachers such as Dr. Eliot, J. H. Tice, Ira
Divoll, W. T. Harris, Miss Mary E. Beedy, Miss
Sue V. Beeson, W. M. Bryant, T. R. Vickroy, Miss
A. C. Brackett, Miss Grace C. Bibb, Miss Kate Wil-
son, Miss Hope Goodson, Miss Fannie M. Bacon,
Miss Julia A. Dutro, F. L. Soldan, Thomas David-
son, B. V. B. Dixon, E. H. Long, D. J. Snider,
George B. McClellan, W. H. Rosenstengel, William
Deutsch, Chancellor Hoyt, Chancellor Chauvenet,
Professor Waterhouse, and Professor Howison, the
incitements to intellectual efforts were communicated
first to those who were affected by these teachers, and
later to those outside of their direct influence.
" More recently, as the Washington University has
matured, it has contributed much through the efforts
of Professors Hosmer, Snow, Woodward, Ives, Nipher,
Engler, and Curtis. Popular lectures have been in-
augurated by the university, and for three years our
Public Library has maintained a free lyceuiu.
" The activity represented by Dr. Harris and those
who have gathered around him has been literary,
philosophical, and aesthetic, dominated, as has been
said, by one leading idea. It is probably no over-
statement to say that by this activity St. Louis is
known away from home. The services rendered by
Professor Hosmer, Professor Woodward, and others
are, like those of Judge Holmes, special, and can be
most fitly discussed each by itself.
" To this there must be made the exception of Dr.
Eliot and of Professor Waterhouse, for in time they
antedate Dr. Harris, and share with him the credit of
exciting all the activity which has taken place since they
CULTURE AND LITERARY GROWTH IN SAINT LOUIS.
1601
began their labors. Dr. W. G. Eliot has, during his long
residence in our city, unremittingly sought to build up
all interests, moral and intellectual. To him directly
is due the residence of many of our brain-workers and
their constant incitement to labor.
" Professor Waterhouse has not only felt an ab-
sorbing interest in political economy, or social science,
but through a long period of years he has, by his pro-
found comprehension of his subjects and his clear pre-
sentment of his views, been an influence as strong as
he has been individual.
" To conclude this general survey, it may be said
that the past twenty- five years have, in spite of the
interruptions caused in our city by the civil war, com-
prised an intellectual history of which any city might
be proud ; and the future can but add to the influences
which must make St. Louis well known in circles other
than those of commerce.
" Separate mention is due to such of the gentlemen
and ladies who most specifically represent the activity
whose history has been recited. For this purpose it
will be convenient to arrange the names in the order
of the several movements.
" Dr. W. G. Eliot's activity has been so incessant
and so varied that his ready sympathy with the claims
of higher culture has been but a phase of his life.
His own literary efforts have mostly taken the form
of sermons and addresses, although he has drawn
upon his scanty leisure to prepare for publication
several miscellaneous works. Through his care as
chancellor of the university he has gathered around
him a number of earnest, capable, and indefatigable
workers, who have in various ways contributed to the
intellectual development of our city.
" Since his residence in St. Louis, Dr. Eliot has been
prominently identified with movements looking toward
the betterment of the community to which he belonged.
It was in connection with him that Mr. Wayman
Crow and his associates sought to realize in the Wash-
ington University facilities for an education for our
boys and girls higher than could be afforded by the
public schools. As Dr. Eliot's name must occur in
various parts of the history, it is unnecessary to repeat
his personal biography, and we may more profitably
characterize his services in the direction of literary
effort. His peculiar contribution has been the excit-
ing and directing of intellectual activity and an un-
usual perception of the fitness of instrumentalities.
Notwithstanding the fact that he has contributed
several works to our literature, yet his sermons and
addresses have absorbed more of his energy, while he
has found his most constant field of effort in inaugu-
rating beneficent enterprises and in stimulating
specialists to devote their energies to the maintenance
of institutions thus begun.
" Professor Sylvester Waterhouse is confessedly
one of our most arduous and successful brain-workers,
and the services rendered by him to the city of his
adoption are inadequately represented by a recital of
his writings or an enumeration of the positions of
honor and trust which he has been invited to fill. It
may in all sincerity be said that his many acquaint-
ances consider him equal to any responsibilities which
he might choose to assume, and know by experience
that when he has felt at liberty to serve in various
commissions that he has brought to his task rare
qualifications. Apart from an unusually clear and
analytical mind and a command of diction which
enables him to express concisely and lucidly any con-
clusions at which he may have arrived, Professor
Waterhouse has an unusual share of that intellectual
integrity which constitutes the chief grace of ex-
ceptional men. From 1857 to 1883, Professor Water-
house has labored persistently, not even stopping to
lay claim to projects originated by himself and accred-
ited to others. While many a man possessing his
opportunities would have confined his labors to de-
partments which were directly remunerative, or would
at least have used his legitimate opportunities to ex-
tend his personal reputation, Professor Waterhouse
has been too much possessed by the spirit of the
investigator to delay for any personal considerations.
" Born in Barrington, N. H., in 1830, he was the vic-
tim of an accident, and when but ten years of age lost
his right leg. The effect of this upon the life of a
man of active temperament can easily be imagined,
but there was too much sturdy manhood in the suf-
ferer to admit of his being discouraged, even though
the conditions for fair competition had become so
burdensome. Persisting, in spite of the adversity of
fortune, in his determination to acquire an education,
he graduated with high honors from Phillips' Exeter
Academy in 1850, and matriculating at Dartmouth
College, soon changed to Harvard, from which insti-
tution he graduated in 1853. His collegiate course,
as well as his academic, was marked by proficiency in
scholarship. The ensuing two years were occupied
in completing the course in the Harvard Law School.
"In 1856 he was appointed Professor of Latin
Language and Literature in Antioch College, whence
in 1857 he removed to St. Louis to begin his long
career of educational usefulness as Professor of Greek
in the Washington University. He is now the senior
professor in actual service, though not in appointment,
although younger in years than others of the faculty.
Very frequently professors and teachers, like men in
1602
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
all other callings, find the routine of their lives suffi-
cient for their energies. Far otherwise has it been
with Professor Waterhouse, who has almost disre-
garded the fatigue of his regular work, and pursued
his special investigations as though there were no
other strain upon his strength. It is to his quiet,
unconscious influence that St. Louis owes much of the
activity that seems most directly to proceed from
other sources.
" In 1867, Professor Waterhouse was a member of
the Mississippi River Improvement Convention, and
rendered invaluable service. In 1871 he was appointed
by Governor Brown a member of ' The Bureau of
Geology and Mines' for Missouri. In 1872 he was
elected secretary of the St. Louis Board of Trade.
"In 1873 he made a trip around the world, and in-
creased his profound acquaintance with the subjects
which had occupied his interest. In 1875 he was a
member of the National Railroad Convention. In
1877 he was again sent as a member of the Missis-
sippi River Improvement Convention, became the
secretary of its executive committee, and prepared
the memorial to Congress. We in St. Louis believe
that to this memorial, which was widely circulated, is
due the change of sentiment, and the consequent ap-
propriation of amounts more adequate for the per-
formance of work much needed. In 1878 he was
appointed United States commissioner to the Paris
Exposition. During the civil war Professor. Water-
house's pen was constantly in requisition, as he was
an active participant in the labors of the Western
Sanitary Commission.
" For many years the professor was called upon to
co-operate with the Missouri State Board of Immi-
gration. In 1863 he was requested to pronounce a
eulogy upon Chancellor Hoyt, and acquitted himself
with his customary ability.
" Professor Waterhouse's interest in our industrial
affairs, while by no means absorbing all of his en-
ergies or narrowing his sympathies, has in the main
dominated his written work. His articles upon iron
manufacture in Missouri were partly at least the cause
precedent, if not the cause efficient, of the great in-
dustries which have since been developed. His arti-
cles upon the cultivation of jute in the United States
have been honored by the highest recognition upon
the part of the United States commissioners of agri-
culture. A very wide circulation, their translation
into French and German, and the utilization of his
ideas by various individuals and corporations are
public proofs of their value. All this manifold labor
Professor Waterhouse has done without compensation,
and frequently at his own personal expense.
" Lieutenant-Governor Henry C. Brockmeyer is,
as has been already stated in brief, one who has pow-
erfully influenced the turn of thought upon the part
of many who have been largely responsible for St.
Louis' intellectual activity. Governor Brockmeyer
would be noticeable anywhere for clearness, profun-
dity, and sanity of thought, and for a remarkable
power over words that burn. While his written work
is so small in quantity, no one can come in contact
with him without being sensibly stimulated. Born in
Winden, Prussia, in 1828, he left home when sixteen
years of age for New York. He first visited St.
Louis in 1848, but did not at that time make the city
his permanent residence. In 1857 he returned to St.
Louis, and since 1858 has been identified with it.
His energies have been mostly exercised in political
life.
" Dr. W. T. Harris has been, as already said, the
most prominent factor in our intellectual develop-
ment. The incessant activity of his mind, his fertil-
ity of resource, and his unquenchable enthusiasm
entitle him to a lasting and prominent place in any
local history. Apart from the activity which Dr.
Harris' efforts excited, his work may be summarized
as the giving to St. Louis a high reputation in all
educational circles, and the earning of foreign recog-
nition for the metaphysical work of American students.
In the conduct of the Journal of Speculative Phi-
losophy, Dr. Harris has opened generously its pages to
views however different from his own, and has thus
done much towards the creation of a sodality among
the students of mental philosophy. Born in Con-
necticut in 1835, he came to St. Louis in 1857, and
while a resident was always connected with the public
school system, as assistant teacher, principal of a dis-
trict school, assistant superintendent, and finally as
superintendent. Finally he changed his residence to
Concord, Mass., and his departure was made the occa-
sion of the handsomest honors, paid him by leading
citizens, who appreciated his uninterrupted and inval-
uable services to the city. Dr. Harris has achieved
a national (if we may not say an international) repu-
tation, and his friends expect much from the greater
leisure which his present life affords. His annual
lecturing tours are looked forward to by many zealous
students in Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee, and
Georgia, and identify him still with the intellectual
life of the Southwest.
" Denton J. Snider has stood next to Dr. Harris,
and has done much to further interests already suffi-
ciently presented in our discussion of Dr. Harris'
services. Since Dr. Harris' removal, Mr. Snider has
specially represented the metaphysical interest, al-
CULTURE AND LITERARY GROWTH IN SAINT LOUIS.
though, in addition to this, he has found time to con
tribute to various kinds of literature works whose
value will be more and more appreciated. His ' Sys-
tem of Shakespeare's Dramas' is a work similar in
general aim to those of Gervinus, Ulrici, Guizot, and
takes rank with these. His study of the American
state goes in quite a different direction, but can de-
tract nothing from his reputation as a successful
student. His ' Delphic Days' presents in poetical
form and with remarkable effect the attempt of the
modern consciousness to recreate the old Greek idyllic
life. His other works in prose and verse, for our
present purpose, need no special description. Apart
from his connection with the various associations,
such as the Philosophical Society, the High School
Society, the Concord School of Philosophy, Mr.
Snider has had all of his leisure occupied by classes
of ladies and gentlemen, who have desired to have
his conduct in their study of Homer, Herodotus,
Greek history, Roman history, Shakespeare, and
Goethe. His impress upon St. Louis thought is in-
creasingly great.
" Born in Ohio in 1841 and graduated at Oberlin
College, he came to St. Louis in 1864, and taught
first in the College of the Christian Brothers, subse-
quently in the High School. After passing two fruit-
ful years in European travel, Mr. Snider returned to St.
Louis and resumed his position in the High School,
until the pressure of his literary work and the nu-
merous demands upon his time for the conduct of
special classes caused him to devote himself entirely
to the pursuits of the student.
" A. E. Kroeger was an indefatigable and success-
ful student and litterateur, and was identified with
the same set of gentlemen and ladies. His work on
the ' Minnesingers' is recognized as a standard by
Longfellow in his ' Poets and Poetry of Northern
Europe,' and his other publications not only merited
but received recognition as valid. Through the
press, through the magazines, through separate pub-
lications, and above all, the irresistible force of exam-
ple, Mr. Kroeger aided the intellectual development
of St. Louis to an extent not to be measured by the
shortness of his life.
" Born in Schwabstedt, duchy of Schleswig, in
1837, his father was a Lutheran minister, who, with his
family, emigrated in 1848. Mr. Kroeger closed his
school life when only eleven years of age ; at fifteen
was employed in a bank at Davenport, Iowa ; went
thence to New York, and began his residence in St.
Louis in 1859, at which time he was the correspondent
of the New York Times. In 1861 he was adjutant on
the staff of Gen. Fremont ; in 1863 assistant treasurer
of the city of St. Louis; 1865-67, city treasurer;
after which he devoted himself to literature, so far as
time was spared by the demands of the daily struggle
for existence. Apart from the ' Minnesingers,' Mr.
Kroeger's most noticeable literary work was his studies
in German history (' Frederick Barbarossa, The Ho-
henstauffen'), ' History of the War,' and ' Essay on
Chatterton.' Mr. Kroeger's literary and personal
friendship with Henry W. Longfellow, Ralph Waldo
Emerson, and William Cullen Bryant may indicate
the esteem in which his work was held, and the loss
to St. Louis when, in 1882, he died at the early age
of forty-five.
" Mrs. Ella S. Morgan, while finding in other direc-
tions the field of her greatest intellectual activity,
was nevertheless an important contributor to what
may distinctively be called ' the St. Louis movement.'
Through her translations for the Journal of Specu-
lative Philosophy, through her interest and personal
participation in all the associations for mental improve-
ment, through the stimulus which she was able to
afford, both by precept and by example, she merits
the honor of mention as one of the first of the St.
Louis ladies to appreciate and seek higher cultivation
than was demanded by the local social life, and the ad-
ditional honor which belongs to persistent pursuit of
these interests. ' Her literary taste,' says one both
able and discriminating in his judgment, 'was very su-
perior. As a critic of books, her opinions had great
value. Through her reviews of books in various
journals and periodicals, and especially in The West-
ern, she rendered most useful service. She possessed
an intellectual insight quite unusual, and an excellent
power of presentment. These qualities, combined
with her thorough mastery of German, give to her
translations from the great German metaphysicians a
value quite extraordinary. She grasped their mean-
ing with rare penetration, and often gave a clear in-
terpretation to the most abstruse and involved discus-
sions.'
" Miss Anna C. Brackett, now a resident of New
York, and well known as an educator and as a success-
ful writer for our leading magazines, began her greatest
activity in St. Louis, and belonged to the set which
gathered around Dr. Harris. Directly through her
work in the Normal School, and indirectly through
her unremitting labors outside of her school, Miss
Brackett left an indelible impress upon St. Louis, and
is entitled to much of the credit of work since done
by those whose enthusiasm she roused and whose
energies she directed.
" Miss Mary E. Beedy, for many years connected
with the High School, did much through her interest
1604
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
in mental improvement to awaken and strengthen our
general activity. Her writings have mostly taken
the form of lectures, and have been confined to few
topics, but her influence in causing others to appreci-
ate intellectual activity entitles her to a permanent
place in our local records.
" Miss Sue V. Beeson, who began her career in our
public schools as a pupil, and who, after the comple- j
tion of her school education, entered upon her career
as a teacher in the schools in which she had received
her instruction, has always been prominent among the
ladies interested in the speculative movement. For
several years, in addition to her responsibilities as a i
teacher in the High School, and to that quiet but
marked influence which belongs to those whose spirit-
ual nature is so strong as to at once impress even a
casual acquaintance, Miss Beeson has devoted much
of her time to work in the classes conducted by Dr.
Harris, Mr. Snider, and Mr. Bryant, and to the mu-
tual improvement associations inaugurated by Mrs.
Dr. Fischel and others. Miss Beeson's period of
direct literary contribution has but begun, but the be-
ginning promises much for the future.
" Professor George H. Howison, during his con-
nection with the Washington University, was also an
associate of the gentlemen already named, and his
clear intellect, scholarly attainments, and persistent
earnestness, added to the tone of this literary circle
and strengthened its influence.
" Thomas Davidson, while his floi~uit belonged to
the intermediate period of Dr. Harris' labors, repre-
sented the literary rather than the philosophical ele-
ment. By his reputation as a classical scholar and a
linguist, by the lucidity of his literary style, and by
his incessant activity in the lecture field, Mr. David-
son did much to excite and encourage intellectual
activity.
u F. Louis Soldan came into the service of the pub-
lic schools in 1868, and from that time to the present
his activity has been as increased as varied and valuable.
Associated with the intermediate period of the move-
ment which we are describing, Mr. Soldan not only
sympathized actively with any concrete forms of ac-
tivity, but, in addition, pursued other investigations,
and through his work in the Aristotle Club, his papers
in the High School Society, his addresses, educational
and other, vindicated his claim to an eminent place
among our local brain-workers. Later, Mr. Soldan
has acted as director in numerous classes for the study
of philosophy and German and Italian literature,
while always responding cheerfully and ably to the
frequent appeals for special papers, lectures, and
addresses. His publications have been numerous,
though mainly taking the shape of monographs.
When we consider that Mr. Soldan has the responsi-
bilities of our Normal School and the cares of director-
ship in many associations, we can appreciate the
earnestness, persistency, and strength which alone can
enable him to accomplish undertakings so numerous
and so varied.
" Mr. B. V. B. Dixon's activity has been varied
and constant. Apart from his daily work as instructor
in the High School, he has manifested his intelligent
interest in the claims of higher culture, first, by
his lectures and addresses ; second, by his monographs,
contributed to magazines and journals, literary and
scientific ; third, by contributions of money and labor
towards the support of enterprises which sought to
promote our literary and art interests ; fourth, by
personal participation in the various discussions, asso-
ciations, and classes which have been the manifesta-
tion of much of our intellectual effort ; fifth, by his
intelligent interest in our industrial life, and his work
as an analytical chemist and metallurgist ; sixth, by
the inspiration of his example and by a rare ability to
win the interest of others, and to present the claims
of our higher nature in a way to stimulate others.
" Miss Grace C. Bibb, while in St. Louis, was con-
nected as teacher with the Normal School, and through
her efforts for the improvement of education gained
\ a reputation such as to be invited to occupy the chair
of pedagogics in the State. University, a position which
she still acceptably fills. Miss Bibb contributed to
the furtherance of our mental activity by her example,
i by her essays and lectures, and by her personal en-
: thusiasm.
" William M. Bryant came to St. Louis mainly
i because of the facilities offered by the city for the
further pursuit of studies already more than begun.
Becoming identified in interest with the circle repre-
sented by Dr. Harris, he became at once a marked
factor in all of its intellectual progress. Through the
formation of classes for the study of art and philoso-
phy, through the efforts made for the higher educa-
tion of those associated with him as assistant teachers,
through his ready response to any calls upon his ser-
vices as teacher, conductor, or lecturer, through his
published works, and through his unremitting zeal
and enthusiasm in the pursuits of the student, Mr.
Bryant has been, and still continues to be, one of the
most potent influences in St. Louis life. His distinc-
tive claims are similar in kind to those of Mr. Denton
J. Snider, although aesthetics has more peculiarly
been adopted as his province.
" Rev. R. A. Holland, for many years rector of
St. George's Episcopal Church, was not only an en-
CULTURE AND LITERARY GROWTH IN SAINT LOUIS.
1605
thusiastic student with Dr. Harris and D. J. Snider,
but also an effective writer and speaker, whose labors
were not only an addition to the reputation of our
city, but a perceptible influence in exciting general
enthusiasm in study.
" Francis E. Cook, though belonging to the younger
generation of students, has always displayed an in-
telligent interest in the various intellectual activities
of our city, and has contributed to these not only a
warm sympathy, but the aid of his own special labors,
which he has rendered available to others through his
contributions to our local magazines, and by his
lectures and addresses.
" T. R. Vickroy, who has for many years been
identified with our public school system, was, like Mr.
William M. Bryant and others, drawn to this city by the
facilities which it afforded for the pursuit of congenial
studies. In addition to his efforts for a new phonetic
system, his papers, lectures, and addresses, Mr. Vick-
roy has been prominently identified with the Kant Club,
the Society of Pedagogues, and with other enterprises
which represented the mental activity of our city, and
in each of these he has borne his full share of the
burden.
" James S. Garland was born in New Hampshire
in 1842, removed to St. Louis in 1856, and has since
been identified with all that is best in our city. W'hen
Dr. Harris formed a Kant Club, Mr. Garland became
one of its earliest, most active and valuable members,
and when Dr. Harris was engaged upon his translation
of Hegel's Logic, he could find no more acceptable or
capable coadjutor than Mr. Garland, to whom, in rec-
ognition of his services, the book was dedicated.
Apart from the influence of his own career as a busy
lawyer who still finds time to cultivate the amenities
of life, and in addition to his personal identification
with the various manifestations of the ' St. Louis
movement,' Mr. Garland is entitled to be considered
an important factor in our literary life through the
unostentatious but always rationally generous aid
which he gives to all literary and aesthetic interests,
and to his personal efforts in behalf of the educational
institutions of the city and State.
" William R. Walker has found time amid the
cares of a constantly busy legal life to retain his in-
terest in literature, and while his essays have been
few, they have been of an excellence that most de-
cidedly added to the reputation of St. Louis.
" Horace Hills Morgan1 was born at Auburn, N. Y.,
on Jan. 22, 1839. Five years later his father re-
1 This sketch of Professor Morgan was prepared by James S.
Garland.
102
moved with his family to St. Louis. At the age of
sixteen he was matriculated as a student in Hobart
, College, Geneva, N. Y., but one year later gave up
i his connection with that institution and entered Wil-
liams College, where he was graduated with classical
honors in 1859. In the autumn following Mr.
Morgan was appointed to the position of assistant
j teacher in the St. Louis High School. In 1862 he
j was promoted to the position of first assistant, and in
! 1866 was made principal of the school, which place
I he has filled ever since with great acceptance and
i ability.
" Such is the brief story of a life that has been
thus far outwardly uneventful, but yet filled, in these
latter years especially, with varied and unremitting
activity.
" His best thought and energy have been given to
his vocation, and the high character and standing of
the school of which he has been for seventeen years
the head show how efficient his labors there have
been. In his educational methods and the quality of
the work produced he has always manifested an en-
lightened and progressive spirit, and has thus kept the
school abreast of the most advanced educational move>-
ment of the time. On many occasions, with tongue
and pen, he has ably vindicated the claims of the
High School in general to its crowning position in
our system of public education, but the admirable
management of his school in this city has furnished
his best argument in that behalf.
" While performing the engrossing and laborious
duties of his profession with rare fidelity and devotion,
Mr. Morgan has not been content to play the role of
the mere pedagogue, but has addressed himself with
nearly equal zeal to those problems of culture and so-
ciety which ever claim the attention of the earnest
student and public-spirited citizen. As the New
I York Nation very justly observes, in a notice of one
; of his books, ' Mr. Morgan is one of that group of
I devoted students and men of culture who have done so
much to elevate the character of society and tone of
thought in St. Louis.'
" He has taken a leading part in the organization
and management of clubs and societies in this city,
formed for the study of art and philosophy, during
the past twenty years. A director of the Public
School Library for many years, he has rendered most
efficient service in building up an institution of ines-
timable value to the community.
" Amid these manifold professional and public en-
gagements, however, his pen has not been idle. He
has published several works upon literary topics.
" But the more permanent productions of his pen
1606
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
by no means make up the sum of his literary activity, j
He has found time to contribute to the pages of the ;
Journal of Speculative Philosophy, the Southern Law
Journal, Education, American Journal of Education,
The Western, and other periodicals. The last-named
magazine was for a long time under his editorial man-
agement, and to him chiefly was due the large measure
of success and reputation which it achieved. Its pub-
lication was suspended in 1882.
" Lectures, essays, and addresses without number
upon a great variety of topics have won for him a
still wider hearing in this and other communities.
" These are some of the results of the labor of a
man yet in the beginning of his literary prime. It
is safe to say that, if life and strength are vouchsafed
to him, the future has much more and greater achieve-
ments in store.
" Charles Louis Bernays was born in the city of ,
Mentz in 1815, and after the fullest education which :
could be furnished by wealthy and intelligent parents,
he threw aside the profession of law for that of
journalism. While still in Germany he made a repu-
tation by his contributions to the Allgemeiner Augs-
Imrger Zeitung and the Deutsch-Franzosische Jarh-
biicher, whose editor at that time was our own Dr.
Henry Boernstein. Together with Dr. Boernstein, he
founded the Vorwaerts, but this being promptly sup-
pressed by the French minister, the two gentlemen
occupied their time as correspondents of the German
newspapers, and had the honor of being the first to
inaugurate this phase of journalism. In 1848, Col.
Bernays concluded to emigrate to Missouri, but reach-
ing St. Louis during the cholera season of 1849, he
and Boernstein located themselves at Highland, 111.
Upon the purchase of the Anzeiger des Westens by
Dr. Boernstein, Col. Bernays became its editor-in-
chief. During the war Col. Bernays served as pay-
master, and increased the number of those who had
had ex-perience of his ability and sterling probity.
Returning after the war to his journalistic career,
Col. Bernays became the best known of our newspaper
men, using the columns of the Republican as well as
those of the Anzeiger. His writings have been col- I
lected, and are to be republished by so competent an
editor as his lifelong friend, Dr. Boernstein. Col.
Bernays died in June, 1879.
" Col. Bernays, being a profound scholar with a nat-
ural taste for scholarship, did not confine his interest !
to journalism, but was always actively engaged in
any gatherings that brought together earnest men and
women whose object was intellectual culture. It was
in the role of one whose own education was both pro-
found and thorough, and who was ever alive to the
value of earnest workers, that Col. Bernays, apart
from his journalistic services, was specially helpful to
our city.
" Professor J. K. Hosmer was born in Northfield,
Mass., Jan. 29, 1834, graduated at Harvard Col-
lege in 1855, and came to St. Louis in 1874. From
1860 to 1866, Professor Hosmer was in charge of the
Unitarian Church at Deerfield, Mass. In 1866 he
became connected with Antioch College as one of its
professors. In 1872-74 he formed one of the faculty
of the University of the State of Missouri, and in
1874 he accepted a professorship in the Washington
University of this city. From 1862 to 1863, Pro-
fessor Hosmer was corporal in the color-guard of the
Fifty-second Massachusetts.
" Professor Hosmer, as an element of St. Louis life,
has been with the foremost in his interested activity,
but he has represented abilities peculiar to himself.
His 'Short History of German Literature,' although
appearing in a Western city and at about the same
time as the one by Bayard Taylor, took at once so
high a rank as to be adopted as a book of reference
by Harvard and other leading colleges. His abilities
have been so appreciated that the New York Nation
keeps his name enrolled among those whom it men-
tions as its contributors. At home, his services are
in constant requisition for the delivery of lectures and
for the conduct of special classes of ladies and gentle-
men. Apart from his scholarly attainments, Profes-
sor Hosmer has a singular power as a raconteur, if we
may be permitted to use such a term with reference
to a quality of written style. At home, Professor
Hosiner's gifts are enhanced by the rare kindliness
and helpfulness which is so much a part of his nature
as probably to be unknown to himself.
" Professor C. M. Woodward was born in Fitch-
burg, Mass., in 1837. After completing the High
School course he entered Harvard College, from which
he graduated in 1860. From 1860 to 1865, Professor
Woodward was principal of the Newburyport High
School, except for a year, during which he was in the
army. In 1865 he entered the service of the Wash-
ington University as assistant in the academic depart-
ment. At the present time he is Thayer Professor of
Higher Mathematics and Applied Mechanics, as well
as dean of the Polytechnic Department, and direc-
tor of the Manual Training School. Professor Wood-
ward's vigorous enthusiasm in the subjects which
specially absorb his interest is recognized by all with
whom he comes in contact.
" Professor M. S. Snow was born at Hyannis, Mass.,
in 1842, and received his collegiate education at Har-
vard. Subsequently he carried on a school at Nash-
CULTURE AND LITERARY GROWTH IN SAINT LOUIS.
1607
ville, Tenn., whence, in 1870, he was called to a pro-
fessorship in the Washington University, of whose
collegiate department he is now the honored dean.
His published literary work has taken the shape of lec-
tures and contributions to the more sterling magazines.
Professor Snow, as an element of the intellectual life
of St. Louis, is not to be judged by the volume, or
even by the quality, of his written work, for there
has been no literary assembly since his residence in
our city without his contributing personal sympathy
and encouragement or else active effort.
" William B. Potter, born at Schenectady, N. Y.,
in 1846, and completing his technical course in 1869,
has since been connected with the Washington Uni-
versity as Professor of Metallurgy. Professor Potter's
attainments have caused his services to be sought by
those who control many of our large industries, and
the accuracy of his analyses has earned for him a high
reputation. Quiet and unobtrusive, Professor Potter
has the faculty of winning the kindly regard of those
who come in contact with him, and his intelligent
sympathy with any efforts towards rational progress
gives him a marked influence in circles to whom the
interests of metallurgy are wholly unknown.
" Professor Charles A. Smith, though occupied with
investigations which directly belong to the industrial
world, has been one of our most energetic and success-
ful brain-workers. Born in the city, where he still
resides, Professor Smith became connected with the
Washington University in 1868. His papers upon
subjects belonging to civil and mechanical engineering
have been both numerous and valuable, while his own
inventions have been of the greatest value.
" Francis E. Nipher was born at Port Byron,
N. Y., 1847, and came to St. Louis in 1874. Profes-
sor Nipher's publications have been numerous and of
great value, but they represent the least part of an in-
cessant activity in his specialty of meteorology. It is
impossible to characterize the work of the specialist,
except by the respect paid to his work by other spe-
cialists, and a judgment formed in this way must give
Professor Nipher high rank.
" Miss Annie Wall has found time not merely to win
success as an instructress, to carry her own education
in many directions, and to publish many valuable
magazine articles, besides the two books which bear
her name on their title-pages, but also to take an
active and efficient part in the various literary gather-
ings of our city.
" Judge Nathaniel Holmes has always been a
scholar, and while most of his work has been done
through the Academy of Science, he has been no
unimportant factor in our intellectual life.
"Albert Todd moved to St. Louis in 1839, and
through his generous enthusiasm has participated in
nearly all of the public movements of the city. To
the literary development Mr. Todd has contributed
by his lectures, his writings for the city press, and
even more than by these through the warm interest
which he always takes in the efforts of others.
" A. J. Conant was born in Vermont in 1821, and
first came to St. Louis in 1857. As Mr. Conant is
primarily an artist, and must receive his fullest consid-
eration when we come to the art interests of the city,
we make mention of him here only because of his
study and articles upon archaeology. To Campbell's
' Commonwealth of Missouri' Mr. Conant contrib-
uted the very able chapter on the archaeology of Mis-
souri, and during the meeting of the American Soci-
ety for the Advancement of Science it became evident
that Mr. Conant's labors had had not only interest for
himself but value for the scientific world.
" Maj. J. B. Merwin has for many years been
known as the editor of the American Journal of
Education, and through this instrumentality he has
done much towards elevating and rationalizing the
educational thought of the Southwest. In addition
to constant, ardent, and effective support of the in-
terests of general education, the major has by his
lectures and addresses manifested his active sympathy
with movements which sought to promote the best
interests of the community.
" Rev. J. C. Learned, the pastor of the Church of
the Unity, has been so much to our city, that when,
at one time, it seemed probable that he would re-
move, there was a feeling almost of consternation
among those who are interested in the intellectual
life and progress of the city. Apart from the labors
of his own calling, Mr. Learned has found time
always to be noticeable as a student, and to give
freely of time valuable to himself in answer to ap-
peals from our local lyceums and from classes of
ladies and gentlemen who desired to study Emerson,
Greek poetry, or other subjects under his guidance.
j His intellectual liberality and sympathy have made
him an active supporter of any effort promising to
advance mental development.
" Rev. W. Pope Ycaman was born in Kentucky in
1828, and accepted a call from the Third Baptist
Church of St. Louis in 1870. In addition to his
responsibilities as minister and pastor, Dr. Yeaman
gave much time and aid to the interests of educa-
tion, religious journalism, and missions.
" Rev. John Snyder was born in Philadelphia in
1842, graduated at Meadville in 1869, and had charge
of the Second Unitarian Church in Hingham, Mass.,
1608
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
1869-73. In 1873, Dr. Snyder removed to St. Louis
and became pastor of the Church of the Messiah.
During the ten years of his residence in this city Dr.
Snyder has been unremittingly active in promoting i
all efforts to secure a higher general culture, and his
success has been such as to promise yet larger results
in the future.
" Rev. T. M. Post was in 1847 called to the j
pastorate of the Congregational Church, from whose ;
active ministry he has but just resigned. Dr. Post's
ministerial record can find no place here, but it i
may be remarked that his pastorate has been sum- i
ciently long to enable him to see the results of his ,
labors. To our literature Dr. Post has been a con- j
stant contributor, but as literary fame has in no sense
been his motive, it has been found impossible to pro-
cure a satisfactory list of his publications.
" Dr. Post has always actively sympathized with all
efforts at intellectual development, and a strong and
active mind, joined to a peculiarly fine imagination,
and these rare powers tempered by the most healthy
and sweetest of human sympathy, has rendered his
work at once unique and invaluable.
" George E. Seymour, who was born in Ohio in 1833,
and who removed to St. Louis in 1862, has always
been a student, as well as a man engaged in active
life. His work in various educational positions can
receive no notice here, but his own mental power and
activity entitle him to individual mention.
" F. F. Hilder has won a well-deserved reputation as
an archaeologist and a man of general information.
His contribution to 'The Premium Essays upon the
Three Americas' Railway' is perhaps his most char-
acteristic work, and is possessed of remarkable interest
and power. Mr. Hilder is one of the number who are
always appealed to for lectures, addresses, and ' papers.'
"Rabbi S. H. Sonnenschein is one of the most
active of our citizens, and is distinguished by an un-
usual eloquence, which is not the possession of many
whose work is very valuable. In addition to his du-
ties in connection with his congregation, Rabbi Son-
nenschein is constantly occupied with literary work,
much of which takes the form of lectures.
" W. Gilbert, one of the most enterprising of our
successful business men, was born in Columbus, Ohio,
in 1835. Coming to St. Louis in 1867, after ten
years' experience in the book business, Mr. Gilbert
was for a year the general manager of the St. Louis
Book and News Company. In 1868 he began his
career as a publisher of law-books, — a business which
he has conducted with noticeable energy and success.
Apart from his active business. Mr. Gilbert has always
manifested an interest in the intellectual growth of the
city, and has since the destruction of his fine library
in 1873 again brought together a collection of four
thousand volumes, one of the largest and most valu-
able of our private libraries.
" George E. Leighton is one of our capitalists
whose naturally good intellect has been strengthened
by education, and whose prominence in enterprises of
public moment is due less to his financial standing
than to the broad intelligence with which he deals
with questions of social importance. His inaugural
address as president of the Historical Society well
illustrates the peculiar claims which he has already
established upon the community.
" Miss Charlotte Smith, now a resident of Chicago,
established and conducted the Inland Monthly. While
it was intended to be local in the interests represented,
it received the support of many of our best citizens,
and Miss Smith has the respect and esteem of all who
had occasion to know her work.
" Henry W. Williams was born at Williamsburg,
Mass., 1816, and came to St. Louis in 1844. Pre-
viously Mr. Williams had practiced as a lawyer, and
was at one time an editor in Michigan. Among the
first to organize the legal specialty of the examination
of land titles, Mr. Williams has during forty years been
actively conversant with much of our local history.
j From time to time Mr. Williams has contributed to
I our city papers articles upon various subjects, some
1 of which, written in 1877—78, found realization in
the subsequent financial action of the United States
Congress. Mr. Williams, in spite of his business
cares, has preserved his literary tastes, and has col-
lected one of the most valuable of our private libraries.
He is one of the many people who, prevented by the
cares of their daily life from creative contribution to
literature, must yet outrank those whose only service
has been the publication of a valueless pamphlet or
book.
" W. H. Pulsifer is still too much engrossed with
business interests and too modest to admit that he has
a literary biography. At the same time, by his own
success in the study of physical science, by his partici-
pation in efforts to sustain and improve our libraries,
by his intelligent encouragement of any rational efforts,
Mr. Pulsifer must receive mention, even against his
will.
" Any summary would be incomplete if it failed to
mention those who have encouraged and sustained our
literary enterprises, although these co-laborers may
have contributed nothing to our published works.
" Gentlemen such as James S. Yeatman, Wayman
Crow, M. J. Lippman, James Richardson, Col.
1 Thomas Richeson, Henry T. Blow, W. J. Gilbert,
CULTURE AND LITERARY GROWTH IN SAINT LOUIS.
1609
Thomas Allen, George E. Leighton, A. J. P. Garesche,
George T. C. Reynolds, John Collier, Henry Hitch-
cock, Albert Todd, Silas Bent, E. A. Hitchcock, Dr.
Walker, Gen. J. W. Noble, John C. Orrick, and
James S. Garland ; ladies such as Mrs. R. J. Lack-
land, Mrs. J. C. Learned, Mrs. William Ware, Mrs.
Charles Nagel, Mrs. Dr. W. E. Fischel, Miss Susie
Blow, Mrs. Beverly Allen, Mrs. D. Robert Barclay,
Mrs. Isaac Cook, irrespective of their own direct lit-
erary labors, have been markedly important factors in
the increase of our city's literary and aesthetic devel-
opment.
" A very continuous and considerable activity has al-
ways been created and sustained by the Jesuit Brothers
in charge of the St. Louis University, but as it has not
specially challenged public attention, many are not
aware of the source of a movement whose effects they
feel. Of the young men educated at this institution
many have attained distinction in the church, at the
bar, in the profession of medicine, and in the less in-
dividualized fields of rational activity. During the
past few years, under the auspices of Father R. J.
Meyer, president of the faculty, there have been in-
augurated courses of post-graduate lectures, and the
attendance upon these has done much to incite the
younger men to an intellectual activity which shall
not be wholly absorbed by the cares of every-day
life.
The following is a list of St. Louis authors and
their contributions to literature :
Alexander, A. W. Contributor to the Inland Monthly.
Allen, Lyraan W. Cent, to The Western: cont. to Princeton
Poets.
Allen, Thomas; born in Massachusetts, 1813; St. Louis. 1842;
died 1882. Family Magazine (N. Y.) ; Madisonian (D.
C.) ; cont. Western Journal, Valley Monthly ; Address to
University Club, 1876 ; Proposed Expedition to Japan ;
Address on History and Resources of Missouri.
Allen, Mrs. L. B. G. Bobs and Nabobs, and other plays.
Amson, Arthur. Cont. Journal Speculative Philosophy.
Ashworth, T. M. Toin Chips.
Bailey, George W. A Private Chapter of the War.
Bailey, John J. Art, a Poem; cont. to The Western.
Bateman, W. 0. Constitutional Law of the United States.
Bakewell, E. A. Addresses.
Barclay, D. Robert. Lectures.
Barret, Richard A. Cont. Inlnml Monthly.
Bay, W. V. N. Reminiscences of the Bench and Bar of Mis-
souri.
Benton, Thomas H.; born in North Carolina, 1782; St. Louis,
1813; died 1858. Editor St. Louis Enquirer; Thirty
Years' View ; Abridgment Debates in Congress.
Beck, James P. The Doctor and the Lawyer.
Berg, Franz. Fisel.
Beedy, Mary E. Lectures.
Beeson, Miss Sue V. Cont. to Journal Speculative Philosophy
and The Western.
Bernays, C. L.
Bent, Silas. Thermal Paths to the Pole ; cont. Inland Monthly;
Lectures.
Bernard, E. F. R. Xenophnnes.
Bibb, Miss Grace C. Lectures; cont. to The Western Amer-
ican,
Blow, Miss Susie. Journal of Education ; Addresses on Kin-
dergarten System.
Block, Lewis J. Exile, a Poem ; cont. to The Western, Journal
Speculative Philosophy, and Inland Monthly.
Bland, Peter E. Cont. Western Journal, 1849 ; Speeches on
Finance and Currency.
Blewett, Benj. Cont. The Western.
Boutwell, Mrs. Helen Willis. Cont. The Western.
Boyd, Rev. W. W. Lectures.
Bowman, Bishop. Lectures and Addresses.
Boudreaux, Father Florentin. Ascetical works.
Brown, B. Gratz. Lectures ; Gradual Emancipation in Mis-
souri ; The Reform Movement.
Brockmeyer, H. C. ; born in Prussia, 1828 ; St. Louis, 1857. A
Foggy Night at Newport; letter? on Faust in Journal
Speculative Philosophy ; Lectures.
Brookes, Rev. J. N. Is the Bible True? How to Read the
Bible; Marantha, or the Lord Cometh ; Central Christian
Advocate.
Brackett, Miss Anna C. The Education of American Girls;
Poetry for Home and School; Rosenkranz's Pedagogics;
cont. to Journal Speculatire Philosophy, Atlantic, New
Ennland Journal of Education, American Journal of Edu-
cation.
Bryant, William M. ; born in Indiana, 1843 ; St. Louis, 1873.
Hegel's ^Esthetics; Philosophy of Landscape Painting;
Lectures ; associate editor of The Western ; cont. to Jour-
nal Speculative Philosophy, American Journal of Educa-
tion.
Bryan, W. J. S. Associate editor The Western ; Addresses.
Blackwood, W. Gardner. Cont. Western Journal.
Buell, James W. A Short Tour of St. Louis ; Life of Jesse
James ; Legend of the Ozarks.
Burlingham, Rev. A. H. ; born in New York, 1822; St. Louis,
1866. Lectures.
Byers, W. N. Cont. Valley Monthly.
Calmer, Father H. M. Lectures on History and Anthropology.
Carter, J. H. Cont. city press ; Rollingpin's Almanacs ; Lec-
tures.
Campbell, R. A. Commonwealth of Missouri; Missouri State
Atlas; The Four Gospels in One; Gazetteer of Missouri ;
Chiromancy.
Casselberry, Evans. Cont. Western Journal.
Castlehun, F. K. Palms.
Childs, C. F.
Chauvenet, Regis. Chemical Analysis of the Coals, Iron Ores,
etc., of Missouri.
Chauvenet, William. Manual of Spherical and Practical As-
tronomy; Treatise on Elementary Geometry; Treatise on
Plane and Spherical Trigonometry : Inaugural Address,
Washington University.
Clements, Miss Hilda C. The Song of Steam, a Poem.
Clarke, Enos. Lectures.
Conant, A. J. Archaeology (Switzler's History of Missouri) ;
Archaeology (Commonwealth of Missouri) ; Transactions
St. Louis Academy of Science ; Lectures.
Cooper, Isaac J. Cont. Western Journal.
Cook, Francis E. Associate editor of The Western ; Songs,
Poems, etc. ; Readings ; Lectures.
Collet, Oscar W. Cont. The Western and city press.
Cole, Miss S. E. Cont. The Western.
1610
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Cobb, H. Cent. Western Journal, Western Journal and Civ-
ilian, Inland Monthly.
Crane, Newton. Cent. Scribner's Monthly.
Crunden, F. M. Lectures; Readings; cont. The Western,
American Library Journal, Missouri Democrat.
Davidson, Thomas. The Pantheon and other Essays; editor
Wettern Educational Monthly ; cont. The Western, The
Nation, The Boston Advertiser, Journal of Speculative
Philosophy, city press, American Journal of Education;
Lectures.
Darby, John F. ; born in North Carolina, 1803 ; St. Louis, 1827 ;
died 1882. Personal Recollections ; cont. city press.
Dacus, J. A. A Tour of St. Louis ; Annals of the Great Strikes
in the United States; cont. city press, Valley Monthly.
Davis, T. G. C. Cont. Inland Monthly.
D'Arcy, H. I. Associate editor The Western; 'Lectures; cont.
Journal of Speculative Philosophy.
De Smet, Father.
Deutsch, William. Exercises for Allen's New Method ; cont.
The Western.
Dixon, B. V. B. Selections in Appleton's Reader: associate
editor The Western ; Lectures.
Diehl, Conrad. System of Drawing.
Diekenga, I. E. The Worn-Out Shoe, a Poem ; Between
Times ; Tom Chips ; cont. Valley Monthly, Inland Monthly.
Des Montaignes, Francis. Cont. Western Journal.
Bads, Jas. B. Cont. Transactions St. Louis Academy of Science;
Report on Mississippi Jetties ; Protest against Bill for
the sale of Bank Stock ; On the Jetty System ; Physics
and Hydraulics of the Mississippi River.
Edwards, Richard. The Great West.
Eliot, Miss Ida M. Cont. Journal of Speculative Philosophy ;
Poetry for Home and School.
Eliot, Rev. W. G, Early Religious Education ; Emancipation
in Missouri : Great Social and Moral Questions of the Day ;
Woman's Work and Education in America ; Discipline of
Sorrow; Home Life and Influence; Dignity and Moral
Uses of Labor ; Discourse before the Old Guard of Mis-
souri; Doctrine of Christianity; Lectures and Addresses.
Ellis, Miss Anna C. Unforgiven.
Engler, E. A.; born in St. Louis, 1856. Cont. American Jour-
nal of Mathematics, Hardy's Elements of Quaternions, Pop-
ular Science Monthly, Transactions St. Louis Academy of
Science, Kansas City Review of Science and Industry ;
Time-Keeping in London.
Engelmann, Dr. Geo.
Eyser, John. Liebestrange.
Fastrl, Father Joseph. Translations.
Finkelnburg, G. A. Lectures.
Fitzgibbon, J. H. Cont. Western Journal.
Foy, Jas. H. Moody vs. Christ and His Apostles.
Foy, Peter L. Lectures.
Frings, Chas. H. Die Behandlung der Amerikanischen Weine.
Fulton, Rev. John. Lectures.
Garland, Hugh. Cont. Western Journal.
Garland, James S. ; born in New Hampshire, 1842; St. Louis,
1856. Translation Hegel's Logic; cont. to The Western.
Galway, T. F. The Jesuits (tr. Paul Feval); cont. to The
Western.
Garrigues, Miss Gertrude. Cont. Journal of Speculative Phil-
osophy and The Western.
Gantt, Col. T. T. Cont. to The Western.
Garrett, Thomas E. Freemasonry and Education ; The Three
Stages ; cont. to city press.
Glover, Samuel T. Cont. Inland Monthly.
Green, Dr. John. Cont. to The Spectator ; Lectures.
Goebel, G. L'anger als ein Menschenleben in Missouri.
Gould, D. B. City Directories, 1873-83.
Green, John. City Directories, 1845, 1847, 1850, 1851.
Goodman, C. H. Cont. Appleton's Journal.
Gibert, Madame. French Readers.
"Grey, Ethel." Cont. Western Journal.
Graham, Alexander J. Cont. Western Journal.
Harrison, Edwin. Transactions of Academy of Science.
Hamilton, A. F. Lectures ; cont. Valley Monthly, Western ;
editor of Journal.
Harts, Father M. M. Lectures on the Feudal System.
Hayes, Richard. Transactions of Academy of Science.
Hawks, Bishop C. S. ; born in North Carolina, 1812 ; St. Louis,
1843. Boys' and Girls' Library; Library for My Young
Countrymen ; Uncle Philip's Conversations for the Young ;
Friday Christian.
Harris, William T. Journal of Speculative Philosophy ; Apple-
ton's Readers ; Hegel's Logic ; Lectures and Addresses ;
cont. to The Atlantic, The Western. North American Review,
New England Journal of Education, American Journal of
Education, Inland Monthly ; Johnson's Cyclopasdia.
Hackstaff, G. C. Hackstaff's Monthly, 1880.
Haven, C. H. St. Louis Monthly Magazine, 1878.
Helmuth, William T. Arts in St. Louis.
Helper, Hinton R. Impending Crisis; The Three Americas'
Railway; Oddments of Andean Diplomacy.
Hibberd, S. S. Cont. Journal of Speculative Philosophy.
Hertwig, John G. Cont. to The Western.
Heylen, Father Louis. Lectures.
Hinchman, Miss Laura. Cont. to The Western.
Hill, Britton A. Cont. Valley Monthly, city press, Inland
Monthly ; Liberty and Law ; Absolute Money.
Hitchcock, Henry. Lectures.
Hill, Father W. H. Sketch of St. Louis University ; Ethics ;
Elements of Philosophy ; Rhetoric.
Hilder, F. F. Cont. Transactions of Missouri Historical So-
ciety, Kansas City Review, Criterion, Grain Review, St.
Louis Sportsman ; Prize Essay, Three Americas' Railway ;
Lectures.
Holmes, Judge Nathaniel. Cont. Transactions of St. Louis
Academy of Science; The Authorship of Shakespeare;
The Geological and Geographical Distribution of the Human
Race; Lectures.
Howison, Professor George H. Analytical Geometry ; The
Mutual Relations of the Department of Mathematics ;
Lectures.
Holland, Rev. R. A. Lectures; cont. to Journal of Speculative
Philosophy, The Western, and city press.
Howard, C. L. Geography.
Hobart, E. F. Western Educational Journal, Western Educa-
tional Review.
Hopewell, M. The Great West.
Hosmer, Professor James K. The Thinking Bayonet; Memoir
of Dr. G. W. Hosmer ; Short History of German Literature ;
A Corporal's Notes of Military Service in the Nineteenth
Army Corps ; cont. to Atlantic, The Western, New York
Nation, North American Review ; Lectures.
Hoit, T. W. Cont. Inland Monthly : Rights of American Sla-
very ; The Model Man.
Hoyt, J. G. Relations of Culture and Knowledge ; Inaugural
Address, Washington University ; Lectures and Addresses.
Hotchkiss, C. W. Cont. Monthly Journal, 1861.
Hogan, John; born in Ireland, 1805; St. Louis, 1845. History
of Methodism in the West; The Resources of Missouri;
Thoughts on St. Louis; cont. Republican, Christian Advo-
cate.
CULTURE AND LITERARY GROWTH IN SAINT LOUIS.
1611
Hubbard, Mrs. Clara. Merry Games and Songs.
Hughes, Father T. Lectures on Natural Ethics.
Illsley, Charles E. Lectures; cont. to The Western.
Jameson, H. W. Rhetorical Method ; Selections for Reading ;
associate editor of The Western.
Jordan, B. Cont. to The Western.
Kargau, E. D. Poems.
Kendrick, A. A. Central Baptist, 1870.
Kennedy, S. M. Home Circle and Temperance Oracle, 1873;
home press, 1860.
Kennedy, R. V. City Directories, 1857, 1859-60.
Keemle, Col. Charles; born in Pennsylvania, 1800; St. Louis,
1817. The Emigrant ; St. Louis Enquirer, 1825; Beacon,
1827-32; Commercial Bulletin, 1834; Saturday News, 1837;
City Directory, 1837.
Keller, Father Joseph S. Beveille, 1845-50; Lectures.
Killian, B. D. Western Banner, 1859.
King, Dr. H. Cont. Western Journal.
King, Moses. St. Louis Temperance Monthly, 1873.
Knox, T. N. City Directory, 1845, 1854.
Krum, John M. Cont. Western Journal.
Krura, Chester H. Addresses.
Kroeger, A. E. The Minnesingers of Germany; H. von Meis-
sen's Cantica Canticorum ; Fichte's Critique of the Philo-
sophical System; The Future of the American Republic;
cont. to The Western, city press, Journal of Speculative
Philosophy; correspondent New York Times; History
of the War; Essay on Chatterton.
Kayser, Alexander. Cont. Western Journal.
Lackland, Mrs. R. J. Cont. Journal Speculative Philosophy.
Learned, Rev. T. C. Unitarianism, its History and Principle;
cont. The Western ; Lectures and Addresses.
Leighton, George E. Addresses.
Litton, Abram. Transactions Academy of Science.
Little, Arthur C.
Loughborough, J. Cont. Western Journal, Inland Monthly.
Ludlow, N. M. Dramatic Life as T found It.
Lueken, D. N. Der Deutsche Sprachschuler ; Sketch Maps for
Geography.
Mallinckrodt, J. F. Novissimum Organon.
Martling, James A. Poems; Homer's Iliad; cont. Journal of
Speculative Philosophy.
Marvin, Bishop E. M. Cont. Valley Monthly; To the East by
way of the West ; Sermons.
Macartney, G. W. Inland Monthly, 1819.
Manford, Erasmus. Manford's Magazine, 1864.
MacLellan, George B. Cont. The Western.
Mason, Miss Helen M. Cont. to the magazines.
McAnally, D. R. Life and Letters of Bishop Marvin ; Lectures.
Meeker, J. R. Cont. The Western.
Metcalf, Thomas. A System of Dictionary Work.
Meyer, Father R. J. Lectures on Christian Ethics.
Mills, James E.
Mitchell, Mrs. Ellen M. Cont. Journal Speculative Philosophy,
and to The Western.
Morgan, Horace H. Literary Studies from the Great British ;
Authors; Topical Shakesperians ; Representative Names i
in English Literature; Premium Essays; Defense of High
Schools ; Lectures and Addresses ; cont. to Journal Specu-
lative Philosophy, Western Educational Journal, South-
ern Law Review, American Journal of Education,
Education, Williams' Athenieum ; editor of The Western,
1875 to 1882.
Monser, J. W. An Encyclopaedia of the Evidences.
Morgan, Mrs. E. S. ; born in St. Louis, 1847; died 1883. Cont.
Journal Speculative Philosophy ; The Western.
More, Robert. Cont. The Western ; Lectures.
Morrison. City Directory, 1852.
Montague, William L. City Directories, 1853-55.
Morris, Miss Cora W. Cont. Inland Monthly, city press.
Nagle, Charles. Lectures.
Nipher, Francis E., born in New York, 1847 ; St. Louis, 1874.
Cont. The School Laboratory, American Journal of Science
and Arts, Nature, Review of Science and Industry,
Transactions St. Louis Academy of Science, London Phil-
osophical Magazine.
Nolan, Miss Mary. Central Magazine, 1873-81.
Parmer, Enrique. Maple Hall Mystery ; cont. The Western,
city press.
Paxton, James A. City Directory, 1821.
Perry, John. Cont. Western Journal.
Perry, Miss Mary E. Cont. The Western.
Pope, Dr. Charles A.
Pope, William S. Lectures.
Post, Rev. T. M. Skeptical Era in Modern History.
Prout, Dr. H. A. Cont. Western Journal.
Potter, William B. ; born in New York ; 1846, St. Louis. Cont.
Geological Survey of Ohio; cont. Geological Survey of
Missouri ; Geological and Metallurgical Papers for New
York Academy of Science ; Earthworks of Southeastern
Missouri; cont. Transactions St. Louis Academy of Science.
Pratte, Bernard. Cont. Western Journal.
Primm, Wilson ; Cont. Illinois Monthly Magazine ; Orations
and Addresses.
Purinton, Miss Julia M. St. Louis Magazine, 1873-76.
Randolph, Frank Fitz. Cont. The Western, Inland Monthly.
Reed, Mrs. Hope Goodson (Curtis). Cont. The Western.
Reavis, L. U. St. Louis, the Future Great City ; The Missouri
Commonwealth; A Change of National Empire; Thoughts
for Young Men of America; cont. Inland Monthly.
Reynolds, Governor T. C. Lectures ; Addresses.
Riley, C. V. Born in England, 1843; St. Louis, 1868; Lec-
tures; Potato Pest; cont. Scientific American, American
Naturalist, Popular Science Monthly, American Agricul-
turist, New York Tribune, Valley Monthly, Commonwealth
of Missouri, Johnson's Cyclopaedia, Farmers' and Plan-
ters' Cyclopaedia, Trans. St. Louis Academy of Science,
Atlas of Missouri, Appleton's American Cyclopaedia.
Richardson, Mrs. Lucy S. Cont. The Western.
Risk, T. F. Western Journal, 1848.
Rosenstengel, William H. German Reader ; Hilfs und Uebungt-
buch in der Deutschen Sprache ; Addresses and Orations ;
cont. The Western.
Roesler, Frank. Cont. The Western.
Robert, Rev. P. G. Cont. The Western, city press.
Robyn, Henry. New Song-Books for Schools.
Royce, G. M. The Little Bugler; Lectures.
Russell, W. H. H. Cont. city press.
Sander, Euno. Transactions Academy of Science.
Sandford, William F. Cont. The Western.
Schuyler, William ; born in St. Louis, 1855. Librettos; cont.
city press.
Schmidt, Adolf. Transactions Academy of Science.
Seaver, H. E. Greek Readings.
Seymour, George E. ; born in Ohio, 1833; St. Louis, 1862.
Series of Arithmetics ; New Method of Double Entry ;
cont. to The Western, American Journal of Education,
Holbrook's Normal, Barnes' Educational Journal, Edu-
cational Reporter ; cont. city press ; Lectures.
Shepard, Elihu H. ; born in Vermont, 1795; St. Louis, 1821;
died in 1876. Autobiography; History of St. Louis and
Missouri.
1612
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Sherman, Gen. W. T. Memoirs.
Shaw, Robert. Creator and Cosmos.
Shumard, B. F. Transactions Academy of Science.
Sherrick, Miss Fannie Isabelle. Love or Fame, and other
Poems ; cont. Republican.
Slayback, A. W. Cont. Valley Monthly ; Addresses.
Sloss, J. L. City Directory, 1848.
Smith, Sol. Theatrical Apprenticeship ; Theatrical Manage-
ment for Thirty Years.
Smarius, Father. Lectures.
Smith, Spencer. Transactions Academy of Science.
Smith, Charles A. ; born in St. Louis, 1846. Railroad Gazette ;
Graphical Estimates of Earthwork; Continuous Guides;
Engineering News: American Engineer; Proceedings of
the Master-Mechanics' Association; Journal of American
Engineering Societies.
Smith, Miss S. F. Cont. The Western.
Smith, Miss Charlotte. Inland Monthly, 1872-78; The Wasp,
1873.
Snyder, Rev. John. Addresses; Readings; cont. city press.
Snider, Denton J. ; born in Ohio, 1841 ; St. Louis, 1864. System
of Shakespeare's Dramas ; The American State; Delphic
Days; A Soul's Journey; Walks in Hellas (two series) ;
Clarence, a Tragedy: Lectures; cont. Journal Specula-
tive Philosophy ; associate editor The Western.
Snow, M. S. ; born in Massachusetts, 1842; St. Louis, 1870.
Cont. Proceedings Missouri State Teachers' Association,
1872; Encyclopaedia Britannica; Lectures ; cont. The West-
ern, Southern Quarterly Review.
Soule, C. C. ; born in Massachusetts, 1842 ; St. Louis, 1869. Ro-
meo and Juliet, a Travesty ; Hamlet Revamped ; Lectures.
Soldan, F. Louis. Amerikanisches Lesebuch ; Essay on the
Darwinian Theory ; Dante's Inferno and Purgatorio ;
Grube's Method of Teaching Arithmetic; Lectures; cont.
Journal Speculative Philosophy, The Western, American
Journal of Education.
Sobolewski, E. Cont. Journal Speculative Philosophy.
Sonnenschein, Rabbi S. H. German Poems; Lectures.
Spaunhorst, H. J. ; born in Hanover, 1828 ; St. Louis, 1 836. Lec-
tures.
Strotholte, Dr. A. Cont. Journal Speculative Philosophy.
Stevenson, Miss V. E. Cont. The Western.
Sule. Marshall Mars.
Strong, Miss M. E. Conquered, a Novel : Readings.
Stevenson, J. C. H. Lectures.
Stagg, Edward. Cont. Western Journal.
Tanner, Henry. City Directory, 1866.
Tafel, R. L. Latin Pronunciation and Latin Alphabet.
Taylor, Isaac W. Cont. Western Journal.
Tarver, M. Western Journal, 1848-51 (6 vole.) ; Wfst<rn
Journal and Civilian.
Thomas, E. H.
Thrailkill, J. W. Cont. Inland Monthly.
Thompson, Col. J. M. Cont. The Western.
Thomas, John E. Shakesperian Readings; History of St.
Louis.
Thomson, A. B. Addresses.
Tice, John II. Elements of Meteorology ; cont. Western
Journal, Inland Monthly, city press : Relations Between
Matter and Force.
Todd, C. A. Cont. The Western, city press ; Lectures.
Todd, Albert; born in New York. 1813; St. Louis, 1839. Lec-
tures; cont. city press, Inland Monthly.
Todd, Mrs. Albert. Poems.
Tracy, J. L. Cont. Valley Monthly.
Tracy, J. M. Cont. The Western.
Twining, E. H. : born in Massachusetts, 1829 ; St. Louis, 1877.
Lectures ; cont. The Western.
Van de Velde, Father J. Lectures.
Verhaegen, Father P. J. Lectures.
Vickroy, T. R. Lectures ; English Grammar Circles ; cont.
The Western, Journal Speculative Philosophy.
Wall, Miss Annie. Is Lying Easy? (translation) Outlines of
English History ; cont. The Western.
Walker, William R. Cont. Journal Speculative Philosophy and
The Western.
Waldo, William. Cont. The Western.
Ware, Mrs. William. Cont. The Western.
Ware, James E. Valley Monthly.
Waugh, Alfred S. Cont. Western Journal.
Waterhouse, Sylvester. The Protectorate of the Holy Places ;
Reflections on the Southern Rebellion ; The Dangers of a
Disruption of the Union; Eulogy on Chancellor Hoyt; The
Resources of Missouri ; Educated Labor in Missouri ; Me-
morial to Congress for the Improvement of the Missis-
sippi River; Commercial Suggestions: Papers on Jute in
United States Documents ; Sketch of St. Louis, United
States Census 1881.
Weaver, Rev. G. S. St. Louis, 1854-60. Christian Household ;
Hopes and Helps; Aims and Aids; Ways of Life.
Westbrook, Mrs. Harriet. Cont. Western Journal.
Wells, Mrs. Erastus. Madame Lucas.
Wherry, Col. William M. Cont. The Western.
Williams, Henry W. Cont. city press.
Willson, Z. G. Western Monthly ; associate editor The Western ;
Lectures.
Wislizenus, Fred. Librettos; Lectures.
Witte, C. Pronouncing German Dictionary.
Woerner, J. G. ; born in Wiirtemburg, 1826; St. Louis, 1837.
Correspondent New York Herald, German Tribune;
Amanda, the Slave, a Play.
Woodward, Calvin M. Cont. Valley Monthly ; Pamphlets on
Manual Education; Lectures; History of the St. Louis
Bridge.
Wyeth, Mrs. George M.
Wyman, Edward. Cont. Western Journal.
Webb, Dr. R. D. Cont. Western Journal.
Welling, Dr. George. Cont. Western Journal.
Zuendt, E. A.: born in Wiirtemburg, 1819; St. Louis. Lyric
and Dramatic Poems; Jugurtha, a Tragedy; Dramatic
Fairy Tales.1
"WRITERS FOR THE PRESS, SECULAR AND RELIGIOUS.2
Abbott, E. Valley Farmer, 1853; Central Baptist, 1876.
Aldrich, H. L. Western Insurance Review, 1872-83.
Allen, G. S. The Evening Gazette, 1838.
Allen, James W. Weekly Hesperian, 1867 ; St. Louis Evan-
gelist, 1873.
1 To the above list may be added the names of Henry Boern-
stein, publisher of the Anzeiger des Westens, who has been
quite prominent in connection with the German stage, both in
Europe and in this country, having written many successful
plays, and Laura C. Redden, who, under the pseudonym of
" Howard Glyndon," has an extensive reputation as a maga-
zinist and newspaper writer. Miss Redden was born in Somer-
set County, Md., but came to St. Louis early, assisted in editing
the St. Louis Presbyterian, and wrote much for the Missouri
Republican. Two of her books, " Notable Men of the Thirty-
seventh Congress" and " Idyls of Battle," are well and favorably
known.— J. T. S.
- The more prominent journalists are indicated by a *.
CULTURE AND LITERARY GROWTH IN SAINT LOUIS.
1613
Allen, W. S. The Evening Gazette, 1838.
Alls, Karel. Pozor Bohemian Gazette, 1864—67.
Alexander, A. W. Contributions city press.
*Allison, R. D. Dispatch, 1876.
Anderson, Josiah. People's Organ, 1850 ; St. Louis Price-Cur-
rent, 1864-65.
Baker, L. H. St. Louis Christian Advocate, 1872.
Baird, E. T. St. Louis Presbyterian, 1853-59 ; St. Louis Chris-
tian Advocate, 1872.
Barclay, D. Robert. Dispatch.
Bakewell, R. A. Shepherd of the Valley, 1851-54.
#Bagly, Miss F. M. Contributor to city press.
Babbington, G. L. Children's Advocate, 1874.
Beadle, Hiram. Education and Health Journal, 1874.
Beck. James P. St. Louis Times.
Bemis, Frank M. National Prohibitionist, 1880.
*Bernays, C. L. Anzeiger, Republican.
Birch, James H. ; born in Virginia, 1804; St. Louis, 1826;
St. Louis Enquirer.
Bowlin, J. B.; born in Virginia, 1804; St. Louis, 1833; Far-
mers' and Mechanics' Advocate, Missouri Argus.
*Boernstein, Henry; born in Hamburg, 1805; St. Louis, 1849.
Anzeiger des Westens.
Bruere, M. G. Stuats Zeitung, 1872-73.
*Brown, B. Gratz ; born in Kentucky, 1826; St. Louis, 1849.
Missouri Democrat, 1854,
Browne, W. W. Ladies' Pearl.
Bradley, B. F. Industrial Press, 1872-73.
Budd, George K. New Era, 1848.
Buell, James W. City press.
Burgess, F. H. Evening Chronicle.
Byars, W. V. Republican.
*Cahill, John F. El Comercio del Valle.
Campbell, Wm. M. New Era, 1844.
*CharIess, Joseph. Missouri Gazette, 1808.
*Chambers, A. B. Republican, 1837.
^Churchill, Samuel B. St. Louis Bulletin, 1834.
Chamberlin, H. Herald of Religious Liberty, 1844-48.
Clark. George B. Times.
Clements, James. The Guardian, 1866.
Clark, Wm. P. Commercial Bulletin, 1834-37.
Corbin, A. B. Missouri Argus, 1836-37.
Coons, Frank A. St. Louis Monthly, 1873.
*Colman, Norman J. Rural World, 1864-83.
*Coulter, W. F. St. Louis Grocer, St. Louis Druggist.
*Cockerill, John A. Post- Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer,
Baltimore Gazette, Washington Post.
Cortambert, Louis. Revue de 1'Ouest, 1854-65.
Cox, Charles E. The Truth, 1870.
Cox, A. F. St. Louis Observer, 1858.
*Coloney, Myron. The Valley Review and St. Louis Journal of
Commerce, 1870.
*Crane, Newton. Spectator, Globe-Democrat, Democrat.
Grossman, R. B. Weekly.
Crockett, J. B. New Era, 1848,
Crandall, F. A. The Valley Review and St. Louis Journal of
Commerce, 1870.
Crowell, Wm. Western Watchman (Baptist).
Cuddy, Wm. St. Louis Daily Express, 1858-59.
*Cundiff, J. H. R. Republican.
Dameron, Logan D. Christian Advocate.
*Daenzer, Carl. Anzeiger des Westens, Mississippi Blatter,
1859-75,
Davis. Fountain, 1848-50.
*Dillon, John A. Evening Post, Missouri Democrat, Post-Dis-
patch, Spectator, Globe-Democrat ; Lectures.
Dougherty. Missourian, 1845.
Edwards, Richard. The People's Press.
*Edwards, John N. St. Louis Times.
Ellis, V. P. Commercial Bulletin, 1834; The Native American,
1846.
Elliott, Charles. Central Christian Advocate.
*Ewing, Henry. St. Louis Times, 1871.
Faris. St. Louis Times.
Fayel, William, Republican.
Farr, D. B. St. Louis Observer, 1880-83.
Faerber, W. Pastoral Blatt, 1874-76.
Farris, R. P. St. Louis and Memphis Presbyterian, 1876; St.
Louis Presbyterian; Missouri Presbyterian, 1866-70.
Fawcett, James L. Morning Herald, 1853.
Ferguson, P. G. Democrat.
Ferguson, AVilliam. Central Baptist.
Field, Joseph. Reveille, 1845-50.
Field, Matthew. Reveille, 1845-50,
*Field, Eugene. Evening Journal, St. Louis Times.
Finney, T. M. Central Christian Advocate, 1872.
*Fishback, George W. Democrat.
Fishback, W. P. Democrat.
Fisher, C. S. St. Louis Times.
Fitzgibbon, J. H. The Practical Photographer, 1875.
Finlay, R. S. Liberia Advocate, 1846-48.
Fleming. Herald, 1820.
Flagg, E. Evening Gazette, 1845.
Flint, Weston. St. Louis Daily Tribune, 1870.
Fox. Commercial Journal.
Follett, J. B.
Foreman, S. B. St. Louis Enquirer, 1825-26 ; Herald, 1820 ;
St. Louis Times, 1827-32.
Ford, Patrick H. St. Louis Enquirer.
Ford, S. H. Christian Repository, 1872-73.
*Foy, Peter L, Dispatch, 1869-71.
Foster, G. G. St. Louis Pennant.
Fox, E. W. Exporter and Importer.
Foote, A. R. Home and Grange, 1874.
Frings, C. H. Zymotechnic News, 1870.
Garesche, A. J. P.; born in Cuba, 1823; St. Louis, 1839. St.
Louis Times, 1869-70.
Garrett, Mrs. E. Republican.
Garvey, Richard. Daily Tomahawk.
Garrison, J. H. The Christian, 1874.
Gambs, E. F. Philatelist.
George, Rev. S. C. Weekly Mail.
Gilson, George AY. Democrat.
*Gouley, George Frank; born in Delaware, 1832 ; St. Louis,
1861. Freemason, 1867-74; Voice of Freemasonry.
Gonter, C. G. ; born in Pennsylvania; St. Louis, 1846. Morn-
ing Signal, 1852; St. Louis Letter-Sheet and Price-Cur-
rent, 1852-79.
Goodrich, H. P. Herald of Religious Liberty, 1844-48; Foun-
tain, 1848-50 ; St. Louis Herald, 1850.
Green, Gen. Duff. St. Louis Enquirer, 1823-25.
Griffith, B. Young Reaper, 1872-73.
*Grissom, D. M. Daily Evening Intelligencer; Union, 1864;
Dispatch.
®Grosvenor, William M. Democrat ; Addresses.
Hall, Sergeant. Emigrant and General Advertiser.
Hay, J. S. St. Louis Evening Leader, 1873.
Harlow, William M. Snatches and Sketches, 187.4.
Harkness, W. H. St. Louis Journal of Commerce ; Journal of
Agriculture, 1871-72.
Halpin, T. M. Home press, 1860.
Haven, C. H. St. Louis Review and Chronicle.
1614
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Hays, Samuel. Fountain, 1848-50.
Henley, J. J. Fireside Visitor, 1872-73.
Hessoun, Joseph. Atlas, 1873-83.
Hermann, Henry. Humorist, 1881-83.
Helmieh, Anton.
Henson, R. S. Baptist Teacher, 1872.
Heemann, E. W. Westliche Post, 1864; Volks Zeitung, 1866.
Henry, Isaac M. St. Louis Enquirer.
*Hilpert. Tribune.
Hincliffe, J. N. Miner and Artisan, 1850.
Hill, William. Missouri Democrat, 1852 ; Sentinel, 1850 ; Union,
1850.
Higgins, R. S. People's Organ, 1841 ; Daily Morning Herald,
1854.
Hillgaertner, George. Neue Zeit, 1864.
Hinton, J. T. Missouri Baptist, 1844.
Hodgman, S. A. The Presbyterian Casket, 1853.
Holbrook, D. B. Evening Gazette, 1838.
Halton, H. H. St. Louis American.
*Hodnett, D. A. St. Louis Times, 1869-71.
•Howell, C. N. Republican.
Holt, Miss Fanny. Woman's Journal, 1872.
* Hodges, William R. Spectator.
Howard, J. R. Bible Advocate, 1850.
*Houser, D. M. Missouri Democrat, Globe, Globe-Democrat.
Husman, George. Grape Culturist, 1870.
-Hutchins, Stilson; born in New Hampshire, 1838; St. Louis,
1865. North lowan, Dubuque Herald, St. Louis Daily
Times, St. Louis Dispatch, 1873.
Huntley, Stanley. Republican.
Huntington, J. V.
*Hume, George C. Evening Journal, Dispatch.
*Hyde, William. Republican.
Hyatt, H. S. Mississippi Valley Progress, 1874-76.
Jameson, E. H. E. St. Louis Times, 1864.
Jacoby, L. S. Der Missionsbote, 1873.
Jackson, S. B. Mississippi Valley Grocer, 1881-83.
Jones, Jonathan; born in Ohio, 1813; St. Louis, 1841; died,
1883. Cent, city press.
*Kargan, E. D. Anzeiger.
Kennedy, R. V. Home press, 1860.
Keilsan, B. D. Western Banner, 1859.
King, Moses. Temperance Monthly, 1873; Lectures.
*Knapp, George. Missouri Republican.
*Knapp, John. Missouri Republican.
*Knapp, C. W. Republican.
Koch. Missouri Handels Zeitung, 1857.
Krum, John M. ; born in New York ; St. Louis, 1840. Missouri
Justice.
*Keemle, Col. Charles. Commercial Bulletin, 1843; Saturday
News, 1837; Reveille, 1845-50.
Lawless, Luke E. St. Louis Enquirer, 1826.
Lange, Louis. Die Abendschule, 1859.
Lewis, E. A. Daily Intelligencer, 1854-57.
Leftwich, W. W. Ware's Valley Monthly, 1876.
Libby, J. W. Gospel of Temperance, 1867.
Lindemann, J. C. Evang. Luth. Schulblatt, 1869-72.
Longuemare, Eugene. Evening Bulletin, 1859 ; Daily Bul-
letin, 1860.
Lovejoy, E. P. St. Louis Observer, 1833.
Loehr, Adelbert. St. Louis Daily Chronicle, 1857.
Logan, J. B. .Ladies' Pearl; Cumberland Presbyterian, 1852-
57.
Loring, James M. Cont. city press.
Luther, J. H. Central Baptist, 1870-73.
Lynds, T. W. Gospel of Temperance, 1867.
Maury, Charles. St. Louis Engineer.
Mallett, I. A. Commercial Daily List, 1859.
Mantz, Charles A. St. Louis Times.
Mahoney, D. A. St. Louis Times, 1866-67.
Marmaduke, J. S. Public Opinion ; St. Louis Journal of Agri-
culture, 1871-72; St. Louis Journal of Commerce.
Marmaduke, Vincent. St. Louis Journal of Commerce.
Mclntyre, J. W. American Sunday-School Worker, 1872-77.
Manford, Erasmus. The Golden Age, 1853-57; The Golden
Era, 1855.
MoCullagh, J. B. Correspondent Democrat, Chicago Repub-
lican, Democrat, Globe, Globe-Democrat; editor Cincin-
nati Enquirer.
«McKee, Henry. Globe-Democrat.
*McKee, William. Evening Gazette, Barnburner, Sentinel,
Union, Democrat, Globe, Globe-Democrat.
*McHenry, Estill. Dispatch, St. Louis Times.
*McHenry, William H. Dispatch, 1869-72.
Mclntosh. Weekly Courier, 1867.
McAnally, D. R. St. Louis Christian Advertiser.
*McAnal!y, Rev. M. Christian Advocate.
*Merwin, J. B. American Journal of Education.
*Mitchell, A. S. New Era, 1848 ; Daily Evening News and
Intelligencer, 1852.
Mills, George. Times, Globe-Democrat, Morning News.
Moss, Lemuel. National Baptist, 1872-76.
Mountfort, A. Pioneer Journal, 1869.
Moore, J. C. The Cavalier, 1867.
Mullin, William J. Catholic Cabinet ; Catholic News-Letter,
1847.
Mullin, Thomas. Catholic Banner, 1839.
Negus, George. St. Louis Evening Post, 1869.
Nettelbaum, F. Missouri Schulbl'atter.
Norrell, Joshua. Western Journal, 1816.
*Noxon, Mrs. Annie Robertson. Cont. Republican.
Nollan, F. Der Friedensbote.
*01shausen, Arthur. Westliche Post.
#01shausen, Theo. Westliche Post.
O'Madigan, Dan. AVestern Celt, 1871-75.
*0'Neill, F. R. Republican.
Orr, William. St. Louis Beacon, 1827-32; The Herald, 1820.
*Paschall, Nathaniel. Republican, New Era.
Parker, N. H. Valley Review and Journal of Commerce, 1880.
Patton, J. H. Bible Advocate, 1850.
Page, James N. St. Louis Presbyterian, 1852.
Paxon, Stephen. Sunday- School World, 1873.
Peshek. Pozor Bohemian Gazette.
Peck, J. M. Republican.
Peckham, James. Evening Bulletin, 1859; home press, 1860.
*Penn, S., Jr. Missouri Reporter, 1842-45.
*Phelan, Father. Western Watchman.
Pickering, L. Union, 1848.
Pinckard, P. M. Sabbath-School Star, 1864-70.
Price, Celsus. St. Louis Times.
*Preetorius, Emil. Westliche Post.
*Preuss, Edward.-
*Pulitzer, Joseph P. Post-Dispatch, Orations and Addresses.
Rainwater, C. C. St. Louis Times.
Ray, David B. Baptist Battle-Flag, 1876; American Baptist
Flag, 1880.
*Ramsay, Charles G. Commercial Bulletin, 1836-37; New Era,
1844-50; Daily Evening News and Intelligencer, 1850;
Evening News, 1853-66.
*Reavis, J. R. Spectator.
*Reefer. Jewish Tribune.
Riley, C. V. American Entomologist, 1871-76.
CULTURE AND LITERARY GROWTH IN SAINT LOUIS.
1615
Robert, P. G. Church News, 1873.
Rombauer, R. J. Neue Welt, 1871.
Robbins, R. H. Sunday Morning, 1873 ; Knights of Honor
Magazine, 1881-83.
Ruth. Evening Gazette, 1845.
Ruggles. Mirror.
Saler, Francis. St. Louis Daily Chronicle (Ger.), 1857; Der
Herald des Glaubens, 1853-83.
Schneider, F. A. H. Demokratische Presse, 1853-55.
*Schurz, Carl. Westliche Post ; Lectures.
Schutte, George A. The La Salle, 1873.
Seeman, A. C. The Mirror.
Singleton, William R. Daily Evening Gazette, 1842.
Smith, G. W. Daily Commercial Bulletin, 1869.
*Smith, Arden R. Republican, Evening Chronicle.
Smiley, R. L. Temperance Watchman, 1873.
Snow, D. J. Temperance Battery, 1853.
Sonnens-chein, S. H. Jewish Tribune, 1881.
Spitz, Rabbi. Jewish Tribune, 1881.
*Spalding, Josiah. Missouri Republican.
Spaunhorst, H. J. Amerika.
Stone, P. P. Merchant and Banker, 1875.
*Stevens, W. B. St. Louis Times, Globe-Democrat.
Staley. People's Organ, 1850.
Steele. Workinginan's Advocate, 1831.
Stone, Mrs. M. H. The Mirror.
Stone, Mrs. S. I. Spectator.
Sylvester, R. H. St. Louis Times.
Taylor, J. D. St. Louis Evening Post and Mystic Family,
1845-48.
Taylor, John M. City press.
Teasdale. Central Baptist, 1873.
Temple, George. Democrat.
Thayer. Democrat.
Thomas, William L. St. Louis Commercial Gazette, 1875-83.
Thompson, H. M. American Inventor, 1881.
Treat, Judge Samuel. Missouri Reporter.
Trotter, D. W. R. Central Christian Advocate.
Tracy, J. L. Dispatch.
Ustick, T. W. Watchman.
Vickroy, T. R. Phonetic Teacher.
Vance. Fountain, 1848-50.
Van Antwerp. Missourian, 1845.
Valland, L. F. Missouri Democrat.
*WaterIoo, Stanley. Evening Chronicle, Republican.
Walther, C. W. F. Der Lutheraner, 1853-73.
Walster, A. Otto. Volksstimme des Westens, 1878.
Watson, Thomas. St. Louis Pennant.
Western, H. J. Baptist Quarterly, 1872.
Wenzell. Missouri Blatter.
Wetmore, Alphonso. Saturday News, 1837.
Werz, H. Missouri Schulbote, 1861-65.
Willstaedt, L. Figaro, 1874.
Williams. Weekly Courier, 1867.
Willich, L. Puck, Lantern.
Wilhartity, A. Neue Welt, 1869-71.
Widmar, R. M. St. Louis Journal of Commerce, St. Louis
Handels Zeitung, 1857-59.
Willett, Edward. St. Louis Times.
Wilbush, A. Demokratische Presse, 1853-55.
Willis, M. W. City press.
*Wolcott, AV. V. Journal of Commerce, Puplic Opinion, Jour-
nal of Agriculture, Evening Journal.
*Woods, Dr. S. B. Evening Chronicle.
Wolf, John. Tribune Francaise.
Wull. Friedensbote, 1849.
s'Yeaman, Rev. W. Pope; born in Kentucky, 1832; St. Louis,
1870. Central Baptist, 1871-72, 1876-77 ; Lectures.
Zider, H. F. St. Louis Courier, 1874-75 ; St. Louis Dry -Goods
Reporter and Price-Current, 1873-74.
" The private libraries of St. Louis have only recently
begun to be considerable, either in extent or in char-
acter. This fact is largely due to the mixed character
of our population. While the French element pre-
dominated, business, political life, and social affairs
elicited the chief interest. The German element has
to a great extent been composed of men and women
whose energies were absorbed by industrial pursuits,
and their artistic sympathies found the most satisfac-
tory expression through music. Hence, while in our
musical history the Germans lead in representation, and
while names like Boernstein and Bernays are eminent in
the ranks of our local writers, yet the sympathy through
literary forms has not been the commonest manifesta-
tion. The other elements of a primarily foreign popu-
lation would naturally find their time sufficiently
occupied without the devotion of much time to special
literary culture. The native American population has
largely consisted of those to whom the struggle for
existence was too immediate to leave leisure for exten-
sive reading.
" The few individuals who had accumulated private
libraries were most frequently men of retired lives,
and the dispersion of their effects by death or removal
has destroyed all but the recollection of their collec-
tions. In some cases, as in that of Governor Reyn-
olds, valuable libraries were confiscated or destroyed
during our civil war.
" Using library as a word intended to express a
reasonable number of valuable books, collected with
reference to some rational and distinctive aim, private
libraries are owned by the following ladies and gen-
tlemen : l
Mrs. Beverly Allen, #Gerard B. Allen, Mrs. Thomas Allen,
Mrs. D. Robert Barclay, *Dr. G. Baumgarten, Mrs. Francis P.
Blair, *A. F. Blaisdell, Miss Susie Blow, Rev. W. W. Boyd,
*Maj. Bryan, W. J. S. Bryan, Mrs. J. J. Cole, E. C. Coleman,
D. F. Colville, *Newton Crane, *F. M. Crunden, *Eugene
Cuendet, H. I. D'Arcy, H. A. Diamant, *John A. Dillon,
B. V. B. Dixon, *William R. Donaldson, W. B. Douglas,
*H. L. Dousman, George D. Drake, John N. Dyer, James
B. Eads, «Lucien Eaton, *George S. Edgell, «Dr. W. E. Fis-
chel, Rev. John Fulton, Rev. Dr. Ganse, *Col. T. T. Gantt,
*James S. Garland, James C. Ohio, *W. J. Gilbert, *William J.
Glasgow, *Samuel T. Glover, Dr. John Green, George D. Hall,
W. G. Hammond, *Britton A. Hill, *E. A. Hitchcock, *Henry
1 The collections marked thus * have special value, and well
represent the ancient and modern classics, art, dramatic litera-
ture, natural science, political history, English literature,
Shakespeariana, French memoirs, books relating to Napoleon,
philology, philosophy, theology, Americana, and illustrated
works.
1616
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Hitchcock, Clarence Hodge, *James K. Hosnier, Mrs. G. L.
Hughes, *Halsey C. Ives, *Horatio Jones, ^Archbishop P. R.
Kenrick, *Rev. F. M. Kielty, Chester M. Krum, Mrs. R. J.
Lackland, *Rev. J. C. Learned, *George E. Leighton, J. H.
Lionberger, Henry Lucas, Dr. Karl Luedeking, Judge G.
Madill, William McBlair, Gustav V. R. Meechein, *H. H.
Morgan, J. W. Noble, James O'Fallon, John O'Fallon, John
C. Orrick, C. S. Pennell, John D. Perry, *Rev. T. M. Post,
*W. H. Pulsifer, *Eben Richards, F. L. Ridgley, *L. B. Ripley,
*E. C. Robbins, *Rev. M. Schuyler, *William L. Scott, *George
E. Seymour, J. H. Sheets, «J. R. Shepley, *H. T. Simon, R. B.
Smith, *D. J. Snider, *M. S. Snow, *F. L. Soldan, S. H. Son-
nenschien, H. S. Spaunhorst, Dr. A. Strotholte, *Maj. Suteo, H.
C. Thorn, *George F. Toner, *Charles H. Turner, E. H. Twin-
ing, *Mrs. W. H. Waters, *Sylvester Waterhouse, «H. W. Wil-
liams, *Mrs. William Young.
" The publishing business in St. Louis has neither
employed large capital nor been of more than indi-
vidual importance. To this there are notable excep-
tions in the direction of law, which, through the efforts
of F. H. Thomas & Co., George I. Jones, and W. J.
Gilbert, has become an interest of magnitude, while
the publications have a high reputation. Mr. Jones
has, furthermore, done much for the city by the high
character of his miscellaneous publications, such as
Hosmer's " History of German Literature," Snider's
"System of Shakespeare's Dramas," Morgan's "Topi-
cal Shakespeariana," Woodward's " History of the St.
Louis Bridge ;" and in the direction of educational
publications, Henry W. Jameson has done enough to
entitle him to personal mention."
Among the publishers, David B. Gould1 has
achieved a well-earned reputation as the directory-
maker of St. Louis. He was born in Caldwell,
Essex Co., N. J., Sept. 7, 1844. He appears to
have inherited his faculty for book-making, for his
grandfather, Stephen Gould, is said to have been the
first publisher of law books in America. The house
which he founded in New York City is still in ex-
istence, being now conducted by Banks Brothers,
his great-nephews. The Goulds settled in New
Jersey as early as 1700, and were prominent and
public-spirited people of that region.
Young Gould received the usual common-school edu-
cation, and attended college, but did not graduate, being
impatient to mingle in the active affairs of life. In
1864 he went West as clerk of the Ordnance Depart-
ment of the United States army, and was located at
Fort Scott, Kan., where he remained until the close
of the war, when he returned to his old home ; but
finding the sphere too contracted for one of his enter-
prising disposition, again removed to the West, and
in 1866 began at Chicago the compilation of directo-
ries. In connection with this business he was identi-
1 Contributed by F. H. Burgess.
fied for some years with some of the most important
places in the West and South.
In September, 1871, he located permanently in St.
Louis, and commenced the publication of the " St.
Louis City Directory," which he has issued annually
ever since. Mr. Gould has given this work his en-
tire time and attention, and for completeness, cor-
rectness, careful attention to details, etc., his publica-
tions are not surpassed by any similar works in
America. He employs such system and energy in
the business that, although the growing population of
St. Louis compels the yearly addition of from five
thousand to seven thousand names to the directory,
the period employed in getting out the work has,
during the past ten years, been shortened thirty days.
In addition to this great undertaking, he publishes
a " St. Louis Business Men's Directory," a " Blue-
Book of St. Louis," and a " Map of St. Louis."
Mr. Gould has also published directories of Peoria,
Springfield, and Bloomington, 111., and it is his in-
tention to cover, as rapidly as practicable, every im-
portant point in the West and South.
Of his standing as a business man it may be said
that he very early secured the confidence and good
will of the people of St. Louis, and has retained them
ever since. He at once identified himself with the
city, and there has hardly been a public movement of
any kind since he established his residence in which
he has not taken a prominent and active part. Ques-
tions of transportation, both by rail and river, have
engaged much of his attention. He was a delegate
from St. Louis to the River Improvement Convention
at St. Paul, and was secretary of that body, which
did more for the improvement of the upper Missis-
sippi than all previous agencies. Upon this and
kindred topics he has written much for the public
press. There is hardly a citizen who has devoted
more time and money, proportionately to his means, to
advance the interests of St. Louis, and there is certainly
none who has exhibited such implicit and enthusiastic
faith in the future of the city, as is shown by his
large investments, made from the profits of a prosper-
ous business. He is an ardent promoter of the pend-
ing scheme to reconstruct the streets of St. Louis with
granite, and in this, as in all things else, displays the
earnestness of a man of liberal and enterprising views,
who has not only the courage to express them, but
the energy to carry them out.
Innumerable enterprises claim and receive Mr.
Gould's support. He was the founder and father
of the St. Louis Club, and for three years was a
director and chairman of its house committee. He
is a director in the Provident Savings Institution,
URR.ARY
ART AND ARTISTS.
1617
one of the enterprising and flourishing banks of the
city. He is also a member of many fraternities, but
while willing to do his share of the work, has pre-
ferred that others should fill the offices and enjoy the
honors.
Mr. Gould's wife is Emma E., the only daughter
of Dr. M. V. Allen, of Chicago, and a direct descend-
ant of Gen. Ethan Allen, the Revolutionary hero.
They have three interesting children.
Mr. Gould has a beautiful residence at 3457 Chest-
nut Street, St. Louis, and an elegant summer house
at Oconomowoc, Wis., where in the intervals of busi-
ness he enjoys life rationally, finding no greater pleas-
ure than in the society of his family and friends.
" The following is a list of the publishers of St.
Louis :
"Advocate Publishing House, American Baptist Publication
Society, American School Book Company, M. S. Barnett, C.
R. Barnes, Becktold & Co., Belford, Clark & Co., Bollman &
Son, W. S. Bryan, R. A. Campbell, James H. Chambers, Chris-
tian Publishing Company, Norman J. Coleman, Concordia Pub-
lishing Company, Charles B. Cox, Logan D. Dameron, Everts
& Co., P.J. Fox, Gilbert Book Company, David B. Gould,
Historical Publishing Company, E. F. Hobart & Co., G. I. Jones
& Co., Journal of Commerce, Moses King, J. J. Lawrence, J. C.
McCurdy & Co., National Publishing Company, Parson & Co.,
Review Publishing Company, Scammell & Co., J. T. Smith & Co.,
Spectator Publishing Company, St. Louis Magazine Company,
St. Louis Religious Press Association, W. H. Stevenson, Sun
Publishing Company, F. H. Thomas & Co., Thompson, Tice &
Lillington, N. D. Thompson & Co., William F. Wernse <fe Co.,
Charles F. Anderson, E. F. Gatnbs, Harker & Pritchard, Charles
Jennings. Ferd. P. Kaiser, W. 11. Kerns, Louis Lange, John B.
Lee & Bro., Frank McDaritt, James H. Matthews, George W.
Matthews, McClelland & Winter, Samuel H. Soyster, St. Louis
Baptist Publishing Company, St. Louis Board of Publication,
Thomas & Stone."
CHAPTER XXXVII.
ART AND ARTISTS.!
THE art history of St. Louis has passed through
two distinct phases. This has followed naturally from
the peculiar characteristics of the inhabitants. The
earlier settlers were mainly French. These brought
with them the inborn refinement belonging to people
who have grown up in the midst of a cultivated so-
ciety, and who have inherited through many genera-
tions a genuine taste for and lively appreciation of
works of art.
Such people, though doubtless for the most part
1 This chapter is the joint work of Professor H. H. Morgan
and W. M. Bryant. In giving it without material alteration,
the author does not wish to be held responsible for all its con-
clusions, nor for the tone of some of its criticisms.
unable to analyze and give an explicit account of their
preferences, must still possess, in the form of taste, a
discriminative judgment that would well-nigh unfail-
ingly select intrinsically valuable, and as unfailingly
reject valueless productions. They thus without hesi-
tation preferred a fair copy of a really significant
work to an original one that possessed no vital mean-
ing. In this way, it is well known, there grew up in
Europe at an early period a demand for copies of the
better class of paintings.
Of copies thus called into existence many were
brought to St. Louis and the surrounding region by
the earlier French settlers. It doubtless happened
also that an occasional original picture by a really
great artist found its way over, though the fact that
few specially wealthy families were counted among
these early immigrants reduces such probability to the
minimum.'2
At the present day many of these old paintings
have fallen into the hands of people who, for one or
another reason, do not care to retain them. It often
2 This scarcely does justice to the earlier inhabitants of St.
Louis. They did not practice art to any great extent, but they
did encourage it by securing pictures abroad and by having
portraits painted at home. There were a number of very good
portrait-painters in the country, who every year made winter
tours to the South, and it was a favorite route with several of
these to pass up the Hudson to Albany, across country to Olean,
down the Allegheny to Pittsburgh, and thence to Cincinnati,
Louisville, St. Louis, and New Orleans. A great number of the
old portraits in St. Louis were painted by these itinerant limners.
The first directory, that of 1821, mentions the fact that the town
at that time contained "one portrait-painter, who would do
credit to any country."
Gabriel Paul was then the architect and building the Cathe-
dral, and the compiler of the directory takes great pride in
claiming that "the Cathedral of St. Louis can boast of having
no rival in the United States for the magnificence, the value
and elegance of her sacred vases, ornaments, and paintings, and
indeed few churches in Europe possess anything superior to it.
It is a truly delightful sight to an American of taste to find in
one of the remotest towns of the Union a church decorated with
the original paintings of Rubens, Raphael, Guide, Paul Ver-
onese, and a number of others by the first modern masters of
the Italian, French, and Flemish schools. The ancient and
precious gold embroideries which the St. Louis Cathedral pos-
sesses would certainly decorate any museum in the world. All
this is due to the liberality of the Catholics of Europe, who
presented these rich articles to Bishop Dubourg on his last
tour through France, Italy, Sicily, and the Netherlands.
Among the liberal benefactors could be named many princes
and princesses, but we will only insert the names of Louis
XVIII., the present king of France, and that of the Baroness
La Candele de Ghyseghatn, a Flemish lady, to whose munificence
the Cathedral is particularly indebted." Of course the paint-
ings of the old masters are copies, not originals. The. directory
also makes mention of the fact that even at that early day
drawing was part of the regular curriculum of St. Louis Uni-
versity (then called College). — J. T. S.
1618
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
happens, therefore, that one of these is brought to
light and offered for sale. Some of them bear the
signatures of artists more or less celebrated. These,
'which from the nature of the case in most instances
must be, and very likely in all cases are, copies, to-
gether with many more altogether without signature,
are often confidently claimed to be original works of
this or that great master, on no other ground, it
would seem, than that .there is no longer any clew
whatever to their origin ! At the same time, it is not
to be denied that many of these works have genuine
merit ; some of them, indeed, a high order of merit.
It is to be observed, however, that during this
entire earlier period the absorbing interests were those
of a community struggling to develop the resources
of a country as yet in its primitive condition. It was
impossible, therefore, that the art interests of the
time should be such as to develop any productive
activity in the field of art.
The second phase of the art history of St. Louis
presents characteristics no less marked than those of
the first. The growth of the city involved the in-
fusion of elements other than French, so that in
course of time the latter became wholly subordinated,
both in numbers and in influence. The transition
period, indeed, is one well-nigh destitute of art inter-
est of any kind. The new elements entering into
the population of the city brought energy, enterprise,
thrift, but all this was concentrated almost wholly in
the direction of accumulating property in its most
abstract form, — i.e., in the form of wealth, money as
wealth.
This stage, however, was not, as it could not be, a
permanent one. Those who had accumulated wealth
began to feel the necessity of its being realized in
other forms than in that of mere money, if it was to
be wealth in any true sense ; and no very extended
research was required to make clear to them this fact,
that wealth has from time immemorial unfailingly
sought realization in works of art.
Nevertheless, people without art-culture, and even
wholly destitute of traditions concerning art, cannot,
from the very nature of the case, safely rely upon
their own judgments in the choice of works of art.
It happened, therefore, that the earlier collections in
this second phase of our art history were of exceed-
ingly varying merit. The tendency was, and in some
degree still is, to decry the art of the renaissance, and
to insist upon the immeasurable superiority of the art
of the present over the art of all former time. Pic-
tures were purchased rather from the celebrity of the
artist than from any clear conception of the signifi-
cance or value of the pictures themselves.
At the same time, while the distance of an artist in
time was held to be proof of his inferiority, the dis-
tance of an artist in space was but too likely to be
taken as fairly conclusive evidence of his superiority.
Nor does there appear to have been the slightest sus-
picion of the necessary incongruity existing between
these two tacit assumptions, the former of which was
but one with the light opinion entertained of the re-
naissance art, an incongruity sufficiently apparent
when one considers that those most distant and there-
fore greatest artists are found in France and Italy, the
very countries where the richest traditions of the
renaissance centre, and without which the great art
of the present would have been simply impossible.
It must, however, be borne in mind that this was
but a preliminary stage. With increase of inquiry
has come increase of knowledge, so that the purchases
of works of art have been steadily more and more
discriminating, while the evidences of defective judg-
ment in the determination of earlier acquisitions are
gradually disappearing from our galleries.
The influences leading to this marked improvement
in the art interests of the city have been many and
various. Among these influences the art exhibitions
held from time to time must be counted as highly
significant. The first was held in Oak Hall in 1857,
and this may be regarded as the date of the revival,
or, in an important sense, as the date of the origin of
a genuine art interest in the city.
For a number of years past art exhibitions have
constituted a special feature of the St. Louis Annual
Fair and Exposition. These have generally been made
up mainly of paintings, representing the best class of
work of many of the foremost artists of both Europe
and America.
Besides these, other occasional exhibitions have
been held in the Mercantile Library rooms, in the
reading-room of the Public School Library, and latterly
two specially noteworthy ones in the new Museum of
Fine Arts. These have all been " loan exhibitions,"
the pictures being supplied from the private galleries
of the city. Much credit is due to H. L. Dousman
and other collectors named below for their public-
spirited liberality on these occasions, which has been
of great value in educating the public taste.
Again, the collections that came to be formed, as a
result of the newly-awakened interest, gave by reflex
influence a strong stimulus to that interest. The ear-
liest of these collections worthy of mention began to
be formed in the years immediately succeeding the
close of the war. A number of these have come to
include not merely an extended array of pictures for
which large sums of money have been paid, but pic-
ART AND ARTISTS.
1619
tures which, with very few exceptions, are genuine
works of art of a high order of merit. Such are the
collections of H. L. Dousman, Charles Parsons, Daniel
Catlin, F. 0. Day, John J. 0 Fallen, S. A. Coale, J.
G. Chapman, Benjamin W. Clark, Edwin Harrison,
George E. Leighton, F. L. Ridgeley, John A. Scud-
der, John 11. Shepley, and W. S. Stuyvesant, which
contain good and important examples of the work of
nearly two hundred of the most celebrated of modern :
painters. The works in these collections have been
chiefly, though not entirely, selected because repre-
sentative of artists of high repute, and together afford
the means of study of much of the best of modern
art.
Others, guided in many instances by knowledge
born of real study of art, and in other instances by a
well-defined and cultivated taste, have made collec-
tions which may be said to exhibit more of the indi-
viduality of the owners, notably EL C. Ives, G. Baum-
garten, Martin Collins, S. M. Dodd, W. W. Harris,
Henry Overstolz, E. A. Hitchcock, Frank Desloge,
W. J. Gilbert, Horatio M. Jones, H. T. Simon, J. B.
Henderson, Thomas E. Tutt, G. 0. Carpenter, A. B.
Thomson, L. M. Rumsey, G. S. Walker, M. Rumsey,
H. C. Wilson, B. H. Brownell, E. S. Warner, and
D. F. Colville. Some of these collections are the ex-
pressions of taste or feeling in a special direction, as
for engravings- or etchings, and some are composed
exclusively of the works of local artists.
Hercules L. Dousman,1 who has perhaps the finest
private art collection in St. Louis, is the only son of
Col. Hercules L. Dousman, who, as one of the lead-
ing minds of the Northwestern Fur Company, con-
tributed largely to the opening up to settlement and
civilization the vast territories that lie west and north-
west of Prairie du Chien, Wis., as far as the bounda-
ries of the British dominions and the mouth of the
Columbia River. Col. Dousman was born in 1800, in
the island of Mackinac, and after receiving a thor-
ough commercial training in New York, became, while
still quite a young man, connected with the North-
western Fur Company, of which John Jacob Astor,
its founder, was then manager, and in which Pierre
Chouteau, of St. Louis, was subsequently one of the
controlling spirits. In 1826, Col. Dousman was sta-
tioned by his employers at Prairie du Chien, under
the nominal control of Joseph Rolette, a gentleman
who speedily comprehended the great abilities of his
youthful friend and coadjutor, and yielded to him the
administration of the affairs of his company in that
region. Thus at an age when most men are deliber-
1 This sketch was contributed by F. H. Burgess.
ating on the choice of a career, Col. Dousman became
the practical Governor of a territory larger in area
than France and Germany combined, and the potent
agent through which civilization has supplanted bar-
barism throughout a section which bids fair to become
the richest and most populous in the republic. He
was one of the most remarkable men of his day, and
among the wild tribes of the Northwest his control
was unhesitatingly admitted. A friend of his, Gen.
Henry H. Sibley, in a paper read before the Histori-
cal Society of Minnesota, speaking from long years of
personal knowledge, bore testimony to the extraordi-
nary power he wielded among the Indians, who, while
they feared and respected the determined will of Col.
Dousman, revered him as a man whose justice was
equaled by his kindness, and whose word could be
relied on implicitly in all transactions. Indeed, he
was their friend as well as their law-giver, and his
rule was acknowledged with a hearty loyalty that
could only spring from warm personal affection.
In 1844, Col. Dousman married the widow of
Joseph Rolette, who died in 1842. This lady was
born in 1804, at Prairie du Chien, where she resided,
with some trifling temporary absences, until her death,
which occurred Jan. 13, 1882. She survived her
three children by her first marriage, and on April 3,
1848, her only surviving child, Hercules L. Dousman,
was born. Throughout all her long residence in her
Northern home Mrs. Dousman led a life of piety
and charity, which endeared her to the people among
whom her lot was cast, and caused her decease to be
mourned with a genuineness and spontaneity of feel-
ing such as made it seem that every family felt the
loss as that of one of its individual members.
Col. Dousman died Sept. 12, 1868, when his son
was less than twenty-one years of age. During his
business career he had acquired vast possessions, in-
cluding property lying at various points along the
banks of the Mississippi, from Carondelet, where lie
owned thirty acres of city property, to Prairie du
Chien, where his lands faced for three miles along the
river bluffs, and stretched far inland. But for the civil
war, during which he raised and equipped at his own
cost large bodies of troops, these estates would have
been much more valuable ; but, notwithstanding, at
the time of their owner's death they were valued at
several millions of dollars. All these estates are now
the property of his son.
Hercules L. Dousman married in November, 1873,
the eldest daughter of Gen. Samuel D. Sturgis, an
officer who distinguished himself on several occa-
sions in important operations during the war, and
who as colonel of the Seventh Cavalry won an en-
1620
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
viable record as one of the best Indian-fighters the
United States array has produced. He is at this,
writing governor of the Soldiers' Home at Wash-
ington. Shortly after his marriage, and early in
1874, Mr. Dousman accompanied his wife to St.
Louis on a visit to her father, who was then com- I
mandant at Jefferson Barracks. This visit led to his
permanent settlement in St. Louis, the decision being
reached in the fall of that year. In 1877 he pur-
chased a handsome mansion, which he remodeled, add-
ing to it a gallery for a collection of paintings. Mr.
Dousman had long been a consistent and liberal patron
of the arts, purchasing pictures and statuary whenever
opportunity served, and gradually educating his judg-
ment up from plane to plane, each step being taken i
with characteristic caution and forethought, but all
tending towards the one general purpose of making a
collection which should comprise specimens of the best
efforts of modern genius. Long before his gallery
was completed the principal dwelling-rooms of his resi-
dence were crowded with the paintings he had accu- '
mulated. Subsequently, from time to time, additions
have been made, and always with a close regard to the
principle on which the collection was begun, until
now, although there are more extensive, there are few
choicer collections in the country.
As soon as his collection had approached its present
degree of excellence, Mr. Dousman notified all in-
terested in art, whether resident in the city or I
visitors, that the treasures he had gathered were at
their service for either enjoyment or study. Artists
were especially invited to make use of the opportunity .
thus afforded, and the Dousman residence came to be
daily thronged with visitors whose only introduction
was a taste for works of art. In time this was found
to be too great a tax to be permitted without restric-
tion, and a regulation was made which proved bene-
ficial to all. One day in the week was set apart as a
general visitors' day, admission being by card, obtain-
able by any one of respectability on application, the
gallery being reserved on the other days for the use
of the family and intimate friends.
Probably one of the most remarkable of the works
in Mr. Dousman's gallery is the famous " Temptation
of St. Anthony," by Louis Leloir.
Gabriel Max is represented by two superb works,
" Maternal Happiness" and " The Reverie," both of
them perfect specimens of the best style of this great
figure- painter.
Bouguereau's work is seen in a magnificent full-
length, life-size painting, " Les Jeunes Bohemiennes,"
sometimes called '• Les Soeurs." and in a cabinet
picture of extreme delicacy of sentiment, entitled
" L'Ange Gardien," where a young mother is breath-
ing a soft prayer over her sleeping infant.
Victor Bachereau has a fine historical work, show-
ing the last hours of Francis of Lorraine, Duke of
Guise, the dying hero pardoning his assassin, who has
been captured and brought to his tent for condemna-
tion.
" The Roll-Call of the Reign of Terror," by Charles
Louis Miiller, the original of the great canvas which
stretches over one of the walls of the Palace of the
Luxembourg, shows with awful skill all the horror of a
morning in the conciergerie when the officer of the
revolutionary tribunal is calling out the daily list of
the victims of the guillotine.
Pierre Jean Clays is represented by a scene in the
harbor of Ostend, painted in the best style of that
great marine artist.
Benjamin Constant's work appears on two can-
vases,— "Caesar's Daughter," haughtily treading the
steps of the Roman amphitheatre, and " The Sultan's
Favorite," a strong piece of Eastern light, color, and
grace.
Corot's " Morning," one of the best works of the
great landscape-painter, is another feature of the
collection.
Among the other artists represented are E. J.
Aubert, Czachorski, De Haas and Van 'Marcke, who
appear at their best in two magnificent cattle pieces ;
William Kray, of Vienna, who is represented by the
famous " Lorelei," and by " The Swimming Lesson"
and " The Fisherman ;'' Jacquet, whose work appears
in exquisitely painted portraits of Mr. Dousman's two
eldest daughters; A. Vely (Salon picture of 1880),
" Le Coeur S'E veille," a life-size, full-length work, show-
ing a young maiden listening to her grandame's reading
of some story of heroic deeds ; Lecompte du Nouy,
represented by his famous Salon picture, " Christian
Pilgrims at the Tomb of the Virgin ;" Casanova,
Madrazo, Mesgrigny, Meissonier, Adrien Moreau,
Pierre Outin, Palmaroli, Perrault, Pinchart, Richter,
Rico, Rossi, Schenck, Schreyer, Alvarez, Amberg,
Chelmonski, Chlebowski, Carolus Duran, Jules
Dupre, Diaz, De Neuville, Coomans, Heilbuth, Alfred
Gues, Hagborg, Indoni, Ziem, Villegas, Simoni,
Sjamaar, Terrassa, and a score of others.
The citizens of St. Louis fully appreciate the value
of such an acquisition to their city as the Dousman
family. Its head is always ready to promote public
enterprises with both purse and influence, and his
home, under the cultured management of Mrs. Dous-
man, is the centre of the most graceful and refined
society the city can boast.
In addition to the works of art belonging to the St.
or i HE
IfMVF
ART AND ARTISTS.
1621
Louis School of Fine Arts, the St. Louis University,
the Mercantile Library, and the Public School Li-
brary, the city contains a score or more collections of
paintings worthy of mention in this connection, five
well advanced collections of engravings, three of etch-
ings, and one of photo-gravures and autotypes.
Co-ordinate with the influences already mentioned
tending to improvement in the art interests of the city
have been the organizations and institutions devoted
exclusively to the fostering of this special class of
interests.
The earliest of these appears to have been the
Western Academy of Art. This was established in
1860, with great promise of permanence and useful-
ness. Hon. Henry T. Blow was its first president
and the leading spirit throughout. It had purchased
an extensive collection of casts of statuary, and had
made arrangements for the establishment of a School
of Design. With the opening of the war, however,
the existence of the academy speedily came to an end.
The military authorities took possession of the build-
ing, and what the organization had collected was
quickly scattered abroad. The casts from the antique
works now in the reading-room of the Public School
Library are all that remain of its possessions.
The Art Society was established in 1872, for the
express purpose of cultivating a taste for art, and one
means adopted for the attainment of this end was the
formation of a collection of works of art that should
be open to the public. The first president of the Art
Society was Thomas Richeson, after whom, for several
terms of office, came J. R. Meeher, H. H. Morgan,
and Thomas Davidson. Dr. W. T. Harris also took
an active interest in the organization and contributed
much to its success. During the first four or five i
years of its existence, with such men as its supporters,
the society exhibited great vigor and exerted a marked
influence upon the community. Dr. Harris, Dr. C.
L. Bernays, D. J. Snider, and others infused a strong
element of philosophical criticism, directing attention
specifically to the thought element in works of art.
It was this influence especially that led to the pur-
chase of a large collection of autotype reproductions
of celebrated works of art, and the placing these on
permanent exhibition in the reading-room of the
Public School Library. The result has been to famil-
iarize the whole community in greater or less degree
with the typical productions of the great epochs of
art activity in the history of the world. The collec-
tion is especially rich in works of the renaissance
period, the selections being made evidently with
reference to the culmination of the expression of the
fundamental conceptions of Christianity, and therefore
103
the fundamental conceptions of the modern world in
art-forms.
Unfortunately, however, in the year 1878 the man-
agement was changed, and the real purpose of the
organization quite lost out of sight, the natural result
being the speedy dissolution of the organization itself.
But this fact could not invalidate the work actually
accomplished by the society that has a permanent
value, and to its promoters is due the gratitude of all
genuine lovers of art in the community.
The St. Louis Sketch Club originated with J. R.
Meeher in 1877. Its aim was primarily a profes-
sional one, viz., the cultivation of the inventive and
creative powers of its members, who were, of course,
artists, either professional or amateur. A further pur-
pose was to promote a professional spirit among the
artists of the city. It began with but three members,
and met in turn at their respective studios. For a
time the jovial artists found the meetings occasions
of genuine relaxation and mirthful enjoyment, no
less than of free mutual criticism. With increase of
numbers, however, there has been a manifest tendency
towards reserve and " decorum," until, with an active
membership of twenty-five, and an associate mem-
bership of seventy-five, its gatherings have become
somewhat stated social occasions. The rooms of the
club are well appointed, and its monthly receptions
are occasions of special interest. At these receptions
are exhibited sketches by the active members, illus-
trating some appointed theme. The influence of the
club upon its members has been very great and al-
together valuable, as it promises to be for the future.
The School of Design was established by Mrs. John
B. Henderson in 1878. The aim of this organiza-
tion was mainly to give opportunity for learning the
methods and fundamental forms of decorative art,
though afterwards instruction was also given in paint-
ing, both figure and landscape. For a time the school
was popular, and seemed to meet a real demand. At
length, however, the public-spirited lady who estab-
lished it, and who from the first had supported it
almost unaided, gave it over to other management.
Support failed, and the school shortly came to an end.
There remains to be noticed the School of Fine
Arts connected with the Washington University. In
a prospectus of the school for 1881-82 it is stated
that " the establishment of an art school upon a broad
and permanent basis has always been part of the plan
of Washington University." It is also intimated that
art instruction had been embodied in the course of
study for nearly twenty-five years. It would seem,
however, that it was not until 1875 that anything
very definite was done to put in force this part of the
1622
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
general plan. In that year " students were admitted
to the drawing department," and class and public
lectures were given in art history. During the same
year, too, an evening school was opened.
This initiatory step, properly speaking, in the real-
ization of what had so long been included in the ideal
of the university was taken by Halsey C. Ives, who,
in the face of much discouragement and opposition,
organized a free evening class in a room of the uni-
versity and became its sole teacher. The class num-
bered eighteen the first evening, and increased to
forty-three within two months. During the second
year the numbers were such as to require an assistant,
and the year following three assistants became neces-
sary. At the same time a course of lectures was
given on Architecture, Sculpture, Art History, and
Music. These lectures were open to the public, as
well as to students, and were largely attended.
It soon became evident that there was demand for
day classes as well, and accordingly provision for such
was made. Many at once availed themselves of the
opportunity thus offered, and the numbers have
steadily increased to the present time. During the
past year two hundred and eighty-eight persons have
received instruction in the school, exclusive of stu-
dents from other departments of the university.
About one-third of the students thus far have been
ladies.
During the first years of the work the instruction
given was for the most part unpaid. It was an ex-
periment, and largely the experiment of the one man,
who looked steadfastly through all discouragement to
the success which he saw as well as felt to be certainly
awaiting his efforts.
The success that followed his conviction was fol-
lowed by the conviction of others, so that " on May
22, 1879, the directors of the university adopted an
ordinance establishing a Department of Art in Wash-
ington University," to be known as " The St. Louis
School of Fine Arts." The objects of the depart-
ment were appropriately defined, and work was begun
at length upon a thoroughly secure basis.
Of course the man who had proven the practica-
bility and made certain the success of the school was
now formally appointed its director. Nor could a
more fortunate selection have been made. Professor
Ives has already brought the school to a degree of
maturity that gives it rank among the foremost of
such institutions in the country. Altogether clear in
his convictions, unswerving in his purpose, familiar
with the art and art schools of both Europe and
America, and enthusiastic in his devotion to art, his
management promises to give to the very liberal pro-
vision now made for the school the utmost degree of
efficiency in the promotion of the art interests of St.
Louis and the West.
But any notice, however brief, of the St. Louis
School of Fine Arts would be incomplete without
some mention of the splendid gift of its most recent
and most liberal patron. On the 10th of May, 1881,
as elsewhere more fully stated, Mr. Wayman Crow
formally delivered by gift to the authorities of Wash-
ington University the title of a large, substantial, and
handsomely-furnished structure, under the name of
" The St. Louis Museum of Fine Arts." This con-
sists of five large galleries, besides a number of class-
rooms, three large studios, and a beautiful auditorium
capable of seating nearly a thousand people. With its
galleries once properly filled, we have here the predes-
tined focus of all the genuine art interests of the city.
Here again, indeed, the energy of Professor Ives
has not been wanting. Two of the galleries were
immediately filled with a fine collection of casts,
which he had already secured, representing the great
typical works in sculpture, from the colossal Egyptian
statues to the marvelous Gates of Ghiberti. A num-
ber of paintings of a high order of merit are already
on the walls, together with engravings, etchings, and
autotype reproductions of many great works of art*
Of these, indeed, he has already secured a rare collec-
tion for the school, so that students have constantly
before them both excellent original works and also
faithful reproductions of many of the finest creations
in the entire range of art.
There can be no question that the establishment of
the St. Louis School and Museum of Fine Arts
marks one of the most important epochs in the art
history of St. Louis.
Finally, it ought not to entirely escape notice that
some very intelligent and effective work in the direc-
tion of cultivating a taste for and developing a ra-
tional judgment of art and art history has for a
number of years been going forward in the Central
High School, at first under the direction of Miss
Mary E. Beedy, and more recently in the hands of
Miss Sue V. Beeson.
Two publications specifically devoted to art have
been published in St. Louis. One of them, under the
title of Art and Music, was begun in 1881. It gave
illustrations of the work of local artists, and repro-
duced a number of works in local collections. It
failed to reach a very high standard of work, met
with very unsatisfactory support, and after about
eight months of precarious existence its office of
publication was moved to Chicago, where it is now
issued as a weekly.
ART AND ARTISTS.
1623
A smaller one is published by the students of the
School of Fine Arts, under the name Palette Scrap-
ings. It has been in progress but little more than a
year, and is, of course, to be judged of from its own
stand-point. As students' work it is very creditable.
Two other publications, the Journal of Speculative
Philosophy, under the editorship of Dr. William T.
Harris, and The Western, under the editorial man-
agement of H. H. Morgan, have devoted much
space to the philosophical discussion of art, both in
its general compass, and also in the special interpre-
tation of individual works of art, both ancient and
modern. These interpretations have been the out-
growth of attempts to discover and to formulate in
reflective language for the reason the thought element
involved in given works of art which, as such, of
course appeal directly to the imagination.
We come, finally, to give some brief indication of
the actual productive work accomplished in the field
of art in St. Louis, and of those by whose hands this
work has in the main been done. And it is worth
remarking that the very fact of so large a number of
artists finding support here is itself the best evidence
of the rapid growth in the appreciation of art in the
community.
Of architecture there is little to be said from the
point of view of art. Of church architecture there
are comparatively few specimens of really fine design.
One of these is the Episcopal (Christ) Church at
Thirteenth and Locust Streets. Though still unfin-
ished, the structure is altogether imposing. The plan,
as a whole, is marked by a pleasing degree of harmony,
which is greatly heightened by the sense of repose
given by the appearance of massive solidity. It is a
good example of the early English Gothic style.
The Presbyterian Church, Fourteenth and Lucas
Place, bears a specially fine spire, illustrating the
best phase of the true pointed style.
SS. Peter and Paul's (Catholic) Church, South St.
Louis, is a fine large edifice in stone of the Gothic
style, the external appearance of which, however, is
seriously marred by the unfinished state of the spires.
The Church of St. Alphousus. on Grand Avenue, is
also a fine structure externally, though the interior is
not sufficiently high to prevent a certain sense of
oppression.
St. Joseph's (Catholic) Church, Eleventh and
O'Fallon Streets, is specially noticeable on account of
its interior decoration, as is also the much smaller
Church of the Annunciation, Seventh and Labadie
Streets, which is nearly on the plan of the Sistine
Chapel in Rome.
The Church of the Messiah, recently erected on the
corner of Garrison Avenue and Locust Street, is a
beautiful example of the early English style of archi-
tecture. It has a number of memorial windows,
which are considered the best specimens of stained-
glass work in the city. The perfect adaptation of
means to ends of use, without in any degree sacrificing
any part of the artistic motive of the whole, is realized
in this structure to a degree seldom attained.
On the other hand, examples are but too numerous
of large sums of money expended only to render bad
taste the more conspicuous. This is especially true
of a number of churches but recently completed at
great cost, the interior decorations of which are alto-
gether unfortunate, both in design and in combination
of colors.
The Public Buildings of the city present few ar-
tistic features to detain us. The old court-house,
Fourth and Market Streets, has a really good dome.
The Four Courts, Twelfth Street and Clark Avenue, is
a huge pile, gaudy, French, and flimsy.
The new custom-house, again, occupying an entire
square between Eighth and Ninth Streets and Olive
and Locust, is a building of immense cost, and not
altogether destitute of pleasing points. Viewed as a
whole, however, it is impossible to deny that it lacks
unity. On the contrary, it is cut up into details so as
to lose fatally in mass and solidity.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Eighteenth and Lucas
Place, mentioned elsewhere, may be classed among
public buildings in the more general sense. The main
portion is of stone, the auditorium in the rear being
of brick. The effect of the whole is unique and
pleasing, while the interior finish is rich and fault-
lessly elegant.
One other building also may be included here, and
also serve as transition to the class of commercial
buildings. It is the new Chamber of Commerce,
Third and Chestnut Streets. It is massive, sym-
metrical, beautiful. Unfortunately, however, its lo-
cation renders a good view of it well-nigh impossible.
The number of commercial buildings noticeable for
their architectural design is rapidly increasing. One
of the earlier and one of the finest of these is the
Equitable building, Sixth and Locust Streets, with its
admirable provision for light. Among others are the
Gas building, Third and Pine, brick finish, and the
Bridge building, Eighth and Washington Avenue,
with its handsome front in stone, each representing a
special style.
Among hotels, the Lindell, Sixth and Washington
Avenue, is doubtless the finest from the artistic point
of view, while of the theatres the new Olympic is
regarded as by far the handsomest.
1624
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
The number of really handsome residences is also
rapidly increasing. Among many others may be
mentioned that of J. L. D. Morrison, Twenty-
eighth and Locust Streets, entirely of stone, large,
finely proportioned, and in refined taste ; and those of
John Whittaker, Garrison and Franklin Avenues,
P. L. Foy, Grand and Lindell Avenues, and J. D.
Perry and others on Vandeventer Place. It would
indeed be impossible, as it would be undesirable, to
catalogue all the residences whose owners have shown
their appreciation of the value of the art element in
a dwelling. Many, indeed, present little that is
noticeable externally, but are specially elegant within,
following the fashion of the ancient Greeks.
In short, there can be no doubt of the genuine and
rapid increase of interest in architecture as an art in
all its branches on the part of the citizens of St.
Louis.
Among local architects, F. D. Lee, by whom, aided
by Thomas B. Annan, the Chamber of Commerce was
planned, and George I. Barnett, have done much thor-
oughly artistic work.
Charles E. Illsley has also done good work in the
line of domestic architecture.
In sculpture there is still less that calls for notice.
In some sense Miss Harriet Hosmer may be claimed
as belonging to the art history of St. Louis, seeing
that in 1850 (at nineteen years of age) she became
a student in a medical college of this city, where she
acquired a knowledge of anatomy that has been of
special service to her in her later artistic labors. Two
beautiful specimens of her work, CEnone and Beatrice
Oenci, are now in the city, one owned by the Mercan-
tile Library, and the other by the Art Museum.
Howard Kretschmar, a native of St. Louis, became
conscious of his vocation as a sculptor through carv-
ing a set of chessmen in wood. He afterwards
modeled in clay a bust of Mayor Joseph Brown,
which attracted attention, the result being that he
went to Europe and remained there four years, first
in the Academy of Munich, and afterwards as an inde-
pendent student at Rome. Since his return he has
been actively engaged in his profession. Among his
recent works is a marble bust of Hon. Thomas Allen.
He is at present a teacher in the School of Fine
Arts, Washington University.
Pietro Pen-in also worked as a sculptor in St. Louis
from 1860 to 1870.
J. Wilson McDonald commenced practicing his
profession as a sculptor about 1860, and executed
models for the statue of Thomas H. Benton which
was to be placed in Lafayette Park. But he was not
successful in the competition, as the award was made
to Harriet Hosmer. He afterwards executed marble
busts of Benton and Mr. Harrison, the iron merchant,
both of which now adorn the large room of the Mer-
cantile Library. He removed to New York after the
close of the war, and has resided there ever since, ex-
ecuting various commissions for Eastern and Western
patrons. A work which brought him fame in the
East was the colossal bust of Washington Irving,
which was placed in one of the parks of Brooklyn.
He was commissioned to execute a colossal statue in
bronze of Attorney-General Bates, which was erected
in Forest Park, St. Louis, and afterwards competed for
the statues of Gen. Custer and Gen. Francis P. Blair.
W. H. Gardner adopted the profession of sculptor
in St. Louis, and commenced working in the studio of
Howard Kretschmar about 1880, assisting that artist
in the execution of the colossal busts now in position
on the front of the Museum of Fine Arts. In 1881
he exhibited a bust of President Garfield at the Fine
Arts Hall in the St. Louis Fair-Grounds, which was
much admired, and for which he very justly received
a first prize. In 1882 he competed for the Blair
monument, for which prizes had been offered by the
Blair Monument Association. In this competition
he carried off the first prize, and was commissioned
to execute a colossal statue in bronze of Gen. Francis
P. Blair, which he is now working upon.
Robert Bringhurst, a young sculptor of decided
ability, was one of the students at Washington Uni-
versity, and a pupil of Kretschmar. He went to Eu-
rope to pursue his studies, but was only able to stay
one year. Since his return he has executed medal-
lions and statuettes which have attracted attention and
placed him in the position of one who has talents of
a high order. He received the first and second prizes
at the fair in 1882, and has since exhibited some ideal
modeling at the St. Louis Sketch Club which displayed
considerable imagination and excellent anatomical
knowledge.
Painting has been much more widely appreciated
than either of the other forms of art. And as there
is nothing in which man has so direct and deep an
interest as in himself, it is but natural that the por-
trait-painter should have been the first to receive cor-
dial greeting and profitable employment.
Among the earliest of the portrait-painters con-
nected with the history of art in St. Louis was Chester
Harding, father of Gen. Chester Harding and of the
wife of Hon. J. M. Krum, of this city. He was born
in 1792, and made his first visit to St. Louis about
the year 1820. With rare energy he had struggled
through the most adverse circumstances into an ac-
knowledged position as an artist. In one of his West-
ART AND ARTISTS.
1625
ern journeys he painted the portrait of Gen. Clark
(of Lewis and Clark's expedition to the Rocky Moun-
tains), and also that of Daniel Boone. The latter is
understood to be now in the possession of James Bis-
sell, of this city. In Boston, as early as 1823, he
was overrun with commissions, and finally broke off
his stay there abruptly, with nearly a hundred appli-
cations still awaiting him, in order to make the visit
to Europe which he had been long and eagerly look-
ing forward to. In England his power was very soon
recognized, so that he was shortly occupied in painting
the portraits of a number of more or less celebrated
personages, among them the Duke of Sussex and Al-
lison, the historian. There are also several portraits
by him of Daniel Webster, and these are regarded as
being of high merit.
During his last visit to St. Louis, in 1866, he painted
the portrait of Gen. W. T. Sherman. This is one of
his latest, as it is also one of his best works. He died
in Boston within the same year. A brief account of
his life is given in the Atlantic Monthly for April,
1867. He himself also left a volume with the quaint
title " Egotistography," in which he gave an account
of his own life and works.
About 1840, Emanuel de Franga came to St. Louis
from Philadelphia. He soon acquired great popu-
larity as a painter of portraits, and for a time did
good work.
Ferdinand T. L. Boyle, another portrait-painter,
came to St. Louis about the year 1858. He was dis-
tinguished for his intelligence and fine social qualities.
Among the portraits he painted were those of Gov-
ernor Gamble and Gen. Francis P. Blair, the former of
which is in the collection of the Mercantile Library.
Wilkins was active in the same field about the
same period. He was 'an exponent of the English
school, in which ladies were habitually represented
as shepherdesses.
It was not far from the year 1858 that St. Louis
was visited by a portrait-painter who is regarded by
good judges familiar with the whole course of the
development of art in St. Louis as the best of all
this class of artists who can claim ;i place in the
present history. This was W. Coggswell, who, though
he remained here but two or three years, did
much valuable work, including the portraits of such
citizens as Joseph Charless and Peter Lindell. On
quitting St. Louis he went first to Chicago, and after-
wards to California, where he now resides.
A. J. Conant, born in 1821, took up his residence in
St. Louis in 1857, and is still in our midst. He has
long been highly esteemed both as a man and as an
artist. He is specially successful in his portraits of '
mature men. His strength lies in the decidedly
realistic character of the likenesses he produces.
Madame Subit has followed the profession of por-
trait-painting in St. Louis for many years, and has
received many commissions, which have been filled
quite to the satisfaction of those giving them. She
works very minutely, paying great attention to the
elaboration of laces and drapery.
A number of other portrait-painters are deserving
of mention, though it will be impossible here to give
them extended notice. Col. Waugh, of early date,
was not only a painter, but also made portrait busts
in marble. John Reid, Brewer, G. Mueller, and
Powers also did good work of this class.
Latterly, Miss Georgie Campbell, who was for a
time a pupil of J. R. Meeker in landscape, has been
specially successful in portrait-painting. In this field
she has gained much from the instruction of Healy.
She is now in Chicago.
It should be mentioned, too, that Miss Sarah M.
Peale was a popular painter of portraits in St. Louis
from 1847 to 1878. Portraits by her of Daniel Web-
ster and Thomas H. Benton are in the collection of
the Mercantile Library.1
1 Miss Sarah Middleton Peale lived in St. Louis for over
thirty years, until 1878, when she returned to Philadelphia, in
order to be near her surviving kinsfolk.
Miss Peale belongs to the historical family of that name, so
prominent in the art history of the United States. She is the
daughter of James Peale, the brother of Charles Wilson Peale,
the founder of Peale's Museum in Philadelphia. Her uncle
painted the first picture of Washington in 1772 as a Virginia
colonel. He opened the first picture gallery in Philadelphia,
and was for fifteen years the only portrait-painter in North
America. On her mother's side Miss Peale's great-grandfather
was a Claypole, and the grandson of Oliver Cromwell. John
Claypole was one who came over with William Penn to America
in 1682, and his son, James Claypole, built the first brick house
in Philadelphia.
.M iss Peale arrived in St. Louis in 1847, from Baltimore, where
she had spent several years with a cousin. She came to St.
Louis at the request of Mr. Nathaniel Child, who had relatives
in Baltimore. She visited Washington several times, and painted
the portraits of Lafayette, Caleb Gushing, Dixon H. Lewis, of
Alabama, Hon. Lewis F. Linn, of Missouri, Judge Abel P. Up-
shur, William R. King, Henry A. Wise, Senator Benton, and
others. The portrait of Benton was purchased by a gentleman
and presented by him to the Mercantile Library. The portrait
of Dr. Linn was purchased by Mrs. Capt. Sears, a niece of the
senator.
During her long sojourn in St. Louis, Miss Peale was de-
voted to her brush, and painted the portraits of several distin-
guished characters, among them that of Father Mathew, while
on his visit here. She painted the portrait of Dr. J. B. John-
son and other leading citizens. The walls of her studio were
hung with a number of original portraits and copies made by
herself. Among them were Caleb Cushing, Dixon II. Lewis,
and a few others. Latterly her skill was more especially de-
voted to the painting of fruit pieces. — J. T. S.
1626
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
A number of figure-painters of much merit have
also found a congenial field for their labors in St.
Louis. Among these, Deas lived and worked here
during the years 1840-45. Besides figure-pieces he
painted animals and landscapes. He exhibited a
number of works in the American Art Union.
Among these was one representing frontier life, the
scene being a struggle between a white hunter and an
Indian. An " Irish Stag-Hound" by him is owned
by Gen. Sibley, of St. Paul.
Thomas S. Noble came to St. Louis about 1860.
He studied in Paris under Couture. On his return
he painted a large composition entitled " The Last
Slave-Sale in St. Louis." During the war he joined
the Southern army. Afterwards he went to New
York, where he was elected an associate of the Na-
tional Academy. Among works executed in that
city were a number the themes of which were drawn
from slave-life in the South. Later he went to Cin-
cinnati, where he was given charge of the McMicken
School of Design. There he painted " The Price of
Blood" and " John Brown led to Execution." He is
a good draughtsman, and some of his work shows su-
perior strength in color.
Charles F. Wimar, born in 1829, in Germany, gave
evidence even in childhood of absorbing artistic in-
stincts. At the age of fifteen he emigrated with his
parents to America and settled in St. Louis. Shortly
afterward he attracted the attention of the artist Pom-
arede, who inquired the name of the boy, sought out
his parents, and secured him as a pupil. In 1849,
Pomarede undertook the task of painting a panorama
of the Mississippi River. Wimar accompanied him
on the journeys necessary to sketch these scenes.
Here he became intensely interested in the character-
istics of Indian life. His portrayals of these were so
faithful and full of vigor that Pomarede at once ad-
vised him to devote himself exclusively to such work.
This he did, though not till he had spent five years in
diligent preparation for the task in Dusseldorf, under
the instruction of Leutze. Nor did he fail to make
trial of his powers upon his favorite theme during
these years of preparation. The result was the exe-
cution of a number of important works, among which
was one representing an emigrant train attacked by
Indians. The design was boldly conceived and finely
wrought out, the completed picture creating great in-
terest in Europe, and being bought on its arrival in
this country by the late Governor Gamble. Wimar
also painted, while still at Dusseldorf, a series of pic-
tures representing the abduction by the Indians of
Daniel Boone's daughter. One of these is now in the
collection of the Mercantile Library of this city. On
his return to St. Louis, Wimar at once set about his
\ central task, and traveled among the Indians, making
j sketches, taking photographic views, studying in
minutest detail their characteristics, and afterward
portraying on canvas in finished form the completed
! conceptions he had thus worked out with so much
enthusiasm and labor. He also painted many pic-
tures representing buffaloes. His last work was the
painting of the historical scenes in the dome of the
court-house of St. Louis. Consumption had devel-
oped, and in 1863, at the age of thirty-four years, his
work and his life ended together, as he himself had
predicted. Wimar's gifts were of a high order, as
his works testify, and yet during his lifetime he
failed to receive the appreciation that was his due.
Now that he is dead all do him honor, and we cannot
without the deepest regret think of a life like his, cut
short while yet so much remained for him to do, and
just when he seemed on the point of realizing the out-
ward as well as the inward fruits of the success he had
so manfully achieved in art. The greater part of his
works are owned in St. Louis.
Conrad Diehl, a pupil of Kaulbach and Folty at
Munich, and afterward of Gerome in Paris, became
actively related to the art interests of St. Louis di-
rectly after the great fire in Chicago. He was very
soon enabled, through the timely aid of James E.
Yeatman, to offer to his pupils the advantages of
day life-study, an advantage which drew a number of
his former Chicago pupils to St. Louis. Upon the
merits of the work of this school the Boston Globe
of July 4, 1878, commented as follows : " These are
perfectly marvelous in the beauty of their execution,
the firmness of touch, the perfect drawing, the won-
derful relief, and the superb breadth and masterly
vigor that characterize them* all. We are the more
surprised at these drawings as there are but few mas-
ters who can produce such thoughtful, brilliant, and
faultless work. The drawings of the New York Art
School, lately exhibited at the same rooms, are child-
ish and almost ridiculous by the side of these produc-
tions of a young school of which we have never before
heard." This school, which he conducted with such
signal success, was but the carrrying out of the deter-
mination with which he returned from his European
studies. That purpose was nothing less than to
hasten the time when the art student of America
should no longer find it necessary to seek in a foreign
land the education he desired. We will not here be
able to trace his efforts in Chicago, cut short by the
great fire, nor to specify the untoward circumstances
by which the fruits of his labors here were turned
into other channels, nor to recount his prolonged and
ART AND ARTISTS.
1627
intense labors in the direction of securing a rational
method of instruction in drawing in the public schools
of St. Louis and ultimately in the whole country. In
all these efforts indeed he met with partial defeat ; and
yet in the best sense he was truly successful, for the
principles he at first seized only in a general way were,
through this intense and prolonged activity, worked
out in detail and formulated into what may with jus-
tice be styled the first reasoned system of elementary
instruction in drawing thus far presented. This system
the author himself significantly styles " form study."
Just when this system was fairly matured the op-
posing forces succeeded in depriving our schools of
further benefit from it. At the same time (1880)
the authorities of the State University at Columbia,
Mo., recognizing the high value of the system, as
well as the superior gifts of its author, called him
to a chair in that institution, where he has since been
devoting his energies to the perfecting in detail and to
the practical application of his method, which he has
admirably summarized under the title of " Grammar
of Form-Language" in a work still in manuscript.
Meanwhile he has not allowed his work as artist
in the more precise sense to stand still. Besides de-
signs for arabesque decorations, he has produced,
among other works, a design for a monument repre-
senting Christ at the Resurrection, which was pro-
nounced to be the best of a number of competing de-
signs, most of which were by professional sculptors.
At present he is engaged in the preparation of
cartoon studies for what he styles his " two first pic-
tures," as he regards all his former large paintings in
the light of studies merely.
George C. Eichbaum, portrait and genre painter,
came to St. Louis from Pittsburgh in 1859. He is
especially successful in portraits of women and chil-
dren. Latterly he has painted a number of pictures
of the genre type that have been well received, among
them especially "Pickwick and Sam Weller," and
another entitled " Whistle and I'll come to you, my
lad ;" this was exhibited in New York at the Acad-
emy, and sold for a high price on the opening day of
the exhibition.
W. M. Chase, now well known throughout the
country, began work in St. Louis in 1870 as a fruit-
painter. In 1872 he went to Europe, where he was
under the instruction of Pilotz, at Munich. On his
return to America he chose New York as his field of
labor, and has there gained an enviable reputation.
J. W. Pattison took up landscape-painting about
1867. He was for a time in Mr. Conant's studio,
after which he became a teacher in the Mary Insti-
tute, and later took charge of the art department in
Washington University. In 1872 he went to Europe,
studied in the schools of Dusseldorf and Paris, changed
his style to genre, and has produced a number of very
pleasing pictures. He returned from Europe in 1882.
Paul Harney commenced his artistic career in St.
Louis. He spent two years in Munich, and is now a
teacher in the School of Fine Arts, Washington Uni-
versity. His duties allow him little time for original
work, though what he has done indicates the posses-
sion of genuine talent.
Carl Guthertz has also for several years been con-
nected with the School of Fine Arts, where his ser-
vices have been invaluable. Besides acceptable por-
traits, he has exhibited a marked talent for ideal
compositions, such as the "Awakening of Spring"
and " Midsummer Night's Dream." He spent four
years as a student in Paris, Antwerp, and Rome.
John Fry, a young man, has recently developed in
this school unusual powers as an artist, and has been
added to the corps of teachers. He has shown rare
ability as a colorist, and with the seriousness of pur-
pose and definiteness of conception characterizing his
work there is reason to hope for much that is excellent
from him in the future.
George W. Chambers, a former student of the
School of Fine Arts, has spent two years in Paris
adopting the genre style. He has already done credit-
able work, but has recently returned to Paris to pur-
sue his studies there further.
Charles E. Moss came to St. Louis from Nebraska
in 1877, entering Meeker's studio at the age of six-
teen. He made rapid progress there, and at the end
of two years went to Paris, where he became a pupil
of Bonnat. His progress there has been altogether
remarkable. At the age of twenty-one he painted his
first large canvas, which was accepted at the Salon,
and has since been on exhibition in St. Louis. The
subject is the " Prodigal Son," which is treated with
perfect seriousness and with great strength. His
second large canvas was accepted at the next year's
Salon, and found a purchaser before the close of the
exhibition. He is counted as one of the most vigor-
ous and promising of the American colony of artists
in Paris.
J. R. Meeker, beyond question the leading land-
scape-painter of the West, came to St. Louis in 1859.
Here he has worked continuously up to the present
time, with the exception of three years spent during
the war in the capacity of paymaster in the United
States navy. These three years, however, proved to
be peculiarly fruitful to him as an artist. During
his leisure voyages on the lower Mississippi and other
streams of that region he discovered the art possi-
1628
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
bilities of the semi-tropical swainps ; and how great
the discovery was none can rightly estimate save
those who have had opportunity of enjoying the ex-
quisitely beautiful dreams of the primeval world
which he creates betimes out of the material thus
discovered. Other and charming work he has pro-
duced indeed, representing scenes in the Rocky
Mountains, in the Green Mountains, in Minnesota,
in Wisconsin, in New York, and in Missouri. But
the work of his that will live longest is the work that
is peculiarly and solely his own.
Louis Schultze began work as an artist about 1855.
He assisted De Franga for several years. His work
includes figure-painting as well as landscape, in which
he uses sometimes oil paints, sometimes water colors.
Ritter was the first teacher in the Art Department
of the Washington University. He was a .skillful
draughtsman, though his work was somewhat labored
and over-minute. He had made many elaborate
studies of mountain scenery in Germany and Swit-
zerland, and painted several large pictures now owned
in St. Louis.
Thomas Allen, Jr., commenced the study of lands-
scarje-painting with Pattison about 1872. After-
wards he went to Dusseldorf and studied there two
or three years. On his return he made special studies
of the characteristic scenery of New Mexico, resulting
in a number of works. He is now a resident of
Paris.
Since 1879, W. L. Marple has spent the greater
part of his time in St. Louis. A number of his best
pictures show evident traces of the influence of French
landscapes exhibited here. He has recently gone to
Chicago.
Henry Chase was born in St. Louis, and early
evinced a fondness for art. He went to Europe in
1872, while still very young, and returned thither in
1877. He was a pupil of Mesdag, at the Hague. His
specialty is marine views, and latterly ships. Among
his earlier works is a specially fine large one entitled
" Taking the Wreck in Tow," which is in the posses-
sion of Hon. Henry Overstolz, of this city. He is
at present in New York.
Mrs. Augusta S. Bryant, for five years a pupil of
J. R. Meeker, has adopted landscape-painting as a
profession. Her work has received much favorable
notice. Among her works, " Pilot Knob" is a strong
piece of realistic painting, while the " Road to the
Meadows" and a " View on the Meramec" show a
fine sense of the great beauty of summer days, with
their shimmering atmosphere and tender foliage and
grass. Quite recently from a well-observed reflected
sunset she has developed an ideal scene of marked
character, whose mysterious light awakens a thought
of the Norse legends concerning Valhalla and the twi-
light of the gods. These indications give clear prom-
ise of valuable work yet to be done by this artist.
James M. Barnsley, a young man of excellent
ability, received his art education mainly in the School
of Fine Arts, and gives promise of marked success
as a landscape-painter. He is an earnest student of
nature, and has a keen insight into its beauties. He
is now studying in Paris.
J. M. Tracy was for a number of years a pupil in
the schools of Paris. In 1878 he established himself
in St. Louis as a portrait-painter. He, however,
painted landscapes and pictures of the genre type as
well. Several small cattle pieces by him attracted
special attention, the result being that he presently
devoted himself to animal painting as a specialty. In
this field he has been increasingly successful, his pic-
tures of dogs and hunting scenes commanding good
prices. His work exhibits marked improvement
since his adoption of this special field. He removed
to New York in 1881.
W. H. Howe, while clerk in a dry-goods house,
began to occupy his leisure hours in painting, with
no other teacher than pictures and occasionally ob-
serving artists at their work. In 1880 he went to
Dusseldorf, where he remained about one year. He
is now in Paris, where he is a pupil of Otto Van
Thoren.1
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
MUSIC AND MUSICIANS.
IN 1837 there came to St. Louis Professor Wil-
helm Robyn, a young German musician, who had
been educated at Emmerich, in lower Holland, his
instructor having been Bolde, a most capable mu-
sician, and the contemporary and acquaintance of
Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, and Hummel. Robyn
had expected much of St. Louis, having heard it to
be a place of thirteen thousand people, with many
Germans, and was greatly disappointed to find that
there was but little taste for music. There was only
one music-teacher here, a man named Cramer, who
taught the piano, and of whom little is now known,
except that he was doing a poor business, and soon
1 We wish to acknowledge our indebtedness for many impor-
tant suggestions to Mrs. A. B. Thompson, and also to Mr.
J. S. Garland, two of the most intelligent friends of art in the
citv.
MUSIC AND MUSICIANS.
1629
after left the place. Pianos were very scarce in St.
Louis in those days, and only a few of the rich old
Creole families had them.
Professor Robyn is full of sprightly recollections
of those days, and from him we have obtained a sketch
of the development of music in St. Louis.
Up to 1839 the musical recreations of the people
had been restricted to a concert, usually given by some
stray singing-school teacher or little band of strolling
musicians, with some local favorite, perhaps, as the
star. The only music in the churches worthy of
mention was at the Cathedral, which had for organist
an Italian named Marilano, brought to this country
by Bishop Rosatti, who returned to his native land.
There was a very good choir at the Cathedral, and
among the prominent members were Mrs. Henry
Chouteau and her daughter, Mrs. Mary Valle ; Mrs.
Bogy, a sister of Gen. Pratte; Judge Wilson Primm
and his sister, and Britton A. Hill, the well-known
lawyer, who is still living. Judge Primm was a
fair violin-player, and Robyn relates that they formed
an acquaintance and played together, the one his
violin and the other the piano, and although Primm
knew no German and Robyn no English, they con-
versed readily by means of music, the "universal
language."
In December of 1837 Ludlow & Smith's thea-
tre company arrived at St. Louis from New Orleans,
and musicians were wanted for the orchestra. Mr.
Robyn, rather than starve, as he says, engaged to
play the double bass at twelve dollars a week. A
complete orchestra was organized, with Herr Mueller
as leader. Mueller was an accomplished musician,
having been leader of a band for many years in Lon-
don. There was a young Englishman named Trust,
who was a fine solo trombonist and harper, and a
German, Louis Schnell, who was a skillful performer
on the horn. Among the others were John Brown
and Henry Berg and his brother, well-known musi-
cians, who played at balls, etc. Mr. Robyn says that
the performance of this orchestra was never excelled
by any similar organization subsequently.
In 1838, the theatre company having left, a small
orchestra was organized under the leadership of Mr.
Wells, a dancing-master and a good violinist. Rene
Paul was president of the society. A few concerts
were given, and resulted in the expression of a general
desire for a concert hall. Subsequently the concert
hall still existing on Market Street, between Second
and Third Streets, was erected. During the same
year Prof. Robyn was appointed teacher of music in
the University of St. Louis, and soon organized the
Philharmonic Society, which is still a flourishing
appendage of that institution. He had thirty-five
pupils, and his monthly recitals were attended by
the elite of St. Louis. He was the organist in the
chapel, and when the church was built he produced
all the great masses of Haydn, Mozart, etc., and
created quite a sensation in musical circles.
The same year (1839) Charles Balmer, still a resi-
dent and a well-known music publisher here, came to
St. Louis. That year Robyn organized and led a
brass band, no slight undertaking, as he was obliged
to write and arrange all the music himself. Balmer
was pianist at a concert given by the band for the
benefit of the new hall, and among the artists who
assisted were Carriere, a graduate of the Paris Con-
servatory, who was teaching the flute at the univer-
sity ; Farrell, an Irishman, who played the violin ;
and Martinez, a Spaniard, who played the guitar.
Miss Theresa Weber was the soprano on these occa-
sions. These concerts were a financial failure, but
similar entertainments were given for some years
afterward.
Miss WTeber and her brother Henry were members
of the immortal Weber family of musicians in Ger-
many ; she subsequently married Mr. Balmer, ami
Henry became his partner in the music trade. In
1840, Henry established a " Singakademie."
In 1842, Nicholas Lebrun came to St. Louis, and
was appointed leader of the band of the German mili-
tary corps which was organized in the following July.
He was a Frenchman, and arrived in St. Louis when only
twenty- three years old. For several years he traveled
with leading circuses, and his compositions attracted
much attention. From 1848 he resided in. St. Louis,
and became the band-leader of most of the popular
military organizations. He is now in the music trade
in St. Louis.
In 1845 occurred a marked event, the founding of
the Polyhymnia by Dr. Johann Georg Wesselhoeft,
one of the most remarkable Germans who had yet
come to America. In 1834 he was one of the foun-
ders of the Alten und Neuen Welt, of Philadelphia,
certainly the best German paper up to that time pub-
lished in America, and while a resident of that city
actively assisted in organizing the German settlement
at Hermann, Mo. After a varied career in the East,
> he came to St. Louis in 1844-45, and bestirred him-
i self actively among the Germans of the place. The
j "Polyhymnia" was organized for the practice of vocal
and instrumental music, but chiefly the latter was un-
dertaken, for singers were scarce, and it was next to
impossible to collect a chorus. Among the vocalists
still remembered is a German lady named Hoeffel, who
occasionally appeared as a soloist ; Christian Kribben,
1630
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
a German lawyer, who subsequently was a prominent
politician, and Mr. Romeyn, also a lawyer. For lack of
a chorus, the vocal performances of the society were
mostly limited to solos, duets, and quartettes; but
under the leadership of Professor Robyn it brought
out many overtures, symphonies, and other orchestral
works, and its concerts were well attended. It lasted
some ten years and then broke down. Among those
living who still recall their membership in the " Old
Polyhymnia" with pleasure are Drs. Bngelmann and
Wislizenus, Dr. S. Gratz Moses, and Mr. Karst, the
French consul. The "Polyhymnia" gave choice pro-
grammes, and afforded the people of St. Louis the
first classical music they had ever heard to any con-
siderable extent. One of its customs was to extend
courtesies and assistance to visiting artists. It often
rendered them invaluable orchestral assistance, and
frequently " went shares" with them in the proceeds
of the entertainment. Among those who visited St.
Louis during this period were Ole Bull and Max
Bohrer, the violinists, Thalberg, Leopold de Meyer,
Madame Anna Bishop, and Jenny Lind. For several
years Heinrich Kayser, a German politician, prominent
i'n city affairs, was president of the " Polyhymnia."
Among the other members W. A. Bode, Charles Bal-
mer, and E. Nennstiel.
In 1845, Henry Robyn (brother to Wilhelm) came
to St. Louis. Although never prominent like his
brother as a leader, he took high rank among the
musicians of the city, and was for many years organ-
ist at the Cathedral, and St. Patrick's Church. For
a long time he was musical instructor at the Insti-
tution for the Blind, and invented and published a
method (still in use) by which music for the blind
could be printed. This gifted man was lost in the
sinking of the " Pomerania," some four or five years
ago.
During the early years of the Polyhymnia, Mr.
Balmer established an " Oratorio Society," composed
of singers from all the choirs, and gave several per-
formances. At one of them he brought out the
whole of the " Creation," and although his chorus
was not large, and his orchestral aids were meagre,
he produced an effect which has never since been
equaled in St. Louis, even with the most elaborate
accompaniments. Between the years 1840 and 1850
the musical societies were represented by " The Cece-
lian" and " The Oratorio." R. Fuchs was the direc-
tor of the former, and C. Balmer of the latter. Later
the French musicians of noteworthy ability were
connected with local musical interests ; these were
Miguier, Fallen, and Carriere.
The next important musical venture was the estab-
lishment of the " Philharmonic Society" in 1859.
The chorus numbered about one hundred from the
various choirs, and there were fifty or sixty pieces in
the orchestra. It brought out some very important
works,—" Creation," " Seasons," " St. Paul," " Eli-
jah," Schumann's " Die Rose," etc. It was first
under the leadership of Sobolewski, an eccentric but
profound musician. The " Amphions," a glee-club
of society young men, and the " Orpheus," a male
quartette, often assisted at the Philharmonic concerts.
Sobolewski deserves an additional word. He was
the author of several works, including a classic opera,
which Liszt highly praised. It was named " Courola,"
after his daughter, who is still a resident of St. Louis,
and is a well-known teacher of vocal music. Most of
his family of ten children still live here.
To Mr. Sobolewski is due the credit of first gath-
ering into close and really harmonious relationship
whatever was of real worth in our musical circles. His
selections of musical compositions were guided by
sound judgment and refined taste, while the perform-
ances themselves became genuine artistic unities
through the inspiration of rare directive power.
Sobolewski was a man of rare genius as well as of
the most refined artistic taste, and with him in the
lead there was the greatest promise for the society, a
promise which, however, was not to be realized. Sobo-
lewski, notwithstanding his enthusiasm for the interest
of the highest art elements in music, and his unremit-
ting and intelligent labors, still failed of the hearty
appreciation to which his excellences would seem to
have entitled him.
Dissatisfaction led to Sobolewski's resignation, and
to the transfer to other hands of the management.
After a period of decline, another conductor was sought
in Germany, and Egmont Froehlich's services having
been secured, the society, under his management,
showed signs of revival. The musical elements of the
city, however, proved to be not yet ready for fusion,
and the society was dissolved about 1870.
After the dissolution of the Philharmonic Society,
the Germans and the Americans became mutually
exclusive in matters of music. Among the Germans
there was found the Arion Society, of which Sobo-
lewski was for a time the director. The Arion con-
stituted a male chorus of large membership, with Von
Deutsch as conductor. During the period of its real
activity many fine choruses, as well as compositions
for mixed voices, were admirably rendered. After a
time many members withdrew from the Arion and
organized the Liederkranz Society, with Egmont
Froehlich as director ; subsequently the Arion became
merged in the Liederkranz. The Liederkranz, after
MUSIC AND MUSICIANS.
1631
several years of more strictly musical effort, has be-
come an association in whose social enjoyment music
is a pronounced feature rather than the chief end.
The society possesses a large and commodious hall,
situated at Thirteenth Street and Chouteau Avenue.
There have been also a number of other male chorus
organizations, notably the Saengerbund and the Or-
pheus, but these have specially embodied the individual
character of the German element. The Musical
Union, organized by Dabney Carr, has for two years
represented American musical effort. In addition to j
this there have been given this season Memorial Hall ,
Concerts, which have afforded special opportunities for t
listening to talent not local. Simultaneously with |
these larger organizations a number of trios and quar-
tettes were formed by some of the best musicians. :
These in their weekly reunions have rendered ac-
ceptably much '-chamber music," selected with taste
and judgment from the great masters. Of such organ- '
izations the Philharmonic and the Mendelssohn Quin-
tette Clubs are specially worthy of mention.
The Philharmonic has given a series of concerts,
whose programmes for the most part consisted of very
choice classical music, and these were rendered in a
highly acceptable manner. The members of the
Philharmonic are Messrs. Spiering, Anton, Boehmen,
Meyer, and Hanimerstein.
The Mendelssohn is still young as a society, having
given but two public performances. On the other
hand, the ability and enthusiasm of its members gives
the organization a well-defined standing. Messrs.
Heerich, Schopp, Schoen, C. Froehlich, and Alfred
Robyn constitute the membership.
As a matter of course, the usual song concerts have ,
occurred, and have found special patronage among the
Americans. In these concerts in St. Louis, as else-
where, the musical element has too frequently been
subordinated to the idea of securing the largest possible
amount of applause.
Regarding this as a period of mere transition, we
may assert that it is passing away. While the lighter
operas are still popular, and the night of the great
singers rather than the night of great musical compo-
sitionsjs still provocative of the most strenuous struggle
for seats, yet such musical dramas as " Lohengrin" are i
with each repetition more generally and heartily ap- '
preciated. There is, therefore, unmistakable evidence
that a taste for genuine music in its truly artistic sig-
nificance is rapidly growing.
The reaction of this developing taste of the public
upon local musicians could not long be delayed, and,
indeed, is already manifest. The impossibility of
bringing musicians together into permanent and effi- '
cient organizations is giving way before a truer pro-
fessional spirit, and there is every reason to look with
confidence to the early organization of societies capa-
ble of rendering in a worthy manner great works re-
quiring large choruses. On the other hand, church
music both vocal and instrumental is rapidly im-
proving.
It is to be noted that among our local musicians a
number have found time and vindicated their ability
to compose original works of much merit. Sobolewski
undoubtedly stands at the head of local composers, al-
though his greatest works belong to his pre-Ainerican
period. Wm. H. Pommer, a young man of marked
ability, both as a pianist and as a composer, is the
author of many songs and of several comic operas.
Goldbeck's vocal music, especially his quartettes, is
widely known and highly appreciated. J. M. North,
C. Balmer, A. G. Robyn, and E. R. Kroeger have
also been noticeable as composers of songs. Walde-
mar Malmene is a composer of oratorios and ballads,
and E. M. Bowman of pleasing church quartettes.
H. Strachauer is a composer of classical music ; he
was a pupil of Bode's, and his fine abilities caused
his removal to Boston to be regretted. Wayman
McCreery has also composed some songs and a light
opera. The Kunkel brothers have had some local
reputation from their compositions.
Among interpreters (of instrumental music) spe-
cially worthy of mention are W. A. Bode, Mrs. Dr.
Strotholte (a specialist in Beethoven's sonatas), La-
witzky, Miss von Hoya, Spiering, Waldauer, Schoen,
Meyer, Anton, and Heerich (violinists); Bowman,
A. G. Robyn, Hammerstein, Miss Lina Anton, Miss
Nellie Strong, E. Froehlich, and A. Grauer (pianists).
Among those who have been prominent as directors
are, in addition to those previously named, Waldauer,
C. Froehlich, Poppen, Hans Balatka, and Otten.
A very strong influence has been exerted by several
non-professional musical organizations. The Quartette
Club, which meets at the residence of Mrs. Charles
Nagel, has attained rare excellence, and is to be counted
as a decided factor in the development of local musical
taste.
Another private organization has included many of
our best students of vocal and instrumental music,
and while seeking nothing but the improvement of the
ladies who compose it, has had a marked effect upon
the intelligence of the audiences which assemble to
listen to the efforts of professional musicians.
The Meysenberg Quartette Club has for years met
'regularly and worked industriously, and has had a
manifest influence in elevating the musical taste of
the community.
1632
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
The work done first by Henry Robyn and later by
Egmont Froehlich in the High School is also worthy
of mention, inasmuch as many singers have found
their first strong impulse while pupils; the number
of pupils and the fact that the school furnishes a
mixed chorus have much bearing upon the character
of the work, and consequently upon the nature of
its influence in our musical history.
In addition to individuals already mentioned, there j
are teachers of music whose services entitle them to
special notice. Such are Henry Robyn, Mrs. Brainerd,
H. M. Butler, Charles Green, M. Epstein, A. Epstein,
Mrs. Ralston, Carl Richter, Madame Petipas, Madame
Caramano.
The Polyhymnia Society was organized in the
summer of 1845, and for several years was, as we have i
already stated, well and favorably known in art and
musical circles. Many gentlemen, musicians, artists,
and others favorable to the encouragement of the arts,
were engaged in its organization. Among the most ac-
tive of these were Alexander Kayser, Dr. Pollak, Wil-
liam and Henry Robyn, and Messrs. Beneke, Obert, !
Ringling, Burke, Schnell, and Kribben. The ob-
stacles of comparatively empty coffers, of occasional
dissensions among the members, and of inexperience
were surmounted by the strenuous exertions on the
part of those who had the objects of the association
most at heart. In the early part of the society's exist-
ence, some serious misunderstanding among a portion
of its members on one or two occasions nearly brought
it to a sudden close. The first president of the Poly- i
hymnia was Mr. Wesselhoeft, who retained the office
during a period of two and a half years. The society
gave its first concert at Concert Hall on the 27th of
November, 1845. Its success induced renewed en-
ergy, and a year after that time the society numbered
nearly two hundred members. The orchestra con-
sisted of twenty or twenty-five performers. As hereto-
fore stated, the society went out of existence in 1870.
The Socialer Saenger.cb.or. — After the failure of
the revolution in Germany»in 1848 a large number
of those who had taken part in it fled to the United
States and many settled in St. Louis. These emi-
grants at once proceeded to organize societies for in-
tellectual and bodily culture and social recreation.
The very earliest of these associations was doubtless
the St. Louis Saengerbund, organized in 1849, which
after an honorable career of some twenty-five years
was merged in the Orpheus Saengerbuud and ceased
to exist. The next was established Sept. 13, 1850,
as the " Saengerchor des Arbeiterbildungsverein," or'
the song section of a union for the improvement of ,
workingmen. The next January it took the name of
" Socialer Saengerchor," by which it is yet known,
and is recognized as the oldest singing society in St.
Louis. It also enjoys the honor of being about the
only surviving Saengerbund of the hundreds which
were established during that period throughout the
country, and is certainly the only one that remains of
those in the West.
The first meeting of the infant society was held in
Kossuth Hall, on South Second Street, and Herr
Holzmann was the first president. The first concert
was given Nov. 30, 1850. In the winter of 1851 a
library was established ; on the Fourth of July, 1852,
the society took part in the usual celebration, and in
October, 1852, a debating club was formed. In Jan-
uary, 1855, the society gave a masked ball, the first
ever given by a German society in St. Louis, which
was the event of the season in German circles.
The society prospered, and was a representative
German institution until the war, when, in common
with its sister societies, it lost largely through the
enlistment of many of its members in both armies,
but chiefly under the Union flag. Since the war its
career has been without special incident. It has
been subjected to the friendly rivalry of younger or-
ganizations, but has maintained its place as one of
the leading German singing organizations of the city.
In April, 1868, it was incorporated, the incorpora-
tors being Clemens A. Schnake, Conrad Kellermau,
Henry Thon, Philip A. Nolting, Wilhelm Poking,
Jacob Eckhardt, Wilhelm Dentz, Henry Meyer,
Charles Roock, and Anton Helle. Since 1875 it has
been under the efficient leadership of Professor A.
Willhartitz. It has taken the following prizes :
First prize at the Westliche Saengerbund of North
America in June, 1854.
A silk banner at the fest at Highland, 111., May,
1855.
First prize at the St. Louis Agricultural and Me-
chanical Association, 1856.
First prize at the Saengerfest at Highland, 111.,
May, 1880.
The membership numbers about five hundred and
fifty, of whom eighty are active. The library, started
in 1851, has been well cared for, and numbers nearly
four thousand books. The society owns a piano, etc.,
and has a reserve fund of several thousand dollars.
The present officers are as follows : President, August
Blittersdorf ; Vice-President, Charles J. Bremer ; Sec-
retary, William Oyentrop ; Corresponding Secretary,
William Vogel ; Financial Secretary, John Tighman ;
Treasurer, Henry Trieselmann ; Musical Director,
Max Ballmann.
Germania Saengerbund. — This excellent German
MUSIC AND MUSICIANS.
1633
singing society was organized March 19, 1859, by
the two brothers, William and Adolph Reisse, under
the name of " Berg Saengerbund," or " Mountain
Saengerbund." The society was formed at Yaeger's
Garden, now Anthony & Kuhn's, in South St. Louis.
The first president was William Reisse ; the first
leader, F. Glaser, who was succeeded by F. Boch-
mann, Egmont Froehlich, Charles Gottschalk, Herr
Sabatzky, and Theodore Abbath. The society has
been prominent at several fests, and always won a
prize. It has brought out the following operas: " Die
Wein probe ;" "Die Gerichtsitzung ;" "Die Vier
Glatzkoepfe ;" " Der Vetter aus Amerika ;" " Incog-
nito ; oder, Der Fuerst wider Willen."
The society numbers thirty-two active members,
one hundred and forty-five passive members, and five
honorary members, embracing many of the best Ger-
man citizens of South St. Louis.
For ten years past the society's hall has been in
the building of the Lafayette Bank, corner Carondelet
Avenue and Second Street. On the 19th of March,
1882, it celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary in the
same garden where it was organized.
The Saengerbund has property representing a capi-
tal of two thousand five hundred dollars. It has
also a select library for the benefit of its members.
The present officers are : President, Frederick Schroe-
der ; Vice-President, A. Loux ; Recording Secretary,
Wilhelm Meyer ; Financial Secretary, F. Vischwitz ;
Manager, F. Themeyer; Leader, Theodore Abbath.
St. Louis Philharmonic Society. — In pursuance
of a notice previously given, a meeting was held in
the rooms of the Missouri State Mutual Insurance
Company, June 21, 1860, at which the constitution
of the " St. Louis Philharmonic Society" was read and
adopted, and the following officers and board of
directors were chosen : James E. Yeatman, presi-
dent ; Charles Balmer, vice-president ; John J. An-
derson, treasurer; George W. Parker, recording sec-
retary ; Thomas Marston, Jr., corresponding secretary ;
Board of Directors, L. A. Benoist, William Robyn,
William H. Benton, E. C. Catherwood, Henry T.
Blow, Dabney Carr, James B. Eads, B. A. Bode.
The object of the society was to encourage the study
and elevate the taste of music among the citizens.
The civil war came on soon after the organization of
the society, and put an end to its existence.
Musiker Unterstuetzungs Verein. — This society
was organized in 1863, and was incorporated in 1864.
The first officers were: President, J. H. Keller;
Secretary, Louis Schnell ; Treasurer, Charles Geb-
hardt. It was originally designed as a protective
union, to enable the musicians of the city to obtain
better prices for furnishing music at concerts, balls,
etc., but eventually was changed into a beneficiary
society. It pays six dollars per week sick benefits
and thirty-five dollars for funeral expenses. There are
about sixty members, and the officers are : President,
Nicholas Lebrun; Vice-President, Michael Ensinger ;
Secretary, George Zaenglein ; Treasurer, Charles Geb-
hardt. Herr Gebhardt has been treasurer continu-
ously since the organization. .
Orpheus. — The Orpheus Singing Society was organ-
ized July 16, 1867. The first president was William
Homann. In 1875 it was enlarged by the accession
of the Saengerbund. It has been one of the most
efficient of the numerous German singing societies of
St. Louis, and in the various musical contests has
taken its fair share of prizes. It has sixty active mem-
bers and one hundred and ninety passive members.
The present officers are as follows : President, Nicholas
Christman ; Vice-President, John Schorr ; Recording
Secretary, Louis Stockstrora ; Corresponding Secre-
tary, William H. Lahrmann ; Financial Secretary,
; George R. Kramer; Treasurer, Charles Schweikardt.
The Liederkranz. — In 1870 a disagreement among
the members of the Arion des Westens, a German
: singing society of some note, resulted in the secession
of sixteen members, among whom were Eugene Haas,
Ferdinand Diehm, and Rudolph Schulenburg, who
immediately issued a call for a new singing society,
and on the 27th of November, 1870,' thirty six
j united in forming the Liederkranz. The first direc-
j tors of the new society were Eugene Haas, Edmund
| Wuerpel, Theodore Kalb, Dr. Nagel, A. Link, Ferdi-
nand Diehm, and A. Laeffler, and the first officers
were : President, Eugene Hass ; Secretary, A. Link ;
Treasurer, Ferdinand Diehm ; Musical Director, Eg-
mont Froehlich. The latter was also director of the
Arion des Westens, but during the year he resigned,
and has continued uninterruptedly as the director of
the Liederkranz.
For some years the society met in the building of
the People's Savings Institution, Park and Carondelet
Avenues ; then it went to Freemasons' Hall. From
1877 to 1880 it met at the Annunciation school-house,
at Chouteau Avenue and Sixth Street, and Dec. 22,
1880, it occupied its present elegant quarters.
From its inception the Liederkranz was conspicu-
ously prosperous, and rapidly drew to itself the finest
musical talent among the Germans. It has always
enjoyed a high degree of popular favor. In 1879 the
Arion des Westens, which had two hundred and fifty
members, joined the Liederkranz, and added one hun-
dred voices to it. This accession emphasized the need
of more commodious quarters, the want of which had
1634
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
long been felt, and at last it was decided that the
society might safely undertake the erection of a hall
of its own. In August, 1879, therefore, the Lieder-
kranz Building Association was organized. The
capital was placed at fifty thousand dollars, and the
Liederkranz Society took three thousand five hundred
dollars of stock, and every member of the society
became also a member of the building association,
which was managed by the following officers : Presi-
dent, F. W. Sennewald ; Vice-President, Charles
Wezler ; Secretary, A. Link ; Treasurer, Ferdinand
Diehm ; Directors, Louis Gottschalk, Lorenz Lampel,
W. J. Lemp, Eugene Haas, Statius Kehrmaun, Fer
dinand Herold, Joseph Emanuel, Emil Donk, and
Egmont Froehlich.
The building association bought an eligibly situated
lot at Chouteau Avenue and Thirteenth Street, and
on the 31st of July, 1880, laid the corner-stone of
the new hall. On the 22d of December, 1880, the ;
building was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies.
The hall was erected by Messrs. Wilhelm & Janssen,
after plans procured from abroad. It has a frontage
of ninety-four feet on Chouteau Avenue and one hun-
dred and forty feet on Thirteenth Street, and is two
stories high. The style of architecture is the renais- \
sance. A handsome entrance at the intersection of j
these streets conducts to the interior. The complete-
ness of the appointments and the entire absence of
any glaring' or " loud" details are the conspicuous fea-
tures which first strike the eye. The special char-
acteristics of the structure are solidity and safety, ,
combined with beauty and a complete adaptability to
the objects for which the building was erected. The
grand hall is sixty-five by eighty-one feet, and there
is a refreshment-room one hundred and five by twenty-
four feet, besides a number of toilet-rooms and apart-
ments for billiards and other games. The stage is
thirty by twenty-five feet, and is shaped like a shell
in order to secure the best musical effect. The
acoustic properties of the hall are very fine. The lot
cost eight thousand dollars, the building thirty-six
thousand dollars, and the furniture six thousand dol-
lars. The building, in spite of its simplicity and
modesty of style, is one of the most imposing and
beautiful in the city, besides serving as a cheerful
home for the society and its friends.
The Liederkranz has six hundred members, of
whom one hundred and thirty are active. It is the
largest singing society in the city, and its success is
due chiefly to the high standard which it has applied
to its own performances, and to its aim to introduce
and familiarize the best work of the most eminent
composers. Under the direction of Herr Froehlich, it
has gained recognition as one of the best and most
proficient singing societies in the West. Among the
great works which it has brought out with distin-
guished success are Verdi's " Requiem," Schumann's
" Pilgrimage of the Rose," Mendelssohn's " Wal-
purgis Night," Gade's <; Erl King's Daughter," Vier-
ling's " Rape of the Sabines," Becker's " Die Zigeu-
nerin," Gade's " Zion," Bruch's " Odysseus," Hoff-
man's " Die Schoene Melusine," Haydn's " Seasons,"
Moehring's "Auff Offner See," Erdmannsdoerfer's
" Princessin Use," etc.
The officers for 1882 were : President. F. W. Sen-
newald ; Vice-President, 0. J. Wilhelmie ; Secretary,
M. Klaus ; Treasurer, Fred. Aberold ; Corresponding
Secretary, F. W. Meyer ; Cashier, E. P. Olshausen ;
Musical Director, Egmont Froehlich.
Schweitzer Maennerchor. — This was originally
the Gruelti Singing Society, a song section of the
Gruelti Verein, the Swiss Benevolent Society ; but in
February, 1874, it was chartered as the " Schweitzer
Maennerchor," with the following incorporators : Ul-
rich Schwendener, Francis Romer, John Jacklin,
Henry Hotz, August Wildberger, J. J. Kiburz, Sam-
uel Putscher, F. X. Siedler, Adolph Walser, John
Boerdin, and others. It has about forty members.
The present officers are : President, Albert Bugg ;
Vice-President, Rudolf Bellinger ; Treasurer, J. J.
Martin ; Musical Director, J. B. Trumbi.
West St. Louis Liederkranz. — In 1871, Anton
Huber, Frank Wieser, August Gruenewald, Louis
Schaefer, A. Meyer, Henry Pohlmann, and Louis
Wiesler organized the West St. Louis Liederkranz,
with headquarters near Spring and Easton Avenues.
Henry Pohlmann was the first president, A. Meyer
the first secretary, and John Oberreiter the frrst treas-
urer. Herr Haar was musical director. The society
prospered, and gained an enviable reputation for good
music, and in 1880 took the second prize at High-
land, 111., competing with fifteen clubs from St. Louis
and Southern Illinois. It has a membership of two
hundred and twenty, of whom twenty are active.
Quite a number of ladies belong to the society, and
are its most energetic members. Frederick Parten-
heimer has been director for five years. The present
officers are : President, Otto Keil ; Secretary, Carl
Golschen ; Treasurer, William Schroeder ; Musical
Director, Frederick Partenheimer ; Trustees, Louis
Schaefer, August Gruenewald, George Kramer, Theo.
Hoell, William Koehler.
There are many other German song unions of some-
what lesser note. Many of them are simply song
sections of German clubs, turnvereins, etc. Among
them may be mentioned the Rock Springs Saenger-
MUSIC AND MUSICIANS.
1635
bund, Camp Spring Leidertafel, Apollo Gesangverein,
Teutonia Gesangverein, Rheinischer Frohsinn, Maen-
nerchor der Hermann Soehne, etc.
The St. Louis Choral Society was organized
Sept. 1, 1880, by Professor Joseph Otten. The first
officers were : President, L. L. Tebbetts ; Vice-Presi-
dent, R. Chauvenet ; Secretary, Thaddeus Smith ; Li-
brarian, A. A. Schnuck ; Conductor, Professor Joseph
Otten. During the first year four subscription concerts
were given, and the works rendered were " The Mes-
siah," " The Fair Melusine," by Hoffman ; " Dettingen
Te Deum," by Handel; and fragments of "Tann-
hiiuser." Beethoven's Mass in C, etc. The society
has a chorus of one hundred and thirty voices, and is
regarded as a promising young organization. The
present officers are : President, Nathaniel P. Hazard ;
Vice-President, S. S. Leach ; Secretary, Richard
Fenby ; Conductor, Professor Joseph Otten.
Musical Union. — In November, 1881, Professor
A. A. Waldauer and Dabney Carr organized the St.
Louis Musical Union, an orchestra of nearly sixty
pieces, which for two seasons past has given con-
certs of a very high order of merit, having performed
with great acceptability the most difficult works of
most of the great composers.
Henry Shaw Musical Society. — In the fall of
1882 was organized a society with this name, under
the lead of Professor R. S. Poppen. Its first season's
performances were highly creditable.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.^
The Catholic Church. — The Catholic missionaries
were the first to preach the gospel in the territory
now known as the State of Missouri, and, indeed, in |
1 For material assistance in preparing the sketches of the
churches of St. Louis the author is greatly indebted to Rt. Rev.
C. F. Robertson, D.D., Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Dio-
cese of Missouri ; Rt. Rev. P. J. Ryan, D.D., Coadjutor Bishop
of the Catholic archdiocese; Rev. Walter H. Hill, S.J., of St.
Louis University; Lewis E. Kline, of the Baptist Depository;
Rev. J. W. Allen, D.D., of the Presbyterian Depository; Rev.
Timothy Hill, D.D., of Kansas City, author of a " History of
Presbyterianism in Missouri;" Rev. Benjamin St. James Fry,
D.D., editor of the Central Christian Advocate, and his assist-
ant, W. E. Barns ; Rev. John E. Godbey, D.D., editor of the
8<>nthirr»tfrn Methodist; as well as to a " History of Metho-
dism in Missouri," by Rev. Dr. D. R. McAnally ; " Pictorial St.
Louis," by Catnille N. Dry, published by Compton A Co., 1876;
and the St. Louis Spectator, in addition to the pastors of the
various churches.
that now actually comprised in the United States.
Long before the " Mayflower" entered Massachusetts
Bay the Franciscan missionaries had commenced their
sacred labors on the coast of Maine. Side by side
the cross and the fleur-de-lis moved into the wilder-
ness, marching not to the sound of the drum, but to
the solemn tones of the Gregorian chant. The
Jesuits, succeeding the Franciscans, carried on the
holy work, unchecked by snows or forests or tor-
rents, until within a few years the vast basin of the
St. Lawrence, from Quebec to Lake Superior, was
dotted with rude chapels, in which the sacred wafer,
" all that the church offered to the princes and nobles
of Europe, was shared with the humblest savage
neophytes." '2 And five years before Eliot, the Indian
apostle of New England, had commenced his labors
among the red men in the vicinity of Boston, the
cross of the Catholic Church overlooked the valley
of the Mississippi. The Indian proselyte loved the
Catholic missionary. The man of learning, the
scholar, and the gentleman became as a brother to
the children of the wilderness. He lived in their
wigwams, smoked their pipes, and ate of their veni-
son. He shared their hardships and sympathized
with their joys. In a word, acting upon the apostolic
rule, " with the weak he became as weak, in order
that he might gain the weak."
But it is not alone because the missionary adopted
the Indian habits and became as one of the tribe he
was proselyting that he was blessed with success.
This but furnished him with his moral lever. Instead
of demolishing the natural religion of the Indians, he
directed its energy and inspired it with an object. In
his eyes it was the rough block which he was to chisel
into life and beauty. Nature furnished him with ma-
terials ; it was his business to produce the image.
And with true knowledge of the world and the human
heart, he saw that the savages, possessing uncultivated
intellects, could only be thoroughly impressed through
the medium of their senses. Accustomed as they
had been to the greatness of the material world, they
could not at once become spiritual in their aspirations.
He therefore charmed them with the fascinating
powers of music, and took extraordinary pains in the
embellishment of the church and the altar. Fragrant
woods of the forest furnished materials, which his
own ingenuity carved into seraphs and saints. Fields
which had never been broken by the plow surren-
dered to his pious exertions wild flowers and ever-
greens. Sweet-smelling gums exuded from trees,
" which spread an odor equally agreeable with that of
! Bancroft.
1636
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
incense." Simple art and more simple nature com-
bined to decorate the log-built temple ; and the rays
of the morning sun, pouring through the window of
the little chancel, both gilded and sanctified the holy
work. " The Indians," says an eminent Protestant
writer, " felt that the place was sacred ; that the Great
Spirit, though everywhere present in his creations,
was peculiarly present here, invisible and holy ; and
that the cross, which was the soul of baptism and the
sign of devotion, which was symbolized in every mo-
ment of danger or deliverance, on lying down and on
rising up, which sparkled in every constellation of
the heavens, was indeed a holy emblem, significant of
the Great Sacrifice made far away in that Eastern
land, from which they derived light both for body
and soul. In this way the Jesuits succeeded in teach-
ing European virtues, and not teaching European
vices." l
The same writer adds, —
" Let all honor, then, be paid to the memory of the Jesuit mis-
sionaries in America. They have set a noble example to their
fellow-laborers in God's vineyard. They have illustrated by their
lives the force of that thrilling command, 'Go ye into all the
world, and preach the gospel to every creature ;' and the promise
which accompanied the command was faithfully kept in every in-
stance. Though ' most of them were martyrs to their faith,' God
was with them in all their sufferings and trials, and their deaths
were scenes of peaceful triumph. But the monuments of their
labors are fast passing away. Where are the Hurons, the Mo-
hawks, and the Abenakis ? Where are the mighty war-chiefs
of the Five Nations? The sun shines upon their graves; their
tomahawks are forever buried ; the fire of their calumets forever
extinguished. The wild forests of America no longer resound
with hymns to the Virgin, chanted in languages unknown to
civilization. The little bell of the chapel no more rings matins
and even-song by the shore of the inland lake. They have all
fled, and with them has fled away the glory of the Jesuit mis-
sions. But wherever history is read, the names of Breboeuf and
Jogues, Raymbault, Rasles, Marquette, Joliet, and Lallemand
shall be mentioned with honor, and wherever the Catholic faith
is promulgated these heroes shall have what they never sought,
an earthly immortality."2
As early as 1512 the Spanish missionaries preached
the gospel to the Indians of Florida, but Father Mar-
quette had the honor of first planting the cross in the
Illinois country, after he had, in 1673, discovered and
explored the Mississippi River. For two months he
sailed down the river in his bark canoe, and the nar-
rative of his extraordinary voyage, revealing to the
world the fact that the St. Lawrence could commu-
nicate with the Gulf of Mexico by an almost uninter-
rupted chain of lakes, rivers, and streams, gave
France the first idea of colonizing Louisiana. The
1 Peter Oliver : Historical View of the Puritan Common-
wealth.
s Ibid. Also see on the same subject Hazard, vol. ii. pp. 313,
314,393; Bancroft; Kip's Jesuit Missions ; Hutchinson's His-
tory of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 158, n.; Colden's Five Nations,
vol. i. p. 60 ; Moore's Life of Eliot, p. 76 ; British Review, Octo-
ber, 1844; Wilberforce's American Church; Mercure de France,
1806; De Maistre's Essay on the Generative Principles of
Human Government, translated in 1847 by a gentleman of Bos-
ton ; and Shea's Catholic Missions.
MARQUETTE ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
Mississippi valley soon beheld missions rise among
the Illinois, Miami, Yazoo, Arkansas, Natchez, and
other tribes. Jesuits, Recollects, and priests of the
foreign missions here shared the rude toil of convert-
ing the Indians, and the French missions of North
America mingled and blended with those of the
Spaniards of the South.
Marquette was succeeded in the Illinois country by
Father Claude Allouez, who labored under the direc-
tion of the Bishop of Quebec. He died about August,
1690. He was followed in 1680 by Father Gabriel de
la Ribourde, the first Superior of the Recollects, who
was slain by Kickapoo Indians, Sept. 19, 1680. Fa-
ther Ribourde labored with Father Zenobius Menibre,
who arrived in June, 1675, and preached in the Illinois
country in 1680. He was also murdered by the In-
dians in 1686 or 1687. The Jesuits now began their
missions in the country, and Father James Gravier,
S.J., who was killed about 1706, commenced his
labors. He was in Illinois in 1687, and was followed
by Father Sebastian Rale, who set out from Quebec
in 1691, but who it is believed did not reach the
country until the spring of the following year. After
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1637
remaining two years he was transferred to the Abe-
nakis, his original charge, and Father Gravier took
his mission. Father Gravier was very successful with
his missionary labors, but was soon recalled to Macki-
naw.
He was succeeded by Fathers Julian Binneteau and
Francis Pinet, the latter of whom founded the mission
of Tamaroa, or Cahokia. In 1700, Father Gravier
descended to the mouth of the Mississippi in order to
obtain supplies from French vessels for the Kaskaskia
mission, and apparently then returned to the mission.
Father Lymoges, stationed at first among the Oumas
in the lower Mississippi, is supposed to have ascended
the river with Father Gravier. Fathers Pinet and
Bovie also labored at the mission, but all of them,
except Father Pinet, disappeared about 1703, and
Pinet died in 1704. Gravier returned to Peoria and
labored there, but descended to Mobile, where he died
in January, 1706. About 1700 the care of the Illi-
nois mission devolved upon Fathers Marest and James
Mermet. In the previous year Francis J. de Mon-
tigny, vicar-general of Quebec, and Antoine Davion
had proceeded to the Mississippi, and Tamaroa, or Ca-
hokia, the mission of Father Pinet, was placed under
their charge. The first of the clergymen sent to
Cahokia was the Rev. John Bergier, but his health
having failed, Father Marest, who was then stationed
at Kaskaskia, joined him. Father Bergier soon after-
wards died. In addition to the Kaskaskia and Ca-
hokia missions, there was one on the St. Joseph's
River, of which Father John B. Chardon took charge
in 1711.
At this time four missions were in active opera-
tion,— one on the St. Joseph's, one at Peoria, one at
Kaskaskia, and one at Cahokia. At the last of these,
Father Dominic Mary Varlet succeeded Father Ber-
gier, about 1712, and remained for nearly six years,
laboring zealously among the Illinois. On his return
• to Europe, about 1718, Father Varlet was made Coad-
jutor Bishop of Babylon, but having avowed Jansen-
istic opinions, was deposed and excommunicated by
three successive popes. Contemporaneously with
Father Varlet, the Rev. Philip Boucher is said to
have labored in Illinois, chiefly at Fort St. Louis.
The influence of the missionaries upon the Indians
was widespread and highly beneficial. " Before their
conversion," writes Shea, "cruel and licentious to the
most frightful degree, the Illinois had, under the influ-
ence of religion, softened their savage customs and
became so pure in morals that the French settlers
frequently chose wives from the Indian villages.
These intermarriages are, indeed, represented as so
frequent that we must consider the present French
104
families of Indiana and Illinois as to some extent rep-
resenting the Illinois Indians, whose blood flows so
freely in their veins. The labors of the missionary
here, as among the Abenakis of Maine, had two fields,
— the villages at one season, the hunting- or fishing-
ground at others, being thus partly fixed and partly
nomadic."
In the mean time Spanish missionaries had been
approaching from the southwest. Cabeza de Vaca, of
the Narvaez expedition, succeeded in reaching the
outposts of the Spaniards of Mexico in Sonora, and
his accounts of the Indian tribes excited the religious
zeal of Friar Mark, of Nice, who in 1539 determined
to undertake a mission to them. His experiment
failed, but in 1542 another expedition set out from
Mexico, taking a course towards the northeast. After
having reached the head-waters of the Arkansas
River, the commander, Coronado, decided to turn
back, and on reaching the Rio Grande to return to
Mexico. Two Franciscan missionaries, Father Pa-
dilla and Brother John of the Cross, had accompanied
Coronado, and they determined to remain in the
country and undertake the conversion of the Indian
tribes. While on their way to the town of Quivira
they were both slain by the savages, and it was not
until forty years later that the Franciscans penetrated
into New Mexico, now the diocese of Santa Fe. De
Courcy, in his sketch of the Catholic Church in the
United States, says, " Before the English had formed
a single settlement, either in Virginia or New Eng-
land, all the tribes on the Rio Grande were converted
and civilized ; their towns, still remarkable for their
peculiar structure, were decorated with churches and
public edifices, which superficial travelers in our day
ascribe to the everlasting Aztecs." Gradually the
French and Spanish missionaries drew nearer to each
other, until at length their efforts mingled and blended.
In 1721, Father Charlevoix visited the missions on
the Mississippi River. He found the Miamis and
Pottawatomies nearly all Christians. Father Marest
appears to have been recalled about this time, and his
death occurred some years later. The chief missions
were now established on the banks of the Mississippi
River, — the Cahokias and Tamaroas under the priests
of the foreign missions, the Kaskaskias, Peorias, and
Metchigameas, the latter a tribe which Marquette had
seen near the Arkansas, under the priests of the So-
ciety of Jesus. The mission of Cahokia was located
on a small river, about a mile from the Mississippi, at
a large Indian town, in which two tribes dwelt. At
the time of Charlevoix's visit it was in charge of
Fathers Dominic Thaumur de la Source and Le Mer-
cier. The Kaskaskia mission had been divided into
1638
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
two distinct charges. One, said to have been the more
numerous, was " about half a league above old Fort
Chartres, within gunshot of the river," and was under
the direction of Father Joseph Ignatius le Boulanger.
The latter translated into the Illinois dialect the cate-
chism and instructions for hearing mass and approach-
ino- the sacraments, and added for the use of the mis-
O *
sionaries a literal translation into French of the Illinois
versions. In 1721 he was assisted by Father De Kere-
ben. At the French village below the fort Father De
Beaubois was parish priest, and the second Kaskaskia
mission, located at an Indian village about six miles
inland, was under the charge of Father John Charles
Guymonneau, who apparently was at that time Supe-
rior of the mission.
" Almost all the Illinois," we are told, •' were now
Christians, and greatly attached to the French. They
cultivated the ground in their own way, and had be-
come, under the influence of religion, very industrious,
raising poultry and live-stock to sell to the French.
The women were adroit, weaving of buffalo hair a fine
glossy stuff, which they dyed of various colors and
worked into dresses for themselves, manufacturing a I
fine thread with great ingenuity." About 1722 the
Illinois of the Rock and Pimiteony, owing to the
harassing attacks of the Foxes, determined to abandon
their villages and join the other Illinois tribes on the
Mississippi, where they were converted to Christianity.
In the mean time the Jesuits had established them-
selves at New Orleans, and their Superior there, to*
whom it was transferred from the Superior at Quebec,
had the superintendence of the Illinois mission, j
Priests were thenceforth supplied from New Orleans. |
In 1725, Fathers De Beaubois and De Ville ascended i
the river, followed in 1727 by Fathers Dumas, Tar-
tarin, and Droutrelau. The Illinois mission now be-
gan to decline, owing to the mismanagement of the
French government of Louisiana and the sale of liquor
to the Indians at the fort in the Illinois country. In
1750 but two Indian missions remained, one of them
embracing six hundred Indians, under Fathers Francis
Xavier de Guienne and Louis Vivier, and the other,
not so large, under Father Sebastian Louis Meurin,
probably at Vincennes. The priests of the Seminary
of Foreign Missions no longer ministered to the In-
dians, but remained at Cahokia as pastors for the
French. In 1757 the French government expelled
the Jesuits from their colleges, and subsequently the
possessions of France were surrendered to England
and Spain. The centre of the Illinois mission at New
Orleans was suppressed in 1762, and the mission was
thenceforth deprived of all external aid. A portion
of the Jesuit property in the Illinois country was sold
by the French government, and the means of the
missionary priests were thus still further reduced.
The Fathers generally remained at their missions as
secular priests under the authority of the Bishop of
Quebec until their death. Father Peter Potier, said
to be the last survivor of the Jesuit missionaries in
the West, was at St. Joseph's in 1751, and frequently
visited the Illinois missions up to the time of his
death, which occurred at Detroit in 1781.
The last of the Jesuit missionaries who resided
regularly in the Illinois country was Father Sebastian
L. Meurin, who arrived at Post Vincennes in 1749,
and died after 1775. Father Meurin held services
at the then recently founded town of St. Louis from
May, 1766, to Feb. 7, 1769. Father Meurin's body
was removed to St. Louis at a comparatively recent
date. He was one of the most zealous and devoted
of the early missionaries, who, if their labors were
not crowned with that success for which they had so
ardently striven, had the satisfaction of witnessing a
great and beneficial change among the Illinois. " More
than in any other part," writes Shea, " the settlers
intermarried with the Indians, and there are few of
the French families in Illinois and Missouri that
cannot boast their descent from the noble tribe which
has given its name to the former State." The Osages
were frequently visited by the Illinois missionaries,
and, as we have seen, Father Gravier was invited to
labor among them. In 1720 some of the Missouris
went to France, and the chief's daughter embraced
Christianity and married Sergeant Dubois. Soon
after their return, however, they attacked a French
post and massacred all its inhabitants. Father
Meurin's successor at Vincennes was Father Vivier,
after whom came Father Pierre Gibault, who officiated
at St. Louis from June, 1770, to January, 1772, and
who was present at the capture of Kaskaskia by Gen.
Clark, on the 4th of July, 1778. Father Gibault
was " vicar-general of the Bishop of Quebec for Illi- .
nois and the adjoining counties," and therefore had
i the supervision of all the missions in the Illinois
1 country, including the French settlement of St. Louis.
He appears to have returned to Canada about 1789.
When Laclede and Chouteau arrived at the site of
St. Louis, in 1764, Father Meurin was stationed at
Cahokia. He crossed the river in a canoe, and having
offered mass in the forest, blessed the settlers and their
work. Laclede's companions were mostly French or
of French descent, and subsequently were augmented
by the immigration of- Candians, Spaniards, Italians,
i and other nationalities. The population, therefore,
was made up of people from Catholic countries, and
1 the established religion, both under French and Spanish
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1639
rule, was the Catholic. The slaves, both negroes and
Indians, and the free Indians living in the town were
also brought up in the Catholic Church. For some
time after the settlement of Laclede's party at St.
Louis the parish or mission was supplied by priests
from Vincennes, Cahokia, and Kaskaskia, through
the instrumentality most probably of St. Ange, the
French commandant. Father Meurin, priest of
" Our Lady of the Kahokias," it is said, while offi-
ciating at St. Louis, baptized three whites, twelve
negroes, and five Indians. The first baptism by
Father Meurin occurred in the early part of May,
1766. The record (in French) is partly obliterated,
but in substance it reads as follows :
" In the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-six, on
the undersigned, missionary priest in the county of the
Illinois St. Louis, in a tent, for want of a church, have
baptized, under condition, Mary day of the month of
September, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-five of the
law John Baptist Deschamps and of Mary Pion, her
father and mother. The godfather is Mr. Reno Tiercerot (Kier-
cereaux), nnd the godmother Mary .
" In faith whereof, I have signed with the godfather.
" J. S. MEURIN, Priest."
The second child baptized by him was Antoine, son
of Lisette, a Pawnee slave. This baptism was on the
9th of May, 1766. Owing to the non-residence of
the priest in St. Louis, there is no record of his hav-
ing officiated at interments, which appear to have been
attended to by Rene" Kiercereaux, the godfather of
Mary Deschamps, a man of note in the community,
whose name appears frequently in the French and
Spanish civil records. After the first church was
built he was for a long time " chantre" or singer of
the church, and to the subsequent interments recorded
by him he signed his name as " Chantre de cette
eglise' (" chanter or singer of this church"). From
October, 1770, to the 17th of March, 1772, Kier-
cereaux recorded the burial of nineteen whites, ten
negroes, and five Indians. The next priest who vis-
ited St. Louis was Father Pierre Gibault, previously
of Vincennes, who styled himself " Priest-Curate of
the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady of the Kas-
kaskias, and Vicar-General of my Lord the Bishop
of Quebec," who remained from June, 1770, to Jan-
uary, 1772. From February, 1772, until May of the
same year Father Meurin also occasionally visited St.
Louis, and during that time baptized two whites and
three negroes.
Until 1770 the country was supposed to belong to
France, and the clergy continued to act under the di-
rection of the French Bishop of Quebec, but upon
the arrival in that year of the Spanish Lieutenant-
Governor, the ecclesiastical jurisdiction was trans-
ferred to the Spanish Bishop of Havana. The first
priest who resided permanently at St. Louis seems to
have been Father Valentin, a Capuchin friar, who in
his official acts styled himself " priest of the parish of
St. Louis and its dependencies." He remained from
May, 1772, to June, 1775, and during that period
i baptized sixty-five whites, twenty-four negroes, and
I eighteen Indians. He also solemnized four marriages
| of whites, and officiated at the interment of forty-two
whites, eleven negroes, and nineteen Indians. During
Father Valentin's incumbency the body of the com-
mandant, St. Ange, was buried, and the record, trans-
lated into English, reads, —
"In the year 1774, 27th December, I, the undersigned, have
interred in the cemetery of this parish the body of Hon. Louis
de St. Ange, captain attached to the battalion of Louisiana,
administered of the sacraments of the church.
"Fn. VALENTIN."
From June, 1775, to May, 1776, there does not
appear to have been any stationary priest, but the
j parish was occasionally visited. During two days,
I the 4th and 5th of October, 1775, Father Meurin
j again officiated, and baptized four whites. On the
j 19th of March, 1776, Father Hilaire, a priest of the
! order of Capuchin friars, and apostolic prothonotary,
j baptized six whites and solemnized one marriage. In
the absence of a priest, R6ne Kircereaux, " singer of
the church," recorded from July 7, 1775. to March 2,
1776, the burial of twenty-nine whites, five negroes,
and two Indians. The certificate was subsequently
attested and approved by Father Bernard de Lim-
pach, who succeeded Father Valentin in the spring
of 1776.
Father Bernard had been transferred from Cuba
by Father Dagobert de Longwy, vicar-general of
Louisiana. His appointment to the church at St.
Louis reads as follows :
"Father Dagobert de Longwy, principal Capuchin priest and
vicar-general of the mission of Louisiana, in the diocese of
Havana de Cuba, to our very dear brother, the Reverend Father '
Bernard, de dix par, a professed friar of that order, in the prov-
ince of Liege, and apostolic missionary of this mission, greeting :
" Well and sufliciently knowing your good habits and capac-
ity, desirous also to conform in all things to the commands
of his very Christian Majesty, by his letters patent, regis-
tered at the registry of the Superior Council of this colony to
grant, in proper and due form, appointments as curate to our
missionaries who merit it to those parishes and posts which
the mission had formerly been deemed as entitled to, and to
place them in legal possession, the patronage, emoluments,
and all other arrangements being reserved to our position as
the head until his Catholic Majesty should otherwise direct,
we have therefore given and conferred, and by these presents
do give and confer on you the curacy or parish church of St.
Louis, of Illinois, post of Pain Court (short-bread), with all its
rights and appendages, upon condition of actual personal resi-
dence there, and not otherwise, until a change or revocation by
1640
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
us or our successors; requiring in consequence the services of
the deputy of the king's attorney to see you placed in actual
possession of said curacy of the parish of St. Louis, of Illinois,
in accordance and with the usual solemnities.
" Granted at our parsonage, under the seals of office, the 18th
of February, in the year of grace one thousand seven hundred
and seventy-six.
"FRIAR DAGOBERT, Vicar-General.
"NEW ORLEANS."
" I certify that this present document is an exact copy of the
original appointment presented to us by the Reverend Father
Bernard de Limpach, to be deposited for safe-keeping in the
archives of this government office in St. Louis of the Illinois.
"FRAN'CO CRUZAT.
" May 19, 1776."
Father Bernard was placed in possession of the
parsonage and formally installed on the same day, as
the following translation of the Lieutenant- Governor's
certificate shows :
" In the town of St. Louis, at nine o'clock of the morning of
Sunday, the nineteenth day of the month of May, in the year
one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six, before me, Don
Francisco Cruzat, captain of infantry and Lieutenant-Governor
of these settlements of the Illinois, and the most distinguished
parishioners of the parish of said town, all assembled together
in church, the Reverend Father Friar Bernardo de Limpach,
Capuchin priest, in virtue of the dispatch which he has brought
and delivered from the Most Reverend Father Dagobert de
Longwy, Capuchin priest, Superior and Grand Vicar-General of
the mission of this province of Louisiana, bearing date the
eighteenth of February last passed, and the letter of direction
which I, the said Lieutenant-Governor, have received from the
Senor Don Luis ne Unzaga y Ameraga, brigadier of the royal
armies and Governor-General of this province, bearing date the
28th of February of the current year, in which he commands
me to recognize the above-named Father Friar Bernard de
Limpach as the curate of the said town of St. Louis. After
having performed all the ceremonies that are usual and pre-
scribed by his said Superior, the Most Reverend Father Dago-
bert, he has entered into and taken legal and formal possession !
of the cure of this parish of St. Louis of the Illinois; and I, j
the said Lieutenant-Governor, have caused him to be recognized
publicly, as he is recognized by all the parishioners of said
parish, and in order that the same may more fully appear and
that no obstacle may at any time hereafter be interposed to the
exercise of his ministry, there shall be deposited in the archives
of this government under my charge the copy of this dispatch,
together with this act, which the said Father Friar Bernardo de
Limpach has signed with me, the said Lieutenant-Governor, and
the most distinguished persons of this town, who by my com-
mand were assembled for this purpose, the same day, month,
and year above mentioned, — P. F. Bernard, Dubreuil, Perrault,
Benito Basquez, Hubert, Sarpy, Laclede Liguest, A. Berard,
Ene. Barre, Labusciere, Chauvin, Conde, Jh. Conand, Fran-
cisco Cruzat."
Father Bernard officiated as priest from May, 1776,
to November, 1789, during which time he baptized
four hundred and ten whites, one hundred and six
negroes, and ninety-two Indians; solemnized mar-
riages of whites, one hundred and fifteen ; negroes,
one; Indians, two; mixed white and Indian, one;
and buried two hundred and twenty-two whites,
sixty negroes, and forty-four Indians.
On the 17th of April, 1780, during the adminis-
tration of Leyba, he blessed " the first stone of the
fort on the hill back of the church, and it was named
Fort St. Charles, in honor of Charles III., king of
Spain." This was the stone martello fort which
stood as late as 1820 at the southwest corner of Wal-
nut and Fourth Streets, where the Southern Hotel
now stands. The barracks for the Spanish troops
was a long low stone building on the north side of
Walnut Street and immediately opposite the location
of the hotel. After the change of government from
Spain to the United States, the old fort was for a
long time used as a jail.
On the church register, under date of June 28,
1780, appears the record of the burial of Fernando
de Leyba, Lieutenant-Governor. The English version
reads, —
" In the year 1780, the 28th of June, I, priest, Capuchin mis-
sionary, curate of St. Louis, country of the Illinois, province
of Louisiana, bishopric of Cuba, have interred in this church,
in front of the balustrade on the right, the body of Don Fer-
dinand Leyba, captain of infantry in the battalion of Louisiana,
actual commandant of this post, administered of all the sacra-
ments of our mother the Holy Church. In faith whereof, I
have signed the day and year as above.
" F. BERNARD, Miss."
Father Bernard was much beloved by his congrega-
tion, and traditions are still preserved of his piety and
zeal. His successor was the missionary priest Ledru,
who continued to officiate from November, 1789, to
September, 1793, during which period he baptized
one hundred and sixty-eight whites, fifty-five negroes,
and nineteen Indians ; solemnized twenty-nine marri-
ages of whites and two of Indians and whites, and
officiated at the interment of seventy whites, thirty-
five negroes, and three Indians.
On the 14th of March, 1792, he interred the bone
of Pierre Gladu, whom he describes in the certificate
of interment as " a Canadian, before then buried in
the Little Prairie, killed by the Indians, ' 1'annee du
coup' (in 1780), a good man and of known probity,
according to public statement and report." 1
1 In Hon. Wilson Primm's address before the Missouri His-
torical Society, delivered Sept. 7, 1867, to which the author is
indebted for much valuable material concerning the early his-
tory of Catholicism in St. Louis, the following paragraph oc-
curs:
" In connection with this interment, it was said by the old in-
habitants who lived at the time and knew the facts that shortly
before a man named Duquette came from Canada, sought out
the grave of Gladu in the Little Prairie, and caused the re-
mains to be disinterred. He then caused them to be buried in
the graveyard of th% town with all the solemnities and cere-
monies of the Catholic Church. There was a large procession
from the Prairie to the cemetery, Duquette walking near the
coffin, bareheaded, and with a lighted taper in his hand. After
KELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1641
Father Ledru was succeeded by Pierre Joseph Di-
dier, a priest of the religious order of the Benedic-
tines, of the congregation of St. Maur. He officiated
from December, 1793, to April, 1799, during which
period he baptized two hundred and twenty whites,
seventy-nine negroes, and sixteen Indians. He sol-
emnized seventy-three marriages of whites and one
marriage of white and Indian, and buried eighty-five
whites, sixty-one negroes, and nine Indians.
From October, 1793, to March, 1794, the inter-
ments were made by Jacques Glamorgan, who was
acting charge warden, and Re'ne Kiercereaux. These,
which are exclusive of the interments at which Father
Didier officiated, numbered seven whites, four ne-
groes, and two Indians. During the latter part of
Father Didier's connection with the parish it appears
that he did not officiate regularly, for the register
shows that Leander Lusson, priest of " St. Charles of
the Little Hills of the Missouri," and Jacques Max-
well, priest of Ste. Genevieve, occasionally officiated
at St. Louis from July, 1798, to May, 1799, during
which period there were baptized eight whites, one
negro, and there was solemnized one marriage of
whites. Father Lusson appears to have become the
regular priest, serving from May 23, 1799, to March
23, 1800, during which time he baptized twelve whites,
eight negroes, and five Indians, and solemnizing five
marriages of whites. He was succeeded by Father
Pierre Janin, who officiated from April 6, 1800, to
Nov. 12, 1804, during which time he baptized two
hundred and twenty-five whites, one hundred and fif-
teen negroes, and fifty-nine Indians ; solemnized the
marriages of thirty-four whites, and two whites and
Indians, and buried one hundred and thirty-eight
whites, fifty-eight negroes, and nineteen Indians.
The large number of interments recorded during
Father Janin's pastorate is accounted for by the fact
that the smallpox made its first appearance in St. Louis
on the 15th of May, 1801. From the fact that no
record of baptisms appears from Nov. 12, 1804, to
March 2, 1806, it is to be presumed that the parish
had no pastor during that period. Interments, how-
ever, were recorded by Jean Baptiste Trudeau. He was
the schoolmaster of the village, and locally noted as a
stern disciplinarian, and succeeded Rene" Kiercereaux
as singer of the church. The interments recorded by
him numbered forty-five whites, sixteen negroes, and
twelve Indians. After November, 1806, the church
the reinterment he caused to be placed at the head of the grave
a large cross bearing the name of the deceased, and having ful-
filled the last sad duties to the deceased he quit the country,
leaving his connection with the deceased a mystery which the
inhabitants never could solve."
was supplied by priests from other parishes. From
March 2, 1806, to the 29th of May of the same year
Father Maxwell officiated, and on the 14th and 15th
of September of the same year, Father Donation
Olivier, " missionary priest to the Illinois," officiated
for baptisms only. Father Maxwell baptized forty-five
whites, sixteen negroes, one Indian, and solemnized
three marriages of whites. Father Olivier baptized
eleven whites, five negroes, and one Indian.
The next registry of baptisms is dated Nov. 9,
1806, and the entry is made in a new volume, on the
first page of which is the following :
" This register, containing ninety-two pages, including this
one, marked and numbered, is intended for the inscription of
the baptisms of the parish of St. Louis, country of the Illinois,
under the domination of the United States of America, and of
the bishopric of Baltimore. In faith whereof, we, Amos Stod-
dard, civil commandant of said place, have signed said register,
the year and day 26th September, 1804.
"Amos STODDARD,
" Gapt. and First C. Comdt. U. Louisiana."
Thomas Flynn, of the religious order of Capuchins,
exercised the functions of parish priest from Nov. 9,
1806, to June 2, 1808, during which time he baptized
eighty-eight whites, eleven negroes, and one Indian,
solemnized eleven marriages of whites, and buried
thirty whites and nine negroes. From the 2d of
June, 1808, to May, 1813, no regular priest was
stationed at St. Louis, but the parish was visited by
the following clergymen :
Father Maxwell, from 5th to 8th of June, 1808, baptizing 23
whites and 9 negroes.
Father Urbain Guillet, a Trappist of the monastery of " Notre
Dame de Bon Secours, near Kahokias, in the Territory of Illi-
nois," from 20th July to 26th of August, 1808, baptizing 15
whites and 5 negroes.
Marie Joseph Dunand, priest and prior of the order of La
Trappe, from 25th December, 1808, to January, 1809, baptizing
11 whites, 7 negroes, and 1 Indian.
Father Guillet again, from 24th to 31st December, 1809, the
parish having been without a priest for nearly a year. He
baptized 9 whites and 2 negroes.
Father Bernard, of whom mention has been made before,
officiated from 6th February to 13th July, 1810, baptizing 49
whites and 9 negroes.
Father Maxwell again on the 30th of July, 1810, baptizing 3
whites and 1 negro.
Father Dunand again on the 5th August, 1810, baptizing 2
whites and 2 negroes.
Father Maxwell again, from 12th to 15th August, 1810, bap-
tizing 12 whites and 1 negro.
Father Guillet again, from 2d November, 1810, to 23d June,
1811, baptizing 27 whites and 9 negroes.
Father Dunand again, from 30th July to 2d August, 1811
baptizing 6 whites.
Father Guillet again, from 9th August to 1st December, 1811,
baptizing 15 whites, 8 negroes, and 1 Indian.
Father Savigne, from llth December, 1811, to 15th December,
1812, baptizing 76 whites and 19 negroes.
1642
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Father Dunand again on the 10th November, 1812, baptizing
2 whites.
Father Savigne again on the llth February, 1813, baptizing
1 white.
Father Dunand again, and also Savigne, on the 14th March,
1813, each baptizing 1 white.
Father Dunand again on the 16th March, 1813, baptizing 2
negroes.
From the 18th of December, 1810, to the 12th of April, 1813,
in the absence of officiating priests, Trudeau, as singer of the
church, Jean Louis Marc, as sacristan, Samuel Solomon, Patrick
Lee, and others, as church wardens, superintended and certified
to the burial of the dead. The number of these interments was
165 whites, 61 negroes, and 11 Indians.
Father Savigne again appears to have exercised permanent
functions as curate of St. Louis from the 12th of May, 1813, to
Oct. 3, 1817, during which time he baptized 130 whites, 48
negroes, and 1 Indian ; solemnized the marriages of 90 whites
and 2 negroes, and interred 135 whites, 40 negroes, and 3 In-
dians.
It was during the ministry of Father Savigne that
St. Louis was visited by Benoit Joseph Flaget, Bishop
of Bardstown, Ky., who was received with great re-
joicing by the Catholic population. During his stay
he baptized the children of many of the leading
families, among them Joseph Simpson, son of Dr.
Robert Simpson. Father Savigne was the last priest
of the Canadian mission sent to St. Louis by the
Bishop of Quebec. He is described as having been
" a man of fine presence, of amiable disposition, zeal-
ous in the performance of his duties, and especially
kind to the poor and those in distress."
On the 5th of January, 1818, Louis Guillaume
Valentin Dubourg, Bishop of Louisiana, accompanied
by Bishop Flaget, of Kentucky, and a number of
missionary priests, arrived at St. Louis, which was
made the episcopal seat for the Territory of Missouri.
Bishop Dubourg determined to remain in St. Louis
until affairs had become settled in New Orleans, which
was then in a disturbed condition. He continued to
reside in St. Louis until 1824, and was actively as-
sisted in the work of building this portion of his dio-
cese by the priests who had accompanied him, Fathers
De Andreis, Rosatti, Acqueroni, Ferrari, and Caretti,
the first three of the Congregation of the Missions.
Louis Guillaume Dubourg was born at Cape Fran-
yois, island of San Domingo, Feb. 14, 1766, was
educated in France, and studied theology at the Semi-
nary of St. Sulpice. Subsequently he was placed in
charge of a new Sulpitian institute at Issy, near
Paris, but was driven from France by the revolution
of 1792, and fled to Spain, whence he went to Balti-
more, where he arrived in December, 1794. In the
following year he became a priest of the Order of St.
Sulpice, and in 1796 was made president of St. Mary's
Ecclesiastical Seminary in Baltimore, which, in Janu-
ary, 1805, he raised to the rank of a university, hav-
ing also previously established colleges in Havana and
New Orleans, which were broken up by political dis-
turbances. He established the Sisters of Charity in
Baltimore in 1809, and in 1811 founded what is still
the mother-house of the order for the United States
at Emmitsburg, Md. In October, 1812, he was ap-
pointed administrator apostolic of the Territory of
Louisiana, and arrived in New Orleans towards the
close of the year. In 1815 he went to Rome, and
was there consecrated Bishop of Upper and Lower
Louisiana, Sept. 24, 1815. On his return he brought
with him five Lazarist priests (among whom were
Fathers De Andreis and Rosatti) and twenty-six
young men belonging to the same order. He arrived
in the United States Sept. 14, 1817, and proceeded
to St. Thomas' Seminary at Bardstown, Ky., where
the priests remained until they had acquired pro-
ficiency in the English language. He reached Ste.
Genevieve Dec. 27, 1817, in company with Bishop
Flaget, who had previously visited Ste. Genevieve and
St. Louis for the purpose of determining which was
the more eligible site for a seminary. It was finally
decided that St. Louis should be made the seat of the
episcopal residence, and on the 5th of January, 1818,
; the two bishops reached St. Louis. Bishop Dubourg
at once established his episcopal residence in St. Louis,
and continued to live there until 1824, on March 25th
of which year he consecrated Father Rosatti Coadjutor
Bishop of St. Louis, after which he went to New Or-
leans to reside. In 1815 he founded in America the
Society for the Propagation of the Faith, and in 1818
established, under the charge of the Lazarist Fathers,
St. Mary's College and Seminary at the Barrens,
which in 1838 was transferred to Cape Girardeau,
where it still flourishes. Before leaving Europe in
1817 he had applied to the Superior-General of the
Order of the Sacred Heart, Madame Barat, for a
colony of religious ladies to establish a house of the
order at St. Louis. The request was complied with,
and in August, 1818, the ladies of the order arrived
in St. Louis. During Bishop Dubourg's administra-
tion the Sisters of Loretto organized schools in Mis-
souri, and in 1819 the College of St. Louis, attached
to the Cathedral, was established. He was also active
in establishing missionary schools among the Indians,
and introduced Jesuits from Maryland into his dio-
cese for that purpose. In June, 1826, Bishop Du-
bourg left New Orleans for the See of Montauban, in
France, and in February, 1833, was made Archbishop
of Besan§on. He died Oct. 10, 1833. It is said by
his biographer that he was a San Doniingan by birth,
a Frenchman in education, an American in principle,
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1643
and a priest by vocation. Bishop Dubourg was a
man of singular energy and untiring zeal, and con-
tributed greatly to the growth of Catholicism in the
West and Southwest.
At this time (1818) there were in the whole of ;
Upper Louisiana only four priests and seven chapels
and about eight thousand Catholics. The chapels
were at Ste. Genevieve, Kaskaskia, St. Louis, Floris- j
sant, Prairie du Rocher, Cahokia, and New Madrid. \
During Bishop Dubourg's connection with the St. I
Louis Church, from 1818 to 1826, Fathers Pratte, '
De Neckere, De Andreis, Cellini, Ilosatti, Acqueroni, i
Ferrari, Saulnier, Niel, Dahmen, Tichitoli, Jean-Jean, j
and others officiated at the Cathedral. Of these, ,
Father De Andreis was retained as vicar-general in ;
St. Louis by Bishop Dubourg, and died in 1820, ;
and Father De Neckere became Bishop of New
Orleans in 1829, succeeding Bishop Dubourg. He ;
died in 1833 of yellow fever.
Joseph Rosatti was born at Sora, kingdom of Naples,
Jan. 30, 1789, and entered, at Rome, the novitiate
of the " Congregation of the Priests of the Mission
of St. Vincent de Paul," commonly known as the ;
Lazarists. He was induced by Bishop Dubourg to I
come to America, whither he preceded the bishop, and
arrived in Baltimore July 26, 1816. He then re-
paired to St. Joseph's College, at Bardstown, Ky., to
perfect himself in the knowledge of English, and ar-
rived in St. Louis Oct. 17, 1817. In the year fol-
lowing he took charge of St. Mary's College, which
had just been established by Bishop Dubourg at
what was then known as " the Barrens," in Perry
County, Mo. This region had originally been settled
in 1797 by Catholics from Maryland and Kentucky,
who gave it the name " Barrens," applied to the
prairie land of Southwestern Kentucky, but which did
not imply an absence of fertility in the soil in Perry
County. Here the Lazarist Fathers with their own
hands built themselves a rude home, and founded
St. Mary's College, which was transferred to Cape
Girardeau in 1838, when the establishment in Perry
County was made a preparatory seminary. In 1820,
Father De Andreis died, and was succeeded as su-
perior of the Lazarists by Father Rosatti, who had
been his pupil in Rome. Father Rosatti was conse-
crated Bishop of Tenegra in parfibus, March 25,
1824, and made coadjutor to Bishop Dubourg, being
left in charge of Upper Louisiana, with his residence
in St. Louis, when Bishop Dubourg left for New
Orleans. Bishop Rosatti transferred his residence to
New Orleans in 1826, when Bishop Dubourg left
for France, but returned to St. Louis in 1827 as
Bishop of Upper Louisiana. He established in St.
Louis the Jesuits, from Florissant, in 1829 ; the Sis-
ters of St. Joseph, in 1836, from Lyons, France, the
first of their order in America; the Ladies of the
Sacred Heart, in 1827 ; the Sisters of the Visitation,
and the. Sisters of Charity, for whom he founded
St. Louis Hospital. He also established two colleges
for young men, three academies for young ladies, and
the first orphan asylum in the city. He was an active
member of the first four Provincial Councils of Balti-
more, held in 1829, 1833, 1837, and 1840, and his
pastoral letters and sermons there awakened wide ad-
miration in Europe as well as America by their learn-
ing and eloquence. In 1840 he was called to Rome,
and sent to-Hayti by the Holy See on a diplomatic
mission to settle questions growing out of the Haytien
revolution. Before his departure for Rome, Bishop
Rosatti consecrated, in 1841, Archbishop Kenrick, and
settled him as coadjutor over the diocese of St. Louis.
Bishop Rosatti s diplomatic success in Hayti was so
signal that he was reappointed on other missions, in
the discharge of which he continued until his death
in Rome, Sept. 25, 1843. He was buried at Monte
Citario, in a chapel dedicated to St. Vincent de Paul,
whose order he had so highly adorned, in the Church
of the Lazarists.
In 1843, Rt. Rev. Peter Richard Kenrick. D.D.,
succeeded as bishop of the diocese. Archbishop
Kenrick was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1806, and
was educated at Maynooth College, near that city.
He was ordained in Dublin in 1831, by Archbishop
Murray, and served as curate in Dublin, and subse-
quently as president of the Theological Seminary, and
vicar-general in Philadelphia. On the 9th of De-
cember, 1841, he was consecrated at St. Mary's
Church, St. Louis, Bishop of Drasis, and coadjutor to
the Bishop of St. Louis. There were four bishops pres-
ent,— Bishop England, Bishop Rosatti, Bishop Ken-
rick, and Bishop Lefevre, — besides Archbishop Du-
bois, of Baltimore. Bishop Rosatti officiated as con-
secrator, and Bishop England preached the sermon.
Bishop Kenrick succeeded Bishop Rosatti in 1843,
and on the erection of the diocese of St. Louis into
an archdiocese became archbishop.
Archbishop Kenrick is one of the most distin-
guished prelates in the American Church, a learned
theologian, an able administrator, and a man of the
greatest generosity and benevolence. In 1858 he
received a handsome bequest, but used it, or a great
part of it, in endowing the hospital of the Sisters of
Charity, and making it free to all, regardless of creed
or color. At the Ecumenical Council of 1868 he took
strong ground against the definition of papal infallibil-
ity, and his speech, prepared for the occasion, was pub-
1644
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
lished in Naples in 1870, and in New York in 1872.
He subsequently, however, acquiesced in the dogma,
and promulgated it in his archdiocese. He is the
author of a work on " Anglican Ordinations," which
is regarded as the leading authority on the subject,
also of the " Month of Mary," which has been repub-
lished in London, with an introduction by the cele-
brated Father Faber, besides translations and devo-
tional works. He is an accomplished linguist, know-
ing well the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, German,
Italian, and Spanish languages, and an excellent sci-
entific scholar. During his administration of the dio-
cese, and subsequently
of the archdiocese of
St. Louis, he has been
called upon to deal
with three great crises,
— the cholera epidemic
of 1849, the civil war,
and the Fenian agita-
tion of 1865. His
course throughout all
these trying periods
was courageous, but
conservative and pru-
dent, and his guidance,
both of clergy and peo-
ple, firm and unfalter-
ing. On the 12th of
January, 1861, the fol-
lowing notice was pub-
lished :
" To the Roman Catho-
lics of St. Louis : Beloved
brethren, in the present
distressed state of the pub-
lic mind, we feel it our
duty to recommend you to
avoid all occasions of pub-
lic excitement, to obey the
laws, to respect the rights
of all citizens, and to keep
away, as much as possible,
from all assemblages where the indiscretion of a word or the
impetuosity of a momentary passion might endanger public
tranquillity. Obey the injunction of the Apostle St. Peter,
' Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man
can see God.'
" PETER RICHARD,
"Archbishop of St. Louis."
The archbishop's course with regard to the Fenian
movement was outspoken and unequivocal, as is
shown by the following :
" To the Roman Catholics of St. Louis: The undersigned has
read in the Republican of this morning an announcement of a
funeral to take place next Sunday from St. Patrick's Church, in
this city, of a deceased member of the Fenian Brotherhood, who
died at St. Paul, Minn., on the 24th instant. The occasion is
evidently made for a display on the part of those in St. Louis
who are members of that association, hence the deferred inter-
ment, and the pageant which is to accompany the burial. The
connection of St. Patrick's Church, where the religious service
is announced as to take place, and where, without any authority
from the pastor of that church, it would appear, an oration, by
a gentleman of this city, is to be delivered, imposes on me the
obligation of forbidding, as I have done, the pastor of that
church to permit any funeral service or other religious ceremony
to take place on that occasion. I have furthermore directed
the superintendent of the Calvary Cemetery not to admit any
procession of men or women bearing insignia of Fenianism
within the gate of the cemetery. I use this occasion to state
publicly, what I have uni-
formly stated in private
conversation, that the
members of the Fenian
Brotherhood, men or wo-
men, are not admissible
to the sacraments of the
church as long as they are-
united with that associa-
tion, which I have always
regarded as immoral in its
object, the exciting of re-
bellion in Ireland, and un-
lawful and unlegal in its
means, a quasi military
organization in this coun-
try while at peace with
England, to be made effec-
tive in the event of war
with that power.
" PETER RICHARD,
Archbishop of St. Louis."
"ST. Louis, Aug. 30, 1865.
In 1868, during the
absence of the arch-
bishop at the Ecumen-
ical Council, Father
Patrick J. Ryan, then
pastor of St. John's
Church, was appointed
by the Holy See to take
temporary charge of
the diocese, with the
title of Bishop of Tricomia, and in April, 1872, he
was consecrated in St. John's Church, and has con-
tinued to act ever since as coadjutor bishop.
Right Rev. P. J. Ryan was born at Thurles, Tip-
perary County, Ireland, in 1831, and attended a school
in Dublin. At an early age he evinced a predilection
for the sacred calling, and in 1847 he entered Carlow
College, near Dublin, where he received a thorough
ecclesiastical training. At this institution he filled
the position of prefect of the lay house, and was or-
dained a sub-deacon while still very young. After
leaving college his attention was attracted to the
KELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1645
United States as being a promising field of labor, and
he determined to emigrate to this country. He ar-
rived in St. Louis in 1852, and for some three months
was stationed at St. Patrick's Church with Father
Wheeler, but his rare oratorical powers procured him
an invitation to preach at the Cathedral, though not
then in priestly orders. About this time he was ap-
pointed Professor of English Literature and Elocu-
tion in Carondelet Theological Seminary, a position
which he filled with remarkable success until in 1853,
shortly after attaining his majority, he was ordained
priest and appointed assistant pastor at the Cathedral,
being associated with Fathers Heims, A. S. Paris, E.
Saulnier, James Duggan,
and P. R. Donnelly. He
remained at the Cathedral
until 1860, when he took
charge of the Church and
Parochial School of the
Annunciation, which were
erected through his exer-
tions. While pastor of the
Church of the Annuncia-
tion, during the war, he
was appointed by Arch-
bishop Kenrick chaplain
of the Gratiot Street mili-
tary prison, where he la-
bored earnestly, minister-
ing to the prisoners and
baptizing as many as six
hundred of them.
Through the recommen-
dation of Gen. Blair to
the authorities at Wash-
ington, Father Ryan and
Rev. Dr. Schuyler (rector
of Christ Protestant Epis-
copal Church) received
commissions as chaplains in the United States army.
Father Ryan declined the appointment, but continued
to perform the labors of a chaplain at the prison.
Subsequently he was transferred from the Church of
the Annunciation to St. John's Church, as successor
to Rev. P. T. Ring, who had had charge of that church
after the departure of Father Bannon for the South,
to act as chaplain in the Confederate army. Subse-
quently Father Ryan visited Europe, and spent a year
in Ireland, France, Germany, and Italy. He was in
Rome during the celebration of the papal centenary,
and during the following Lent was invited by the Pope
to preach the English sermon, an honor which had
been bestowed upon Cardinal Wiseman, Archbishop
Hughes, the celebrated Father Burke, and other promi-
nent divines. In 1866 the University of New York
conferred on him the degree of LL.D., and during
the same year he preached before the second Plenary
Council, at Baltimore, on " The Sanctity of the
Church." Two years later (1868) he was appointed
vicar-general of the archdiocese, and during the
absence of Archbishop Kenrick acted as bishop,
having previously been made Bishop of Tricomia in
partibus. On the 14th of April, 1872, he was con-
secrated bishop in St. John's Church (his former
pastoral charge), and made coadjutor of Archbishop
Kenrick. Bishop Ryan is one of the most eloquent
prelates of the Catholic
Church, and as an admin-
istrator is careful, pains-
taking, and indefatigable.
The growth of the Cath-
olic Church under a succes-
sion of able and energetic
bishops has been healthful
and rapid, and from the nu-
cleus of Father Meurin's
mission has sprung a great
and flourishing diocese. In
the city of St. Louis there
are now thirty-six parish
churches, twenty-seven par-
ish schools, five Catholic
hospitals, six convents,
three Catholic colleges,
seven Catholic orphan asy-
lums, three female protec-
torates and reformatories,
with about sixty secular
priests and forty-five priests
belonging to orders, all ac-
tively at work ; and there
are thirteen female and
seven male religious orders, and twenty-four Confer-
ences of St. Vincent de Paul, numbering over twelve
hundred active members, and distributing each year in
systematic and judicious charity nearly thirty thou-
sand dollars ; the Catholic population now numbering
over one hundred and fifty thousand. The archdio-
cese of St. Louis, comprising all that part of Missouri
east of Chariton .River and of the west line of Cole,
Maries, Pulaski, Texas, and Howell Counties, was
created in 1847, and Bishop Kenrick was made its
first archbishop.
The ecclesiastical government of the archdiocese
is composed of Most Rev. Peter Richard Kenrick,
archbishop ; Right Rev. Patrick J. Ryan, coadjutor
1646
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
bishop ; Very Rev. H. Muhlsiepen, vicar-general ;
Council of the Archbishop, Right Rev. P. J. Ryan,
Very Rev. H. Muhlsiepen, Rev. C. Ziegler (secretary),
Rev. H. Van der Sanden (chancellor).
The Jesuits in Missouri. — One of the first steps
taken by Bishop Dubourg after assuming charge of
the diocese of Upper and Lower Louisiana was to
secure missionaries for the religious and secular in-
struction of the Indian tribes. The whole of the
country west of the Mississippi was in his jurisdiction,
and consequently the Indians were especially within
the purview of his efforts. Soon after reaching St.
Louis he applied to Father Anthony Kohlmann, at
that time provincial of the Jesuits in Maryland, to
send out Fathers to establish a college and act as mis-
sionaries to the Indians. Owing to the fact that there
were not more members of the society than were
needed for the work in that State, Father Kohlmann
was not then able to comply with the request. Early
in 1823, Bishop Dubourg had an interview at Wash-
ington with President Monroe and the Secretary of
War, John C. Calhoun, on the subject of educating
and civilizing the Indians, and at Mr. Calhoun's sug- j
gestion he requested Father Charles Neale, provincial j
of the Jesuits of Maryland and the District of Colum- j
bia, to supply him with missionaries. Two years
before, in 1821, Rev. Charles Nerinckx, founder of
the Loretto Society of Nuns in Kentucky, had re-
turned from a trip to Belgium, accompanied by a
company of novices who intended to devote themselves
to the work of the Society of Jesus. Among them
were F. J. Van Assche, P. J. de Smet, J. A. Elet,
F. L. Verreydt, P. J. Verhaegen, J. B. Smedts, and j
F. De Maillet, all of whom with the exception of De ;
Maillet were Belgians. These young men, who,
with other novices, had received a course of instruc-
tion at the Jesuit Seminary at White Marsh, Prince
George's Co., Md., decided to accept the invitation of
Bishop Dubourg.
On the llth of April, 1823, they set out under the
charge of Rev. Charles Van Quickenborne, Superior,
and Rev. Peter J. Timmermans, his assistant, accom-
panied by three lay brothers, — Peter de Meyer, Henry
Reisselman, and Charles Strahan. They made the
journey on foot to Wheeling, with wagons to transport
their effects, and to rest such as should become ill or
disabled. They carried their own bedding with them,
lodging at night where they best could, and generally
cooked their own meals. Father Van Quickenborne
was the only exception ; he rode a handsome roan
horse that had been presented to him by Father Mc-
Elroy, of Frederick, Md. At Wheeling they pur-
chased two flat-boats and floated down the Ohio, the
boats lashed together, and drifting day and night. At
Shawneetown, a small village below the mouth of the
Wabash River, they sold their flat-boats, sent their
heavy baggage by steamboat to St. Louis, and started,
accompanied by a light spring-wagon, on foot across
the prairies. They reached St. Louis Saturday, May
31, 1823, and on the day after their arrival, being
Sunday within the octave of Corpus Christi, Father
Van Quickenborne carried the Blessed Sacrament in
procession through the streets, with music and firing
of cannon. In June following the Jesuits took pos-
session of the farm near Florissant which had been
tendered them by Bishop Dubourg, it having been
ceded to them by Mr. O'Neil, magistrate of Florissant,
although his lease was yet unexpired. In the mean
time they had been hospitably entertained by the
Sisters of the Sacred Heart at Florissant, who lodged
and fed them in their school-house.
Florissant, or St. Ferdinand township, seventeen
miles northwest of St. Louis, had been settled shortly
after the founding of St. Louis, and the adjacent
country was beautiful and fertile. In extending the
invitation to the Jesuits of Maryland, Bishop Du-
bourg had proposed not only to give them his farm
at Florissant, but also his own church and residence
in St. Louis. The latter offer, however, had been
declined. The houses on the farm were merely log
cabins, small, and of the rudest construction, and the
first efforts of the missionaries were directed to the
enlargement of their quarters. For this purpose
they hewed the timber, going for it to an island in
the Missouri River, which, on the night after they had
hauled the last load needed, was totally washed away,
not a vestige of it being left.1
Shortly after the mission had been established,
Rev. Charles Delacroix, who was then stationed at
Florissant, made over the church there to Father
Van Quickenborne, and departed for Louisiana.
About the same time Father Van Quickenborne was
made spiritual director of the Community of the
Sacred Heart. An incident of the early days of the
mission was a visit from the venerable Father Ne-
rinckx, who had brought the young missionaries over
from Europe, and who spent some days with his
Belgian friends at Florissant. Father Nerinckx
1 The island stood a short distance above the Charbonniere,
a bluff on the Missouri River some three hundred feet high,
and so called from a layer of coal that underlies it, but which,
being nearly on a level with the surface of the water and of in-
ferior quality, has been little worked. Above the bluff there is
visible, in low water, a bed of reddish stone, which extends far
out into the river, and may have been the seat of the island.
Possibly the concussions and disturbances caused by felling the
trees precipitated the washing away of the land.
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1647
died at Ste. Genevieve on the 12th of August, 1824.
Francis De Maillet and Charles Strahan, of the original
band, had separated from the Jesuit society shortly
after their arrival in Missouri, and had engaged in
other occupations. By the death of Father Timmer-
mans the community was still further reduced, and
now numbered nine members. In 1825, Father De
Theux and lay Brother O'Connor arrived from Mary-
land and joined the mission, the former as assistant
to Father Van Quickenborne. In the same year the
missionaries opened a school for Indian boys, and in-
duced the Sisters of the Sacred Heart to establish a
similar school for girls. Despite their persevering
labors, however, the attendance did not increase be-
yond fourteen children at either school. In 1830
the school for boys was finally closed. In the mean
time", J. B. Smedts and P. J. Verhaegen were, about
the beginning of 1825, raised to the priesthood, and
in 1827, P. J. de Smet, J. F. Van Assche, J. A.
Elet, and F. L. Verreydt were ordained, Bishop Ro-
satti officiating on both occasions. Fathers Verreydt
and Smedts were transferred to St. Charles, and
Father Van Quickenborne made an excursion to the
Osage Indians. He subsequently (in 1829 and
1830) paid other visits to the same tribe, but it
was not until 1847 that the Jesuit mission among
the Osages was established. Having satisfied them-
selves that they could labor much more profitably and
accomplish more tangible results among the white
population than with the savages, the Jesuit Fathers,
upon the invitation of Bishop Rosatti, in 1828 re-
moved to St. Louis and established the St. Louis
University. On the 24th of March, 1836, Father
Verhaegen, who had been chosen first president of
the university, was made Superior of the Jesuit
mission in Missouri, as it was then called, — a branch
of the province of Maryland, — and resigned to Father
Elet the presidency of the university. The mission-
house at Florissant was now abandoned as the resi-
dence of the Superior, who thenceforth lived in St.
Louis.
The Florissant institution is now known as St.
Stanislaus Novitiate. On the 3d of December, 1839,
the mission was raised to the rank of a vice-province,
and Father Verhaegen to that of vice-provincial ; he
became provincial of Maryland, and was succeeded
in St. Louis by Rev. James Van de Velde, Sept. 17,
1843. Father Van de Velde was made Bishop of
Chicago, and subsequently transferred to Natchez,
where he died of yellow fever on the 13th of No-
vember, 1855. His remains were removed to St.
Stanislaus Novitiate, near Florissant, and reinterred
there on the 20th of November, 1874. Rev. John
A. Elet became vice-provincial June 3, 1848; Rev.
William S. Murphy, Aug. 15, 1851; Rev. J. B.
Druyts, July 6, 1856 (he died of softening of the
| brain June 18, 1861); Rev. W. S. Murphy, tempo-
1 rarily, February, 1861 ; Rev. Ferdinand Coosemans,
; July 16, 1862. On Dec. 3, 1863, the vice-province
was elevated to the rank of a province, and Father
Coosemans became provincial. Rev. Thomas O'Neil
succeeded July 31, 1871 ; Rev. Edward A. Higgins,
Jan. 1, 1879; Rev. Leopold Bushart, May 4. 1882.
The original intention of Indian missions was never
wholly abandoned, but was pursued actively by Father
j Van Quickenborne and others after him through
! many years; but when in 1837 Father Van Quicken-
borne returned from the Kickapoo mission, near Fort
Leavenworth, which he had started the year before,
he succumbed to the hardships he had endured, and
died Aug. 17, 1837. His remains were interred in
the garden of the novitiate, near Florissant, where
they are now surrounded by those of all but one of
his early companions in Missouri.1 From the mother-
1 Charles Van Quickenborne, one of the prominent missionaries
of Missouri, was born in the diocese of Ghent, Belgium, Jan.
21, 1786. He joined the Jesuit Society April 14, 1815, came to
Maryland in 1817, and to St. Louis in 1823, and in the same
year was made spiritual director of the Sacred Heart commu-
nity at Florissant and pastor of the church there. Father Van
Quickenborne died at Portage des Sioux, Aug. 17, 1837. Peter
J. Timmermans was born in Belgium, July 20, 1 783 ; joined the
Jesuits Aug. 18, 1817; was made pastor of the churches at St.
Charles and Portage des Sioux in June, 1823, and died June 1,
1824. Judocus F. Van Assche was born May 29, 1800, at St.
Amand, near Antwerp. He came to Maryland and entered the
Jesuit Novitiate at White Marsh, Oct. 6, 1821, an elder brother
having preceded him thither in 1817. He remained at St. Stan-
lislaus Novitiate, near Florissant, when the other priests removed
to St. Louis to establish their college, and after his ordination be-
came pastor of the church there, continuing in its charge, ex-
cepting short absences, until he died, June 26, 1877. John A.
Elet was born Feb. 19, 1802; was president of St. Louis Uni-
versity, and later of St. Xavier College, Cincinnati, and vice-
provincial of Missouri, which position he resigned on account
of ill health, and died Oct. 2', 1851. Peter J. Verhaegen was
born June 21, 1800, and he was the most thoroughly educated
of the original band of novices. He was pastor at St. Charles'
in 1826, and successively the first president of St. Louis Uni-
versity, Superior, then vice-provincial of Missouri, provincial of
Maryland, and president of St. Joseph's College in Kentucky.
He died at St. Charles, Mo., July 21, 1868. Felix Verreydt
was born Feb. 19, 1798; went to Portage des Sioux in 1831;
to the Kickapoo mission near Fort Leavenworth in 1837;
began a mission among the Pottawatotnie Indians at Council
Bluffs in 1838 ; went to Sugar Creek Indian mission in Kansas
in 1841 ; moved with the Indians to St. Mary's mission in Kan-
sas in 1848; was transferred to St. Louis in 1859, and resided
at College Hill, North St. Louis, until 1869, when he went to
St. Xavier College, Cincinnati, where he still lives (October,
1882), being now nearly eighty-five years old and the sole sur-
vivor of the original band. John B. Smedts was born April 1 1 ,
1801, and was stationed at St. Charles' from 1827 until Oct. 3,
1648
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
house near Florissant have sprung eight colleges, one
boarding-school in the country, twelve churches in
the West and Northwest, with their attached parochial
schools, eight churches, with residences, besides mis-
1843, when he was made master of novices at St. Stanislaus No-
vitiate, near Florissant, where he remained until July 23, 1849,
after which he resided successively at St. Charles', Florissant,
and St. Louis University, where he died Feb. 19, 1855. Peter
de Meyer was born Nov. 30, 1793 ; came to America with Father
Nerinckx, and entered White Marsh Novitiate Aug. 5, 1817.
He continued to reside as a lay brother at St. Stanislaus until
he died there, Sept. 1, 1878. Henry Reisselman, also a lay
brother, was born March 12, 1784, and came to the United
States in 1807, and joined the Trappist monks in Casey County,
Ky. He removed with them to Missouri in 1809 ; resided one
year at Florissant, then moved to Monk's Mound, on Cahokia >
Creek, and when this station was abandoned joined the Jesuits
at Georgetown, D. C., Nov. 5, 1813, and removed to Missouri
in 1823. Subsequently he spent some time in Maryland, but
returned to Missouri, and died at St. Stanislaus Novitiate, June i
21, 1857.
Of all the little band of missionaries the most illustrious per-
haps, and certainly the best known, was Peter J. de Smet, emi-
nent alike as a missionary of undaunted energy and zeal, and |
as a scholar of varied learning and many accomplishments. He '
was born at Dendermonde, in Belgium, on the 31st of January,
1801, and was educated with the view of devoting himself to
the priesthood. In July, 1821, in company with a number of
other novices, under the charge of Father De Nerinckx, he left !
his native land for the United States. By agreement they all
met at Amsterdam, and having eluded the vigilance of the au-
thorities, who had given strict orders for their arrest, they left
Amsterdam in a small boat, and succeeded in reaching Texel,
where they procured lodging in the house of a Catholic who '
had been notified of their coming. At last, on the 15th of ;
August, they got on board the brig " Columbia," having gained
the open sea in a small pilot-boat, which had passed out of the '
harbor without being observed by the police. After a voyage
of forty days, De Smet and his companions arrived at Phila-
delphia, whence they proceeded to Baltimore and then to White
Marsh, Maryland, where they began their novitiate. As
previously stated, he formed one of the party of mission-
aries, led by Van Quickenborne, who in 1823 established the
colony of Florissant, and immediately after their arrival at St.
Louis, De Smet entered actively upon a career of missionary
labors which, with brief intervals, were destined to extend over
nearly half a century. After toiling at Florissant, and subse-
quently assisting in the founding of the St. Louis University,
he was compelled in 1832 to return to Belgium for the benefit of
his health. While in Europe he procured a number of valuable
instruments for the department of physics in the St. Louis Uni-
versity, together with many volumes for the library, and a col-
lection of minerals, which he presented to the college. His
health having been restored he returned in 1837 to St. Louis,
which he made his home for the remainder of his life. In 183S,
Father De Smet began his wonderful career as a missionary
among the Northwestern Indians. He first established a mis-
sion among the Pottawatomies, who then dwelt in the neigh-
borhood of Council Bluffs, Iowa, opposite the city of Omaha.
Two years later (1840) he made his first journey to the Rocky
Mountains and through Oregon, preparing the way for the mis-
sionaries who were to take up his work in later years. Among
both the Pottawatomies and the Sioux De Smet was received with
kindness, but his journeys through the wilderness were marvels
sions and congregations formed, and churches and
residences built and paid for, which were then trans-
ferred to the ordinary having jurisdiction over the
district in which they were situated. From the little
of ardent zeal and patient devotion. His progress among the
Pottawatomies was particularly gratifying. A little chapel
twenty-four feet square, with a steeple, was soon erected, and
near by log huts were built for the residences of the mission-
aries. A school was opened, and the building, which could only
accommodate thirty pupils, was soon thronged with Indians.
In the first three months one hundred and eighteen were bap-
tized. During his expedition to the Rocky Mountains he ac-
companied Gen. Harney on an expedition to the Flathead and
Shoshone Indians on the Columbia River. The Indians had
been committing depredations, and Gen. Barney's expedition
was sent out with the expectation that war would ensue.
Through the mediation of Father De Smet, however, the In-
dians were placated and peace was assured.
His journey to the Rocky Mountains in 1840 was made in
connection with the annual expedition of the American Fur
Company, which started from Westernport, Mo., and from this
time until within a year of his death he continued to labor
among the savage tribes, including among others the Shoshones,
Blackfeet, Pawnees, Mandans, Pottawatomies, and Sampeetches.
In Oregon, among the Flatheads, his mission was conspicuously
successful. In the camp of Peter Valley sixteen hundred Flat-
heads and Ponderas assembled to receive him, and at the close
of the day two thousand Indians congregated before the mis-
sionary's tent to recite an evening prayer and chant a hymn.
On the second day of his sojourn among them, De Smet, with
the assistance of an interpreter, translated the Lord's Prayer,
the Creed, and the Commandments, and in two weeks the Flat-
heads had all learned to recite the prayer. Within two months
six hundred of the tribe were baptized. On his return to St.
Louis the dauntless missionary passed through the country of
the Blackfeet, Gros Ventres, and Sioux, all of whom were hostile
to the Flatheads. Upon one occasion he and his party were
surrounded by a fierce band of Blackfeet, who, however, on
seeing his crucifix and gown, expressed their joy at beholding
a missionary, and carried him in state to their village. He was
treated with great kindness, and permitted to resume his jour-
ney unmolested. In the spring of 1841, Father De Smet re-
turned to Oregon, accompanied by two other priests and three
lay brothers, and established the mission of St. Mary's among
the Flatheads. He then labored among the Creur d'Alenes,
Kalispels, and Koetenays, baptizing one hundred and ninety
persons, twenty-six of whom were adults. • His work at the
Flathead mission was then resumed with encouraging results,
and when he started on the return to St. Louis sixteen hundred
and fifty-four savages had been baptized. On reaching St.
Louis, De Smet was instructed by his Superior to proceed to
Europe in order to obtain assistance in the work of civilizing
and Christianizing the Indian tribes. His success in Europe
was unequivocal, and on the 12th of December, 1843, he sailed
from Antwerp, accompanied by several priests and six Sisters of
the Congregation of Our Lady, who had volunteered to assist
him in his missionary work, and arrived at Fort Vancouver in
1844. The Oregon mission expanded rapidly, and De Smet
transferred his labors to the water-shed of the Saskatchewan
and Columbia, and obtained many converts among the far North-
western tribes. Father De Smet made five journeys to the
Rocky Mountains in the course of his eventful career, and
crossed the ocean seven times to obtain in Europe assistance for
his missionary work. On his last trip to Belgium he was ere-
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1649
band of 1823, numbering twelve persons, the Jesuits
in the Missouri province have increased to three hun-
dred and thirty-five, of whom seventy-six are members
of the community near Florissant.1
St. Louis Cathedral. — The first church erected
by the Catholics of St. Louis was evidently built soon
after the arrival of Laclede and his companions, and
probably at an early period of Father Meurin's pas-
torate, which extended from 1764 (irregularly) to
February, 1769. Father Gibault, the successor of
Father Meurin, records that on the 24th of June,
1770, the feast of St. John the Baptist, he blessed
" the church, built of wood," and in 1774 Father
Valentin made an entry in the register, of which the
following is a translation :
" In the year 1774, the 24th of December, I, the undersigned,
have baptized with the ordinary ceremonies of the church a
new bell, which was named Pierre Joseph Felicite, and the
godfather of which was the honorable Pierre Joseph de Pier-
nas, captain in the Louisiana battalion and Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor of the Illinois, and the godmother, Lady Felicitg de
Piernas de Portneuf, who have signed with me, the day and
year as above.
" PEDRO PIERNAS, FELICITE PORTNEUF PIERNAS, BAROY, |
BKNITO BASQUEZ.
" FR. VALENTIN, Priest."
Prior to this time the congregation had been called
to their devotions by means of a large iron mortar,
which was beaten with a heavy iron pestle, producing ;
a sound loud enough to be heard by most of the
parishioners.
In the contract for the construction of the presby-
ated a knight of the Order of Leopold as a recognition of his
great merits, the decoration of the order being bestowed by
King Leopold the Second. For some years, and up to the time
of his death, he held the position of treasurer of the province,
which included all the Jesuit houses from the Alleghenies to
the Rocky Mountains.
Father De Smet was a graceful and vigorous writer, and his
letters giving an account of his adventures and labors among the
savages are marked by great simplicity of style and force of
expression. He published several works on the subject of In-
dian missions, the principal of which are " Western Missions
and Missionaries," " Oregon Missions," and " Letters and
Sketches." He was familiar with science and a proficient in !
botany, having classified the plants of St. Louis many years
ago. He was also an excellent draughtsman and topographical >
engineer, and executed a number of maps and surveys of the
Oregon and Ilocky Mountain regions. While returning home
from Europe in 1872, Father De Sinet fell on shipboard and
was injured internally, three of his ribs also being broken. He
succeeded in reaching St. Louis, and lingered for more than a
year, dying at the St. Louis University on the 23d of Ma}',
1873.
1 The author is indebted to the " Historical Sketch of the St.
Louis University," by Rev. Walter H. Hill, S.J., for valuable
information concerning the labors of the Jesuit missionaries in
Missouri.
tery, or priest's house, which it was determined at a
meeting of the congregation held Sept. 1, 1776, to
erect, it was provided that the materials of the old
house should be used in building the new one, show-
ing that there was a parochial residence and, pre-
sumably, a church. Tradition asserts that the first
church was a small wooden chapel, with a presbytery
attached.
On the 26th of December, 1774, the inhabitants
of St. Louis assembled in the government chamber,
in the presence of Don Pedro Piernas, the Lieutenant-
Governor, Father Valentin, pastor, and Mr. Sarpy,
church warden, and determined upon the erection of
a new church. It was decided that the dimensions
of the building were to be sixty by thirty feet, and
that it was to be constructed of white-ash posts
eighteen feet long, and hewed on both sides above
ground, to the width of six inches. The inhabitants
were to furnish all the wood and materials " according to
an assessment to be made on each white and black per-
son of the age of fourteen years and upwards, ex-
cepting widows and persons of sixty years of age, who
shall be exempt as to their persons only." Pierre
Baron, who was present, accepted the position of
" superintendent of the building and of the assess-
ment," and promised " to do his duty." Associated
with him in the direction of the work were Rene Kier-
cereaux, Antoine Riviere, dit Bacanet, Joseph Taillon
and Jacques Noise, " who must be present at the as-
sessment and at the furnishing of the materials."
The proceedings of the meeting were signed by
Rene" Kiercereaux, Cotte, Jean Tardif, Amable Guion,
Laclede L. Liguest, Lardoise, Becquet, Du Breuil,
Sarpy, Baron, Benito Basquez, Labusciere, Sans
Soucy,2 Bagnete,2 Bizet,2 Bacaliot,2 Gamscha, Jacques
Noise,2 Duffand,2 Joseph2 Taillon, Francis2 Bissonet,
Ride,2 Louis Chancelier, Jacob2 Marechal, Laurant,2
Hunan,2 Picart,2 Fr. Valentine (cure), Pedro Piernas.
Nothing further appears to have been done during
that winter beyond maturing the plans for the con-
struction of the building, but on the 19th of April,
1775, the contract for the work was awarded, as the
following translation of the original document attests :
"Agreement of the inhabitants of St. Louis to build a
church, and the contract and specifications therefor. April
19, 1775, the third festival of Easter.
" Before me, Don Pedro Piernas, Lieutenant-Governor of the
establishments of the Illinois and its dependencies, belonging
to His Catholic Majesty, in presence of the Reverend Father
Valentin, Capuchin missionary, curate of the parish of St.
Louis, and of Messrs. Sarpy and Benito Basquez, wardens of said
parish of St. Louis, at the conclusion of the parochial mass of
said place, all the artisans and inhabitants composing the said
1 " His mark."
1650
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
parish assembled to award to the lowest bidder the contract for
the workmanship on the projected church at this post. Said in-
habitants and artisans being all assembled, and having maturely
deliberated among themselves, agreed that said church should
be constructed as follows, to wit :
"The church to be sixty feet long, of posts planted three
feet in the ground, and to be thirty feet wide, with a gallery
or porch six feet wide all around, with a pent-house ten feet
wide the length of the gable end, two church doors, and two
windows to the pent-house, with shutters, and sash of four
lights high and three wide.
" The church to have fourteen windows of twenty-eight
lights, arched three inches at the top, seven lights high by
four wide, with their shutters, the contractor to put in all the
iron-work. At the other gable, in the inside of the church, a
Jobbj' or gallery ten feet wide, the length of the gable, with
stairs and a door to the lobby. The front entrance door to the
church to be twelve feet high, arched, and six wide, the floors
above and below to be well jointed, the sanctuary to be raised
six inches above the floor, the two doors of the sanctuary to be
dovetailed, and that of the lobby plain, the large door pan-
eled. The belfry to be a St. Andrew's cross, shingled, the
church to be shingled in six-inch courses. Windows four feet
above the floor, the two front ones eight feet high. The rafters
on the girders at ten feet apart, with ridge-pieces above and
below, a bracket at each of the four corners and cross-pieces
to support the gables. The joists from five to six feet apart.
"All the materials to be delivered to the contractor on the
ground of the above church, who is to furnish all the labor
only. The inhabitants are to furnish, also, the iron-work,
nails, and mud-walling, and to assist the contractor in raising
the heavy wood-work and timbers, the foregoing work to be
subject to an examination by skilled persons.
" The aforesaid church is to be completely finished for ser-
vice by the month of of this present year, under
the penalty of forfeiting all pay for the work he may have
done if not completed in the time specified, nor will it be re-
ceived from him until completely finished.
" The inhabitants to supply him the materials as fast as
needed, so as not to delay him in the work, under the penalty
of paying him for the time he may have lost through their
delay, the contractor to engage himself all the workmen he
may find necessary, who are to be paid first out of the contract
price.
" And after the above specified conditions were read and
proclaimed in a loud and intelligible voice, and clearly ex-
plained to the assembled people, the above work was awarded
to Pierre Lupien, alias Baron, carpenter and joiner, at the
price of twelve hundred livres, in deer-skins at the current
value.
" This bid having been cried out at several different times,
and no one proposing to underbid him, after waiting until
sundown, the same Lupien demanded his right, and that the
work be awarded him for the said sum of twelve hundred
livres, according to the above specified conditions, which was
granted him by Don Pedro Piernas, in the presence of as be-
fore stated witnesses, and with the approval of all the inhabi-
tants, said contractor binding himself to execute all the stipu-
lations of the contract, and, as security for the same, mortgaging
nil his property now and in future.
"Done and executed at the room of the presbytery the 10th
day of April, third feast of Easter, in the year seventeen hun-
dred and seventy-five, which we have all signed, those nut
knowing how to write having made their crosses after being
read to them, before me, the Lieutenant-Governor.
" PEDRO PIERNAS."
The signers of the agreement to build the church
included nearly all the householders in St. Louis at
that day ; they numbered seventy-nine, all told, and
it will be observed that only thirty-five signed their
names, all the rest (those inclosed in parenthesis)
affixing their marks, — fifty-five per cent, of these
best citizens being illiterate. The names are
Antoine Bereda, Alexis Cotte, John B. Becquet, (Jacques
Labbe), (Chausel), Amable Guion, Pothier, (Kierq Desnoyer),
(Amable Brunet), (Jean B. Deschamps), (Francois Liberge),
Rone Kiercereaux, (Joseph Fayon), (Toussaint Hunot), (Fran-
cois Bissonet), (Langevin, dit Baguette), (Francis Dele~n), (Jo-
j seph Dechenes), (Pepin Lachance), Louis Chancellier, Larche,
(John B. Savoie), (John B. Gamache), (August Karcelet),
I John Baptiste Tardif, Louis Dubreuil, Rouqueer, Antoine Be-
I rard, (Daniel), (Antoine Riviere;, (Jacques Marechal), (John
B. Dufaux), (Joseph Moreau), (Nicholas Guion), Joseph
, Segond, Cottin, Benito Basquez, Joseph Labrosse, Petil,
, Michel Rollet de Laderout, J. J. A. Motard, (Simon Cou-
I sotte), (Nicholas Beaugenou), (Pierre Caillon), Gilles Che-
min, (Pierre Roy), Belisle, (Francois Henrion), (Louis
Ride), >S. S. Martigny, (John B. Provercher), Francois De-
noyers, (Joseph St. Francois), (Charles Routier), (Louis Bis-
| sonnet), (Alexis Picart), (Antoine Roussel), John Baptiste
: Ortes, Joseph Chancellier, G. R. Gerame, (Ignace Laroehe),
(Francis Hebert), (Falardeau), Michel Lamq, Louis Vaclard,
A. A. Conde, (Pierre Lapointe), (Nicholas Royer), (Antoine
Ladouceur), (Joseph Chartrand), (Paul Getard), (Joseph
Calve), J. B. Sarpy, Alexis Marie, Laclede Liguest, Jacques
Chauvin, Antoine Reehle, Laville, Pedro Piernas.
Pierre Baron, the contractor, died on the 10th of
October following, and as there was no one to repre-
sent him in the continuation of the work, the inhab-
itants assembled at the Government Hall, by order of
the Lieutenant-Governor, Francisco Cruzat, on the
28th of January, 1776, to award the contract. At
this meeting it was unanimously agreed that the work
already begun should proceed, and that it should be
let out to the lowest bidder, who was to be bound by
the original specifications. Juan or Jean Cambas
proved to be the lowest bidder, at the sum of fourteen
hundred and eighty livres, in shaved deer-skins, with
the condition that the building should be completed
by the end of the month of May of the current year.
The contract was signed by Tardif, J. B. Ortes,
A. Bernard, Sarpy, Conde, Dubreuil, Benito Peril,
Amable Guion, Rene Kiercereaux, Ene. Barre Lajoy,
William Duralde, Cambas, J. Motard, Francisco
Cruzat.
Exactly at what time the work was finished does
not appear, but the building was evidently occupied
not long after the date set for its completion. It
stood very near the site of the present Cathedral, on
what was then " the north half of the church block
(No. 59)," and attached to it was a cemetery. Speak-
ing of the old church and parsonage, Judge Wilson
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1651
Primm, m an address before the Missouri Historical
Society, said, — •
"My recollection of these buildings is very distinct. The
gallery around the church, supported by cedar posts, notched
and whittled by the village urchins, the swallow's nest under
the eaves, the little belfry and its bell, always rung by old
Alexis Lalande (the bedenu), bell-ringer, at morning, noon, and
sunset, all these are at this moment as present to me as they
were nearly half a century ago.
"When that old church was demolished in 1820, I think its
bell was sent to Carondelet, for the use of the church there, and
is still to be found there in the belfry of the school-house of the
Christian Brothers. In St. Mary's Church at Carondelet can
still be found the remains of the pews and benches which were
used in the old church at St. Louis."
In the summer of 1776 a project for the erection
of a parochial residence was set on foot, and on the
1st of September of that year a meeting of the inhab-
itants was held for the purpose of deciding on the
character of the structure, its cost, etc. The official
record of this meeting, translated from the Spanish
archives, is as follows :
" Agreement of the inhabitants of St. Louis to build a per-
manent residence for the curate of the parish, Sept. 1, 1776.
"On this day, the first of the month of September, one thou-
sand seven hundred and seventy-six, at the close of the high
mass at this parish of St. Louis, the inhabitants thereof assem-
bled in the old parsonage house, in the presence of the Lieu- ;
tenant-Governor Don Frans. Cruzat, to consider the expediency
of building a new residence for the occupation of the reverend
father officiating in this parish.
" Being assembled, they agreed unanimously that said new
residence should be built of stone, of the dimensions of forty-
five feet in length by twenty-seven feet in width, to be com-
menced in the coming spring and carried on without interrup-
tion to its completion, the Reverend Father Bernard, the present
incumbent of the parish, offering to contribute the sum of four ',
hundred and thirty-seven livres in peltries to aid in its con- i
struction, which sum had been furnished him at New Orleans
in the payment of his passage from that place to St. Louis.
Jean Cambas and John Ortes, carpenters, were appointed as
trustees to receive the materials and make such equitable .as- ;
sessments upon each person according to his ability to pay, and
to give to each individual a receipt for his assessment, which
he must produce to avoid being called upon a second time; said
house to be built with mortar made of clay, and all the timbers
in the old house shall be used in the construction of the new i
one so far as they -are suitable for the purpose.
"The assessment to be made, as in the case of the church,
upon all persons exceeding the age of fourteen, without any
exception.
" It is so understood and ordered. St. Louis, this 1st day of '
September, 1776. L. Chevalier, Labusciere, S. Labbadie,
Tayon, A. Condo, Peret, Motard, Barada, Benito, Terraute, J.
Conaud, Becquct, Hebert, Poure, A. Berard, Joseph Labrosse, |
Dubreuil, Picote de Belestre, Pothier, Cliauvin, Law Gagner,1
Sans Soucy,1 Rondeau,1 Baccaunet,1 Jacques Labbe,1 Francois '
Bissonnet,1 Am. Guion, Laclede Liguest, Father Bernard, !
curate.
" FRANCISCO ClUiZAT.
1 " His mark."
" Specifications in the Contract. — The house, thirty-eight feet
long by twenty-seven wide and thirteen high, to be built of
stone with earth mortar, one and a half feet in the ground; a
pent-house or shed at end of ten feet wide and of the length
of the gable end, twenty-seven feet, to be six and one-half feet
high ; the floor to be four feet above ground, and the upper floor
eight and one-half feet above the lower, with a partition wall, to
make a parlor and a chamber ; the walls of the house to be two
feet thick below the floor, and eighteen inches above, the par-
tition wall one foot thick; a front and rear door to the parlor
and two windows, two doors between the parlor and chamber,
and three windows in the chamber, one front, rear, and end ;
two cellar doors and a small window in the loft; a double chim-
ney between the parlor and shed, and a flue in the partition
wall ; a door and two windows to the pent-house; square gables
with a small window. After the floors are laid the house to be
rough-cast and whitewashed, and the hearth laid by the con-
tractor for the stone-work, who will furnish his own help and
deliver it ready to receive the roof by the 8th day of Septem-
ber next, under the penalty of forfeiting two hundred livres of
his compensation; and if before the expiration of the said term
he should abandon the contract, he will forfeit all his labor done
to that period, except in case of sickness, to be certified by the
surgeon. The contractor is also to furnish himself with every-
thing necessary, his own tools, scaffolding, ropes, barrels, mor-
tar, picks and shovels, in a word, all he may require to complete
his job. Payment will be made in the course of the next spring
(1778), in peltries at the current rate, and will also receive from
the Reverend Father Bernard one hundred livres in peltries at
the completion of his work, part of the amount he is to con-
tribute."
According to the custom of the day, the letting of the work
was proclaimed at the church door, after high mass at noon, for
three successive Sundays, June 15, 22, and 29, 1777, and on this
last day was awarded to the following parties as the lowest bid-
ders for the same :
" The stone-work as described in the specifications,
to Benito Basquez for 1400 livres.
"The carpenters' work, including the timber and
lumber, joists, rafters, shingled roof with iron
nails, frames for eight doors, eight windows,
etc., to Francois Delan for 550
" The joiners' work, laying floors, two board parti-
tions, doors, windows with sashes and shutters,
putting on fastenings, etc., to Joseph Verdan
for 299 "
Total 2249 "
•' In presence of FRANCISCO CRUZAT.
"AXTOINK CUTIAN,
" ROQUES JACINTO, Corporals.
" COTLIN, Constable."
It will be noticed that the name of Chouteau does
not appear in the list of signers to the agreements for
erecting the church, nor in that for building the par-
sonage. He was probably away among the Indians.
On the arrival of Bishop Dubourg at St. Louis in
1818, he found the wooden church in a dilapidated
condition, or, to quote the language of Father De
Andreis, one of the priests who accompanied him,
" falling into ruins." He determined at once to
begin the construction of a new church of brick,
the first Cathedral of St. Louis, and on the 29th of
1652
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
March, 1818, less than three months after the
bishop's arrival, the first stone was laid by Bishop
Dubourg. This stone is described as having been
" hollowed in the form of a chest to contain and pre-
serve to the latest generations the names of benefac-
tors, coins of various descriptions, and some memoirs
of the present time." Notice had previously been
given (March 6th) to stone-masons, bricklayers, and
carpenters that the work was about to be begun, and the
construction of the edifice proceeded until its comple-
tion in the spring of 1820, announcement being made
on the 15th of March of that year that the Cathedral
would be opened for divine service in April, probably
at Easter. On the 27th of August, 1823, an ad-
vertisement appeared in the Missouri Republican,
in which it was stated that John K. Walker had
been appointed trustee to conduct the sale of so
much of that part of the ground on which the
Catholic Church stood, situated south of the church
and south of the graveyard appurtenant thereto, as
would be needed to raise the sum of four thousand
five hundred dollars, for the purpose of repaying to
Auguste Chouteau and others, commissioners of the
Catholic Church, money which they had advanced
on account of the church.
The new church was located south of the present
Cathedral, and had considerable pretensions to archi-
tectural effect. It was first used for service on Christ-
mas-day, 1819, though not then finished. During
his European tour in 1815, Bishop Dubourg had
been presented by generous Catholics with many rich
and rare gifts, among which are mentioned a large
painting of St. Louis, the tutelary saint of the Ca-
thedral, a gift from Louis XVIII. of France; ancient
and precious gold embroideries, and a large and hand-
some organ, sent to the church by the Baroness Le
Caudele de Ghysegheru, a Flemish lady.
The present Cathedral, situated on the north side
of Walnut Street, between Second and Third Streets,
Rev. Miles W. Tobyn, pastor, was erected at the sug-
gestion and mainly through the efforts of Bishop
Rosatti, who, on Sunday, March 28, 1830, requested
from the pulpit that the congregation should hold a
meeting at an early day and adopt measures for build-
ing a new church. Accordingly, on the 4th of April,
1830, a meeting was held, at which the bishop pre-
sided, and Marie Philip Leduc acted as secretary.
Among those present were Judge Wilson Primm,
Capt. Elihu H. Shepard, and Hon. John F. Darby.
A subscription was immediately raised. Bishop Ro-
satti contributing eight thousand dollars. The dead
having been removed from the old cemetery in order
to provide a site for the building, the corner-stone was
laid on the 1st of August, 1831, and on the 26th of
October, 1834,1 the edifice was consecrated " to the
honor of the most Holy Trinity, under the invocation
of Saint Louis of France," by the Right Rev. Joseph
Rosatti, Bishop of St. Louis, assisted by the Bishops
of Bardstown and Cincinnati.2
Though erected almost in the infancy of the diocese
of St. Louis, the Cathedral is a noble and imposing
structure, conspicuous for the symmetry and beauty
of its architecture. The length of the whole building
is one hundred and thirty-six feet and its breadth
eighty-four. The front is of polished freestone, and
rises to a height of fifty feet, the fagade being broken
by a portico forty feet wide, supported by four Doric col-
umns, with corresponding entablature, frieze, cornice,
and pediment. On the frieze is the following in-
scription in bas-relief: " In honorem S. Ludovici.
Deo Uni et Trino. Dicatum, A.D. MDCCCXXXIV."
On each side of the porch is inscribed, both in Eng-
lish and French, " My house shall be called the house
of prayer." There are three entrances from the
porch, and between the three doors and three cor-
responding windows are three slabs of Italian marble,
with the inscription, Ecce tabernaculum Dei cum
hominibus, et habitabit cum eis, a text taken from
the twenty-first chapter of the Apocalypse, and which
is also inscribed in French and English. Originally the
porch was inclosed by an iron railing, and was reached
by flights of steps rising from the east and west, but sub-
sequently this arrangement was changed, and a flight
of steps was constructed rising from the pavement the
whole length of the porch. The cornice, with its
frieze and entablature, together with the battlements,
extends along the front to the corners and about
twenty feet along the sides, and the battlements are
surmounted by six candelabra about nine feet in
height.
The effect of this fagade is simple but imposing.
On a stone tower, forty feet in height above the pedi-
ment and twenty feet square, rests the spire, an oc-
tagon in shape, surmounted by a gilt ball five feet in
diameter, from which rises a cross of brass ten feet
high. In the steeple there is a chime of six bells,
the three larger ones weighing respectively two thou-
1 The last stone on the belfry tower is said to have been placed
in position by a colored man named William Johnson. None
of the workmen cared to run the risk of performing this dan-
gerous feat, and Johnson volunteered to undertake it. He ac-
cordingly ascended the tower and fixed the stone in its place,
receiving on his descent the congratulations of the bishop.
2 The musical portion of the services was under the direction
of Professor Marallano, then a famous teacher in St. Louis, who
set an ode, composed by one of the city priests, and a hymn,
" written by a local bard," to music for the occasion.
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1653
sand six hundred, nineteen hundred, and fifteen hun-
dred pounds, having been made in Normandy, and a !
large clock, constructed in Cincinnati, which indicates
the hours on the four sides of the tower and strikes
them on the bells. The interior is divided into a
nave and two aisles by two rows of five columns each
on either side of the nave. These columns are in the I
Doric style, four feet in diameter and twenty-six feet !
hio'h, and built of brick covered with stucco. The
O '
ceiling is elliptic, and is divided into eighteen richly-
decorated panels. The width of the centre aisle is
forty feet and that of each side aisle twenty feet.
Above the front doors are two galleries. Beneath j
one of them are the baptismal fonts, and here also
hangs a beautiful painting of the Saviour's baptism.
The sanctuary is forty by thirty feet in size, and is \
elevated nine steps from the floor. Its sides are •
adorned with pilasters painted in imitation of marble,
and with panels decorated with festoons of ears of
wheat and vines, symbolic of the Holy Eucharist.
The spaces between the pilasters are occupied by
arches, two of which have galleries, one for the use
of the Sisters of Charity and the other for the use of
the choir. In the centre of the sanctuary is the altar,
which is richly and beautifully decorated. The altar-
piece is a large painting, representing the Crucifixion,
on either side of which are two fluted Corinthian
columns of blue marble, with gilt capitals supporting
a rich entablature, which is surmounted by a pedi-
ment, broken in the centre to admit before a window,
elliptical in shape, a transparent painting representing
the dove, the emblem of the Holy Ghost, surrounded
by a glory, and cherubs appearing in the clouds. On
the top of the pediment, at either side, the figure of
an angel supports the tables of the old law and of the
gospel. On the western side of the sanctuary, in an
arch near the balusters, is the bishop's chair, with a
handsome mahogany canopy, and in a similar arch
just opposite is a valuable painting, — a portrait of
St. Louis, titular saint of the cathedral, — which was
presented to the diocese by Louis XVIII. of France.
At the extremity of each side aisle is a small
chapel, both of which are elevated five feet above the
floor of the church. The eastern chapel is adorned
by an altar-piece representing St. Patrick in pontifi-
cal robes. Above the altar-piece are two paintings,
one representing the centurion kneeling before the
Saviour, and said to be by Paul Veronese ; the other
the marriage of the Virgin with Joseph. The western
chapel has for its altar-piece a picture of St. Vincent
de Paul, founder of the Order of Sisters of Charity,
rescuing an abandoned child. Near the side doors
are two other valuable paintings, one representing
105
the martyrdom of St. Bartholomew, the other the
Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus in her arms.
Beneath the side altars two flights of steps descend
to the lower chapel, whose dimensions are eighty- four
by thirty feet. The organ was constructed in Cincin-
nati at a cost of five thousand dollars, and is placed in
a loft behind the altar of St. Patrick, communicating with
the choir gallery on the eastern side of the sanctuary.
On either side of the church are seven arched windows
eighteen feet high, adorned with scenes from the life
of the Saviour. The interior decoration of the Cath-
edral is warm and attractive, and the appearance of the
ancient edifice on festival occasions is always gorgeous
and imposing. >• In the rear of the Cathedral is a free
school building under the charge of the Sisters of
Loretto. On the 28th of April, 1871, the prelimi-
nary steps were taken for the incorporation of a
society having for its object the erection of a new
Cathedral. The movement was inaugurated under
the auspices of Archbishop Kenrick, Bishop Ryan,
and Vicar-General Muhlsiepen, and was supported
by prominent capitalists. The ground upon which it
was contemplated to erect the building was City
Block 915, between Twenty -second and Twenty-third
Streets and Chestnut and Pine Streets, which was
secured for the purpose by the archbishop. The
association was composed of the following members :
Most Rev. Archbishop Kenrick ; Very Rev. P. J.
Ryan, coadjutor bishop ; Very Rev. Henry Muhl-
siepen, vicar-general ; James H. Lucas, Henry S.
Turner, Joseph O'Neil, John Withnell, Nicholas
Schaeflfer, H. J. Spaunhorst, J. B. Ghio, Bernard
Crickhard, M. B. Chambers, Julius S. Walsh, John
Byrne, Jr., Bernard Slevin, Charles P. Chouteau,
Charles Slevin, James Maguire, and Joseph Garneau.
A certificate of incorporation was granted to these
gentlemen by Judge Lucas, and the association was
incorporated under the name of the St. Louis Cathe-
dral Building Association. Pending the erection of
the new building, however, the venerable edifice of
1834 continues to rear its massive front, and with
the alterations and repairs which were made in 1876
the Cathedral is still a noble and imposing house of
worship. 1
1 The Cathedral was entered by burglars early on the morn-
ing of Aug. 27, 1845, but they only succeeded in securing the
contents of several charity boxes, amounting in all to abou
twenty-five dollars.
On the first Sunday of October, 1855, the first Provincial
Council of St. Louis was opened at the Cathedral with imposing
ceremonies. The bishops composing the Council were Arch-
bishop Kenrick, of St. Louis, and Bishops Miles, of Nashville,
O'Regan, of Chicago, Henni, of Milwaukee, Cretin, of Minne-
sota, and Loras, of Dubuque. After the mass, the music being
1654
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
In 1876 the Cathedral was repaired and the inte-
rior redecorated under the direction of T. W. Brady,
architect. The exterior, with the exception of the
steeple, which underwent extensive improvements,
was left unchanged. The entire interior was painted
and frescoed by George Couch and Charles F. Krue-
ger, gray being the prevailing tint of the background,
relieved by rich but quiet ornamentation. The spaces
between the windows were adorned with .figures (more-
than life-size) of St. Malachi, St. Boniface, St. Pat-
rick, St. Ignatius, St. Francis de Sales, St. Kevin, St.
Lawrence O'Toole, and St. Bridget. The walls of the
sanctuary were likewise adorned with figures of St.
Louis, St. Vincent de Paul, and other saints. The
old paintings, " The Descent from the Cross," and
" St. Louis at his Devotions," which had been familiar
to frequenters of the church for many years, remained
in their accustomed places, and were brought out in
clearer relief by the added freshness and brightness
of their surroundings. The year 1876 being the
centennial year of the foundation of the parish, a
meeting was held at the parochial residence July
llth, and the following resolution was adopted:
" Whereat, Our country is ringing throughout its length and
breadth with the shouts of our citizens for this, the hundredth
anniversary of our political independence; and, whereas, this
year is the hundredth anniversary of the foundation of the
Cathedral parish; therffore be it Resolved, That in this two-
fold centennial we celebrate with all the pomp we can the feast
of our church on August 27th."
rendered by a choir whose leading members were Miss Julia
Pratte, Mrs. Ringling, Miss Maginnis, Dr. Boisliniere, and Mr.
Young, Rev. Father Murphy, vice-provincial of the Society
of Jesus, preached the sermon.
The promoter of the Council was Very Rev. J. Duggan, V. G. ;
notary, Rev. E. Saulnier; secretary, Rev. J. Banino; master
of ceremony, Rev. P. J. Ryan ; theologians of the archbishop
and bishops, Rev. P. Patschouski, Rev. E. Rolando, Rev. Father
Feehan, Rev. P. O'Brien, Rev. P. J. Ryan, Rev. E. Vignonet,
Rev. J. Iligginbotham, Rev. P. de Sinet, Rev. A. Damen,
Rev. P. Larkin, Rev. J. Heis?, Rev. W. Wheeler, Rev. J. Vil-
lars, Rev. P. R. Donelly.
Very Rev. D. Masenou represented the Lazarist religious
congregation ; Very Rev. Father Murphy, the Jesuits ; Rev. Vin-
cent Smyth, the Trappists; Rev. E. Jarboe, the Dominicans;
and Rev. S. A. Paris, the Sisters of St. Joseph.
On the 3d of May, 1857, the Cathedral was the scene of
another imposing ceremony, the consecration of the Right Rev.
James Duggan, Bishop of Antigone iu partibus iiifiJelium,
to be Coadjutor Bishop of Chicago, with right of succession,
and the Right Rev. Clement Smyth, Bishop of Appanasia in
parlilms, to be coadjutor of the Bishop of Dubuque; and again
in Miiy, 1 859, the occasion being the consecration of Right Rev.
Dr. AVhelan as coadjutor to the Bishop of Nashville, and Right
Rev. Dr. O'Gorman as Vicar Apostolic of Nebraska. The cere-
mony was performed by Archbishop Kenri'ck, assisted by
Bishops Miege, of Kansas, and Junker, of Alton. Bishop Smyth,
of Dubuque, preached the sermon. Bishop Duggan, of Chicago,
also participated in the services.
A committee consisting of Rev. David J. Doherty
and John H. O'Neill was appointed at the same meet-
ing for the purpose of preparing from such data as
were procurable an address to the parishioners and
people of St. Louis, which should embody a history
of the Cathedral parish, and which should be pub-
lished in pamphlet form. In accordance with these
instructions the address was prepared and published,
and the centennial services at the Cathedral were
held Aug. 27, 1876. The front of the building was
trimmed with evergreens in honor of the occasion,
and an immense assemblage was attracted to the
scene. Among those present inside the building, to
which entrance was only to be obtained by means of
cards of admission, were Judge Wilson Primm, who
many years before had been leader of the Cathedral
choir, Senator Bogy, Col. J. 0. Broadhead, Hon.
Thomas E. Reynolds, Capt. Thorwegen, John F.
Gibbons, and Col. A. W. Slayback. The altars were
ablaze with light, and the decorations unusually rich
and brilliant. High above the altar, in letters formed
by gas-jets, was the inscription, Gloria in Excekis
Deo. The orchestra opened the services with the
prelude to a mass by Giorza, and the procession of
clergy marched into the sanctuary. It was composed
of three acolytes, twenty-five priests and monks, and
three bishops. The grand high mass was celebrated by
Right Rev. Bishop Ryan, with Very Rev. H. Muehl-
siepen, V. G., as archdeacon of honor; Rev. Joseph
Henry, of St. Lawrence O'Toole's, as deacon; Rev.
j P. L. McEvoy, of St. Kevin's, as sub-deacon ; and
Rev. C. Smith as master of ceremonies.
In the sanctuary were the following clergymen :
Right Rev. Bishop Hennessy, of Dubuque, attended
by Rev. Andrew Eustace, of St. Michael's ; Right
Rev. Bishop Hogan, of St. Joseph, attended by Rev.
William Walsh, of St. Bridget's; Very Rev. P. J.
O'Halloran, V. G., of East St. Louis; Rev. T. M.
Keilty, of the Holy Angels ; Rev. P. P. Brady, of the
Annunciation ; Rev. M. Reilly, of St. Columbkill's ;
Rev. R. Hayes, of St. Lawrence ; Rev. T. Hanlon, of
St. Michael's ; Rev. M. W. Tobyn, pastor of Cathedral
parish; Rev. George Watson, Rev. D. S. Phelan, of
St. Aloysius ; Rev. Father Maurice ; Rev. Fathers
Rosenbauer, Murphy, and Luytelaar, of St.Alphonsus';
Rev. E. Fenlon, of St. Bridget's ; Rev. H. Kelly, of
Cheltenham ; Rev. T. Burke, of St. Vincent's ; Rev.
G. Powers, of St. John's; Rev. M. Brennan, of St.
Malachi's ; Rev. P. Morrissey, of the Annunciation ;
Rev. F. Ward, S.J., College Church ; Rev. Father
Servatius, O.S.F. ; Brother Virgil, of the Christian
Brothers.
The music, under the direction of Professor Campi,
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1655
was very fine, the choir being composed of the fol-
lowing : Misses Peake, Pomarede, Overstolz, Whip-
pie, E. Schumacher, B. Schumacher, De Kalb, Mul-
holland, De Campi, and Keller, Mrs. Coester, Mrs.
Kreiter, and Mrs. Johnson, and Messrs. Allman,
Diehm, A. Wiseman, J. Wiseman, Singer, Dierkes,
Schraubstadter, Sexton, Overstolz, and Field.
Just before the delivery of the sermon, Father
Doherty read a statement of the cost of the repairs
to the Cathedral, which had just been completed.
The renovation of the roof and steeple, he said, had
cost $2618, the remodeling and repair of the win-
dows $1100, the renovation and fresco-work in the
interior $2600, making a total of $6318. The amount
already paid on this score, together with the cash still
on hand for that purpose, was $3300, leaving the con-
siderable sum of $3000 still to be raised. It was
this fact which led to the adoption of the plan of
selling seats for the celebration, and it was this which
also determined the finance committee to take up a
collection. They did this, added Father Doherty,
with a full realization of the fact that there were few
St. Louisans, either Catholic or Protestant, who did
not love the very stones of which the old Cathedral
was built.
Rev. G. Powers, of St. John's Church, then deliv-
ered the sermon, his text being taken from the twenty-
first chapter of St. John's Apocalypse, in which occur
the words, Ecce tabernaculum Dei cum hominibus,
et h<ili!t<it cum eis (" Behold the tabernacle of God
with men, and He will dwell with them"), inscribed on
the mural slab over the main entrance to the church.
After the sermon the collection referred to by Father
Doherty was taken up.
At the close of the mass the altar was rearranged
and the service of the benediction followed, Bishop
Ryan still officiating. After the benediction the or-
ohrstra and chorus rendered with grand effect Haydn's
" Te Deum Laudamus," with which the exercises
closed.
•
PASTORS OP CATHEDRAL PARISH. — On a pre-
vious page we have given the succession of early
pastors a'nd priests who officiated in the Cathedral
parish, but for purposes of reference we recapitulate
them here.
List of priests who officiated in St. Louis from the
foundation of the city up to about the time of Bishop
Dubourg's arrival :
Fathers Meurin, from May, 1766, to Feb. 7, 1769; Gibault,
June, 1770, to January, 177-'; Valentin, May, 1772, to June,
1775; Meurin, Oct. 4 and 5, 1776; Hilaire, March 19, 1776;
Bernard, Mny, 1776, to 1789; Ledru, November, 1789, to Sep-
tember, 1793; Didier, December, 1793, to April, 1799 ; Lusson
and Maxwell, July, 1798, to May, 1799; Lusson, March 23,
1799, to March 23,1800; Janin, April 6, 1800, to Nov. 12, 1804;
Maxwell, March 2 to May 29, 1806; Olivier, Sept. 14 and 15,
1806; Flynn, Nov. 9, 1806, to June 2, 1808; Maxwell, June 5
and 8, 1808 ; Guillet, July 20 to Aug. 26, 1808; Dunand, Dec.
23, 1808, to Jan. 18, 1809; Guillet, Dec. 24 to 31, 1809; Ber-
nard, Feb. 6 to July 13, 1810; Maxwell, July 30, 1810; Du-
nand, Aug. 5, 1810; Maxwell, Aug. 12 to 15, 1810; Guillet,
Nov. 2, 1810, to June 23,1811; Dunand, July 30, 1811, to Aug.
2, 1811; Guillet, Aug. 9, 1811, to Dec. 1, 1811; Savigne, Dec.
11, 1811, to Sept. 15, 1812; Dunand, Nov. 10, 1812; Savigne,
Feb. 11,1813; Dunand and Savigne, March 14, 1813; Dunand,
March 17, 1813; Savigne, May 12, 1813, to Oct. 3, 1817.
In January, 1818, there arrived, in company with
Bishop Dubourg, Rev. Fathers De Andreis, Rosatti
(afterwards Bishop of St. Louis), Acqueroni, Ferrari,
and Carretti, and these priests officiated at the Cathe-
dral and labored in the parish. Up to 1826 the fol-
lowing additional clergymen officiated from time to
time at the Cathedral : Fathers Pratte, De Neckere
(afterwards Bishop of New Orleans), Cellini, Saulnier,
Neil, Damen, Titchitoli, and Jean-Jean. During
the administration of Father Rosatti, from 1824
to 1843, many priests officiated at the Cathedral,
among them being Fathers Timon (afterwards Bishop
of Buffalo), Lutz, Loisel, Verhaegen, S.J., Doutre.
i lingue, Paguin (afterwards sent to the mission of
Texas, where he died of yellow fever), Roux, Conda-
mine, Borgua, Lefevre (afterwards Bishop of Detroit),
1 Tucker, St. Cyr (now over seventy-two years of age,
blind, and an inmate of the Convent of St. Joseph,
J in South St. Louis), Fontbonne, Jamison, Fischer,
! Odin (later Archbishop of New Orleans), P. R. Don-
elly, Hamilton, and others.
In 1847 the Cathedral received its crowning honor
by being made a metropolitan church, Bishop Kenrick
being raised to the archiepiscopacy. Under him,
during the earlier days, served Fathers Lutz, Saulnier,
Carroll, Cotter (who was killed while attending a sick
call in Washington County), Paris, and Heim. The
epitaph on the grave of Father Heim in Calvary Cem-
etery tells that he was " The Priest of the Poor."
In 1861 the Redemptorist Fathers arrived in St. Louis
on invitation of the archbishop, and had charge of
the Cathedral until 1868, when they removed to their
own beautiful St. Alphonsus Church.
In addition to those already mentioned who have
: left the Cathedral to become bishops are Fathers
Feehan, Hennessy, Duggan, Hogan, and Ryan.
The first St. Vincent de Paul Society on the banks
j of the Mississippi, and perhaps the first in America,
was organized Nov. 20, 1845, the first meeting being
held in the little school-house on Second Street, at-
tached to the Cathedral, a building afterwards de-
stroyed by the great fire of 1849. The second meet-
ing was held on the 27th of the same month. Among
1656
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
the first members were Bryan Mullanphy, Father
Heim, Father John O'Neil, John Haverty, John
Everhart, John Ennis, John Dorack, Robert Mitchell,
Joseph O'Neil, Michael O'Keefe, Dr. Linton, Dr.
O'Loughlin, James Maguire, John Byrne, Jr., Dennis
Galvin, John Amend, Francis Saler, and Joseph
Murphy. Prominent among these were the venerable
Father Heim and Judge Mullanphy, who were prac-
tically the founders of the organization. John Hav-
erty and Robert Mitchell also became very active in
the subsequent work of the society.
St. Francis Xavier Church, otherwise known as
the " College Church," was the sixth in the series of
structures erected by the Jesuits in charge of St. Louis
University. It was located on the lot originally given
by Jeremiah Conner to Bishop Rosatti for college
purposes, and made over by the bishop to the Jesuits
in 1828. The corner-stone was laid in the spring of
1840, Rev. G. A. Carrell, afterwards president of the
university, addressing the people from the eastern
balcony of the college, and the building was dedicated
and occupied on Palm Sunday, 1843. It is a sub-
stantial brick structure, Romanesque in style, with
sixty -seven feet front on Ninth Street by one hundred
and twenty-seven feet on Christy Avenue, extending
back to the eastern end of the old college building.
It has a large basement, in which the parochial school
was conducted until its removal, in 1846, to a house
built expressly for it. On the 19th of May, 1851,
the church was transferred by the vice-provincial of
the Society of Jesus in Missouri to the control of
the St. Louis University, which assumed an uncan-
celed debt on the building of thirty-eight thousand
seven hundred and fifty dollars. The church has a
seating capacity of three thousand, and is often filled
to its utmost capacity, people from all parts of the city
making up the congregations. The interior is impo-
sing and richly decorated, and its walls are hung with
paintings, many of which are considered to be of great
value. Among the interesting incidents connected
with the history of this church were the consecration,
Feb. 11, 1849, of Father J. Van de Velde, Bishop of
Chicago, on which occasion the officiating clergy were
Archbishop Kenrick, Bishop Loras, of Dubuque ;
Bishop Mills, of Nashville ; and Bishop De St. Palais,
of Vincennes, and the consecration, March 25, 1851,
of Father Meige, Bishop of Kansas. At the latter
ceremony Archbishop Kenrick and the Bishops of
Vincennes and Chicago officiated.
The services in commemoration of the Golden Ju-
bilee of the university on the 26th of June, 1879,
were also conspicuous among the imposing ceremonies
which have been held from time to time in this church.
The rectors or presidents of the university have
always been ex officio pastors of the church. They
have had for assistants, since 1843, Fathers George A.
Carrell (afterwards Bishop of Covington,Ky.), Arnold
Damen, Cornelius F. Smarius,1 John O'Neil, Michael
Corbett, Edward Higgins, Patrick J. Ward, the pres-
ent assistant pastor. The principal societies connected
with the church are the Young Men's, St. Joseph's,
Young Ladies', and St. Anne's Sodalities. There are
two Sunday-schools, attended, in the aggregate, by
twenty-eight teachers and eight hundred scholars.
THE YOUNG MEN'S SODALITY was instituted by
Rev. Arnold Damen, S. J.. in 1846. under the protec-
tion of the Virgin. The first sodality, after which
all the others are patterned, was organized in Rome in
1563, by Father John Leonius, S.J., then a teacher
in the Roman College. It consisted at first of youths,
who were placed under the special protection of the
Blessed Virgin, but it found favor with Pope Gregory
XIII., who by an encyclical letter in 1584 gave it the
papal sanction, and commended its example to the
Catholic world, vesting powers of direction and indul-
gences in the Jesuits who should establish branches.
From this beginning sodalities have been organized
wherever the Society of Jesus has colleges or churches,
while the mother or Roman Sodality has numbered
in its membership popes, cardinals, bishops, priests,
and saints, as well as temporal princes, magistrates,
and distinguished men in every class of society. The
sodality attached to St. Francis Xavier's Church has
for its object the promotion of sociability and broth-
erly love, and the practice of virtuous principles among
its members. It meets every Sunday morning at a
quarter past nine, except on the last Sunday in the
1 Father Cornelius F. Smarius was born on the 3d of March,
1823, in Tilburg, province of North Brabant, Holland. When
yet a child hi* parents died, and his education was undertaken
by his relative?, who at the proper time placed him in the
smaller seminary of St. Michael's, Gestel, where he pursued hit
classical studies with zeal and industry. He early gave token
of his wonderful oratorical powers, which appear to have been
hereditary, his father having been an eminent speaker. The
young student was even more distinguished for his piety and
missionary zeal than for his genius. He was at the head of
every pious association, and often gathered his fellow-students
around him and exhorted them to the practice of virtue.
Having completed his classical studies, he came to this country
in 1841 to devote his life to missionary labor. After the cus-
tomary trials of the Jesuit novitiate, he filled the office of a col-
lege professor in Cincinnati, and at the St. Louis University.
Between these duties and the completion of the longer course
of studies usually performed by the Jesuits he spent his time
up to 1858, when he was made pastor of St. Xavier's (College)
Church. In 1860 he was sent to the missionary house of the
Society of Jesus at Chicago, and died on the 1st of March,
1870.
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1657
month, when it meets at seven o'clock and proceeds in
a body to St. Xavier's Church to partake of the
Communion. Frequent social gatherings are held at
stated times. Sodality Hall, on the southeast corner
of Ninth Street and Christy Avenue, was erected by
St. Louis University in 1855, and besides rooms for
meetings, contains a library of two thousand volumes
and a reading-room supplied with local and Catholic
periodicals. In 1880 a new class of members, known
as the Veteran Corps, was organized within the sodal-
ity, its object being to recall such of its earlier mem-
bers as had withdrawn from active fellowship. Fif-
teen years' membership constitutes eligibility to the
corps, and it has now about two hundred names on its
roll. The total present active and honorary member-
ship of the sodality numbers six hundred and thirty-
four, and its officers are a spiritual director, prefects
(first and second), secretary, treasurer, librarian,
and twelve consultors, all of whom form the council
of the sodality.
ST. JOSEPH'S SODALITY, for married men, was or-
ganized by Father O'Neil about fifteen years ago.
It meets in Sodality Hall at two o'clock on Sunday
afternoons.
THE YOUNG LADIES' SODALITY of the Blessed
Virgin Mary was organized by Rev. A. Damen, S. J.,
Aug. 15, 1848, with twenty-eight members. Since
then fifteen hundred names have been enrolled, and
the present active membership numbers five hundred.
On the first Sunday of every month the members
approach the Holy Communion in a body, their average
attendance being three hundred and fifty. On other
Sundays they meet to recite the offices of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, with an average attendance of three
hundred. The sodality occupies one story of Sodal-
ity Hall, and possesses a fine library of over eighteen
hundred volumes. It also has a burial lot in Calvary
Cemetery. A Mutual Benevolent Association, which
is very flourishing and productive of great good, is
sustained by its members. Rev. F. J. Boudreaux is
the present director.
ST. ANNE'S SODALITY for married women was
organized under the title of the Immaculate Concep-
tion Sodality, Dec. 8, 1875, by Rev. P. J. Ward, S.J.,
who was chosen at the time, and has since remained
its spiritual director. St. Anne was selected as sec-
ondary patron, hence the name afterwards adopted.
The officers at first consisted of prefect, first and sec-
ond assistants, secretary,, sacristan, treasurer, and
twelve consultors ; but the growth of the sodality
rendering others necessary, there are now in addition
to the above three assistant secretaries, an assistant
sacristan, assistant treasurer, two medal-bearers, and
six regulators. These officers are elected by the vote
of the whole sodality at the annual meeting in April.
The regular meeting takes place every Sunday after-
noon (except the third Sunday) for reciting the offices
of the Blessed Virgin and instruction. On every
third Sunday the sodality attends the Holy Commu-
nion. An annual retreat of one week is also given, and
all who attend it are admitted to membership, dis-
pensing with the three months' probation usually
required of postulants. The retreat is closed by mass
and Communion, followed by the act of consecration
for postulates, and its renewal for old members, with
closing instruction and benediction. High masses of
requiem for deceased members are said both during
retreat and as soon as possible after the death of any
member. The average monthly number of commu-
nicants during the past year has been three hundred
and five. The sodality began in 1875 with ninety-
six members, and on the 1st of January, 1882, num-
bered five hundred and sixty-five members. Several,
however, have since been dropped for non-attendance,
leaving the actual membership four hundred and fifty.
Since the beginning there have been twenty-seven
deaths.
St. Joseph's Church., at the northeast corner of
Eleventh and Biddle Streets, Rev. Lambert Etten,
S.J., pastor, was established for the use of German
Catholics by the members of the Society of Jesus
attached to the St. Louis University. The congrega-
tion first met for worship in 1840, in St. Aloysius
Chapel, on the grounds of the university on Washing-
ton Avenue, and when St. Francis Xavier Church
was finished this chapel was given up to them. The
ground for St. Joseph's Church was given by Mrs.
Ann Biddle, and work was begun March 1, 1844.
The corner-stone was laid in April, 1844, and the
building, which was eighty by one hundred and
twenty feet, was finished and dedicated Aug. 2, 1846.
The building was in the Ionic style of architecture,
and was surmounted by a spire one hundred and fifty
feet in height. The interior was divided into a nave
and two aisles, and was finished after the Corinthian
order. George Purves was the architect. The parish
grew very rapidly, and under the pastorate of Father
Weber, S.J., the church was greatly enlarged and
improved. The corner-stone of a new building was
laid in the latter part of June, 1865, and the com-
pleted structure was dedicated Dec. 30, 1866. In
1880 the present front with the steeples was added,
making the dimensions of the whole edifice one hun-
dred and twelve by one hundred and eighty feet. As
it now stands, with its massive proportions and lofty
towers, it is one of the most spacious and imposing
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
church edifices in the country. It will seat two thou-
sand six hundred persons, but as many as four thou-
sand five hundred have been contained within its
walls. The exterior is in the Romanesque style of
architecture, and the interior is magnificently deco-
rated, the grand altar having cost ten thousand dollars.
In the semi-dome are five panels, each of which con-
tains colossal figures in natural colors, representing
the Virgin Mary, SS. Ann and Joachim, Abraham
and David, surrounded by appropriate emblems.
These are again crowned by another composition, as
is seen through the eye of the first dome, representing
the Holy Trinity. The diffused light produced by
mechanical combinations reflected on these figures
has a magnificent effect.
The nave is separated from the aisles by a range
of Corinthian columns of Sienna marble supporting
semi-circular arches, and terminating with a semi-
dome, or apse, inclosing the high altar. These col-
umns and arches support a clear-story, which is
perforated by windows, and separated from the arches
by a crowning entablature, which forms the base sus-
taining the semi-circular arches spanning the nave.
The spaces or bays between the columns and walls
forming the side aisles are covered by small domes,
giving to each section a separate compartment. On
south end of the interior is the styolate sustaining the
choir and galleries. The parochial schools are located
in three brick buildings, three stories high, on Eleventh
Street, between Cass Avenue and O'Fallon Street,
built in 1857, 1860, and 1862, and are under the
charge of the Sisters de Notre Dame and of secular
teachers. The buildings and ground cost about sixty
thousand dollars ; and the schools are conducted by
eleven teachers, and attended by nine hundred pupils.
The successive pastors of the church have been Rev.
Fathers J. Getting, 1840; Hofbauer, 1846; Seisl,
1847; Patschowski, 1851; Joseph Weber, 1859;
Tschieder, 1870; Fr. Hagemann, 1876; L. Etten,
1881, all of the Society of Jesus; Fathers Joseph
Weber (who has been attached to the church for
twenty-nine years), -F. X. Whippern, and Francis
Braun, all of the Society of Jesus, are assistant pastors.
The parish comprises eight hundred families and two
thousand communicants, and the Sunday-school has
four teachers and four hundred pupils. The congre-
gation is exclusively German, and has connected with
it a Young Men's Sodality of two hundred members ;
Young Ladies' Sodality, two hundred and thirty mem-
bers ; Married Men's Sodality, organized 1881, one
hundred and twenty members ; St. Joseph's Benevo-
lent Society, two thousand members ; St. Vincent de
Paul Society, and others.
St. Mary of Victories, another German Church,
was organized by the Rev. Peter Fischer, its first pas-
tor, in 1843, its original members being a portion of
the Cathedral congregation. The deed of the church
property bears the date of Feb. 8, 1843. The cor-
ner-stone of the present church, which is located at
the northeast corner of Third and Mulberry Streets,
was laid June 25, 1843, and the building was blessed
on the 15th of September, 1844. In 1859-60 an
addition to the church on the east side, increasing it
more than one-half its former size, and the tower were
built, and on the 13th of May, 1860, the church was
consecrated. Archbishop Kenrick officiated, assisted
by Rev. R. Niederkorn, S. J., of St. Joseph's Church ;
Rev. Dr. Salzman, of Milwaukee ; Rev. Mr. Goiter,
of the Church of SS. Peter and Paul ; and Rev. Mr.
Ziegler, Fathers De Smet, S. J. Bannon, and others.
The second pastor was Very Rev. Joseph Melcher,
V. G., 1847 to 1868 ; the third, Very Rev. Henry
Muhlsiepen, V. G., March to August, 1868 ; the
fourth and present pastor, Rev. William Faerber,
S.J., was appointed August, 1868. The church owns
the west half of the block on which it stands (ex-
cept twenty-two feet on the northwest corner), or two
hundred and twenty-five by one hundred and fifty feet.
Theparochial school, a two-story brick building, eighty-
two by seventy-six feet, adjoins the church on the north.
It was established in 1855, and is under the charge of
one secular teacher and five Sisters of Notre Dame.
It is attended by four hundred pupils. About
two thousand persons (adults and children) are con-
nected with this congregation. The Sisters of Notre
Dame, of whom there are several in the city, in
charge of different parish schools, have a small con-
vent or residence at 742 South Third Street, on a
part of the church lot.
St. Patrick's Church. — The corner-stone of St.
Patrick's Church, situated at the northwest corner of
Sixth and Biddle Streets, was laid in 1843, and the
building was dedicated in 1845. It is a Gothic
brick structure, seventy-five by one hundred and
twenty feet, with a spire one hundred and ninety feet
high, and its interior is highly decorated. The main
altar, of Italian marble and highly artistic workman-
ship, is one of the costliest and handsomest in
America. The parochial schools are located on the
west side of Seventh Street, between Biddle and
Carr, on a lot one hundred and twenty by one hun-
dred and twenty-seven and -a half feet. The building
is a large three-story brick structure, the corner-stone
of which was laid Oct. 29, 1871. The cost of erec-
tion was seventy-five thousand dollars. The schools
are conducted by the Christian Brothers and Sisters
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1659
of St. Joseph. This parish is the largest in the
city, and contains nineteen hundred families, fully
eight thousand people attending the different Sunday
services. The successive pastors have been Revs.
Fathers Lutz, Hamilton, William Wheeler, P. A.
Ward, John Higginbotham, William Wheeler (again),
James Fox, James J. Archer, James McCaffrey, as-
sisted by Fathers Healy and J. R. Hayes.
Father Wheeler, who is conspicuously identified
with the history of St. Patrick's parish, died at
Munich, Bavaria, Feb. 27, 1870. Father Wheeler
was born a short distance from Dublin, Ireland. His
father was an Englishman, a convert to Catholicism,
and his mother of Irish parentage. He came to this
country about the year 1845, with a band of students,
and landing in New York, repaired to St. Louis,
where he was subsequently ordained. The first min-
isterial charge of Father Wheeler was in connection
with St. Patrick's Church, and with the exception of
a few brief interruptions, he was identified with this
parish for twenty-two years. He first discharged the
duties of assistant, and then became pastor of the
church. During the interruptions alluded to in his
connection with St. Patrick's Church he officiated at
the Cathedral for a short time, and subsequently acted
as pastor of St. Michael's Church. These, however,
were but episodes in his career, which was mainly
associated with St. Patrick's parish. Previous to his
connection with the Cathedral he visited Europe, in
company with Father Higginbotham, who, however,
did not return with him.
In November, 1870, Father Wheeler again left for
Europe to attend the Council of the Vatican. His
position in that body was that of theologian for Bishop
Feehan, of Nashville, whom he accompanied to Rome.
He left St. Louis about the 1st of February, and in a
letter to Father Ryan stated that he proposed mak-
ing a short tour through Germany and other portions
of Continental Europe, and expected to return to St.
Louis about the 1st of May. Previous to his de-
parture for Rome his parishioners gave him a ban-
quet, and otherwise expressed their respect and esteem.
Father Wheeler was a hard-working and devoted di-
vine, and during the cholera epidemic of 1849 he
labored ceaselessly in his ministrations among the sick
and dying. He was between fifty-five and sixty years
of age.1
St. Vincent de Paul's Church, for both German-
| and English-speaking congregations, is situated at the
i southwest corner of Decatur Street and Park Avenue,
j and the pastor is Rev. James McGill, C.M. The
j parish was founded by Rev. John Timon, afterwards
' Bishop of Buffalo, N. Y., and is presided over by the
priests of the Congregational Mission, established by
St. Vincent de Paul. The building was begun in
1843, and consecrated in 1845. It is a massive brick
edifice of Roman architecture, with a large cupola in
the centre of the roof, and is sixty-four by one hun-
dred and fifty feet. The total cost of construction
was thirty thousand dollars. The congregation is
composed of English and Germans, and separate
masses are said for each. Both languages are taught
in the parochial schools, of which that for boys, under
the charge of the Christian Brothers, is held in a
brick building, corner of Park Avenue, adjoining the
church, which was erected in 1859 for fourteen
thousand dollars, and has over five hundred pupils.
I The girls' school is situated on the northwest corner
of Marion and Eighth Streets (one block east of the
church), and is conducted by the Sisters of St. Joseph,
who reside in the building. Father James McGill is
Superior and pastor of the English-speaking portion of
the congregation, and Rev. J. G. Uhland, C.M., is
pastor of the Germans; Rev. D. W. Kenrick and A. P.
Kreuz, C.M., are assistants. The parochial residence
is just south of the church. About six thousand per-
sons attend worship regularly at St. Vincent de Paul's.
Church of SS. Peter and Paul.— The congre-
gation of SS. Peter and Paul was organized in
1848 by its first pastor, Rev. Simon Sigrist. Its
first church was a frame building on the site of the
present church, at the corner of Allen Avenue and
Seventh and Eighth Streets, and the second, situated
on the same lot, was of brick, with a seating capacity
of seven hundred. Its corner-stone was laid Oct. 1,
1851, and the building was dedicated in October,
1854. On the 17th of June, 1873, the demolition
of the structure was begun, and on the 12th of April,
1874, was laid the corner-stone of the present edifice,
which was consecrated Dec. 12, 1875. It fronts
eighty-three feet on Eighth Street, and extends two
hundred and four feet from Seventh to Eighth, the
entire depth of the block, with a transept ninety feet
1 A meeting of the Catholic societies was held in St. Patrick's
school-house adjoining the church June 18, 1870, to arrange
for the celebration on the following Sunday of the twenty-fifth
anniversary of the coronation of Pope Pius IX. D. Donovan
was president of the meeting. M. H. Phelan was secretary, and
the following societies were represented : Holy Trinity Pari.su
Benevolent Society, Young Men's Sodality of the College, St.
Joseph Sodality of St. Xavier Church, Shamrock Benevolent
Society, Father Muthew Young Men's Total Abstinence and
Benevolent Society, Roman Catholic Total Abstinence and Be-
nevolent Society, Hibernian Benevolent Society, United Sons
of Erin Benevolent Society, St. Bridget's Young Men's Sodality,
and St. Aloysius' Society of the Annunciation Church.
1660
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
in length. It is of uncut Grafton limestone, of the
fourteenth century Gothic style, and is one of the
most beautiful and imposing churches in the city.
The structure is surmounted by a steeple three hun-
dred and fourteen feet high. The building is con-
structed in the most substantial manner, and with
studied care to secure the best effects of interior deco-
ration. The church is well lighted with stained-glass
windows, and the three altars are exceedingly beau-
tiful, the altar to St. Mary having figures of the
Virgin, St. Catherine, and St. Elizabeth. The altar
of St. Joseph has also figures of St. Boniface and St.
Francis de Sales. The church will seat three thou-
sand people, and cost two hundred thousand dollars.
It was built without assistance from any fair, picnic,
dance, or other festival, although the congregation
(all Germans) was almost exclusively of the working
classes. The consecration services were conducted by
the Right Rev. Bishop P. J. Ryan, D.D., assisted by
Rev. Father Groeinbaum, deacon ; Rev. William Klei-
bibghaus, sub-deacon ; Rev. H. Groll, assistant deacon j
Very Rev. H. Muhlsiepen, V. G., master of ceremo-
nies; also Rev. Father Ruesse, Rev. C. Wahpelhorst,
Rev. H. Vandersauten, chancellor; Rev. William
Faiber, of St. Mary's; and Rev. H. Krabler, C.M.
Pontificial high mass was conducted by the Right
Rev. Bishop Heiss, D.D., of La Crosse, Wis., assisted
by Very Rev. H. Muhlsiepen, V.G., archdeacon ;
Rev. Father Hoeynck, of St. Liborius, deacon ; Rev.
Father Schilling, of Lowell, sub-deacon ; Very Rev.
C. Wahpelhorst, master of ceremonies. A sermon in
English was delivered by the Right Rev. Bishop Fitz-
gerald, D.D., of Little Rock, and one in German by
the Right Rev. Bishop Krautbauer, D.D., of Green
Bay, Wis.
Pastor Sigrist was succeeded by Rev. Francis Goller
on Jan. 1, 1858, and since 1870 he has had for as-
sistants Rev. Fathers H. Groll, W. Klevinghaus, and
F. Ruesse. The parochial school is conducted under
the charge of the Sisters of Notre Dame, in a large
three-story brick building adjoining the church on
Eighth Street ; it has sixteen teachers and twelve
hundred pupils. The entire church property is valued
at three hundred thousand dollars. The principal
societies connected with the congregation (which
numbers about one thousand families) are the St.
Paul's Benevolent Society, of six hundred members,
with a cash capital of twenty thousand dollars ; the
Young Men's Sodality, of two hundred members; and
the Young Ladies' Sodality, of three hundred mem-
bers. The pastoral residence adjoins the church on
South Seventh Street. The cemetery belonging to
the church is situated on Gravois road.
St. Michael's Church., northeast corner of Elev-
enth and Exchange Streets, Rev. Andrew Eustace,
pastor, was founded by Rev. Father Hogan, after-
wards Bishop of St. Joseph, Mo., and the present
brick building, forty-five by ninety feet, which was
built in 1855, at a cost of twenty thousand dollars,
took the place of an old building that had been occu-
pied by the congregation for many years previous.
The parochial school is located at the northwest corner
of Eleventh and Benton Streets, in a large brick build-
ing erected in 1859, at a cost of thirty thousand dol-
lars, which will accommodate five hundred pupils.
It is conducted by the Sisters of Loretto. About
four hundred families (two thousand persons) are con-
nected with the congregation.
Holy Trinity (German) Church, situated at the
south west corner of Mallinckrodt and Eleventh Streets,
Rev. Frederick Brinkhoff, pastor, was organized, and
its first house of worship built in 1851, by Father
Lorenz, its first pastor. In 1858 the church was de-
molished and the present structure erected. It is a
large brick structure of the Romanesque style of
architecture, fifty-four by one hundred and twenty feet,
and the church lot, which is one hundred and seventy
feet square, also contains a fine parochial residence.
The parish school, a three-story brick building sixty
by fifty feet, on a lot eighty by one hundred and thirty-
five feet, stands on the corner opposite to the church.
It was built in 1871, the school having previously
been conducted in the basement of the church. Father
Devanny succeeded the first pastor and preceded the
present; Rev. Paul Weis is assistant pastor. The
parish comprises four hundred and fifty families, with
fifteen hundred communicants ; and there are seven
teachers and four hundred and fifty pupils in the
Sunday-school.
St. Bridget's Church.— The first St. Bridget's
Church was erected in 1853, and the corner-stone of
the present building, which adjoins it, and which is
situated at the northeast corner of Carr Street and
Jefferson Avenue, was laid by Archbishop Kenrick
on the 7th of August, 1859. The building was fin-
ished during the pastorate of Rev. David Lillis, its
first rector, at a cost of thirty-five thousand dollars.
It has a front of seventy-five feet on Jefferson Ave-
nue, with a depth of one hundred and thirty-five feet,
and its architecture is a mixture of the Gothic and
Byzantine orders. The old church, erected in 1853,
is now used as the boys' parochial school, in charge of
the Christian Brothers. The parochial school for
girls is situated on the northwest corner of Jefferson
Avenue and Carr Street, in a handsome-brick build-
ing of four stories and a basement, which contains
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1661
twelve rooms, and is capable of accommodating seven
hundred scholars. The school is in charge of the
Sisters of St. Joseph. The parish contains about five
thousand persons, and nearly twelve hundred children
attend the Sunday-schools. The pastor of St. Brid-
get's is Rev. W. Walsh, and his assistants are Revs.
F. R. Gallagher and J. J. Harty.
St. John of Nepomuk (Bohemian) Church was,
established in 1854 by the first pastor, Rev. Henry
Lipoosky, who was succeeded by the Rev. Francis
Trojan in 1856, and by the present pastor, Rev.
Joseph Hessoun, in 1865. A frame building, thirty-
five by seventy feet, was erected on the site of the
present church (northwest corner of Soulard and
Rosatti Streets), and dedicated in 1854. In the
spring of 1870 the frame structure was torn down,
and a church erected after plans prepared by Adol-
phus Druiding, architect. The corner-stone was laid
May 15, 1870, and the building was dedicated Nov.
27, 1872. It is a handsome brick structure 'of the
Gothic order, sixty by one hundred and fourteen feet,
and is capable of seating five hundred and twenty
persons. The ground on which the church stands
was presented to the congregation by Father Renaud,
a French priest. The church now owns seven lots,
and its property is valued at sixty thousand dollars.
The parochial school was organized in 1866, and the
school buildings (two in number) are located on Ro-
satti Street near the church. Six Sisters of Notre
Dame and one secular teacher have charge of the
school, which numbers five hundred and twenty
pupils. Connected with the church are the following
societies : St. Wenceslaus Benevolent Society, with
two hundred and fifty-two members ; St. John of
Nepomuk Benevolent Society, one hundred and four
members ; St. Joseph Benevolent Society, seventy-six
members ; Knights of St. John of Nepomuk, forty-
six members ; St. Vincent Conference for the Poor,
fifty-eight members ; St. Aloysius Young Men's Be-
nevolent Society, sixty-seven members ; St. Stanislaus
Young Men's Society, sixty-five members ; St. Ann's
Ladies' Benevolent Society, one hundred and seventy-
five members ; St. Ludmilla's Ladies' Benevolent So-
ciety, one hundred and fourteen members ; St. Mary's
Young Ladies' Society, one hundred and two mem-
bers ; St. Agnes Young Ladies' Society, seventy mem-
bers. About five hundred families are connected with
the parish, and the actual membership numbers one
thousand six hundred persons, but the church is
attended largely by Bohemian families beyond the !
limits of the parish.
St. Liborius (German) Church, Nineteenth and
Monroe Streets, Rev. E. Hoeynek, pastor, was erected
in 1855, at a cost of fifty thousand dollars, by Rev.
Stephen Schiveihoff, founder of the parish, who died
in 1869, and was succeeded by the present pastor.
The church is a fine Romanesque brick structure,
sixty by ninety feet, but is becoming too small for the
rapidly increasing congregation, which contemplates
the building of a larger and finer edifice. The pa-
rochial schools, which occupy a three-story brick
building on Nineteenth Street near the church, erected
in 1856, at a cost of ten thousand dollars, are under
the charge of the Sisters of Notre Dame (who reside
in the building) and of one secular teacher. Rev.
Henry Schrage is the assistant pastor. The con-
gregation comprises about six hundred families and
thirteen hundred communicants. Fully two thousand
persons attend the regular Sunday services.
St. Lawrence O'Toole's Church. — Rev. James
Henry, the present pastor of St. Lawrence O'Toole's
Church, was appointed on the 7th of February, 1853,
assistant pastor of St. Patrick's Church, and while
serving in that capacity carried on mission work in the
outlying districts of the parish, which extended to the
old reservoir, and which in those days were an open
prairie and almost a wilderness, Seventeenth Street
being then the limit of the city. In April, 1855, he
was authorized by Archbishop Kenrick to organize a
congregation and establish a new parish, to be taken
from St. Patrick's, and to be known as St. Lawrence
O'Toole's. A lot, eighty-four feet three inches by one
hundred and twenty-five feet, at the northwest corner
of O'Fallon and Fourteenth Streets, was presented for
the purpose by Miss Jane Graham, a member of the
Mullanphy family, and upon this site a church thirty-
eight by eighty-six feet was erected and dedicated Dec.
16, 1855. Mrs. Jane Chambers, only surviving child
of John Mullanphy, gave an additional lot in the rear
of the church lot, thirty-five feet on O'Fallon Street
by eighty-four feet three inches in depth, on which
was erected a building (still occupied), twenty-nine by
seventy-four feet, for the parochial school, which was
opened under the charge of the Sisters of St. Joseph
in 1858. Father Henry slept in the basement of the
church, in a small space, hardly to be called a room,
under the bell-tower, considerably exposed to the ele-
ments. The tower was open, and the boys of the
neighborhood were much addicted to ringing it at
night, startling good Father Henry and the whole
neighborhood with false alarms of fire.
In 1864 the church lot was exchanged for the one
now occupied on the southwest corner of Fourteenth
and O'Fallon Streets, and the old church was demol-
ished and its materials used in the construction of a
new edifice. The corner-stone was laid by Archbishop
1662
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Kenrick on the 31st of January, 1864, and the occa-
sion was made memorable by the presence of Gen.
Rosecrans, who had just been appointed to the com-
mand of the Department of the Missouri, and who,
in the presence of the ten thousand spectators assem-
bled, knelt down to receive the archbishop's blessing.
The building had progressed to the roofing, when it
was entirely destroyed by a cyclone. Work was at
once begun anew, and the completed structure was
consecrated by Archbishop Kenrick in the summer of
1865. Its dimensions are seventy-five by one hun-
dred and fifty feet, and it has held two thousand
five hundred persons sitting and standing. The main
altar, of white, blue-veined marble, beautiful in itself,
is still further embellished by three medallions of white
marble (executed by a sculptor who accompanied Maxi-
milian to Mexico), the central one of which is the head
of Christ crowned with thorns in high relief, and de-
serving to rank among the most exquisite gems of
modern art. There are two altars, one on each side
of the main altar, and similar to it in style and mate-
rial, both of which were erected by Mrs. Hudson as
memorials of her husband, Thomas B. Hudson, and
of her niece, Lizzie Hudson Thatcher. A fourth altar,
dedicated to St. Joseph, was also a gift of Mrs. Hud-
son. The size of the present church lot is one hun-
dred by one hundred and eighty-six feet, and on the
rear portion, adjoining the church, stands a commo-
dious parsonage. Another lot, eighty-two by one
hundred and twenty-five feet, on Fourteenth Street
near Biddle, is owned by the church, and upon it a
new parochial school, sixty by one hundred feet, is in
course of construction. The parish contains a popu-
lation of thirty thousand, of which five thousand are
connected with this church. Its Sunday-school is
attended by thirty-five teachers and eleven hundred
scholars, and the parochial school has seven teachers
and four hundred and fifty pupils. Connected with
the church are a number of religious and benevolent
societies.
St. Malachy's Church. — The congregation of St.
Malachy's Church, southwest corner of Clark and
Summit Avenues, Rev. Charles Zeigler, pastor, was
organized on the 30th of October, 1859, by Rev.
John O'Sullivan, its first pastor, who received his ap-
pointment Oct. 23, 1858, and was succeeded by Rev.
M. W. Tobyn, April 26, 1862, and by the present
pastor Oct. 20, 1869. The corner-stone of the church
was laid Oct. 24, 1858, and it was occupied Oct.
22, 1859, and dedicated "Sept. 2, 1860. It is English
Gothic in style, and built of brick and stone, with
fifty-five feet frontage on Clark Avenue by one hun-
dred and twenty feet in depth. The interior, richly
frescoed, is of very imposing appearance, the vaulted
roof being supported by a double row of fluted col-
umns. The church lot measures one hundred and
thirty by one hundred and sixty feet, and contains,
adjoining the church on Clark Avenue, the parochial
school for boys, a two-story brick building, fifty by one
hundred and twenty-nine feet, with a seating capacity
of six hundred. The school is under the charge of
the Christian Brothers, and has six teachers and four
hundred pupils. The parochial school for girls is con-
ducted in St. Philomena's Orphan Asylum and School,
opposite the church, and is attended by four teachers
(Sisters of Charity) and three hundred scholars. The
schools are supported by voluntary contributions, and
the tuition is free. The societies connected with the
congregation are St. Malachy's Total Abstinence and
Benevolent Society, organized in 1870. now number-
ing one hundred and thirty-two members ; St. Vincent
de Paul Society, organized in 1864, fifty-seven mem-
bers ; Young Men's Sodality, sixty-two members ;
Boys' Sodality, eighty-three members ; and eight
other exclusively religious associations. About six
hundred families are connected with the church, the
actual membership, largely composed of single men,
numbering five thousand. The Sunday-school is at-
tended by twenty-seven teachers and nearly eight
hundred scholars. Rev. M. S. Brennan is assistant
pastor.
Church of St. John the Evangelist. — The corner-
stone of the first church of St. John the Evangelist,
at the corner of Sixteenth and Chestnut Streets, was
laid on the 22d of August, 1847, Father Timon
officiating. On the 2d of February, 1859, the con-
struction of a new church was begun, and on the 1st
of May following the corner-stone was laid by Arch-
bishop Kenrick. The building was completed in
October, 1860, and was dedicated on the first Sunday
of the following month. Its architecture is of the
Romanesque order, and its dimensions sixty-six and a
half by one hundred and thirteen feet. The height of
the structure is sixty-four and a half feet, and the
front is flanked by two towers of five stories, fifteen
feet square, rising to a height of about one hundred
feet. The interior was frescoed by Mr. Hoifman with
scenes from the Apocalypse, and is otherwise richly
! adorned. The parochial residence adjoins the church
on the east. Bishop Ryan was pastor of the church
for some time prior to his consecration, and still
preaches in it frequently. The regular pastor, Rev.
John J. Hennessey, has for assistants Revs. M. J.
Gleeson and Francis Jones. The parochial schools
are situated at the southeast corner of Sixteenth and
Walnut Streets, in a three-story brick building, with
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1663
accommodations for seven hundred scholars, and are
conducted by the Christian Brothers and the Sisters
of St. Joseph. The building, which stands on a lot
valued at ten thousand dollars, was erected in 1874,
at a cost of twenty-seven thousand dollars. The
parish is one of the most numerous in the city, con-
taining about eighteen hundred families, or nearly
nine thousand persons. Six hundred children attend
the Sunday-school.
Annunciation Church. — Annunciation parish was
organized in 1859 by Rev. (now Bishop) Patrick J.
Ryan, by whose personal exertions the funds for the
erection of a church were raised. The corner-stone
of the structure, which is one of the finest in the city,
was laid Nov. 27, 1859, and the building was dedi-
cated Sunday, Dec. 16, 1860. The exercises on this
occasion were conducted by Archbishop Kenrick, as-
sisted by Bishop Juncker, of Alton, 111. The dedi-
catory sermon was delivered by Father Ryan. The
dimensions of the church, which is situated at the
northwest corner of Sixth and Labadie Streets, are
sixty by one hundred and thirty-six feet, and the total
cost was about one hundred thousand dollars. Its
architecture is of the Roman order, and the appear-
ance of the building is massive and imposing. The
interior is richly frescoed and adorned by costly paint-
ings, one of which, the " Marriage of Joseph and
Mary," was presented by Louis XVIII. of France
to Bishop Dubourg in 1818. A colonnade of Corin-
thian pillars supports the arched roof, and the altars,
three in number, are of the purest Italian marble and
very costly. The successive pastors of the church
have been Revs. P. J. Ryan, David S. Phelan, and
the present pastor, Rev. Philip J. Brady, who is as-
sisted by Rev. David J. Dougherty. The Annuncia-
tion Free School for boys is conducted under charge
of the Christian Brothers in a two-story brick build-
ing on the southeast corner of Sixth Street and
Chouteau Avenue (nearly opposite the church). The
girls' free school is conducted by the ladies of the
Sacred Heart in their convent near by. There are
about five hundred families or fourteen hundred per-
sons in the parish, two hundred and ten communi-
cants and over three hundred children in the Sunday-
school. Identified with this church there are two
benevolent societies, three purely religious societies,
an orphan association, two temperance organizations,
and the St. Vincent de Paul Society, a benevolent
organization.
Church of the Assumption. — The parish of the
Assumption was organized in 1862 by Rev. Bernard
O'Reilly, and the corner-stone of the present Church
of the Assumption, at the northwest corner of Sidney
and Eighth Streets, was laid early in May, 1862.
The dimensions of the building are forty by one
hundred feet, and its cost was about nine thousand
dollars. The architect was Robert S. Mitchell.
Rev. Bernard O'Reilly was succeeded in the pastor-
, ate by Rev. F. O'Reardon in 1864; Rev. F. Kava-
; naugh, 1866 ; Rev. James Fox, 1868 ; Rev. Edward
! Shea, 1870 ; and Rev. C. A. Smith, the present pas-
tor, in 1873. The church property has a front on
i Sidney Street of one hundred feet, on which are
erected the church edifice, the parsonage, and the
parochial school. It is valued at thirty thousand
dollars. The school is taught by the Ursuline nuns,
and has an average attendance of three hundred
pupils. The congregation numbers fifteen hundred
persons, an increase of five hundred in the last three
years. Connected with it are two societies, both or-
ganized by the present pastor, — the St. Vincent de
Paul (charitable and benevolent), organized in 1873,
present membership, twenty-five ; and Branch No.
169 of the Catholic Knights of America, organized
in 1880, and now numbering seventy members.
Church of St. Anthony of Padua. — On the 5th
of February, 1863, the Franciscan Fathers or Friars
Minor, called Recollects, organized the parish of St.
Anthony of Padua, in connection with their monas-
tery in the suburbs of St. Louis, near the Work-
house Station, Iron Mountain Railroad. Divine ser-
vice was held at first in a frame house belonging to
I John Whitnell, who presented to the order the
ground upon which their buildings now stand. The
monastery was completed and services held in its
chapel Aug. 2, 1863. The corner-stone of the present
church, at Meramec Street and Kansas Avenue, was
laid by Archbishop Kenrick, April 10, 1864, and
that part of the church which is now used as the
sanctuary and oratory of the monastery was completed
June 24, 1865, and services were thenceforth held in
it until the main church was built and consecrated,
Oct. 10, 1869, the rite of consecration being per-
formed, in the absence and with the consent of
Archbishop Kenrick, by Right Rev. John J. Hogan,
Bishop of St. Joseph, Mo., assisted by Father Kilian,
Provisional Superior of the Order of Franciscan
Fathers. The building was erected at a cost of fifty-
six thousand dollars, and its external dimensions are :
Length, one hundred and forty-three feet; width,
i forty-five feet. Internal : auditorium, length, one
i hundred and five feet ; width, forty-five feet ; height,
! fifty feet. Sanctuary, length, thirty-eight feet; width,
thirty feet ; height, forty-three feet.
The pastors, with the dates of their appointment,
• have been Rev. Servatius Altmicks, O.S.F., who or-
1664
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
ganized the parish Feb. 5, 1863, and who is now
superior of the Indian Mission at Keshina, Wis. ;
Rev. Alardus Andrescheck, O.S.F., Dec. 5, 1869 ;
Rev. Ferdinand Bergmeyer, O.S.F., Sept. 2,1871 ;
Rev. Vincent Halbfas, O.S.F., Jan. 14, 1877 ; and
the present rector, Rev. Liborius Schaefermeyer, ap-
pointed July 2, 1879. The church building (in-
cluding the steeple) is of stone, in pure Gothic style,
and is one of the largest and handsomest church edi-
fices in the city. The parochial school for boys was
established when the parish was organized, but the
building in which it is now held was not completed
until 1870. The parochial school for girls is at pres-
ent conducted by the ladies of the Sacred Heart,
Maryville. In 1872 the monastery adjoining the
church was enlarged and made a theological seminary
for the students of the order. The number of stu-
dents varies from twenty to thirty, the number of
priests from fifteen to twenty, including such students
as towards the close of their studies are ordained,
although not invested with full priestly functions, and :
there are about ten lay brothers. Since 1879 this
monastery has been the ordinary residence of the
Superior Provincial of the newly-formed Franciscan
province of " The Sacred Heart of Jesus" in the
United States, comprising about one hundred priests
in the various monasteries and residences of the
Western States and the Indian missions in Wisconsin.
The present provincial is the Very Rev. Vincent
Halbfas, O.S.F. The Fathers of this monastery per-
form divine service and attend to spiritual wants for
the novitiate of the Christian Brothers, the convent
and academy of the Sisters of St. Joseph in South
St. Louis and at Nazareth, and the convent of the
Sacred Heart, Maryville, as well as for the Catholic
inmates of the various city institutions, the sick at
the Marine Hospital, etc. They also furnish retreats
to various other religious societies, and missions to
Catholic congregations in several parts of the United
States. Connected with the congregation are the !
following societies : Society of the Sacred Heart of i
Jesus, for boys and girls who have made their first
communion ; St. Aloysius' Young Men's Society, St.
Clare's Young Ladies' Society, St. Mary's Ladies'
Society, St. Anthony's Men's Society, and St. An-
thony's Orphan Society. There are over three hun-
dred families and nine hundred communicants in the
parish, and about one hundred children attend the
Sunday-school.
St. Elizabeth's Church, for colored people, is situ-
ated at the corner of Fifteenth and Gay Streets, and
the pastor is the Rev. Ignatius Panken, S.J. The
building, which is a small Gothic structure of brick,
was erected about 1849, by the Southern Methodists,
and was known as Asbury Chapel. It was sold in
December, 1864, to the Jesuits, who devoted it to
the use of the colored Catholics. The building was
renovated and refitted, and will now seat about three
hundred persons. The pastor resides at St. Louis
University, but devotes his whole time to the duties
of his parish and its schools. About eight hundred
persons compose the congregation, and all attend the
Sunday services with considerable regularity.
St. Teresa's Church, Grand Avenue, between
North Market and Summer Streets, Rev. W. H.
Brantner, pastor, was organized in October, 1865, by
Rev. F. P. Gallagher, its first pastor, who was ap-
pointed Oct. 1, 1865, with Rev. E. J. Fitzpatrick as
assistant. The corner-stone was laid on the 14th of
May, 1865, and the building was dedicated Sept. 23,
1866. It was thirty-two by sixty-five feet in size,
and had a capacity of three hundred sittings. An
addition, forty-eight by sixty-five feet, was subse-
quently built, and dedicated Dec. 22, 1878, raising
the seating capacity to seven hundred. The building
is of brick, in the Byzantine style, and the church lot
is two hundred and thirty-six by three hundred and
fifteen feet. The church property is valued at fifty
thousand dollars. Father Brantner succeeded the
first pastor Sept. 1, 1875. On the 1st of August,
1876, the congregation was incorporated under the
laws of Missouri as " St. Teresa's Roman Catholic
Parish Association," with nine trustees. The societies
connected with the church are the St. Teresa's Con-
ference ; St. Vincent de Paul Society, organized in
1868, and now numbering forty members ; Young
Ladies' Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary, organ-
ized Dec. 8, 1881, ninety members; Holy Name
Society, organized May, 1879, sixty-five members;
Married Ladies' Sodality, organized Feb. 2, 1882,
forty-two members ; Confraternity of the Holy Ro-
sary, organized Oct. 1, 1875, one hundred and sev-
enty members ; Confraternity of the Sacred Heart,
organized June 1, 1878, one hundred and eighty
members; St. Teresa's Branch, No. 99, Catholic
Knights of America, organized Dec. 1, 1879, one
hundred and thirty-one members; St. Teresa's Coun-
cil, No. 7, Knights of Father Mathew of Missouri,
organized Aug. 10, 1881, seventy-five members;
St. Teresa's Altar Society, for providing all things
pertaining to the altar and sanctuary, organized No-
vember, 1875, two hundred members; St. Teresa's
Purgatorian Association, organized Nov. 2, 1875,
one hundred and fifty members. The parochial
school was organized in 1870, and is conducted by
four teachers. It is located in a building, thirty-
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1665
five by seventy feet, which is situated in the rear of
the church, and which accommodates three hundred
pupils, the number now attending the school. Since
the organization of this parish four other parishes
have been formed within its boundaries, — St. Augus-
tine's (German), Church of the Holy Ghost (German) ,
St. Alphonsus' (Redemptorist), and Church of the
Visitation. The present boundaries of St. Teresa's
parish are from Natural Bridge road and Salisbury
Street on the north to Lucas and Easton Avenues on
the south, and from Jefferson and Garrison Avenues
on the east to Goode Avenue on the west. On the
15th of October, 1882, the church celebrated the
tri-centenary of the death of St. Teresa, its patron-
ess, in the presence of a vast concourse of Catholics
from all parts of the city. About two hundred and
sixty families are connected with the congregation,
and the Sunday-school is attended by twenty-one
teachers and four hundred and fifteen children. The
present officers of the board of trustees are Hon.
Henry F. Harrington, president; John L. Zwart,
secretary ; John Staunton, treasurer. They reported
$6923.45 as the amount of church collections for
1882, and a church debt of $9245.85.
Church of the Holy Angels. — The congrega- j
tion of the Church of the Holy Angels, St. Ange
Avenue, between Chouteau Avenue and La Salle
Street, Rev. Francis M. Keilty, pastor, was organ-
ized by Rev. M. Welby, its first pastor, under direc-
tion of Archbishop Kenrick, in 1866. The corner-
stone was laid on the 1st of July, 1866, and the
building was dedicated by Archbishop Kenrick on |
the 1st of January, 1867. It is a neat brick
structure of Gothic architecture, and will seat four
hundred and fifty persons. The dimensions of the
church lot are one hundred and eighty-nine feet eight
inches by one hundred and thirty-six feet. The con-
gregation numbers about thirteen hundred persons,
and the Sunday-school is attended by twelve teachers
and one hundred and eighty scholars. No parochial
school has as yet been established in the parish.
St. Nicholas Church. — The corner-stone of St.
Nicholas (German) Church, northeast corner of
Twentieth Street and Lucas Avenue, Rev. Joseph J.
Schaefers, pastor, was laid by Archbishop Kenrick on
the 29th of April, 1866. and the building was dedi-
cated on the 19th of May ,.1867, in the presence of an
immense concourse of people, including the different
Catholic societies in regalia. The architecture of the
church is in the early English Gothic style, and the
building is of brick, its dimensions being eighty by
one hundred and forty feet. From a tower one hun-
dred and thirty feet high rises a spire to an altitude
of one hundred feet. The interior is divided into a
nave and aisles by a series of clustered columns, from
which spring moulded Gothic arches, and is beauti-
fully finished. The architects were Mitchell & Des-
lonne. The building and ground are valued at one
hundred and ten thousand dollars. The parochial
schools are located on Christy Avenue, between Twen-
tieth and Twenty-first Streets, in a brick building of
two stories and basement, which, with the grounds,
cost twenty-four thousand dollars, and are under the
charge of the Sisters of St. Joseph, who live in the
building, and a secular teacher. Rev. Charles Brock-
meier is assistant pastor. The congregation numbers
about four hundred families, or two thousand persons,
and three hundred and fifty children attend the Sun-
day-school.
St. Alphonsus Church, Grand Avenue, between
Finney and Cook Avenues, Rev. Michael Miiller,
pastor, is one of the stateliest and most imposing
buildings in the city. It was erected under the direc-
tion and is still in charge of the Redemptorist Fathers,
by one of whom, Father Louis Dold, the original
plans for the structure were prepared. Subsequently
these plans were modified by the architect, Thomas
Walsh. The corner-stone was laid Nov. 3, 1867, by
Very Rev. Joseph Melcher, vicar-general of the arch-
diocese of St. Louis, and the building was first occu-
pied, although in an unfinished condition, Nov. 30,
1868. About this time Rev. L. Dold, its first rector,
with three lay brothers, removed from the Cathedral,
of which they had charge since 1861, and occupied
temporary residences which had been erected on the
site. On the 4th of August, 1872, the church was
dedicated by Bishop Ryan, in the presence of many
priests and an immense concourse of people from all
parts of the city and surrounding country. It re-
mained a mission church until Sept. 1, 1881, when it
was erected into a parish by Most Rev. Archbishop
Kenrick. Its pastors have been Revs. L. Dold, E.
Grimm, W. Meredith, and (since July, 1880) Michael
Miiller. The ground on which it stands fronts three
hundred and eighty-nine feet on the east side of
Grand Avenue, with a depth of four hundred and
thirty feet on Cook Avenue, and three hundred and
ninety-six feet on Finney Avenue. The building is
eighty feet in width, and one hundred and eighty feet
in length to the sanctuary, and has a seating ca-
pacity (including the gallery) of thirteen hundred
and fifty. It is pure Gothic in style, built of rough-
dressed white limestone (whence its popular name of
the " Rock Church"), and above the principal en-
trance rises a main tower two hundred and twenty-five
feet in height, flanked by two smaller towers, each
1666
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
seventy-five feet in height, above the entrances to the
aisles. The main entrance under the middle tower is
a Gothic arch twelve feet wide and forty feet high.
The church contains five altars, the most important of
which are the main or high altar, under which rests the
body of St. Abundius, a Roman martyr, and the altar
of "Our Lady of Perpetual Help." The entire cost
of the structure amounted to about two hundred thou-
sand dollars. As soon as the mission became a parish
it was determined to build a parochial school, and the
corner-stone of a school building (not yet finished) was
laid on the 6th of August, 1882. The building (of
brick) will be fifty-nine by one hundred and twenty-
nine feet, three stories in height, will contain on the
lower and second floors each six rooms, twenty-two
by thirty-six feet, and on the third floor a hall the
full size of the building. It stands thirty feet back
from Grand Avenue, and forty feet from the church,
and will be one of the largest parochial schools in the
city. The cost of its construction will amount to
about forty thousand dollars. The school will prob-
ably be under the charge of the Christian Brothers
for the boys' department, and of the Sisters of Notre
Dame for that of the girls. There are now about
three hundred families in the parish, and the average
attendance at masses and at evening service on Sunday
is about four thousand. Many of the congregation
come from other parishes. The Sunday-school, of
which Rev. Jos. Distler is director, is attended by
twenty-four teachers and four hundred children.
THE REDEMPTORIST FATHERS, or Congregation of
the Most Holy Redeemer, established a branch of their
order in St. Louis in 1861. The order, founded by
St. Alphonsus de Liguori in 1732, and approved by
Pope Benedict XIV. Feb. 25, 1749, has for one of
its principal objects the giving of retreats and the
holding of missions for priests, religious communities,
and the people, but in this country the members of
the order have also charge of parishes and perform
the work of secular priests. From Naples, where
it originated, the order has spread in every direc-
tion, and has attained gigantic proportions. The
first Fathers to settle in America came to this country
in 1832, and established houses in Baltimore, Roches-
ter, New York, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Pitts-
burgh, Chicago, etc., and in 1861, at the invitation of
Archbishop Kenrick, visited St. Louis in order to hold
a mission in the Cathedral. The archbishop was so well
pleased with their labors that he offered them a
foundation in St. Louis and requested them to take
temporary charge of the Cathedral, which they did,
remaining there until their removal to their own (St.
Alphonsus') church. Until 1875 all the houses of
the order in the United States and Canada formed
but one province, but in that year the province was
divided into the Eastern and Western Provinces, with
Baltimore as the residence of the provincial of the
Eastern, and St. Louis of the Western Province. To
the latter belong St. Louis, New Orleans, Chicago,
Kansas City, and Detroit. Very Rev. Nicholas
Jaeckel was the first provincial in the West, and has
twice been reappointed for terms of three years each.
The convent of the order stands in the rear of the
church, and is a large building, having twenty-two
dwelling-rooms, a library, recreation hall, refectory,
kitchen, etc. Its cost was thirty thousand dollars.
There are continually from ten to twelve Fathers at-
tached to the house, and from five to six lay brothers.
St. Francis de Sales Church, northwest corner
of Gravois road and Ohio Avenue, Rev. P. J. Lotz,
pastor, was organized in 1867, as an offshoot from
SS. Peter and Paul parish, by a number of families
resident near the present location, and was for a time
without a priest and struggling under the pressure of
a heavy debt, which is now being gradually reduced.
The property, comprising about one-fourth of the en-
tire block, was purchased at the time of the organi-
zation of the parish, and the church was erected
before a pastor had been appointed. Rev. L. Lay,
the first pastor, added the pastoral residence in the
rear of the church, and Rev. P. Wigger, his succes-
sor, built and organized the parochial school in 1874,
which is now taught by one secular teacher and four
sisters, and has three hundred scholars. The build-
ing stands north of the church, and is a fine brick
structure with accommodations for three hundred and
fifty pupils. The third and present pastor took charge
in 1878. He enlarged the church and added to it a
spire and a new slate roof, at a cost of seven thousand
dollars. Rev. F. Reuther is his assistant. The parish
contains about three hundred and fifty families and
seven hundred communicants, and connected with the
church are the St. Joseph's Benevolent Society, Society
of Christian Mothers, St. Mary's Sodality for Young
Men, and Young Ladies' Sodality.
St. Bonaventura's Church, devoted to the use of
the Italian Catholics of St. Louis, is situated on the
southeast corner of Sixth and Spruce Streets, and the
pastor is the Rev. Nazareno Orfei. The building
was purchased in 1871 by. Vicar-General Muhlsiepen
from the congregation of St. John's Protestant Epis-
copal Church, by whom it had been erected in 1853.
At the time of its purchase there were about five thou-
sand Italian Catholics in St. Louis. The amount paid
for it by Vicar-General Muhlsiepen was fifteen thou-
sand dollars. It is a handsome structure of brick,
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1667
forty-three by one hundred and ten feet, and after
being adapted to the uses of the congregation was
blessed by the vicar-general on the 21st of April,
1872. At that time Rev. John B. Salvatelli, of the
Black Franciscan Brothers, was the pastor, with Rev.
N. Graziani as assistant. The church did not prosper
under their charge, and in 1877 the building was
closed and trustees made over the property to the
archbishop, who called the present pastor from New
Orleans to revive the enterprise. Father Orfei arrived
in St. Louis July 14, 1877, and by his exertions
soon restored the activity of the church. The sum
of twenty thousand dollars (in addition to the pur-
chase-money) was expended in preparing the church
for Catholic worship. The building is modeled
after the Church of St. Lawrence, outside the walls
of Rome, and has a seating capacity of eight hun-
dred. Father Orfei has organized in connection with
his congregation a society known as the Third Order
of St. Francis, now composed of sixty members of
both sexes, which meets on the last Sunday of every
month at four P.M. The congregation is composed of j
about three thousand persons, and there are two
teachers and fifty scholars in the Sunday-school. The
present location of the church became unsuitable
long since, owing to its remoteness from the centre of
residence of the parishioners, and a removal to a
more eligible site is contemplated.
Church, of the Immaculate Conception. — The j
original Church of the Immaculate Conception stood
at the corner of Eighth and Chestnut Streets. The
corner-stone was laid on the 8th of December, 1854,
and the church was dedicated by Archbishop Ken- j
rick in 1855. The work of construction was con-
ducted by Fathers Bannon and Duggan, the latter of
whom was afterwards Bishop of Chicago, and subse-
quently by Fathers Feehan (afterwards Bishop of
Nashville), Keilty, Cronin, and O'Reilly. In 1874
the congregation removed to the southeast corner of
Jefferson Avenue and Locust Street, where a frame
chapel capable of seating five hundred persons was
erected and dedicated on the 7th of June of that year.
The parish comprises about two thousand persons, and j
the Sunday-school is attended by two Sisters of Lo-
retto and one hundred and seventy-five scholars.
Church of the Sacred Heart. — In 1871 a brick
chapel was erected for the use of the then newly-or-
ganized Church of the Sacred Heart, at the southeast
corner of University and Twentieth Streets, and was
dedicated on the 28th of May, 1871, the sermon
being preached by the pastor, Rev. J. J. McCabe.
In 1882 the chapel was enlarged, and it is intended ulti-
mately to build a large church of stone. The parochial
residence adjoining the church is an elegant stone
structure of Gothic architecture. The parish school
is located temporarily in the old Reservoir Market
building, on Eighteenth Street, near Warren, and is
under the charge of the Sisters of Loretto. There
are about one hundred families in the parish, embrac-
ing three hundred regular communicants. The pas-
tors are Revs. J. J. McCabe and J. M. McCabe.
Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. — In
October, 1872, the Church of Our Lady of Mount
Carmel was organized by the present pastor, Rev.
D. S. Phelan, for the English-speaking Catholics of
the northern portion of the city. The corner-stone
of the church, which is situated on the east side of
Church Street, near north city limits, was laid on the
16th of October, 1872, and the building was dedi-
cated on the 4th of May, 1873. It is a Gothic brick
structure, fifty, by seventy-five feet, and stands upon
a lot containing about half an acre, the property
being valued at fifteen thousand dollars. The parochial
school, organized in September, 1874, is conducted
in a brick building thirty-five by fifty feet, situated
near the church, and has two teachers and ninety
scholars. There are four societies (religious or be-
nevolent) connected with the church, having from
thirty to seventy-five members each. The congrega-
tion numbers about one hundred families and four
teachers, and about one hundred pupils attend the
Sunday-school. Rev. William Noonan is assistant
pastor, and also chaplain of Calvary Cemetery.
St. Agatha's German Church; northwest corner
of Utah and Eighth Streets, Rev. William Hinssen,
pastor, was dedicated by Bishop Ryan on the 14th
of July, 1872, mass being celebrated by Very Rev.
H. Muhlsiepen, S.J. It is a brick structure forty by
one hundred feet, with two stories and basement, the
first story being used as the parish school, which is
conducted by four Sisters of the Precious Blood and
one secular teacher, and numbers about four hundred
scholars. The main auditorium on the second floor
will seat about four hundred and fifty persons, and
is filled every Sunday beyond its seating capacity.
There are about seven hundred communicants in the
parish. The church lot comprises about one-fourth
of the block, and its northeastern extremity is occu-
pied by a substantial parochial residence.
Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succor. —
The congregation of Our Lady of Perpetual Succor
(Fourteenth Street and Linton Avenue, North St.
Louis, Rev. A. Schilling, pastor) was organized in
1873 by forty families from Holy Trinity parish.
The corner-stone of the present building was laid
Oct. 6, 1873, and the church was dedicated May 17,
1668
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
1874. It is a brick building, of Romanesque archi-
tecture, eighty by forty feet, with four basement-rooms,
in which the parochial school is conducted by five
Sisters of Notre Dame. The school was established
Sept. 1, 1873, and has now two hundred and twenty-
five pupils. The church has a seating capacity of five
hundred, and, with the pastoral residence, is valued at
thirty thousand dollars. The congregation is growing
so rapidly that it is proposed to erect in a few years
a second building, with a front of two hundred and
sixty-three feet and a depth of one hundred and thirty-
eight and a half feet, at a cost of not less than fifty
thousand dollars. There are several social and benev-
olent societies connected with the congregation, which
has increased from the original forty to one hundred
and sixty families.
St. Augustine's Church (southeast corner of
Twenty-second and Hebert Streets, Rev. H. V.
Kalmer, pastor) is a German congregation, and was
organized in 1874. The corner-stone of the building
was laid Oct. 4, 1874, and the church was dedicated
June 6, 1875. It is of brick, forty-seven by eighty-
five feet, with two stories and a basement, the latter
being used as a play-room for the pupils of the paro-
chial school, which is conducted in four class-rooms
on the first floor. The school was organized in Septem-
ber, 1875, with seventy-five pupils, and now numbers
two hundred pupils, under the charge of three Sisters
of the Precious Blood and one secular teacher. A
two-story brick parsonage, eighteen by thirty-two feet,
was built in 1875. The church property measures
three hundred and seventy-five feet on the south side
of Hebert Street. The first pastor was Rev. H.
Jaegering, who was succeeded by Father Kalmer
June 15, 1881. Connected with the congregation,
which numbers about six hundred persons, are the
St. Augustine's Benevolent Society (organized 1880),
Orphan Association (organized 1882), St. Aloysius
Society (organized 1875), Ladies' Altar Association
(organized 1876), Young Men's Sodality (organized
1876), and Ladies' Sodality (organized 1876). There
is no Sunday-school conducted by the church.
St. Kevin's Church. — The congregation of St.
Kevin's Church, Compton Avenue and Sarah Street,
Rev. Edward J. Shea, pastor, was organized in Janu-
ary, 1876, by Rev. P. L. McEvoy, its first pastor,
who was succeeded by the present incumbent, Aug. 1 ,
1879. The church owns five lots, with a total front
of one hundred and twenty-five feet by one hundred
and twenty-five feet in depth. The church building
is eighty by forty feet, and has a seating capacity of
three hundred and twenty. The parochial school
building is a two-story structure, has five large class-
rooms, and can seat three hundred and fifty scholars.
The school, established at the organization of the
parish, is under the care of the Sisters of Loretto, and
has four teachers and one hundred and sixty pupils.
The Sunday-school is attended by seven teachers and
two hundred scholars. The value of the entire church
property is estimated at twelve thousand dollars.
There are one hundred and fifty families, or about
six hundred persons, in the parish, and five hundred
communicants.
The Church of the Holy Name, Grand Avenue
near Fourteenth Street, Rev. Thomas Bonacum, pas-
tor, was established about 1876 by Rev. P. J. Gleason,
its first pastor, mainly with a congregation that had
some years before been organized by the Jesuits as
St. Thomas' Church, and had had a house of worship
on O'Fallon Avenue, but had dispersed. The church
is a Gothic brick structure, sixty by one hundred and
thirty feet, and will seat one thousand persons. The
church lot is two hundred by one hundred and fifty
feet, and on it is situated a commodious parochial
residence of two stories and basement, comprising
eight rooms. The total cost of the ground and
buildings was about twenty-seven thousand dollars.
About three hundred families are connected with the
congregation, and two hundred and twenty-five chil-
dren attend the Sunday-school. No parish school
has yet been organized. Rev. George A. Watson is
assistant pastor.
St. Stanislaus Kostka (Polish) Church, Twenty-
third Street, between Cass Avenue and O'Fallon
Streets, is the first Polish congregation in the city.
It was organized in St. Joseph's Church in 1879, and
worshiped in the basement of St. Patrick's School
until the erection of the present building, which was
consecrated by Bishop Ryan on Sunday, Nov. 12,
1882. It cost thirteen thousand dollars, and has a
front of seventy-five feet. The first floor is occupied
by school-rooms, the church services being held on the
second floor. Adjoining the church is the parochial
residence. The congregation numbers one hundred
and forty families, besides a number of unmarried
persons.
St. Thomas Aquinas is a new parish, the forty-
fifth organized by Catholics in St. Louis. The con-
gregation worshiped for some time in St. Joseph's
Chapel, Alexian Brothers' Hospital, but on Sunday,
Oct. 8, 1882, the corner-stone of a church was laid
at the northwest corner of Osage Street and Iowa
Avenue, in the presence of an immense assemblage.
The building is of Gothic architecture, and its dimen-
tions are forty-two by seventy-five feet.
St. Boniface (German) Church, Carondelet.—
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1669
The corner-stone of St. Boniface (German) Church,
on Fourth Street near Schirmer, Carondelet, was laid
on the first Sunday in September, 1860, by the Bishop
of Minnesota, attended by Father Ryan, of the Cathe-
dral, and Vicar-General Muhlsiepen. There were also
present Rev. J. Gamber, pastor, Rev. T. Hendericx,
pastor of the English congregation of Carondelet,
Father Smarius, S.J., Rev. F. Bruhl, S.J., Rev. F.
Tobin, and Father Meester, S.J. Addresses were de-
livered by Fathers Smarius and Bruhl. The church
is in the Romanesque style of architecture, one hun-
dred and twenty-five by twenty-six feet, with two
towers each one hundred feet high, and its estimated
cost was sixteen thousand dollars. The architect was
Thomas W. Brady. About three hundred and fifty
families (seventeen hundred and fifty persons) are
connected with the church.
St. Mary's and St. Joseph's Church is situated
on Third Street near Kansas, Carondelet, and the
pastor is Rev. Thomas G. Daley, his assistant being
Rev. W. T. Stackasst. The corner-stone was laid on
the 29th of May, 1859, and the sermon was preached
by Father (afterwards bishop) Ryan, of the Cathe-
dral. There are about two hundred families in the
parish, and the parochial schools, numbering about
three hundred and fifty pupils, are conducted by the
Christian Brothers and the Sisters of St. Joseph.
St. Columbkille's Church, was organized in 1872,
at Fourth and Davis Streets. The corner-stone was
laid June 23, 1872, and the church was dedicated in
February, 1873. Rev. M. O'Reilly has had charge
of the church since its organization.
There are a number of suburban Roman Catholic
Churches in the vicinity of St. Louis, the principal
being St. James', Cheltenham, Rev. T. A. Butler,
pastor; Holy Cross, near Calvary Cemetery, Rev.
Hermann Wigger, pastor ; Holy Ghost, Elleardsville,
Rev. M. Busch, pastor; St. Bernard's, Tesson near
Sarpy Avenue, Rev. Henry Willenbrink, pastor; Our
Lady of the Visitation, southwest corner St. Charles
Rock road and Taylor Avenue ; and St. Gornan's, at
the junction of the Manchester and Chouteau Avenue
Rock road.
In addition to the parish churches enumerated there
are a number of chapels, which are attended as fol-
lows : Christian Brothers, attended from the Cathe-
dral ; Sisters of Charity, Father Wachter, chaplain ;
St. Joseph's Chapel, Alexian Brothers Hospital, Rev.
George A. Watson ; Ursuline Convent, Very Rev.
H. Muhlsiepen, V. G. ; Sacred Heart Convent, Fifth
Street, from Annunciation Church ; Convent of the
Visitation, from St. Bridget's Church ; Loretto Con-
vent, from St. John's ; Good Shepherd Convent, by
106
the Jesuit Fathers; Male Orphan Asylum, from
Holy Angels' Church ; German Orphan Asylum,
from St. Joseph's ; Carmelite Convent, from Mount
Carmel ; Notre Dame Convent, from SS. Peter and
Paul; St. Joseph's Convent, from St. Columbkille's;
Sacred Heart Convent, Maryville, by Franciscan
Fathers; Widows' Home, from St. Lawrence O'Toole ;
Female Orphan Asylum, by Jesuit Fathers ; Little
Sisters of the Poor, from the Church of the Sacred
Heart ; St. Vincent's Institute, by the Lazarist Fa-
thers; Half-Orphan Asylum, by Jesuit Fathers;
House of the Angel Guardian, by Lazarist Fathers;
Sisters of Mercy, by Jesuit Fathers.
BAPTIST CHURCHES.
The First Protestant Congregation. — To the
Baptists belongs the credit of having organized the
first Protestant society and of having built the first
Protestant house of worship west of the Mississippi
River. The first Baptist minister who preached in
Missouri appears to have been the Rev. John Clark.
This pioneer preacher was born in the parish of Petty,
near the city of Inverness, Scotland, Nov. 29, 1758.
His father worked a small farm, which, later in life,
having become intemperate, he neglected. In 1778
John Clark went to sea in a transport ship, and sub-
sequently served in American privateers. He rose to
the rank of mate, was taken prisoner, and exchanged
after nineteen months' duress, was twice impressed
into the British naval service, and finally escaped.
After having suffered almost incredible hardships, he
succeeded in passing the British lines and obtained
the protection of Gen. Francis Marion, the famous
Revolutionary leader in South Carolina. He again
went to sea, but in 1785 abandoned this calling and
engaged in teaching school in the back settlements of
South Carolina. In 1786 he became a member of
the Methodist denomination in Georgia, where he
again taught school and became a class-leader. In
1788 he visited his birthplace in Scotland, and found
all the family except one sister dead. He then studied
under Wesley, returned to Georgia in 1789, was re-
ceived on trial, and appointed a circuit by the Confer-
ence of 1791, and in 1793 was fully ordained. In
1795 he was ordained elder, and in 1796 dissolved
his connection with the Conference and started on foot
for Kentucky, and thence, always on foot, for Illinois,
where he finally settled. In 1807-8 he went down
the Mississippi alone in a small canoe, camping in the
woods at night, on a mission to the territory now
known as Louisiana, and returned home, still alone
and on foot, through a country infested by hostile In-
dians and white marauders. During this journey he
1670
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
preached wherever he found a settlement. Mr. Clark
continued to labor as a missionary until his death,
making during the last ten years of his life a monthly
circuit of two hundred and forty miles, always on
foot, though his friends made several unsuccessful at-
tempts to induce him to accept and use a horse. He
died in 1833, at the age of seventy-five, and was
buried in the Cold Water neighborhood, the scene of
his first missionary efforts in Missouri, where a mod-
est gravestone marks his resting-place. Mr. Clark
organized a number of Baptist congregations in St.
Louis County, Mo., and in St. Clair, Madison, and
Greene Counties, 111.
Mr. Clark arrived in Missouri in 1798, and estab-
lished himself near Bridgetown, St. Louis County.
He became a Baptist, and a Methodist named Tal-
bot having adopted the same opinions, they im-
mersed each other. Mr. Clark presided and taught
school in the " American Bottom," Illinois, about
1796, but afterwards removed to New Design, situ-
ated on an elevated plateau, about thirty miles above
Kaskaskia. When he first came to Missouri the
country west of the Mississippi was under the con-
trol of the Spanish authorities, who did not tolerate
the Protestant religion. It was his custom to ascend
the eastern shore to nearly opposite what was called
" Wood River," and wait there until night, when a
man from the western shore would cross the river in
a canoe, and transport Mr. Clark to the opposite side.
During the night meetings would be held at one or
another of the small settlements, and Mr. Clark
would return in the same manner to the eastern bank
before daylight. In the latter days of Spanish rule,
however, less caution was needed. Commandant Tru-
deau was a man of liberal mind, and while the laws
required every new settler to be " un bon Catholique,"
would content himself with catechising new-comers
as to their belief in the main tenets of Christianity,
and these satisfactorily answered, would pronounce
them " good Catholics," and admit them to citizen-
ship. It is stated that he would pay no attention to
Clark's visiting and preaching in the province until
his tour for the occasion was nearly completed, when
he would send him a message to the effect that if he
did not leave the Spanish territory within three days
he would be imprisoned, and this message, always in
the same or similar language, is said to have been re-
peated so often that it became a pleasant jest with
Clark and his friends. On one occasion Abraham
Musick, a Baptist, who was well acquainted with the
commandant, asked permission to have meetings held
at his house by Clark. The commandant replied that
his petition was contrary to the laws, and could not
be granted. " That is, I mean," said he, " you must
not put a bell on your house and call it a church, nor
suffer anybody to christen your children except the
parish priest, but if your friends choose to meet at
your house, to sing, pray, and talk about religion, you
will not be molested, provided you continue, as of
course you are, ' a good Catholic.' "
In 1801 the Rev. Thomas R. Musick, of Kentucky,
visited his relatives in Missouri and preached a series
of sermons. He was born Oct. 17, 1756, and spent
his early life in North Carolina. In 1803, after the
acquisition of the country from France, he came to
Missouri with his family and took up his residence
in St. Louis County. In 1807 he organized the Fee
Fee Church in St. Louis County, among the constit-
uent members of which were Adam Martin and his
wife Mary, Richard and Jane Sullens, Thomas R.
Musick and his wife Sarah. Elder Brown, from Ken-
tucky, and John Clark labored with Mr. Musick, who
died in 1842. He is buried in the church grounds at
Fee Fee, and the old people who remember him still
cherish his memory. Fee Fee is now the oldest
Protestant Church in Missouri. Cold Water, the
next church in the county, was organized by Musick
in 1809.
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH BUILDING IN MISSOURI.
During 1807 an organization of Baptists was per-
fected near Jackson, Cape Girardeau Co., and a
church was built thruugh the instrumentality of David
Greene. The building was a one-story log cabin, the
corner log of which had been laid in 1806.
Zion Church, in Howard County, was formed about
1810, near Loutre Island, Montgomery Co., but the
inhabitants moved farther west in 1815, and it was
reorganized. The Indians were very troublesome
during the war of 1812, and no others were formed
for some years. In 1818, five churches with five
ministers were constituted into Mount Pleasant Asso-
ciation, in what was called " Boone's Lick country."
Several of the leading men in this region had re-
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1671
moved from Kentucky. Col. Benjamin Cooper,
afterwards a member of the Territorial Council, and
chosen commander-in-chief to fight the hostile In-
dians, Capt. Callaway, a grandson of Daniel Boone,
and Stephen and William T. Cole, in memory of
whom Cooper, Callaway, and Cole Counties were
named, were active and influential members of the
community. A brother of Col. Cooper and Callaway
and Cole, together with many other persons, were
afterwards slaughtered by the Indians. In June,
1816, Bethel Association was organized at the Bethel
Church, near the present site of Jackson. It com-
prised six churches and seven ministers. Most of the
members had removed from the Carolinas, and had
been several years in the country. The churches
were located in Perry, Cape Girardeau, Washington,
and Wayne Counties.
In November, 1817, the Missouri (now St. Louis)
Baptist Association was formed, with the following as
constituent churches : Fee-Fee, Cold Water, Boeuf,
and Negro Fork, in St. Louis County, and Femme
Osage, St. Charles Co., and Upper Cuiver, in Lincoln
County, with an aggregate membership of one hun-
dred and forty- two persons.
In 1811, Stephen Hempstead, one of the pioneers
of Presbyterian ism in Missouri, heard a sermon
preached by a Baptist minister, the occasion being
the funeral of a child. From these facts it is evi-
dent that the Baptist denomination was established in
St. Louis at a very early day, and that its organiza-
tion there was perfected prior to that of any other
Protestant congregation. Its growth appears to have
been slow at first, for when in the fall of 1817 the
Rev. John M. Peck and James E. Welch, missionaries
sent out by the Baptist General Convention, arrived in
St. Louis, they found only seven Baptists in the vil-
lage. They at once began holding services in the
stone house of Joseph Robidoaux, on the east side
of Main, north of Myrtle Street. In a year their
congregation had increased to thirteen, just one-half
of all the professed Protestants in the village. On
the 18th of February, 1818, they organized the First
Baptist Church, with eleven members. In 1818 the
church began the building of the first Protestant
house of worship erected in St. Louis, which was
situated at the southwest corner of Market and
Third Streets. It was never fully completed, but
was occupied for worship and was also used for a time
as a court-house. On the 10th of November, 1819,
the Rev. Mr. Ward, an Episcopalian minister, was
announced to preach the annual sermon of the Mis-
souri Bible Society, " in the Baptist meeting-house
this evening at early candle-light."
The building was forty by sixty feet, and three
stories in height. It was entered in the second story
from Market Street, and was the only building on the
south side of Market Street from the river to Fourth
Street. It cost six thousand dollars, of which sum
Mr. Welch advanced twelve hundred dollars, and John
Jacoby, the treasurer, six hundred dollars. In 1821
the city decided to widen Market Street, a measure
which would cut off twelve by eighty feet of the
church lot. The congregation endeavored to have the
portion condemned assessed at a fair valuation, but
did not succeed in doing so. Soon afterwards a furious
hail-storm broke all the windows on the Market Street
side, and the mayor would not permit the glass to be
put in, because that portion of the church had been
condemned as public property. The building was
thereupon abandoned and sold for twelve hundred
dollars, of which Mr. Jacoby's widow received six
hundred dollars, and Mr. Welch six hundred dollars,
half the amount loaned by him.
At a meeting held Aug. 29, 1830, Rev. J. M.
Peck reported that in consequence of the death of
Mr. Jacoby, one of the trustees of the church, the title
had become involved, and that the city had taken to
widen the streets twelve feet off the building, and, as
the church was not known in law, the trustees could
not recover damages. Consequently they had been
left without funds to repair the building, and under
these circumstances had sold the property to pay
the debts. A part of the debt, however, appears to
have remained, and to have assisted in the rapid
decline of the society, which in 1832 was reduced to
seventeen members, and in 1833 became extinct, trans-
ferring all but its debts to the Second Church, then
newly organized. There are now seven white and
eight colored Baptist Churches in the city, with a total
membership of nearly five thousand.
In 1831 a three days' meeting was held by the
Baptist Church, commencing on Friday, April 1st,
aided by the Rev. J. E. Welch. Rev. John Mason
Peck, D.D., who did so much to build up the Baptist
Church in St. Louis, spent nearly forty years of his
life in missionary work in the West, and was one of
the most prominent citizens of St. Louis. He was
born in the parish of Litchfield, South Farms, Conn.,
Oct. 31, 1789. He first united with the Congrega-
tional Church in Litchfield. In 1811 he removed to
Windhani, Greene Co., N. Y., and became acquainted
with the Baptists through the church at that place,
and Rev. H. Harvey in the adjoining town of New
Durham. He united with the Baptist Church in
New Durham on Sept. 14, 1811, and preached his
first sermon, and was immediately licensed. In 1813
1672
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
he was ordained as pastor of the Baptist Church in
Catskill, but after a brief pastorate there and another
at Amenia, in Dutchess County, N. Y., he accepted
an agency in behalf of foreign missions, laboring under
the guidance of Rev. Luther Rice. He then, 1816-
17, had a year of study under Dr. Staughton, of
Philadelphia. He was then appointed a missionary
of the board of the Triennial Convention to labor in
St. Louis and vicinity. On July 25, 1817, he set
out with his wife and three children, in a covered
wagon, upon the long western journey of twelve hun-
dred miles to his field of labor, and on the 1st of
December reached St. Louis. His associate, Rev.
James E. Welch, had reached the field before him.
In 1822, Rev. Mr. Peck became a resident of Rock
Spring, 111., and this remained his home until his
death.
At Rock Spring, Dr. Peck, in connection with his
missionary labors, now under the appointment of the
Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Society, established
a seminary for general and theological education,
being aided in his enterprise to some extent by East-
ern friends. The seminary was a success, and at one
time contained over one hundred students. In due
time the seminary became united with the one at
Upper Alton, now known as Shurtleff College. In
addition to his ministerial labors, Dr. Peck contributed
frequently to newspapers and other periodicals, and
published several works on the West.
On April 25, 1828, he began the publication of a
newspaper called the Western Pioneer and Baptist.
Aside from other labors, he also wrote " A Biography
of Father Clark," " Emigrant's Guide," " Gazetteer
of Illinois," " Annals of the West," and other works.
He frequently visited the Eastern States in the inter-
est of his church, and was throughout his ministerial
career one of the most active and energetic of the
ministers of the Baptist denomination. His publica-
tions in the East concerning the resources of the
Western country attracted many persons thither, and
materially aided its development. He was a recog-
nized authority as to the local history of the Western
communities, and collected a great mass of material,
much of which was subsequently destroyed by fire.
Some of it was left at his death in such a fragmentary
condition that it could not be utilized. He died at
Rock Spring, 111., March 24, 1857, in the sixty-
eighth year of his age.
The Rev. James Eley Welch, Dr. Peck's colleague,
was born near Lexington, Ky., Feb. 28, 1789. In
October, 1810, he was baptized by Rev. Jeremiah
Vardeman, and taken into the fellowship of the Bap-
tist Church at Davis' Fork. In 1815 he entered the
ministry, and in the following year studied theology
with Rev. Dr. William Staughton, of Philadelphia,
and acted as pastor of the church in Burlington,
N. J., where he was eminently successful. In 1817
he tendered his services to the Board of Missions at
Philadelphia, and in May of that year they were
accepted as a missionary to St. Louis, Mo. He
reached his destination after more than two months'
travel. St. Louis then contained about fifteen hun-
dred inhabitants. The only paved sidewalk at that
time was on Main, between Chestnut and Market
Streets. The pavement was of brick. The only
house west of Fifth Street was Judge Lucas', on the
spot where the First Presbyterian Church on Four-
teenth Street now stands. The old First Presby-
terian Church then stood on the ground where Phil-
harmonic Hall was afterwards situated, on the corner
of Washington Avenue and Fourth Street. The whole
square was offered in 1818 to Mr. Welch by the
owner, Mr. Conner, for one hundred dollars. On the
southeast corner of Chestnut and Fourth Streets a
small frame building was standing, which, with the
lot, was offered for two hundred dollars. Mr. Welch
commenced his missionary work by erecting, in 1818, a
brick meeting-house at the corner of Third and Market
Streets, on the site of the St. Clair Hotel, which was
opened for service in July, 1819, but after three years
of laborious struggles and varied success the board
discontinued the mission, and Mr. Welch returned to
Burlington, N. J. For more than twenty years he
was agent for the American Sunday-School Union.
He removed from Burlington in September, 1848, to
Warren County, Mo., where he labored constantly for
the promotion of the interests of the Baptist Church
until 1875, when he settled at Warrensburg, Mo.
In 1876 he revisited his old home in Burlington,
N. J., and on the 18th of July, while with an ex-
cursion party of Baptists at the sea-shore, he was
seized with apoplexy, which ended a long and useful
life.
The Baptist Headquarters, St. Louis Branch
House and General Depository of the American
Baptist Publication Society, 1109 Olive Street,
Lewis E. Kline, manager, is one of the most flourish-
ing institutions of its type in the country. The St.
Louis Baptists having paid to the General Publication
Society $5000 towards the purpose, the St. Louis
Branch was opened about Nov. 1, 1868, with Rev.
G. J. Johnson, D.D. (for five years previously West-
ern agent of the society), as manager. It was located at
209 North Sixth Street, and proved successful from the
start. During the first four months the sales amounted
to $2356.38, and in the following year to 024,373.-
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1673
75; in 1870-71 to $32,562.83; 1871-72, $32,920.-
96; 1872-73, $30,851.53. In 1873-74 (being the
jubilee, or fiftieth year of the society) the sales were
the largest ever known, aggregating $36,140.72. In
ten years the sales have amounted to over $300,000,
and the grants for publications alone that have passed
through this branch amount to over $25,000. This
branch is the centre and headquarters of a district,
and the district, churches and individuals, have con-
tributed over $50,000 (to which the parent society
has added $50,000) towards the benevolent and mis-
sionary work of the association, colportage, and Sun-
day-schools. The branch has supported as many as
twenty-five colporteurs and Sunday-school missionaries
at one time. Dr. Johnson resigned Jan. 1, 1876, and
was succeeded as
manager of the
branch by Lewis E.
Kline, a son of Rev.
Peter Kline, who
had been for seven
years his chief clerk
and book-keeper.1
On the 1st of May,
1882, the branch
was removed to its
present location, in
what was formerly
known as " Dor-
ris Row," having
leased the entire
three-story build-
ing. The ground-
floor is occupied by
the branch and de-
pository, and is ele-
gantly furnished in
unpainted Arkansas yellow-pine, highly polished, the
carvings being inlaid with blue. On the second floor
are the offices of The Central Baptist newspaper,
Ford's Christian Repository, and Rev. S. W. Mar-
ston, secretary of the Home Missionary Society for
the West. The rooms on the third floor are occupied
by the Baptist Ministers' Conference, which meets
every Monday morning at eleven o'clock, the Ladies'
Missionary Society, etc.
Lewis E. Kline is known in St. Louis and through-
1 We are indebted to Mr. Kline for much valuable material
in the preparation of this sketch of the Baptist denomination
AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICA-
TION SOCIETY.
out the Southwest as the manager and district sec-
retary of the American Baptist Publication Society.*
He was born in Washington, 111., March 18, 1843,
and is of German descent, his parents having been
born in Wiesbaden, Prussia. They arrived in St.
Louis about 1833. The residence in Washington
was only temporary, and three weeks after his birth
his parents returned to St. Louis, so that Mr. Kline
has practically been a lifelong resident of the city.
At the age of seventeen, being of a delicate constitu-
tion, he was sent in company with an older brother
to the country, and placed upon a farm, in the hope
that his health might be improved. To the two
brothers was committed the sole management of the
property; and the novelty of the life, the laborious
occupation, and the invigorating air transformed the
puny stripling into the strong and hardy man. He
was nineteen years of age when the civil war began,
and becoming restless amid the excitements of the
day, he returned to St. Louis, and during that year
(1862) enlisted in the Merchants' Regiment, the
Thirty-third Missouri Volunteer Infantry, Col. Clin-
ton B. Fisk commanding, with which he served two
years. On June 6, 1864, he was severely wounded
in the right arm and shoulder, in an ambush at Fish
Lake Bayou, near Lake Village, Ark.
Amputation of the arm was regarded as necessary
by the surgeons, but he refused to submit to the
operation, and after a long period of suffering he at
last grew strong enough to be moved from the hos-
pital at Memphis, Tenn., to Jefferson Barracks, St.
Louis. Here he received treatment for a little over
a year, and while at the Barracks, in order to occupy
his mind, he served as librarian and supervising sexton
of the chapel. In December, 1865, at his urgent re-
quest, he received an honorable discharge, and Drs.
Pope, McDowell, and Hodgen, the best surgeons in
the West, took his case in charge. They frankly told
him that he was a badly-mutilated man, almost be-
yond the help of medical skill, and that his only hope
lay in his own force of will. Without giving up
hope, he submitted for two years more, twice each
day, to surgical treatment, and finally saved both his
life and his arm.
On his discharge from the United States service, he
went with his arm in a sling from store to store and
from street to street in search of employment. But no
* This sketch and the portrait which accompanies it are a
tribute of love and esteem from the personal friends of Mr.
in St. Louis. In his " History of Missouri Baptists," R. S. Kline, who have known him for years, who have watched his
Duncan accords to Mr. Kline the credit for the erection of the ever-growing influence with pride, and who sympathized with
present headquarters, and also speaks in warm terms of his sue- him in his manly efforts to overcome well-nigh insurmountable
cessful administration of the affairs of the depository.
obstacles.
1674
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
one seemed desirous of having a man without the use
of his right arm. He thereupon entered a commercial
college, and studied telegraphy and book-keeping, at j
the same time seeking work.
At length, in 1866, his perseverance was rewarded '
with a position as cashier and book-keeper in the j
then largest religious publishing house and book- [
store in the city. For three years he performed [
the various duties of his place with his left hand, !
with which he had learned to write, working hard by i
day and studying at night. He succeeded beyond
his most sanguine expectations ; but it was at the ex-
pense of his general health. A brief vacation in the
East became a necessity, and on his return, with im-
proved health, two places were open to him, — one a
position in the Treasury Department at Washington,
D. C., the other as chief clerk and book-keeper of the
American Baptist Publication Society. He accepted
the latter place in 1869, and was appointed manager
Jan. 1, 1876. He still retains this position, and
during the past six years has performed in addition
the duties of district secretary of the society. His
position during the last fourteen years has been one
requiring unusual tact, good judgment, perseverance,
and close application. Under his management the
business of the house has increased with great regu-
larity and steadiness. Although he has had the
hardest field to cultivate in the interests of the Pub-
lication Society, owing to the fact that both the
Northern and Southern elements of the Baptist de-
nomination come into contact in St. Louis, and must
be harmonized and conciliated, he has succeeded, with-
out loss of principle or self-respect, in winning the
confidence and esteem of all classes of his patrons.
Although the youngest manager in the service of
the society, he has developed a business equaled by
no other depository, and now superintends the finest
building and equipments, as well as the largest trade,
to be found in any of the branch establishments.
His store, No. 1109 Olive Street, is the " Baptist
Headquarters" not only for St. Louis, but the entire
Southwest. In the management of his business his
distinguishing characteristics are promptness, punctu-
ality, systematic attention to details, scrupulous hon-
esty, and generous treatment of all his patrons alike.
In religion, Mr. Kline is a strict Baptist, having
united with the Second Baptist Church in 1866, and
has filled in different churches the various offices in
the Sunday-school, in the church, and in the local
and State boards of denominational work. He is an
active member of the board of trustees of Shurtleff
College, Upper Alton, 111., in whose prosperity he is
greatly interested, and whose museum he has enriched
with a most valuable collection of ancient coins and
curios, gathered in his tours in this country and
through Europe in 1871. In the local affairs of St.
Louis he is deeply interested, and has filled with honor
to himself and profit to those whom he has served the
offices of secretary of various institutions and orders,
and of Generalissimo in the commandery of Knights
Templar.
The estimation in which he is held by his fellow
Knights Templar is shown by the fact that he was
presented by them with an engrossed and illuminated
testimonial of rare design and great beauty, a compli-
ment seldom bestowed upon a member of that order.
Mr. Kline has also been president in the Temple of
Honor, Good Templars, and Band of Hope. Benev-
olent institutions and enterprises have been aided by
him with a liberal hand.
On his return from a vacation in Europe in 1871,
Mr. Kline was married to Miss Sallie E. Mason. la
domestic as in public life, he is true and upright,
and his career throughout has been singularly pure
and simple. Deprived in youth by ill health of the
advantages of early education, he has by close study
of men and books acquired a thorough training and
exceptional readiness in the application of his knowl-
edge. Mr. Kline is in the best sense of the term a
self-made man, and one who, having risen from the
lowest round of the ladder by his own rare deter-
mination, is both sympathetic in helping those who
are working their own way up in life, and worthy of
the highest confidence and regard of all who rever-
ence honest merit and genuine success.
Fee-Fee Baptist Church is situated on the St.
Charles Rock road, fourteen miles west of St. Louis,
in St. Louis County. Rev. Luther Green is the pas-
tor. Of this, the oldest Protestant organization west
of the Mississippi River, the early records down to
1834 were unfortunately burned while in the posses-
sion of Rev. John M. Peck. What follows, to that
date, has been mainly gathered from the memories of
the original members and from Mrs. Catharine Martin,
who joined the society in 1815 and is still living. The
church, as heretofore stated, was organized in 1807 at
the residence of one of its members, near where the
first meeting-house was built, by Rev. Thomas R.
Musick, with the following members : Adam and
Mary Martin, Abraham, Terrell, and Prudence Mu-
sick, John, Jane, Richard, and Susan Sullens. John
and Joyce Howdershell. The first house built for
worship was a log cabin, situated on a lot of three
acres deeded by James Richardson for church and
cemetery purposes, on the old St. Charles road. It
was replaced by a brick house built on the same lot
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1675
in 1828, which still stands in the midst of the old Fee-
Fee Cemetery, which has been much enlarged, and
which, in 1876, was conveyed to a board of trustees
composed of four members of the Mizpah Presbyterian
Church, four from the Bridgeton Methodist Church,
and four from the Fee-Fee. The first grave was dug
in 1822. The cemetery has recently been greatly im-
proved and adorned. In 1870 the third and present
house of worship was built, under the ministry of Rev.
John Hickman, on a lot of five acres, situated on the
St. Charles Rock road, one quarter of a mile north
of the old church, and given to the congregation by
Erastus Post. It is a brick structure, forty by sixty
feet, with a seating capacity of three hundred and
sixty, and a basement for the Sunday-school. It
cost thirteen thousand dollars, and was dedicated July
24, 1870, Dr. W. Pope Yeaman preaching the ser-
mon. The succession of pastors cannot be accurately
given, but among them are named Rev. John Clark,
the pioneer of Protestantism in Missouri, and Rev.
John M. Peck, the first Baptist missionary to Mis-
souri. The membership of Fee-Fee Church now
numbers seventy-two, and its Sunday-school is
attended by forty children.
Second Baptist Church. — This church, the parent
of the Baptist congregations in St. Louis, is situated at
the northwest corner of Locust and Beaumont Streets.
Rev. W. W. Boyd, D.D., is the pastor. In September,
1832, the American Baptist Home Mission Society
sent to St. Louis Rev. Archer B. Smith, of the Dis-
trict of Columbia, who obtained a room on Market
Street below Second and began holding meetings.
He found the society of the First Church utterly dis-
organized, only seventeen members remaining, six of
whom obtained letters of dismissal, and, joining with
six others, met Jan. 6, 1833, in the school-house
of Elihu H. Shepard, on Fourth Street, opposite the
court-house, and organized " The Second Baptist
Church of St. Louis," so styling the new society, in
order not to be saddled with the debts of the First.
Among the original members were H. Budlony, C. W.
Cozzens, Moses Stout, Archer B. Smith, Sarah Orme,
E. Williams, Edith Kerr, M. A. Francis. Emily W.
Cozzens, and others. Their number were soon after
augmented by the remaining members of the First
Church, who on the 10th of February, 1833, voted
themselves letters of dismissal and disbanded, trans-
ferring to the new society the money and subscrip-
tions that had been obtained for erecting a new church.
Rev. William Hurley had conducted the organiza-
tion of the new congregation, but Rev. Archer B.
Smith was chosen pastor. He resigned and returned
East in September, 1833, and Rev. W. Hurley sup-
plied the pulpit until, in March, 1835, an application
was made to the Home Missionary Society for a
pastor, and for aid to sustain him. In June, 1835,
the society sent Rev. Thomas P. Greene, of North
Carolina, who remained one year. During his pastor-
ate a lot at the northwest corner of Morgan and Sixth
Streets was purchased, on which a foundation was laid
before the winter rendered further work impossible ;
but in the spring of 1836 the lot was sold, and in
June, 1836, the society purchased the Episcopalian
Church building, situated at the northwest corner of
Third and Chestnut Streets, for twelve thousand dol-
lars, the understanding being that possession was to
be given within one year from the date of sale.
During this interval the. congregation worshiped at
Shepard's school-house, but in May, 1837, it took
possession of the building, which it had purchased
from the Episcopalians. While services were being
held in the school-house sermons were preached occa-
sionally by the Rev. Dr. Baker.
On the 6th of August, 1839, the public were no-
tified that the choir of the Baptist Church would
give a grand sacred concert at the First Presbyterian
Church on the evening of the 7th of August, the
proceeds to be applied to the purchase of an qrgan.
Rev. B. A. Brabrook, of Newton Theological Semi-
nary, served as pastor from May, 1837, to August,
1839, resigning on account of ill heath, and the pulpit
was supplied by different preachers until February,
1840, when Rev. R. E. Pattison, D.D., of Providence,
R. I., became pastor. At the end of the year he was
recalled to his former charge, and Rev. John M. Peck,
D.D., of Rock Spring, 111., and Rev. E. Rogers, of Up-
per Alton, 111., alternately supplied the pulpit. Rev.
Isaac Taylor Hinton, of Chicago, 111., was pastor from
July, 1841, to December, 1844. Under his minis-
trations the church grew so rapidly that in 1842 the
seating capacity of the building was nearly doubled
by throwing a portion of the vestibule into the audi-
ence-room and erecting galleries. During Mr. Hin-
tori's pastorate one hundred persons were added to
the membership by baptism, and nearly two hun-
dred by letter. Mr. Hinton died of yellow fever in
New Orleans in 1847, and his remains were removed
to Bcllefontaine Cemetery, St. Louis. He was suc-
ceeded by the Rev. Dr. Peck (supply) for one year.
Rev. S. W. Lynd, D.D., of Cincinnati, Ohio, as-
sumed the pastorate in December, 1845, and re-
signed December, 1848, to take charge of the Bap-
tist Theological Institution at Covington, Ky. Rev.
Dr. Peck again took charge of the church as sup-
ply, and continued to officiate until the Rev. J.
B. Jeter, D.D., of Richmond, Va., assumed the pas-
1676
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
torate. Dr. Jeter was called April 30, 1849, and
entered upon the discharge of his duties on the first
Sunday in October following. He resigned in July,
1852, and in May, 1853, the Rev. Daniel Read, D.D.,
of Medina, N. Y., was called to the pastorate. Dr.
Read resigned in October, 1856, to become president
of Shurtleff College, at Upper Alton, 111., and was
succeeded by the Rev. E. H. Page, of Massachusetts.
In January and February, 1858, Elder Jacob Knapp,
the famous revivalist, labored with success, and in
May, 1858, the Rev. Galusha Anderson, D.D., of
Zanesville, Wis., was called to the pastorate. He
took charge on the second Sunday in September,
1858, and resigned in July, 1866, on account of ill
health. During a portion of Dr. Anderson's pastor-
ate the Rev. Dr. Kendrick was associated with him.
Dr. Anderson's successor was the Rev. A. H. Bur-
lingham, D D., of New York, who took charge in
December, 1866, and resigned in April, 1877, in
order to become pastor of a congregation in New
York City. Rev. W. W. Boyd was called to the
pastorate in 1877, and commenced his ministration
on the 1st of June in that year.
From the church at Third and Chestnut Streets
the society removed to a second edifice erected by
it on the corner of Sixth and Locust Streets,
which cost, with the site, nearly forty thousand dol-
lars, and was dedicated Aug. 13, 1848. The dimen-
sions of the building were fifty-six by ninety feet, and
the material was brick, with a cut-stone basement in
front. The audience-room seated seven hundred per-
sons, and the basement from three hundred to four
hundred. On the llth of March, 1849, in the pres-
ence of thousands of Germans, Dr. Peck baptized
sixteen Hollanders, who had seceded from the Pres-
byterian faith. During the pastorate of Dr. G. An-
derson (1858-66) great activity prevailed in the
church, and one hundred and forty-nine persons were
added by baptism and two hundred and ninety-seven
by letter. Dr. Anderson devoted much of his time
and attention to the cause of church extension. He
organized the Church Extension Society in 1865,
which furnished material aid in building new churches
and relieving others from debt, and assisted largely in
promoting the growth of Baptist congregations in St.
Louis. The church record states that " he was \he
organizer of the Baptist forces of the city ; he was
their great leader, and his retirement was regretted
by all." The present site of the church was selected
by William M. McPherson, E. G. Obear, D. B. Gale,
Thomas Pratt, and Nathan Cole, a committee chosen
for the purpose, ft was purchased on the 10th of
July, 1872, is one hundred and eighty by one hun-
dred and thirty-five feet in area, and cost about thirty
thousand dollars. Ground was broken June 19, 1873.
The chapel was occupied on Christmas-day, 1874, but
was not dedicated (owing to the pastor's illness) until
a month later. On Dec. 17, 1877, it was decided to
erect at once the main edifice, and it was nearly ready
for occupancy when (Jan. 3, 1879) it was destroyed
by fire. The work of rebuilding was begun at once,
and the chapel was again occupied Aug. 10, 1879.-
In the mean time the congregation had worshiped
in the Jewish synagogue, or Temple of the Gates of
Truth, at Seventeenth and Pine Streets, by invitation
of the rabbi, Dr. Sonnenschein. The completed edi-
fice was dedicated Nov. 26, 1879, with services of a
very interesting and impressive character. Hon.
Nathan Cole, one of the deacons, presided, and Rev.
George B. Taylor and Rev. Dr. J. B. Jeter conducted
the preliminary service. William M. Page, another
deacon of the church, then delivered an historical
discourse, tracing the growth of the church up to
that period, and was followed by the Rev. A. H.
Burlingham, of New York, former pastor of the con-
gregation, who described the embarrassments and dif-
ficulties which had attended the erection of the build-
ing. Dr. J. B. Jeter, of Richmond, Va., who had
also been pastor of the church, Rev. George B. Taylor,
of Rome, Italy, Rev. Dr. Boyd, Rev. J. F. Cook, presi-
dent of Lagrange College, Rev. J. V. Schofield, D.D.,
and Rev. J. L. Burrows, D.D., of Cincinnati, also de-
livered addresses. Another session was held in the
evening, at which the more formal dedication services
were held. George T. Cram rendered the report of
the building committee, and transferred the new
church formally to the possession and control of the
board of trustees.
The trust was accepted by the Hon. Nathan Cole,
president of the board, who made a few remarks, in
the course of which he mentioned in terms of warm
commendation the munificence of Samuel C. Davis,
of Boston, " who had at a critical moment come
forward with a donation so liberal that it lightened
their anxieties, and made easy that which seemed
almost impossible." The 122d Psalm was then read
by the Rev. Dr. Sawyer, after which the dedicatory
sermon was preached by the Rev. John A. Broadus,
D.D. The prayer of dedication was offered by the
Rev. Dr. A. H. Burlingham, and the benediction was
pronounced by the Rev. C. L. Goodell. The build-
ing was modeled after that of Emanuel Baptist
Church, at Albany, N. Y., the architect being C. C.
Nichols, of that city. The total amount expended
upon it was two hundred and sixty-seven thousand
eight hundred and thirty-four dollars and forty-eight
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1677
cents. The main building is seventy-one by one hun- the style is a highly ornate English Gothic. The
dred and eight feet, and has a tower and spire two organ was contributed, at a cost of ten thousand dol-
hundred feet high. The ceiling of the audience-room lars, by Mrs. D. B. Gale as a memorial to her hus-
is fifty-two feet high. The chapel is forty-six by one band, who was for many years treasurer of the church,
hundred and sixteen feet, and contains a lecture-room, The organist is Professor E. M. Bowman, and the
SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH.
Sunday-school rooms, pastor's reception-room, parlors, singers composing the choir are among the leading
baptistery, reading-room, etc., with a dining-room and musicians of the city. The present membership of
kitchen in the basement. The material of the build- the church numbers nine hundred persons, and the
ing is St. Louis limestone, laid up in ashlar, trimmed membership of the various Sunday-schools connected
with Missouri gray sandstone from Warrensburg, and with the church numbers fifteen hundred.
1678
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Rev. W. W. Boyd,D.D., pastor of the Second Baptist
Church, was born in Chernung, Chemung Co., N. Y.,
Nov. 22, 1843. When he was about two years old
his parents removed to Saco, York Co., Me., where
for many years his father was superintendent of the
York Manufacturing Company, an extensive estab-
lishment for the manufacture of cotton goods. Being
an extremely sensitive child, he was put under a tutor,
instead of being sent to the public schools, until he
was fitted to enter the High School. At the age of
thirteen he was ready for college, but his health being
delicate he relinquished study for several years. In
1858 he united with the First Congregational Church
in Saco on profession of faith.
In 1859 his parents moved to Spring Vale, Me.,
and in 1861, on the death of his father, he was put
in his place as superintendent of the Spring Vale
Manufacturing Company. Although a youth of
eighteen, he succeeded in conducting the business to
the entire satisfaction of the corporation, most of the
members of which resided in Boston, Mass.
To afford the operatives of the mills some oppor-
tunities for religious cultivation, he reopened a little
Baptist Church in the village, long closed for want of
a minister, and began on Sunday mornings to conduct
a Sunday-school and read a sermon from Spurgeon
or Beecher to the congregation. At their solicitation
he soon began to address them in his own thoughts,
and for nearly three years preached regularly both
morning and evening on Sundays.
A deep religious interest was awakened, a new
church was erected, and many persons asked to be
baptized. He was still a Congregationalist, and felt
unwilling to forsake the church of his parents, in
which he had been reared, but after mature delibera-
tion he united with the little Baptist Church, in com-
pany with thirteen others, who had been won to the
faith by his sermons.
In 1866 his mother, a most estimable woman, died,
.and the way now being open to pursue his long-cher-
ished desire for a collegiate education, he resigned his
business position, reviewed his studies, and in 1867
entered the freshman class of Harvard College. For
four years, by preaching and teaching, he succeeded
in paying his expenses, and was graduated in 1871,
with special honors in philosophy. In his sophomore
year he received the first prize for excellence in ora-
tory..
Immediately upon his graduation he went to Ger-
many, spending one semester in Berlin University, one
in Heidelberg, one in Gottingen, and two in Ziirich,
pursuing special courses in theology, Greek, and phil-
osophy.
On his return he was appointed a proctor of Harvard
College, where for a year he taught as a private tutor,
continuing his special studies in Hebrew and theology.
In 1873 he was ordained pastor of the First Bap-
tist Church of Charlestown District, Boston, Mass.,
in which pastorate he continued until called to St.
Louis in June, 1877. His work in Charlestown re-
sulted in the addition of nearly four hundred members
to the church.
On his arrival in St. Louis he found the Second
Baptist Church worshiping in a chapel, and imme-
diately began to agitate the question of erecting the
main edifice. The large increase of the congregation
soon made this movement a necessity, and on Jan. 3,
1879, the magnificent building, nearly ready for occu-
pancy, took fire from the carelessness of a workman,
and with the exception of the walls was completely
destroyed. On the very afternoon of the fire, while
the ruins were yet burning, the building committee
voted to rebuild and gave out two of the contracts,
and on Nov. 26, 1879, the reconstructed edifice, free
of debt, was dedicated.
In June, 1878, Shurtleff College, Upper Alton, 111.,
conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of
Divinity. He is a trustee of Shurtleff College, and
of La Grange College, La Grange, Mo., and holds
many official denominational positions.
June 2, 1880, he was married to Miss Cora A.
Dunham, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John S. Dun-
ham, of St. Louis.
Dr. Boyd's pastorate in St. Louis has been one of
great and uniform success, the membership having
increased from about four hundred to one thousand.
He is a gentleman of great energy and executive
ability, and as a pulpit orator is conceded a foremost
rank among the array of able clergymen now officiat-
ing in St. Louis. His congregations are uniformly
large, and, as pastor of the largest white Baptist Church
in the State, no man occupies a more honorable or
responsible position in the Baptist denomination of
Missouri. Still a young man himself, his influence
with the- young is very great, and he is in the full en-
joyment of all his youthful energies. Although, as a
Baptist, he holds strongly to the cardinal doctrines of
the faith, he manifests in matters not essential the
utmost catholicity, and crosses denominational lines
with the greatest freedom, if by any means he may do
good. He takes an active interest in the affairs of the
community, and is frequently summoned to address
his fellow-citizens on matters of a public character.
During his residence in St. Louis he has made a deep
impression, not only upon the religious thought of the
city, but also upon its intellectual life and spirit.
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1679
North Baptist Church.— On the 20th of July,
1842, another Baptist Church was organized in St.
Louis. The council consisted of Rev. I. T. Hinton,
of St. Louis ; Rev. Dr. G. B. Perry, of Alton, 111. ;
and Rev. J. C. Herndon, of St. Louis County. Dr.
G. B. Perry delivered the sermon and charge to the
church, and Rev. I. T. Hinton gave the hand of fel-
lowship to the new body. Rev. J. C. Herndon de-
livered the concluding prayer. A church building
was erected on what is at present Christy Avenue,
and the congregation was known as the North Bap-
tist Church. Rev. Gideon B. Perry was the pastor.
He was succeeded by Elder S. H. Ford, who was fol-
lowed by Elder W. F. Nelson, Professor in Coving-
ton Theological Seminary. In 1846, however, this
church merged back into the Second, in view of the
movement to erect a new building in the vicin-
ity.
The First German Baptist Church, southwest cor-
ner of Fourteenth and Carr Streets, Rev. J. M. Hoefflin,
pastor, was organized in January, 1850, by Elder S.
H. Ford, D.D., Rev. J. B. Jeter, D.D., Rev. A. Sher-
wood, D.D., and Rev. John M. Peck, D.D., with nine-
teen members from the Second Church, the majority of
whom were Hollanders, and the remainder Germans.
Of these two were at once ordained to the ministry, —
C. Schoemaker for the Dutch, and F. W. Glatfeld for the
Germans. The church building was erected in 1863, but
was not finished and dedicated until May, 1865, the
congregation having had a hard struggle against debt
and difficulties. It has a seating capacity of five
hundred, and cost fifteen thousand dollars. Rev. Mr.
Glatfeld resigned soon after his appointment, and Rev.
Mr. Schoemaker preached to both Dutch and Ger-
mans until the fall of 1852. Rev. S. E. Kiipfer
served the church for six months in 1850, and in May,
1853, Rev. C. West became pastor. From March,
1855, until May, 1857, the church was without a pas-
tor. In 1857, Rev. A. Hausler was appointed, but for
two years subsequent to the fall of 1860 the pastorate
was again vacant. Rev. J. S. Gubelmann, under
whose leadership the church was built, took charge in
that year, and remained until September, 1868. Rev.
J. C. Haselhuhn assumed the pastorate in January,
1869, and resigned December, 1871, to take charge
of the Baptist journal Der Sendbote ; the church
was then successively supplied by Revs. C. Koos, W.
C. Kahe, E. Tschirch, and H. Gellert. Rev. C. Ohl-
gart was pastor from June, 1876, until September,
1879, and the present pastor took charge on the 1st
of April, 1881. The present membership of the church
numbers one hundred and forty-two persons, and it is
doing extensive mission work, having two mission
stations and three Sunday-schools, with about four
hundred scholars.
The Third Baptist Church, Fourteenth Street
and Clark Avenue, Rev. J. P. Greene, pastor, was
organized, Dec. 29, 1850, as a colony from the Second
Church (then situated at the corner of Sixth and
Locust Streets), whose pastor, Rev. J. B. Jeter, D.D.,
thought that there ought to be a Baptist Church " in
the western part of the city." It is a significant fact
in the history of the growth of St. Louis that when,
a quarter of a century later, the Second Church de-
cided to remove to a more central part of the city it
chose a site some ten or twelve blocks west of where
the Third Church planted itself and still remains at
this location. At first the new colony, composed of
thirty members, with Rev. Joseph Walker as pastor,
met for worship in a hall on Market Street, between
Centre and Thirteenth Streets, and was sustained
during the first three years of its existence by the
joint aid of the Southern Baptist Convention and the
General Association of Missouri.
Samuel C. Davis was the first superintendent of
the Sunday-school. The first baptism was performed
on the evening of Feb. 7, 1851.
The second pastor was Rev. John Teasdale, who
succeeded in April, 1854, after a vacancy of nine
months (Rev. J. Walker having resigned to accept a
call as secretary of the Board of Missions). Mr.
Teasdale was a man of great earnestness and power,
and was among the most regretted of the victims of
the Gasconade disaster. He raised the money with
which was purchased the ground on which the church
now stands, and of which (besides what was purchased)
about fifty feet front on Clark Avenue was given by
Judse Marshall Brotherton, D. B. Gale, and Hon.
W. M. McPherson. During his pastorate was built
what is now the chapel, Sunday-school, etc., which
was dedicated for worship Dec. 31, 1854. Rev. Wil-
liam Crowell became the church supply fifteen months
later, and served for ten months. Rev. Washington
Barnhurst became pastor in October, 1856. Failing
health caused him to resign July 8, 1860, and he died
April 29, 1862. Rev. Elias John Foote began to
supply the church in August, 1860, and on Feb. 17,
1861, became pastor. He resigned in April, 1862.
Rev. J. V. Schofield (now pastor of the Fourth
Church) was called June 20, 1862. During his
pastorate the present church edifice was erected. It
was dedicated May 12, 1866, and cost forty-five
thousand dollars. It was dedicated on the 15th of
April, 1866. Its seating capacity was about eight
hundred, and the lecture-room accommodated two
hundred and fifty persons. Mr. Schofield resigned in
1680
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
1869. Rev. W. Pope Yearaan, D.D., served as pastor
from April, 1870, until October, 1876. Rev. George
A. Lofton, D.D. (now pastor of Park Avenue Church),
was his successor, and preached his farewell sermon
July 16, 1882, in which he said, " During the less
than six years of my pastorate I have attended over
one hundred funerals, married one hundred and sixty
couples, baptized over two hundred converts, welcomed
as many into your midst by letter. When I came
you were struggling with the trials of division, debt,
and declension ; you have paid off over ten thousand
dollars indebtedness, and we have grown in every form j
of active development." Rev. J. P. Greene began
his pastorate Nov. 1, 1882. The present member-
ship of the church numbers five hundred, and about
six hundred scholars and teachers attend the Sunday-
schools, which are held morning and afternoon.
The Fourth. Baptist Church is situated on Twelfth
Street, between Benton and North Market Streets.
Rev. J. V. Schofield is the pastor. The society had
its origin in the missionary efforts of Rev. Dr. J. B.
Jeter and the members of the Second Baptist Church.
On the 26th of January, 1857, the members of the \
Second Church selected Rev. J. B. Jeter and Messrs. I
S. C. Davis, P. G. Camden, D. J. Hancock, and •
A. P. Coons as a committee to choose a missionary
for the northern part of the city. In July, 1851,
Rev. E. J. Owen was employed as a missionary, at a
salary of seven hundred dollars per annum, two-
sevenths of which he gave to the society for church-
building purposes. He preached his first sermon July
3d. On the 19th of September of that year twenty-
four persons withdrew from the Second Baptist Church
to constitute the new society. Only sixteen were
admitted, namely, Robert S., Elizabeth, and Harriet
Graham, Mary Beach, Sylvanus and Margaret Har-
low, Caroline Tice, Charlotte A. Boggs, Sarah Hen- |
derson, David, Martin, David L. and Emma Latour-
ette, Phoebe Twigg, Nathan and Rebecca Cole.
The permanent organization was effected on the
21st of September, 1851, and was styled " Zion
Baptist Church," but subsequently the name was
changed to that of the Fourth Baptist Church. The
constituent members of the organization were William
Jones, Mr. Graham, Dr. Martin, Miss Mary Martin,
Mrs. Eleonora Caymore, Dr. Claggett, Mrs. Gordon,
Miss Harriett Graham, Charles Conway, Mrs. E.
Conway. For the first seven years the society wor-
shiped in Sturgeon Market. The Second Baptist
Church assisted the enterprise as far as practicable,
but the congregation experienced several nearly fatal
financial struggles, from which it was rescued by the
perseverance of the lady members of the society, in
consequence of which it was known as " the Sisters' "
Church. The corner-stone of the church building
was laid on the 7th of July, 1858, and the basement
story was dedicated April 24, 1859. On the 1st of
January, 1861, the two Sunday-schools connected with
the church were consolidated, and were thenceforward
known as the Benton Mission, E. D. Jones being the
superintendent. The main building was dedicated on
the 9th of November, 1862. The lot has a frontage
of ninety feet on North Market and Benton Streets,
and a side front of one hundred and thirty-five feet
on Twelfth Street, and is among the lots which sur-
round one of the three circles in North St. Louis.
The dimensions of the building are seventy by eighty-
five feet. The main audience-room seats six hundred
persons, and the conference-room four hundred. The
structure is of brick, substantially built, with a large
wooden stairway leading to the audience-room in the
second story.
The pastors have been Revs. Edward J. Owen,
October, 1851, to March, 1855; Thomas Morton,
December, 1855, to February, 1856 ; George Howell,
for eight months from June, 1856 ; George Mitchell,
December, 1857, to May, 1859 ; E. G. Taylor, for
five months from October, 1860; W. B. Bolton,
August, 1861 ; Thomas Morton, October, 1861, to
May, 1862 ; A. C. Osborn, December, 1862, to Feb-
ruary, 1869; D. T. Morrill, May 9, 1869, to 1875 ;
H. M. Pogson, 1875 to 1876 ; J. V. Schofield, ap-
pointed November, 1876. Connected with the church
are a Ladies' Aid Society, organized in 1879 ; Ladies'
Missionary Society, organized in 1880 ; and a Young
Ladies' Society, organized in 1881. The present mem-
bership numbers about three hundred persons. The
average attendance is two hundred and fifty, of whom
two-thirds are females. The Sunday-school, of which
Hiram H. Post is superintendent, was formerly held
in the afternoon, with an average attendance of three
hundred and twenty-five. A change to morning ses-
sions resulted in a falling off in numbers, there being
now somewhat less than two hundred children, with
twenty-five to thirty teachers. A regular Sunday
evening collection realizes three hundred dollars.
During the past five years the church has been re-
lieved of a heavy mortgage.
The Beaumont and Bernard Streets Baptist
Churches. — In 1859, Dr. Galusha Anderson, pastor
of the Second Church, and the zealous promoter of
church extension, established the Jefferson Mission at
Twenty-fifth Street and Franklin Avenue, out of which
grew the Beaumont Street Church, organized in 1866,
with fifty-seven members, of whom fifty-five were dis-
missed for the purpose from the Second Church.
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1681
It met for several years in a chapel on the northeast
corner of Morgan and Beaumont Streets. Rev. A. A.
Kendrick, D.D., president of Shurtleff College, Upper
Alton, 111., was its first pastor, and under his ministry
it attained a large membership. Rev. J. C. C. Clarke
was the pastor two years. The congregation was
without a pastor in 1876, and was soon after merged
into the Second Church. The church edifice was a
small one-story brick building, seventy by forty feet. !
and seated about five hundred persons. The building
was rented on Jan. 1, 1878, to the congregation of '
Bethlehem Evangelical Church, and in 1879 was
sold to the Turners, who now occupy it as their hall.
Bernard Street Church was organized in 1868, and ;
occupied a small frame chapel on the southeast corner
of Bernard and Emily Streets. Rev. J. C. Hickman
was its pastor in 1875. The church has since ceased
to exist.
Park Avenue Baptist Church is situated on the
north side of Park Avenue, between Stoddard Avenue j
and Morton Street. Rev. George A. Loftonj D.D.,
is the pastor. In 1867 the Baptist Church Exten- !
sion Society purchased from the Presbyterians the
property now occupied by this church, and, after
enlarging the building, established, in June, 1867,
the Park Avenue Mission Sunday-school, with A. J.
Conant as superintendent. At the end of the first
year it numbered three hundred scholars. In the
fall of 1868, Rev. J. M. C. Breaker, of South Caro-
lina, began preaching, and shortly after organized the
present church, with seven members from the Second
Church (Messrs. A. J. Gonsalves, W. P. Hancock,
E. H. E. Jameson, John W. Allen, Mrs. Allen, Miss
Mary Kelley, and Mrs. Margaret W. Jameson) and
five converts from the mission. Col. E. H. E.
Jameson was for many years superintendent of the
Sunday-school, and was subsequently licensed to
preach, and supplied the Park Avenue pulpit for
several years. In the spring of 1876 he was or-
dained and became pastor of the church, but resigned
May 1, 1876. Assisted by Messrs. D. B. Gale, Wil-
liam M. Page, D. J. Hancock, and a few others, he
kept the church alive through many seasons of trial
and despondency. The Church Extension Society
went out of existence before the property was paid
for, and the latter was sold to D. B Gale, who gave its
use, rent free, to the society until his death, since which
time it has continued to occupy it at a nominal rent. '
The pastorate of the church has been successively
filled by the Revs. J. M. C. Breaker, George Kline,
M. L. Laws, E. H. E. Jameson, J. V. Schofield
(supply), D. T. Morrill, after whom, for two and a
half years, the pulpit was supplied by William E.
Stephens, a lay preacher, and others until the ap-
pointment, in July, 1882, of the present pastor. The
church now reports one hundred members, and the
Sunday-school has sixteen officers and teachers, and
an average attendance of nearly two hundred and fifty
scholars. The superintendent is W. L. C. Brey, who
has been connected with mission Sunday-school work
since 1856, when Rev. George Kline started such a
school at Soulard Market.
Carondelet Baptist Church. — The Carondelet
Church is situated at the corner of Fifth and
Taylor Streets, South St. Louis. Rev. G. L. Tal-
bot is the pastor, and C. S. Purkitt is the clerk. It
was organized as the First Baptist Church of Caron-
delet, Nov. 3, 1867, at the residence of Deacon C. S.
Barrett, corner of Second and Taylor Streets, Caron-
delet, by Rev. Adiel Sherwood, D.D., and Rev. J. V.
Schofield, D.D., of the Third Baptist Church of St.
Louis, now of the Fourth Church. The organic mem-
bers were C. S. Purkitt, M.D., Nathan B. Jones,
Mrs. Meroe Andrews, Mrs. Charlotte P. Purkitt, and
Miss Antoinette Purkitt. The corner-stone was laid
in October, 1871. The building was first used July
4, 1872, and was formally dedicated Dec. 15, 1872,
by Rev. Dr. Burlingham, of the Second Church, and
the Rev. W. Pope Yeaman, of the Third Church of
St. Louis. The pastors have been Revs. Frederick
Bower, appointed April, 1868; J. H. Luther, D.D.,
appointed March, 1869; Thomas Hudson, appointed
July, 1871 ; John Seage (pro fern.), appointed
March, 1873; J. H. Breaker, appointed Nov. 2,
1873 ; T. J. Koetzli (pro fern.), appointed Sept. 15,
1875 ; A. F. Randall, appointed Feb. 4, 1876 ; E. L.
Schofield, appointed Sept. 23, 1877 ; G. L. Talbot,
appointed Jan. 1, 1882. In August, 1874, the
church sent out a colony of about thirty members to
form a new church called the Welsh Mission, or
Second Baptist Church, which flourished for about
two years and then dissolved, most of the members
returning to the Carondelet Church. Connected with
it are the Sunday-school, organized four or five years
earlier than the church and now having nine teachers
and over one hundred scholars ; a Ladies' Industrial
Society, organized April 1, 1869, and still flourishing
and steadily increasing in usefulness ; a Ladies' For-
eign Missionary Society ; the Baptist Literary Society,
organized in December, 1877 ; and the Mite Society,
organized in January, 1882. A Young Ladies' Pas-
toral Aid Society was organized Feb. 9, 1876, but only
remained in existence one year. The congregation
numbers about forty families, or one hundred and
fifty-seven persons. In May, 1882, there were one
hundred and six communicants.
1682
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Garrison Avenue Baptist Church, corner of
Morgan Street and Compton Avenue, Rev. J. H. Curry,
D.D., pastor, was organized March 29, 1877, with
Rev. W. Pope Yeaman, D.D., as pastor, by thirty-
nine members, most of whom had obtained letters of
t
dismissal from the Third Baptist Church. Their
first place of worship was on Garrison Avenue, be-
tween Lucas Avenue and Morgan Street (hence the ;
name of the church), and in it on the 8th of April,
1877, the dedicatory services were held. In the i
early part of 1879 the church building was removed
to its present site at a cost of five hundred dollars, j
Dr. Yeaman resigned the pastorate Dec. 22, 1878, to
accept an appointment from the General Baptist Asso-
ciation of Missouri, after which the church depended
upon supplies until Jan. 26, 1879, when Rev. J.
C. Armstrong became the pastor. He resigned
Dec. 1, 1881, to take editorial charge of the Cen-
tral Baptist. Dr. Curry, the present pastor, who was
visiting the city at the time, was invited to occupy the
pulpit on the 2d of April, 1882. Two weeks later
he received a unanimous call to the pastorate of the
church, and resigned the charge of a flourishing con- j
gregation at Dallas, Texas, in order to accept it.
The first deacons of the church were George L. Bab-
ington and William H. Curtis, chosen at the time of i
organization, and M. S. Clemens and John Herget, j
appointed later. Gabriel Long was the first clerk,
and James S. McClellan, Gabriel Long, Mr. Stilwell,
and Samuel V. Monks composed the first board of
trustees. The Sunday-school was organized at the
same time as the church, with fifteen scholars, and
William H. Curtis as superintendent. It now num-
bers one hundred children, and the membership of
the church has increased from thirty-nine to ninety.
Colored Baptist Churches. — The colored Baptists
of St. Louis organized themselves into a congrega-
tion about 1833, and the establishment of their church
was almost contemporaneous with that of the Second
Baptist Church. They adopted the name of the
First Baptist Church (the white congregation under
that title having become extinct). The pastor
of the Colored Baptist Church was Rev. Berry
Meacham, an energetic colored man. He was for-
merly a slave in Virginia, and having purchased his
freedom, removed to St. Louis, where he followed the
occupation of cooper. He bought the freedom not
only of himself, but as he prospered in business that
of his wife, children, and father. In the same way he
secured the liberation of fifteen slaves, who worked
for him in his cooper-shop until they had paid the
money thus advanced. In 1836, Berry Meacham
was the owner of two brick houses in St. Louis, a '
farm in Illinois, the estimated value of which was ten
thousand dollars, and two steamboats.
THE FIRST AFRICAN CHURCH, Almond, between
Fourth and Fifth Streets, Rev. J. R. Young, pastor,
now has now a membership of six hundred and
twenty- four.
THE EIGHTH STREET (or SECOND) CHURCH is
situated on the southwest corner of Eighth Street and
Christy Avenue. Rev. S. P. Lewis is the pastor. On
the 22d of March, 1846, Elders Richard Sneethen and
J. R. Anderson commenced preaching in a hall adjoin-
ing Liberty Engine House, and in June following peti-
tioned for letters of dismissal from the First African
Church. These were granted, and on the 3d of Au-
gust, 1846, the Second Church was organized with
twenty-two members dismissed from the First. It
was recognized by the council Oct. 24, 1847. On
the 17th of June, 1851, the present lot was pur-
chased for four thousand five hundred dollars, and
the erection of the building was begun Aug. 1, 1851.
The basement was first occupied in October following,
and the building was completed and dedicated Aug.
22, 1852. It was enlarged by an addition of twenty-
five feet, in accordance with a vote of the congrega-
tion taken Feb. 5, 1858. Its present membership is
five hundred and fifty.
UNIVERSITY CHURCH. — On the llth of December,
1867, Elder Edward Wills1 began to preach in a small
room on University Street, between Twenty-second
and Twenty-third Streets, and in 1869 organized the
present church at University Street and Jefferson
Avenue. He continued pastor until the close of
1881, when the church became involved in legal diffi-
culties, and sued its pastor, as trustee, for possession
of the property. The church was closed during the
first four months of 1882, and reports only forty-five
members to the Association. The other Colored Bap-
tist Churches are the Chambers Street Church, at the
corner of Tenth and Chambers Streets, Rev. W. B.
Jones, pastor, membership 160; Mount Zion Church,
Papin Street, between Pratte Avenue and High Street,
1 Edward Wills, one of the oldest preachers in St. Louis, was
born of a slave mother in 1811, on the farm of Willis Wills, in
Logan County, Ky. In 1836 he was removed to Virginia and
hired out to work, and two years later was brought to St. Louis.
In ISio he was licensed to preach, and officiated at different
times at seven different churches, — the Garrison, Concord, Cold
Water, Musick's, Kirkwood, Gravois, and Belleville (III.). He
was fully ordained in September, 1866, and organized succes-
sively the Platte Creek Church, at Fish Lake, III.; Elder Will.-'
Church, in the American Bottom : University Church, St. Louis;
and others in St. Charles and Brigham, Mo. After a pastorate
of fourteen years the church in St. Louis not only turned from
him, but sued him for possession of the property which he held
as trustee.
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1683
Ilev. Lewis Lane, pastor, the membership numbering
70 persons ; Antioch, Edwardsville, membership 65 ;
Bethel, North St. Louis, membership 33 ; South St.
Louis, Carondelet road, near River des Peres, Rev.
T. Jackson, pastor, membership 54 ; St. Paul, Rev.
C. Landers; pastor, which meets in the Jewish Syn-
agogue, membership 43 ; Rock Spring, Rev. William
J. Brown, pastor, membership 80 ; Compton Hill,
Compton Avenue and Caswell Street, Rev. C. Deca-
tur, pastor, membership 138.
METHODIST CHURCHES.
Methodism in Missouri. — Rev. John Clark was
the first Methodist minister to settle in Missouri. He
arrived about 1798, but soon after became a member
of the Baptist denomination and organized a number
of congregations under the auspices of that church.
When the territory was ceded to the United States
(in 1804) and restrictions on Protestantism removed,
missionaries turned their attention to Missouri, and
Joseph Oglesby in 1805 reconnoitred the Missouri
country to the extremity of the settlements, and " had
the pleasure of seeing Daniel Boone, the mighty
hunter." In 1806 the Western Conference (emT
bracing the entire Mississippi valley, from the Alle-
ghenies westward) appointed William McKendree
(afterwards bishop) to the presiding eldership of
Cumberland District (which included Indiana, Illinois,
West Tennessee, Missouri, and Arkansas), and John
Travis to the Missouri Circuit, a sparsely-settled
region, extending from Pike County on the north to
Pemiscot County on the south, and from thirty to
fifty miles westward of the river. McKendree and
Travis traveled over their territory on horseback, and
carried their provisions in their saddle-bags. They
often slept on the ground, and swam or forded rivers.
Travis divided Missouri into two circuits, the Missouri
River being the dividing line, and reported fifty-six
members in the Northern (or Missouri) Circuit, and
fifty in the Southern (or Meramec). In 1809, Cold
Water Circuit was added ; it included St. Louis, and
contained thirty-nine members. In 1821, St. Louis
became a separate circuit, with two hundred and
fifteen members, and Rev. Isaac N. Piggot as minis-
ter. Missouri, as stated, was in 1807 a circuit of
Cumberland District, Western Conference; in 1809
its circuits belonged to Indiana District; in 1812 to
Illinois District; in 1813 they became part of the
Tennessee Conference; in 1814, Missouri became a
district; in 1816 it was attached to the Ohio Confer-
ence; in May, 1816, the Missouri Conference was
created by the General Conference sitting in Balti-
more, and embraced Missouri, Illinois, and a large part
of Indiana. Its first session was held, commencing
Sept. 23, 1816, at Shiloh meeting-house, in Illinois,
— the first church built by Methodists so far West. It
consisted of nine members, and there were twenty-two
preachers to be stationed, of whom twelve were in
Illinois and ten in Missouri. There were eight hun-
dred and seventy-five white and fifty-nine colored
members in the Missouri District, which was then
divided into seven circuits. In September, 1820, at
the fifth meeting of the Missouri Conference, Missouri
was divided into two districts, — Missouri and Cape
Girardeau ; St. Louis Circuit being in the former,
which was divided into eight circuits, with a total
membership of seven hundred and sixty-three, of
whom two hundred and fifteen were in St. Louis Cir-
cuit. On the 24th of October, 1822, the Missouri
Conference met for the first time in St. Louis, where
the building of the First Methodist Church had just
been completed, and the town of St. Louis was made
a separate station, with Rev. Jesse Walker as the
minister.
In 1824, Illinois and Indiana were organized into
a new Conference, and the Missouri Conference was
made to include the State of Missouri and Arkansas
Territory. In 1836 the Arkansas Conference was or-
ganized, and the Missouri Conference was made to in-
clude the State of Missouri and that part of Missouri
territory which lies north of the Cherokee line. At
the fifteenth session of the Missouri Conference, held
in St. Louis, beginning Sept. 16, 1830, it was re-
districted into four districts, — Missouri, St. Louis,
Cape Girardeau, and Arkansas ; the St. Louis Dis-
trict being divided into St. Louis station and seven
circuits. The latter were Union, Gasconade Mis-
sion, Salt River, Palmyra, Buffalo, and Missouri.
Prior to 1822 the congregations were served by mis-
sionaries or circuit-riders. These, with the dates of
their appointment, were John Travis, 1807 ; Edward
Wilcox, 1808 ; John Crane, 1809 ; Isaac Linsey,
1810 ; George A. Collins, 181 1 ; Daniel Fraley, 1812 ;
John M. McFarland, 1813; Richard Conn, 1814;
Jacob Whitesides, 1815; Benjamin Proctor, 1816;
John Scripps, 1817 ; John Harris, 1818 ; Samuel
Glaze, 1819 ; Thomas Wright, 1820; Isaac N. Pig-
got, 1821 ; Jesse Walker, 1822. The presiding
elders since the establishment of St. Louis District
have been Andrew Monroe, 1830, 1832-36 ; Alex-
ander McAllister, 1831 ; Silas Comfort, 1836-37,
James M. Jameson, 1838-40; Wesley Browning,
1841-43 ; William W. Redman, 1844. The bishops
presiding at the Missouri Conference since its organi-
zation have been William McKendree, 1816, 1818,
1823 ; Robert R. Roberts, 1817, 1820-22, 1824-27,
1684
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
1830-31, 1834-36, 1842; Enoch George, 1819;
Joshua Soule, 1828-29, 1832, 1837-38 ; Thomas A.
Morris, 1839-40; Beverly Waugh. 1840 ; James 0.
Andrew. 1843.
In 1844-45 occurred the great secession of the
Southern Methodists, which left the Northern mem- |
bers for a time without " a local habitation or a name"
in Missouri, and without a Conference in the State or
a church in the city. A few ministers, however, the
more prominent of whom were Rev. Anthony Bew-
ley (who in 1860 was hung by a mob at Fort Worth,
Texas), Rev. Mark Robertson, Rev. Nelson Henry, ;
Rev. Peter Akers, and Rev. Joseph Tabor, continued
to labor in connection with the old denomination. In
1845 a small church, called Ebenezer, was erected, ;
which, in 1862, became the Union Methodist Church |
of St. Louis. In 1848 the Missouri Conference was ]
reorganized, meeting with the Illinois Conference at
Belleville, and was made to include Kansas and
Arkansas. In 1852 the Arkansas Conference was
set off, and in 1856 the Kansas Conference was formed.
In 1861, when the civil war commenced and the fate
of Missouri, as to its connection with the Union or
the Southern Confederacy, trembled in the balance,
the Northern- Methodists were again disorganized,
many of the ministers being compelled to leave their
posts throughout the State. In May, 1861, their
services were suspended everywhere except in St. :
Louis, and Ebenezer Chapel (St. Louis) was seized
for debt and closed, Bedding Chapel was dissolved,
and only a nucleus of worshipers remained at Simp-
son Chapel. During this period presiding elders and
ministers either left the State or entered the army as
chaplains or soldiers. In the latter part of 1861,
owing to the occupation of the State by the Northern
troops, the Southern wing of the church in turn be-
came disorganized and scattered. On the other hand,
the old Methodist organization began to recover its
lost ground, and has continued to flourish ever since.
The Missouri Conference was reorganized in May,
1862, as the Missouri and Arkansas Conference. In
1868 it was divided into the Missouri Conference
(north of Missouri River) and St. Louis Conference
(south of the river and including Arkansas), and in
May, 1872, the Arkansas Conference was cut off and
established as a separate body.
The first church of the denomination established
in St. Louis was organized by the Rev. Jesse Walker
in the fall of 1820, and the first systematic preaching
was begun about the middle of December of that
year. The first Sunday-school was commenced in
December of the following year, and its first super-
intendent was Col. John O'Fallon. In 1845, owing
to the dissension which had arisen concerning the
question of slavery, the congregation separated from,
the regular Methodist organization and joined the
Methodist Church South. It then became known
as the First Methodist Episcopal Church South, and
consequently there is nominally no " First Church" of
the old organization in St. Louis.
The bishops of Missouri Conference from 1849 until
1868, and of St. Louis Conference since, have been
as follows: E. S. Janes, 1849, 1852, 1858, 1869;
C. J. Houts, pro tern., 1850 ; B. Waugh, 1851 ; T. A.
Morris, 1853, 1861 ; E. R. Ames, 1854, 1857, 1860,
1863, 1867, 1871 ; Matthew Simpson, 1855, 1862,
1877 ; 0. C. Baker, 1856, 1864; Levi Scott, 1859,
1865,1872; C. Kingsley, 1866; E. Thomson, 1868 ;
Davis W: Chirk, 1870; Thomas Bowman, 1873,
1878; Edward G. Andrews, 1874; Stephen M.
Merrill, 1875 ; Jesse T. Peck, 1876 ; Isaac W. Wiley,
1879; Randolph S. Foster, 1880: John F. Hurst,
1881 ; Henry W. Warren, 1882. The St. Louis Con-
ference is now divided into St. Louis, Sedalia, Kansas
City, Springfield, and Missouri Districts. St. Louis
District has twenty stations or circuits, the presiding
elders over which since the reorganization in 1848
(with the dates of the Conferences appointing them)
have been George W. Robbins, 1848 ; J. J. Buren,
1849-50 ; David N. Smith, 1851 ; C. J. Houts, 1852-
54; J. H. Hopkins, 1855-56; Nathan Shumate,
1857 ; Samuel Huffman, 1858-61 ; J. C. Smith,
1862-64 ; M. Sovin, 1865-68 ; J. L. Walker, 1869-
71 ; A. C. George, 1872 ; T. H. Hagerty, 1873-75 ;
C. A. Van Anda, 1876 ; F. S. Beggs, 1877-80 ; T. H.
Hagerty, 1881-82. The reorganized Missouri Con-
ference started in 1848 with 1538 members and 26
traveling and 24 local preachers, Arkansas being in-
cluded in these figures. The St. Louis Conference
held in March, 1882, reported 18,080 members and
probationers, 168 local preachers, 171 Sunday-schools,
with 1562 teachers and 13,169 scholars, 191 churches,
and 65 parsonages. St. Louis Station (or City) re-
ported 1187 members and probationers, 8 local preach-
ers, 7 churches, 7 Sunday-schools, with 158 teachers
and 1655 scholars.
The Western Methodist Book Concern, 1101
Olive Street, was organized in 1865, with Rev. Ben-
jamin St. James Fry, D.D., as manager, in rented
rooms at No. 413 Locust Street, and later removed to
913 North Sixth Street, which property had been
bought and is still owned by the concern, being now
used for manufacturing purposes. John H. Cam-
eron was manager from 1872, when Dr. Fry took the
editorial management of the Central Cliristian Advo-
cate until 1880, and was then succeeded by the pres-
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1685
ent manager, Samuel H. Pye, from the Cincin-
nati Book Concern. In the third story of the pres-
ent quarters are the editorial office of Dr. Fry, and
the room where, every Monday morning, are held the
meetings of the Methodist Episcopal Ministers' Asso-
ciation. The Book Concern moved into its present
quarters in 1881.
Benjamin St. James Fry, D.D., was born in Rut-
gers, East Tennessee, in 1824, but spent his childhood
and early manhood in Cincinnati. He was educated
subsequently re-elected, and continues to hold that
position. He was a reserve delegate of the General
Conference of 1868, and served part of the session,
and was secretary of the Committee on Sunday-
schools. At the General Conference of 1876 he
was the secretary of the Committee on Education.
Dr. Fry has been a frequent contributor to period-
ical literature, and is the author of several volumes
of Sunday-school books, including lives of Bishops
Whatcoat, McKendree, and Roberts. He was also
HISHOr McKKNDBEE.
at Woodward College, Cincinnati, and was received
into the Ohio Conference in 1847. Among his ap-
pointments in that Conference were Portsmouth, New-
ark, Chillicothe, and Zanesville. He was president of
the Worthington Female College for four years, and
served three years as chaplain in the Union army. In
1865 he was placed in charge of the depository of
the Methodist Book Concern at St. Louis, and con-
ducted its business until, in 1872, he was elected
editor of the Central Christian Advocate. He was
107
the author of " Property Consecrated," one of the
prize volumes issued by the church on systematic
beneficence.
William McKendree, one of the early bishops of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, was born in King
William County, Va., on the 6th of July, 1757. He
was a soldier during the Revolutionary war, entering
the army as a private, and rising to the rank of adju-
tant. He was placed in the commissary department,
and was present at the surrender of Cornwallis at
1686
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Yorktown. In 1787 he was converted to religion,
and soon began to take a prominent part in public
meetings. In 1788 he was received on trial for the
ministry, and continued to labor in his vocation until
November, 1792, when, having been influenced by
Mr. O'Kelly to join in certain measures of alleged re-
form, he was greatly disappointed by their failure at
the General Conference. Mr. O'Kelly withdrew from
the church, and Mr. McKendree sympathizing with
him, sent in his resignation as a minister, but the
Conference agreed that he might still preach among
the societies. Mr. McKendree soon obtained leave to
travel with Bishop Asbury, in order that he might
ascertain for himself whether his impressions had
been well founded. In a short time he became satis-
fied that he had been deceived. In 1796 he became
presiding elder, and in 1801 was sent to the West to
take the supervision of the societies in Ohio, Ken-
tucky, Tennessee, Western Virginia, and part of Illi-
nois. In 1806 he was appointed to the Cumberland
District, embracing Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, and
half of Tennessee, and during the same year traveled
extensively in Illinois. He himself records that in
1807 "we attended a camp-meeting across the Missis-
sippi River, which was the first meeting of the kind
ever held on that side of the river, and we walked
about forty miles to get to it." In 1808 he was
called to preach before the General Conference, and
discharged this task so ably that Bishop Asbury said
at its close, " That sermon will make McKendree
bishop." This prediction was realized by his election
as bishop by the same Conference (1808). In 1816,
during which year he presided at the first session of
the Missouri Conference, he became the senior bishop.
He died on the 5th of March, 1835, at the residence
of his brother, near Nashville, Tenn. Bishop Mc-
Kendree' was a popular preacher, and a zealous and
laborious minister. He was careful in the adminis-
tration of discipline, and introduced system into all i
the operations of the church. His influence was
potent everywhere, but especially was he regarded as
the father of Western Methodism, to which he had
given years of earnest labor, and in the success of |
which he felt a deep and abiding interest.
Jesse Walker was born in North Carolina (the
exact date is uncertain), and was admitted as a
traveling preacher in 1802. Subsequently, for four
years, he traveled in Kentucky and Tennessee. In
1806 he was appointed missionary to Illinois, and at
the end of his first year of labor reported that he had
secured two hundred and eighteen members to the
church in that region. He continued his missionary
labors in Illinois and Missouri until 1812, when he ;
was made presiding elder over the church in both
those Territories. In 1820 he was appointed Con-
ference missionary, with leave to select his own field
of work, and chose St. Louis, where he established
the First Methodist Church, of which he remained
pastor for two years. On the 24th of October, 1822,
he again obtained the appointment of Conference mis-
sionary, and in 1823 began to labor among the In-
dians. In 1834 failing health compelled him to
retire to his farm in Cook County, 111., where he
died on the 5th of October, 1835.
John Travis was born of Presbyterian parents, in
Chester District, S. C., Nov. 3, 1773. He was ap-
pointed to Missouri Circuit in 1806, at which date
he was first received on trial by the Western Con-
ference, and traveled from five to seven hundred
miles on horseback to reach his circuit. Two years
later he was received into full connection, and in 1812
was ordained as elder. He remained in charge of
different circuits, nearly as wild and thinly settled as
the first, until 1815, when he married, and retired to
a farm in Livingston (now Crittenden) County, Ky.,
where he studied and subsequently practiced medi-
cine. He preached occasionally until his death. He
became totally blind fourteen years before his death,
which occurred in his eightieth year, Nov. 11, 1852.
Among the early ministers of the Methodist Church
in St. Louis. Rev. John W. Springer and Rev. Joseph
Boyle, D.D., were also prominent. Mr. Springer was
born in Fayette County, Ky., in 1808, and arrived in
St. Louis in 1848, and took charge of the St. Louis
mission. Besides the mission, he had charge of a
number of circuits. He was married three times,
his first wife being Eliza Pilcher, of Fayette County,
Ky., the second Eliza Lueller, and the third Minerva
D. Pilcher, sister of the first Mrs. Springer. He was
a faithful aud active minister, and labored industri-
ously for many years, but at the time of his death,
which occurred on the 17th of October, 1879, was
on the superannuated list.
Joseph Boyle was born in Baltimore on the 12th
of May, 1812. The field of his first ministerial
labors was Pittsburgh, but in 1842, at his request, he
was transferred to St. Louis, and became pastor of the
First Church. He was a delegate to the Louisville
General Conference of 1844, at which the Methodist
Church was divided into two bodies, the Methodist
Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal
Church South, and labored earnestly for reconciliation.
Until his death, which occurred on the 3d of May,
1872, Dr. Boyle continued in the active discharge of
his ministerial duties. In 1870 he was placed upon
the retired list as a supernumerary at the First
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1687
Methodist Church, on Eighth Street. He did not,
however, relax his ministerial labors, but continued to
preach and work for the cause to which he had de-
voted his energies. He preached his last sermon at
Lexington, Mo., on the Sunday preceding his death.
Dr. Boyle was distinguished by his learning and
eloquence, as well as by the elevated tone of his char-
acter and the simplicity of his life. He was ex-
tremely popular with the citizens of St. Louis, and
for a number of years was one of the most promi-
nent and useful members of the community.
Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church. — This
church, situated at the southwest corner of Tenth
and North Market Streets, Rev. R. R. Pierce, pastor,
had its origin in Simpson Chapel, which was organ-
ized about 1857. Simpson Chapel was the only
Northern Methodist Church that continued to hold
services in St. Louis during the stormy period at the
beginning of the war, when all the kindred Methodist
congregations in Missouri became disorganized. When,
however, toward the close of the year 1861, the
Northern Methodist Church in Missouri began to re-
vive, Simpson Chapel shared in its prosperity and in-
creased rapidly in numbers and influence. Its pastors
were J. L. Conklin, appointed in 1858 ; Thomas H.
Mudge, 1859 ; J. C. Smith, 1860 ; Wm. C. Stewart,
1861 ; (the church was " supplied" by different
ministers in 1862) L. M. Vernon, 1863 ; sup-
ply, 1864-65 ; T. J. Williams, 1866 ; R. R. Pierce,
1867-68 ; J. N. Pierce, 1869. In 1870 it became
Trinity Church, whose pastors have been J. N.
Pierce, 1870-71; J. L. Walker, 1872-73-74; 0.
M. Stewart, 1875-76-77; H. R. Miller, 1878; G.
W. Hughey, 1879-81 ; R. R. 'Pierce, 1882. Simp-
son Chapel reported fifty-seven members in 1858,
and Trinity Church had in the first year of its organ-
ization one hundred and sixty members. Connected
with the Sunday-school were twenty-five teachers and
one hundred and eighty scholars. In March, 1882,
it had a membership, including probationers, of two
hundred and eighty-eight, and there were thirty-eight
teachers and four hundred scholars in the Sunday-
school.
Union Church (southwest corner of Garrison and
Lucas Avenues, Rev. C. E. Felton, D.D., pastor) was
the first fruits of the reorganization of the Northern
Methodist Church, after its dispersion on the break-
ing out of the war in 1861. Prior to that time the
Methodists (North) had had three congregations in
St. Louis, known as Hedding, Ebenezer, and Simp-
son Chapels. Ebenezer Chapel had been organized
in 1852, and was served by Rev. L. B. Bemis, ap-
pointed 1852; Rev. T. I. R. Davis, 1853; Rev.
N. Shumate, 1855; Rev. Thomas Williams, 1858;
Rev. William Hanley, 1860 ; Rev. Joseph Brooks,
1861. During Dr. Brooks' pastorate the church was
closed on account of a debt due for rent, and was
never reopened. In 1852 there were one hundred
and thirty-five members, but at the close of 1861 not
more than thirty members of the congregation re-
mained in the city. On the 2d of January, 1862, a
meeting was held at the office of Rev. Dr. Charles D.
Elliott, editor of the Central Christian Advocate, by
a few Methodists whom business had brought to St.
Louis, and they, uniting with the remnants of Eben-
ezer Church, organized a new society and invited Rev.
Dr. Henry Cox, of Chicago, to become their pastor.
Dr. Cox was a man of great zeal and energy, and the
congregation prospered under his care. The Union
Presbyterian Church (an independent organization)
had built the church (now occupied by the Young
Men's Christian Association) at Eleventh and Locust
Streets ; and this building was purchased by the Union
congregation for thirty-seven thousand three hundred
dollars on the 14th of March, 1862. Before that date,
however, Dr. Cox had succeeded in raising six thousand
dollars, by the payment of which, on the first install-
ment of the purchase-money, the Missouri Conference
was enabled to hold its session in the building, begin-
ning Feb. 26, 1862. In the following summer Dr.
Cox visited the East and obtained six thousand dol-
lars towards reducing the church debt. In 1865 the
indebtedness was entirely canceled. In 1863 the
membership had grown to two hundred and seventy-
five persons, and at the beginning of 1865 it was re-
ported at four hundred, together with an attendance
of four hundred in the Sunday-school. Dr. Cox was
an uncompromising advocate of Northern principles,
and made it a condition of church membership that
candidates should take the oath of allegiance to the
United States, swearing them in with the Stars and
Stripes floating over them and an open Bible before
them. The church was dedicated by Bishop Simp-
son, March 16, 1862. It was at that time one of the
most capacious churches in the city, and seated about
sixteen hundred persons, — a substantial brick building
one hundred and four feet long, sixty-eight feet wide,
and seventy-five feet high to the centre of the nave.
The succession of pastors, with the dates of their
appointment, has been as follows ;• Henry Cox, 1862-
63; supply, 1864; A. C. George, 1865-67; J. W.
Langley, 1868-69 ; B. St. J. Fry, 1870 ; C. E. Felton,
1871-73, and again in 1880-82; C. A. Van Anda,
1874-76; R. C. Houghton, 1877-79. On the 14th
of May, 1880, the church on Eleventh Street was sold
to the Young Men's Christian Association, and in the
1688
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
following June the present lot, ninety-five by one hun-
dred and thirty-four feet, was purchased. Ground
was broken July 12, 1880, and the corner-stone was
laid Oct. 26, 1880. The Sunday-school room was first
occupied Oct. 30, 1881, and the church was dedicated
May 18, 1882, by Bishop Simpson. It is of modified
Gothic architecture, and cruciform in shape, and is
built of rubble-stone and brick. Its dimensions are
eighty by one hundred and one feet. In the basement
are a kitchen and dining-rooms, and on the ground-
floor are the office of the church, parlor, and Sunday-
school rooms, the latter with a seating capacity of six
hundred. The main auditorium contains seats for one
thousand persons, and is amphitheatrical in shape. In
the rear of the auditorium are the pastor's study and
the music-room. The total cost of the church was
$75.527.16, of which $11,685 was paid for the lot
and $63.842.16 for building and furnishing. This
sum was realized from the following sources : Sale
of old church, $37,500 ; subscriptions and interest,
$35,898.66; Ladies' Aid Society, $2069.51 ; Young
Men's Union, $466.85,— a total of $75,935.02, or
$407.86 more than the property cost. August
Beincke was the architect. The Young People's
Lyceum of the Union Methodist Episcopal Church,
organized by the pastor in 1871 for purposes of liter-
ary and social intercourse, was the first society of its
kind established in St. Louis. The membership of
the church numbers four hundred and forty persons,
and there are thirty-one teachers and three hundred
and fifty-four scholars connected with the Sunday-
school.
Central Church. — In the minutes of the Missouri ;
Conference for 1865 appears for the first time the
name of the Second Union Church, with Rev. Henry
Cox, D.D. (the organizer of Union Church), as pastor.
In 1866 it reported one hundred and thirteen mem-
bers, and forty teachers and five hundred pupils in the
Sunday-school. Dr. Cox was reappointed in 1866,
and N. P. Heath succeeded him in 1867, in which
year its name was changed to that of Sixth Street
Mission. This mission occupied the publishing-house
at 913 North Sixth Street, and reported, in 1868, one
hundred and eighteen members, and five hundred and
forty children in the Sunday-school. Rev. A. C.
George was pastor in 1868, and Rev. J. W. Johnson
in 1869-70, after which date the name of the organi-
zation disappeared from the minutes. Central Church
(which was organized in 1869, in a hall on Eighteenth
and Wash Streets) having grown out of and absorbed
it. The new organization reported in the spring of
1870 a membership of seventy persons, and an at-
tendance at the Sunday-school of twenty teachers and
one hundred and twenty children. It continued to
meet in the hall at Eighteenth and Wash Streets until
February, 1871, when its present church building,
situated at the northeast corner of Twenty-fourth
and Morgan Streets, was dedicated. The foundation
stone of this edifice was laid on the 2d of September,
1869, and the exercises were witnessed by a large as-
semblage. Hon. Nathan Cole, mayor of the city, pre-
sided. On the 1st of February, 1871, the edifice was
used by the congregation for the first time. It has a
front of fifty-seven feet on Morgan Street, and a depth
of ninety-three feet on Twenty-fourth Street, and is a
substantial brick building, with lecture-room, class-
rooms, and pastor's study on the first floor, and on
the second floor the main audience-room, with a seat-
ing capacity of six hundred. The church lot meas-
ures sixty-five by one hundred and ten feet, and the
property is valued at thirty-five thousand dollars.
The pastors have been Revs. A. C. George (who or-
ganized it), 1869-71 ; J. J. Bentley, 1872 ; A. C.
Williams, 1873-75; J. W. Bushong, 1876-78; W.
K. Marshall, 1879-81 ; F. S. Beggs, 1881-82. The
church reports a membership of two hundred and
twenty persons, with twenty-eight teachers and two
hundred and seventy-five pupils in the Sunday-school.
St. Luke's Church grew out of a mission Sunday-
school which was organized by Rev. R. S. Stubbs at
the residence of Mrs. Dr. Brock, May 20, 1874, and
which then numbered fifteen scholars. The church
was organized with twelve members, Jan. 17, 1875,
in the chapel of the mission, a frame building on Jef-
ferson Avenue, between Chippewa and Keokuk
Streets, which was purchased by the congregation.
This building was twenty-five by forty feet in size,
and seated one hundred and seventy-five persons.
Rev. R. S. Stubbs, Rev. B. St. James Fry, Rev. C.
A. Van Anda, and other ministers participated in the
organization. The building was sold in November,
1881, and was converted into a shoe-store. The
present building stands upon a lot one hundred and
one by one hundred and eighteen feet, at the north-
east corner of Potomac Street and Texas Avenue.
Its corner-stone was laid Sept. 15, 1881, and the
completed structure was dedicated by Rev. C. E. Fel-
ton, D.D., on the 5th of March, 1882. It is built of
brick, with stone trimmings, and its dimensions are
forty by sixty feet, its seating capacity being three
hundred and fifty persons. The architecture is semi-
Gothic. The church has had four pastors, Rev. R.
S. Stubbs, 1874-76; Rev. L. Hallock, 1876-79;
Rev. J. F. Corrington, 1879-82 ; and Rev. A. Jump,
1882. Connected with the congregation are a Ladies'
Aid Society, organized in 1875, and a Woman's For-
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1689
eign Missionary Society, organized in 1881. Each of
them has about twelve members. There are now
forty-one families (about two hundred persons) con-
nected with the church, and of these, thirty-four per-
sons are communicants. The Sunday-school has
twelve teachers and one hundred and twenty pupils.
Water-Tower Church. — Hedding Chapel, estab-
lished in 1852 with twenty-five members, survived
until 1861, when, owing to the political troubles of
that period, the congregation became disorganized and
finally extinct. The first regular pastor was the Rev.
Daniel H. May, appointed in 1853, and his succes-
sors were Rev. J. M. Chevington, 1854 ; Rev. J. L.
Conkling, 1855; Rev. John Hageman, 1858; and
Rev. A. C. McDonald, 1860-61. Different ministers
officiated as supplies during the years not named. The
church building was a small structure, situated in the
northern part of the city. In 1879 some of the former
members of the congregation, with other Methodists,
organized a mission in the vicinity of the water-tower.
At first the congregation worshiped in the German
Presbyterian Church, Grand Avenue and Thirteenth
Street, but it subsequently purchased a lot at the
northwest corner of Fourteenth Street and Obear
Avenue, one block north of and opposite the water-
tower, from which the congregation takes its name,
and erected a neat Gothic structure of brick, forty-
eight by twenty-five feet, which will seat two hundred
persons. The dimensions of the lot are fifty by one
hundred and forty feet, and the property is valued at
two thousand five hundred dollars. The congregation
occupied the church for the first time in March, 1881,
and the building was dedicated on the 27th of that
month. The successive pastors have been Rev. L.
Hallock, 1879; Rev. J. W. Newcomb, March, 1880;
Rev. Cyrus Brough, assistant, March, 1880; pastor,
March, 1881 ; Rev. J. F. Corrington, March, 1882.
The church reports seventy-five members and proba-
tioners and twenty teachers, and an average attendance
of one hundred and seventy-five pupils in the Sunday-
school. The usual devotional, missionary, and chari-
table societies are maintained by the congregation.
Goode Avenue Church. — This church, situated at
Goode Avenue and North Market Street, Rev. M. B.
Wood, pastor, was organized by Rev. R. S. Stubbs in
1875, and the corner-stone of the church building
was laid Oct. 1, 1875. The church, a small frame
structure, with a seating capacity of one hundred and
seventy, was dedicated Nov. 15, 1875. The lot is
fifty by one hundred and thirty-five feet in size, and
the property is valued at two thousand dollars. The
pastors have been Revs. R. S. Stubbs, C. A. Van
Anda, J. W. Bushong, A. H. Parker, J. W. New-
comb (1879-81), M. B. Wood, 1882. The church
has a membership of fifty-six persons, and the Sun-
day-school numbers sixty pupils.
Goode Avenue Mission first appears on the Confer-
ence minutes in 1877, with Rev. A. H. Parker as
supply. Mr. Parker was reappointed in 1878. Rev.
J. W. Newcomb was appointed to this charge, in con-
junction with that of Rock Spring, in 1879, and that
of Tower Grove mission in 1880-81. Rev. M. B.
Wood was appointed in 1882. The mission has a
membership of forty-four persons, with eight teachers
and sixty children in the Sunday-school.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH SOUTH.
In'the General Conference of the Methodist Epis-
copal Church of 1844, attention was called to the fact
that Bishop James 0. Andrew, of Georgia, had mar-
ried a lady who was the owner of slaves. As no bishop
in the Methodist Church had ever been connected with
slavery, this fact produced great excitement. Accord-
ing to a law of the church adopted in 1800, it was
provided that when any traveling preacher became an
owner of a slave or slaves by any means he should
forfeit his ministerial character in the church, unless
he executed, if it were practicable, a legal emancipa-
tion of such slaves conformable with the laws of the
State in which he lived. The committee of the Con-
ference on episcopacy waited upon the bishop, who
informed them that his wife had inherited slaves from
her former husband, who had secured them to her by
a deed of trust, and that she could not emancipate
them if she desired to do so. The embarrassments of
the case were deeply felt by all parties, but after a
protracted discussion the General Conference, by a
vote of one hundred and ten to sixty-eight, adopted
the following resolution : " Resolved, That it is the
sense of this General Conference that he desist from
the exercise of his office so long as this impediment
remains."
The prevailing opinion in the Conference was that
it was possible for the bishop to remove from Georgia,
where manumission was impracticable, to a State
where emancipation might be made. Bishop An-
drew would willingly, it was understood, h»ve yielded
to the opinions of the General Conference, but his
brethren in the South thought it his duty to stand
by them on a question which they considered to be
one involving their rights, and he accordingly acqui-
esced in their desire. Soon after this action of the
Conference resolutions were framed proposing a sep-
aration between the free and slave States, and were
adopted by a vote of one hundred and forty-two to
twenty-two. A conference of Southern delegates was
1690
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
called, and held in Louisville May 1, 1845. It was
composed of one hundred and two delegates, who,
with only three dissenting voices, voted for the pro-
posed separation, and organized the General Conference
South. The Missouri Conference sent as delegates to
the convention Andrew Munroe, Jesse Green, John
Glauville, Wesley Browning, William Patton, John
H. Linn, Joseph Boyle, and Thomas Johnson, and
the Fourth Street (now the First) Church of St.
Louis, by resolutions bearing date Jan. 12, 1845,
gave emphatic utterance against the division. When
the almost unanimous action of the Louisville Con-
vention was learned, however, the Fourth Street
Church, at a meeting held July 30, 1845, deter-
mined to join the Southern Conference by a vote of
one hundred and thirty-two, subsequently increased
to two hundred and six, a majority of all the mem-
bers, who then numbered three hundred and eighty-
seven, thus determining the status of the Methodists
in St. Louis, and therefore in Missouri, and leaving
the Northern Methodists for several years without a j
Conference, and almost without a church. The
Church South continued for fifteen years to prosper
and increase. In 1858 the State was divided into
two Conferences, — the Missouri, north of the Missouri
River, and the St. Louis Conference, south of it. In
1861 the Southern proclivities of the church exposed
its organization to the hostility of the Federal au-
thorities, and its organ, the St. Louis Christian
Advocate, was suppressed, and its editor, Dr. Mc-
Anally, imprisoned. Outside of St. Louis, its mem-
bers were dispersed and many of its ministers were
compelled to leave the State. The work of the church
in Missouri, in fact, was almost wholly suspended
during the war.
The St. Louis Conference assembled at Arrow Rock,
Mo., Sept. 25, 1861, and, there being no bishop pres-
ent, called Rev. Daniel A. Leeper to the chair. It
was forced to adjourn to Waverly, and there finished
its session. No record of its proceedings was
published, and no further attempt to hold a Con- !
ference in Missouri was made until after the war,
when the Advocate was revived and the church re-
organized. . In 1870, St. Louis Conference was sub-
divided and made to consist of that part of the State
which lies south of the Missouri River and east of
the Gasconade and Big Piney Rivers and the eleventh
meridian. It is divided into St. Louis, Charleston,
Salem, and Poplar Bluffs Districts, and St. Louis
District is sub-divided into twelve stations and circuits.
The bishops presiding at the Missouri and St. Louis
Conferences, so far as their names appear on the
general minutes, have been Joshua Soule, 1845 ; H.
H. Kavanaugh, 1854, '60, '68; John Early, 1855;
George F. Pierce, 1856, '58, 69, '72, '79, '81 ; James
0. Andrew, 1857 ; Robert Paine, 1859 ; Enoch M.
Marvin, 1867, '77 ; H. N. McTyeire, 1870, '76 ; D.
S. Doggett, 1871, '78; W. M. Wightman, D.D.,
1873; John C. Keener, 1874, '75, '80. The pre-
siding elders of St. Louis District have been William
W. Redman, 1845 ; Newton G. Berryman, 1846-48 ;
James Mitchell, 1849-50 ; Wesley Browning, 1851-
54 ; Robert A. Young, 1855-56 ; John R. Bennett,
1857-59 ; Joseph Boyle, 1860, '68, '69 ; Thomas M.
Finney, 1866-67; J. W. Lewis, 1870, '76, '77;
William M. Leftwich, 1871-73; A. T. Scruggs,
1874-75; W. V. Tudor, 1878-79; J. G. Wilson,
1880-82.
The Woman's Missionary Society of the Metho-
dist Episcopal Church South was organized in
1878, and its St. Louis local conference in 1879. It
is now represented by 2 stations in China, 1 in Brazil,
and 2 in Mexico, and maintains 5 boarding and 10
day schools. It has under its charge 31 conference so-
cieties, 932 auxiliary societies, and 180 young people's
and juvenile societies, with a total membership of
26,556. The total collections in the four years of its
existence have amounted to $62,761.78. The St.
Louis local conference has 15 auxiliary societies with
404 members, and 3 juvenile societies with 142 mem-
bers. The officers of the society are Mrs. George
Baker, president ; Mrs. Samuel Cupples, first vice-
president ; Mrs. Dr. Walker, of Salem, Mo., second
vice-president; Mrs. John Garton, Longtown, Mo.,
third vice-president; Mrs. John Robinson, fourth
vice-president ; Mrs. Lanius, recording secretary ;
Mrs. E. Avis, corresponding secretary ; and Mrs. J.
W. Lewis, treasurer.
First Methodist Episcopal Church South. — This
church is the oldest Methodist organization in St.
Louis, and was formerly known as the First Metho-
dist Episcopal Church. In 1845, however, it with-
drew from the General Conference and attached itself
to the General Conference, then newly organized, of
the Methodist Episcopal Church South. The Mis-
souri Conference, which met at Shiloh, St. Clair Co.,
111., Sept. 13, 1820, appointed Elder Jesse Walker
Conference missionary, with liberty to select his own
field for work. He chose St. Louis, and proceeded
thither at once, accompanied by two young ministers.
Their reception was so discouraging that they set out
almost immediately for different points, but Walker,
after having ridden eighteen miles, determined that
he would go back alone and " take the town." He
accordingly returned and obtained a lodging in a
cheap tavern, and afterwards preached once or twice
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1691
in the Baptist meeting-house. He succeeded in rent-
ing an unfinished house on Fourth Street for ten
dollars a month, and having obtained some benches
that had been removed from the court-house to make
way for new ones, fitted up the largest room for meet-
ings and resided in the others. He proceeded at once
to organize a congregation, of which the original mem-
bers were Amariah Burns and wife, John Finney,
John Armstrong, and Joseph Piggott.
Mr. Walker began preaching in December, 1820,
and permanently established the church early in Jan-
uary, 1821. He invited the children of the poor and
servants to come on week-days and evenings to learn
to read and spell, and by means of this and similar
expedients, supplemented by his earnest and arduous
labors, he succeeded in laying broad and deep the
foundations of Methodism and of the First Meth-
odist Church in St. Louis. The owner of the house
in which the meetings, had been held having died,
Mr. Walker was forced to vacate the premises. Meet-
ings were then held in the old court-house, situated
on Third Street below Elm, and the early growth of
the congregation appears to have been rapid. Mr.
Walker set to work at once to procure the erection of
a house of worship. He was allowed to cut logs
without paying for them on the eastern side of the
river, and with the timber thus secured began the
construction of a church near what is now the corner
of Fourth and Myrtle Streets. The ladies of the
congregation defrayed the cost of building the pulpit,
and the Episcopalians, who had disbanded as a con-
gregation, gave the church their Bible, cushions,
and seats. As the result of his first year's work,
Mr. Walker reported to the Conference that a chapel
had been erected and paid for ; that he was main-
taining a flourishing school, and that the member-
ship of the church numbered eighty-seven persons.
The chapel is described as having been a neat frame
structure, thirty-five by twenty-five feet, with side
galleries, and capable of holding nearly five hundred
persons. The Missouri Conference assembled in it on
the 24th of October, 1822, and the congregation con-
tinued to occupy it until the 20th of September, 1830,
when it removed to a new brick church which had been
erected on a lot (given, together with five hundred dol-
lars, by Col. John O'Fallon) on Fourth Street and
Washington Avenue. The dimensions of this build-
ing were fifty by sixty feet, with a basement story ten
feet in the clear. The dedicatory sermon was preached
by the founder of the congregation, Rev. Jesse Walker.
At this time the pastor of the church was the Rev.
Andrew Monroe. Mr. Monroe was appointed to the
St. Louis District by the Missouri Conference in July,
1824. At first, owing to the poverty of the congre-
gation, he was compelled to reside alone in a lodging,
but subsequently a house was rented for him and he
was joined by his family. It was known as the rec-
\ tor's house, and the rent was five dollars per month.
It contained but one room, about sixteen feet square.
Before the expiration of the first month of his occu-
pancy, however, the congregation decided that this
sum was more than it could afford to pay, and Mr.
Monroe's wife determined to remove to Main Street
and open there a boarding-house. At that time the
membership comprised forty-three white and forty-
four colored persons.
In December, 1852, a lot, ninety-five by one hun-
dred and sixteen feet, situated on the northwest
! corner of Washington Avenue and Eighth Street,
! was bought from Silas Wood, of New York, for
! thirteen thousand dollars, and in April following the
I Fourth Street property was sold to W. G. Clark for
I fifty thousand dollars. The building on the new site
, seats nine hundred persons, and was dedicated Dec.
: 31, 1854, by Rev. C. B. Parsons. On the 2d of July
1 preceding the congregation had met in the old Fourth
! Street Church for the last time. On this occasion
I Rev. John Hogan, who had been among the most
i active of the members of the church, delivered an ad-
dress, after which the congregation and Sunday-school
formed in procession and marched to the basement of
the new church. Services preliminary to the dedica-
tion were performed by the Rev. R. A. Young, after
which Mr. Hogan read a communication from Col.
John O'Fallon, first superintendent of the Sunday-
school, expressing regret at his inability to be present
i and participate in the exercises. Rev. Dr. Cummings
introduced the dedicatory exercises by reading a se-
lection from chap. viii. of 1st Kings, and offered the
dedicatory prayer and pronounced the benediction.
I The dedicatory sermon was preached by the Rev.
I Charles B. Parsons, D.D., of Louisville, Ky. The
building was of brick, and its dimensions were one
1 hundred and six by sixty-five feet. It was forty-five
i feet in height, and had a tower one hundred and
forty-three feet high. In the basement there was a
; large room, used for holding minor services, society
meetings, etc., three class-rooms, and the minister's
office. The architect was G. I. Barnett, and the
; building committee John Finney, Levin A. Baker,
and J. T. Dowdall. The ground, church, and par-
sonage cost about fifty-five thousand dollars.
The congregation, which had previously been known
' as the Fourth Street Church, adopted the designa-
i tion of the First Methodist Episcopal Church. An
1 adjoining lot, fronting twenty-seven feet on Wash-
1692
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
ington Avenue, was subsequently purchased and a
parsonage erected on it. In 1874-75 the vacant
space around the church was built up for busi-
ness purposes, the additions, in the Tudor style,
becoming part of the edifice and giving it a cas-
tellated appearance. Early in 1882 the property
was sold to Messrs. Leighton & Chapman, who
began in March, 1882, to tear it down for
the purpose of erecting on its site a number of ware-
houses. The congregation met for a time in Dr.
Post's old church, now occupied by the Young Men's
Temperance Union, at Tenth and Locust Streets, and
afterwards in the Young Men's Christian Association's
church at Eleventh and Locust Streets. The con-
struction of a handsome stone edifice for the use of
this congregation, situated at the corner of Glasgow
Avenue and Dayton Street, was commenced in 1882.
The successive pastors of the church,1 with the dates
of the Conferences appointing them, have been :
Jesse Walker, 1821: William Beauehamp, 1822; John
Scripps, 1823; Andrew Monroe, 1824-25; John Dew, 1826;
Alexander McAlester, 1827; Andrew Monroe, 1828-29; Joseph
Edmondson, 1830; John S. Barger, 1831: Joseph Edmondson,
1832; Edmund W. Sehon, 1833; Thomas B. Drummond,1 L.
B. Stateler, 1834: George W. Bewley, L. Janes, 1835; Thomas
Wallace, 1836 ; Edward R. Ames, 1837 ; Silas Comfort,
William M. Dailey, George Smith, 1838; George C. Light,
William M. Dailey, 1839 ; Wesley Browning, James L.
Forsythe, 1840 ; William Patton, 1841 ; Joseph Boyle, D. W.
Pollack, 1842; Joseph Boyle, George Smith, 1843; AVesley
Browning, E. M. Marvin, 1844; C. B. Parsons, 1845-46; J.
H. Linn, W. T. Cardwell, 1847 ; J. H. Linn, 1848-49, succeeded
by J. A. Hennlng, June, 1849 ; F. A. Morris, Abraham Milice,
1849; Joseph Boyle, J. N. W. Springer, 1850-51 ; W. R. Bab-
cock, 1852; R. A. Young, 1853-54; C. B. Parsons, 1855-56:
Enoch M. Marvin, 1857 ; E. M. Marvin, William F. Compton,
1858; F. A. Morris, 1859-63 (served supply as the first
year) ; Joseph Boyle, 1864-66 ; W. F. Camp, 1867 ; George
H. Clinton, 1868-69; W. M. Leftwich, G. H. Clinton (supply),
1870; J. W. Lewis, 1871 ; L. M. Lewis, 1873; T. M. Finney,
1874-76; J. E. Godbey, 1877-78 ; E. M. Bounds, 1879; W. G.
Miller, 1880-81 ; J. C. R. Hicks, 1S82.
The church reported to the Conference which met
in the fall of 1881 that its membership, including
probationers, numbered one hundred and eighty-eight
persons, and that there were twenty-four teachers and
two hundred and twenty-five scholars connected with
the Sunday-school. The latter was organized in 1822
by Rev. Jesse Walker, John and William Finney,
Mrs. Kells, R. D. Sutton, and several others. The
value of the church property, as reported to the Con-
ference of 1881, was one hundred thousand dollars.
1 Where two names appear in the same year the second is that
of the pastor of the African Church, which was regarded as part
of the Fourth Street charge.
1 Mr. Drummond died soon after taking charge of his work.
He was a man of brilliant talents and fervent zeal.
St. Paul's Church.— On the 2d of March, 1838,
the trustees of the Fourth Street (First) Methodist
Episcopal Church resolved " that it is expedient to
build two new Methodist Churches in St. Louis," and
appointed two committees to select sites. Of these
churches the first erected was afterwards known as
St. Paul's, and the second as the Centenary. St.
Paul's, then known as Mound Chapel, was built in
: 1839, and was situated "a little north of the mound"
on Broadway. Previous to this the congregation had
worshiped in Mound Market. In 1850 the second
church, located at Tenth and Chambers Streets, and
known as Mound Church, was erected, but in 1865
the property was sold, and a lot at Twelfth and North
Market Streets was purchased, but no church was
built on the proposed site. A chapel was subse-
! quently erected at the northeast corner of Tenth and
Benton Streets, and the name of the congregation
changed to that of St. Paul's. The building was
a one-story brick structure, and seated about three
hundred persons. The site of the present church, on
St. Louis Avenue near West Sixteenth Street, was
purchased about 1871 for five thousand dollars. It
fronts one hundred feet on St. Louis Avenue, and
I has a depth of one hundred and forty feet. The
erection of the building was commenced in 1874,
and the completed edifice was dedicated in June,
1875, by Rev. Dr. Young, of Nashville, Tenn. It
cost about fifteen thousand dollars, and its dimensions
are forty by eighty feet, the seating capacity being
three hundred and eighty persons. The first regular
pastor of St. Paul's Church, as appears by the min-
utes of Conference, was Rev. W. T. Ellington, ap-
pointed in 1868, the congregation having in previous
years teen served by supplies. Since 1868 its pas-
tors have been Revs. E. M. Bounds, 1873, 1875-78,
1880-82 ; W. M. Leftwich, 1874 ; B. W. Key, 1879.
The present pastor is Rev. E. M. Bounds. The mem-
bership of the church numbers one hundred and thir-
teen, and the Sunday-school has sixteen teachers and
one hundred and fifty scholars.
Centenary Church. — This church was one of the
two congregations organized in accordance with the
action of the trustees of the Fourth Street Church,
taken on the 2d of March, 1838. At the meeting
of the trustees on this occasion committees were
appointed to select sites for two new Methodist
Churches, one of these committees being instructed
to choose a location on Fifth Street, not farther south
than Poplar. In the autumn of 1839 the centenary
of Methodism was celebrated by the Methodists of
St. Louis, then numbering three hundred and thirty-
five white and one hundred and forty-eight colored
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1693
members, embraced in three stations, — Fourth Street,
Mound (afterwards St. Paul's), and African. The
exercises were held at the Fourth Street Church, and
on this occasion the sum of three thousand dollars
was subscribed for the erection of a new church to be
known as the " Centenary," in commemoration of the
event. On the 9th of November, 1841, Rev. Wes-
ley Browning, then presiding elder of the St. Louis
District, appointed William Burd, John H. Gay,
Trusten Polk, James Tabor, and John and David
Goodfellow trustees to conduct the management of
the enterprise. The amount originally subscribed was
found to be inadequate, and in order to raise an
additional sum the ladies of the congregation organ-
ized " The Female Centenary Society of the Metho-
dist Episcopal Church." Through the efforts of this
association two thousand dollars was secured and ex-
pended in part payment for a lot, sixty-five by eighty-
five feet, at the southwest corner of Fifth and Pine
Streets, the total cost of which was ten thousand five
hundred dollars. On this site was erected a brick
building with a cut-stone basement, the latter devoted
to school purposes. The corner-stone was laid on the
10th of May, 1842, with Masonic rites, and the
officiating ministers were Bishop Roberts and Rev.
E. R. Ames. While the building was in course of
construction services were held in a small frame house
which had been purchased by the congregation. The
basement of the new edifice was first occupied
Dec. 31, 1843, watch-night services being held, and
the structure was completed and dedicated in 1844.
At a meeting of the members of the congregation
in the spring of 1867, it was decided to dispose of
the church property and select a more eligible site.
The lot at the northwest corner of Sixteenth and
Pine Streets, on which the church now stands, was
finally chosen and purchased for thirty-eight thousand
dollars. In October, 1868, the old church and grounds
were sold to J. J. Roe & Co. for one hundred and
forty-two thousand dollars, but the congregation re-
tained the use of the buildings until the new church
was ready for occupancy. The board of trustees at
that time was composed of Trusten Polk, John Hogan,
John Kennard, John W. Burd, W. H. Markham, Mr.
Maxwell, C. C. Anderson, W. C. Jamison, and P. M.
Loekwood. The building committee consisted of
Trusten Polk, John Hogan, W. H. Markham, John
Kennard, and John W. Burd. The corner-stone was
laid on the 10th of May, 1868, and the building was
dedicated on the 28th of May, 1871. Bishops C. K.
Keener, of New Orleans, and E. M. Marvin, of Mis-
souri, and Rev. D. McAnally and the pastor, Rev.
C. D. N. Campbell, took part in the exercises. Bishop
Keener preached the sermon. The total cost of the
structure was one hundred and twenty- five thousand
dollars. The building is of Gothic architecture, and
the material composing the walls is St. Louis prairie
limestone, with De Soto stone trimmings. The main
entrance is on Sixteenth Street, where there are five
large doorways. The entrance is through a vestibule
fourteen feet wide by ninety long, containing four stair-
ways. Black walnut, oak, ash, and yellow-pine are the
woods principally used in fitting up the interior, which
has a very elegant appearance. The auditorium is
sixty feet wide by one hundred and six long. Under
this there is a lecture-room and a school-room. Ad-
joining the church on Pine Street there are two other
buildings, containing the pastor's office, library-rooms,
and a young men's Methodist room for literary pur-
poses. The pastor's residence is west of these, and
contains sixteen rooms. The church and parsonage
cover an area of one hundred and nine feet by one
hundred and sixty. Thomas Dixon, of Baltimore, was
the architect, and J. B. Legg, of St. Louis, superin-
tended the erection of the building.
The first regular pastor was the Rev. John H. Linn,
who was transferred in the autumn of 1842 from the
Kentucky Conference and appointed to the charge of
Centenary Church. Mr. Linn was succeeded by the
Rev. John T. W. Auld, who was followed by the Rev.
Joseph Boyle, appointed in 1844, who remained until
1846. In that year Mr. Boyle was succeeded by the
Rev. Thomas H. Capers, who had been transferred
from South Carolina. The other pastors have been
Rev. Messrs. W. H. Lewis, appointed in 1848 ; W.
M. Prottsman, 1849 ; J. C. Berryman, 1850 ; D. R.
McAnally, 1851 ; M. F. Treslow, 1855; E. M. Marvin,
1858; C. B. Parsons, John Whittaker, Evan Ste-
pheuson, E. M. Marvin, W. Anderson, and Jesse H.
Cummins acting as "supplies" during 1858, 1859,
and 1860; J. Boyle, 1861; T. A. Morris, 1863;
W. A. Smith, 1865 ; C. N. D. Campbell, 1868-69 ;
J. H. Linn, Joseph Boyle (supply), 1870; J. H.
Linn, 1873; W. V. Tudor, 1874-77; J. W. Lewis,
1878-81; W. V. Tudor, 1882. The church reported
to the Conference of October, 1881, a membership of
five hundred and ten persons, with thirty-five teachers
and four hundred and twenty-five pupils in the Sun-
day-school.
St. John's Church is situated at the northwest
corner of Ewing Avenue and Locust Street, and its
pastor is the Rev. J. W. Lewis. In 1844 the Fourth
Street Church appointed a committee to select a lot
for a new church in Christy's addition, and on the
19th of May, 1845, instructed the committee to build
a church as soon as their means permitted. The result
1694
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
was the erection, some three or four years later, of
Asbury Chapel, at the corner of Fifteenth and Gay
Streets. About the year 1864, Nathan Coleman or-
ganized a Sunday-school in Stoddard's addition, and of
this St. John's Church is the outgrowth. On the 5th of
December, 1864, the Quarterly Conference of the First
Church ordered the sale of Asbury Chapel, the pro-
ceeds to be placed in the hands of a joint committee
to be appointed by the Quarterly Conferences of
Asbury Chapel, First and Centenary Churches. Sub-
sequently, during the presiding eldership of the Rev.
T. M. Finney, a congregation of seventy-five persons
was organized as St. John's Church, and the chapel
was sold for the use of the colored Catholics, and is
now St. Elizabeth's Church. The money thus ob-
tained, supplemented by large subscriptions, was used
in the erection of a church and chapel on the present
site. The corner-stone of these buildings was laid
June 26, 1867, with Masonic ceremonies, and the
chapel was completed and dedicated on the 9th of
May, 1869. Bishop Pierce preached the sermon on
that occasion, and the Hon. John Hogan and the
venerable minister, Andrew Monroe, delivered ad-
dresses. At this time the congregation had increased
to two hundred members.
In the winter of 1879 extensive alterations and im-
provements were made, and on the 6th of April of that
year the church was re-dedicated and used for the first
time. Its site has a frontage of one hundred feet on
Locust Street and a depth of one hundred and thirty-
four feet eight inches on Ewing Avenue, and it has a
seating capacity of eight hundred persons. The pas-
tors have been Revs. T. A. Morris, 1868-71 ; J. W.
Lewis, 1872-75; J. G. Wilson (now presiding elder),
1876-79 ; W. V. Tudor, 1880-81 ; J. W. Lewis,
1882. Connected with the congregation are a La-
dies' Sewing Society; the "Busy Bees," composed of
young ladies and children ; the Women's Missionary
Society, and other organizations. The membership
in October, 1881, was reported at three hundred and
sixty-five, with thirty-three teachers and four hundred
and ten scholars in the Sunday-school.
First Church, Carondelet. — The First Methodist
Episcopal Church South in Carondelet, known also as
the South St. Louis First Church, is situated at the
southwest corner of Fifth and Nebraska Streets.
It was organized by Rev. D. R. McAnally, D.D.,1
with nine members, in June, 1857, in the pres-
ent building, which had been erected and dedi-
cated on the 17th of May, 1857. The rules of the
church Conference require that pastors of churches
shall be changed at least once in four years, but to
this church no pastor was appointed by the Confer-
ence for twelve years, it being left from year to year
" to be supplied." It thus happened that Dr. Mc-
Anally's connection with the church, as virtual though
not nominal pastor, remained unbroken during the
whole period, his name meanwhile only appearing in
the Conference minutes as editor of the St. Louis
Christian Advocate. In 1869, when Rev. T. M.
Finney succeeded him as editor of the Advocate, Dr.
McAnally was appointed pastor of the church, and
was successively reappointed until, in 1872, he again
became editor of the Advocate. He " supplied" the
church until 1874, when the Conference appointed J.
W. Robinson to its pastorate. The congregation had
become deeply attached to its pastor, and was loth to
sever a connection that had lasted continuously for
over seventeen years and to be brought under the rule
of itinerancy. In 1875 the Conference appointed
1 D. K. McAnally was born in Granger County, Tenn., Feb.
17, 1810, and is descended from an old Scotch family which
came to this country before the Revolution, and settled in Ten-
nessee when it was still a wilderness. He worked occasionally
on his father's farm, but received a good education at a private
school. He commenced the study of law, but abandoned it for
that of the ministry, and on the 31st of August, 1829, he was
authorized to preach. In December, 1829, he was received on
trial by the Annual Conference, and appointed to a circuit. In
November, 1831, he was ordained with full powers of the min-
istry, and preached in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee,
Georgia, South Carolina, and other States until 1843, when he
was appointed president of the East Tennessee Female Insti-
tute, at Knoxville. In 1851, at the invitation of the St. Louis
and Missouri Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal
Church South, Dr. McAnally removed to St. Louis in order to
conduct the St. Louis Christian Advocate, and to take charge of
the book publishing interests of his church. Dr. McAnally re-
mained in the editorial management of the Advocate until the
outbreak of the war in 1861. In May of that year the Advo-
cate was suppressed and its editor imprisoned, as being inimi-
cal to the Union, by the military authorities. In July, 1861,
he was tried by a court-martial, the verdict of which was sent
to Washington but never returned, and during the remainder of
the war he was kept on parole and forbidden to leave St. Louis
County. He was frequently real-rested, imprisoned, and released.
After the war the Advocate was revived, with Dr. McAnally
in the editorial chair, and he remained in charge of the paper
until just previous to the formation of the .Southwestern Book
and Publishing Company in 1869, when he resigned and en-
gaged in an educational enterprise in Carondelet. The academy
he established there proved successful, and assisted by several
other teachers he maintained it for nearly four years. Dr. Mc-
Anally's successor in the editorship of the Advocate was the
Rev. T. M. Finney, but in 1872 the Southwestern Book and
Publishing Company recalled Dr. McAnally to the editorship,
and he has remained in charge ever since. Dr. McAnally cele-
brated the fiftieth anniversary of his entrance into the ministry
at the Carondelet Church on the 31st of August, 1879. He has
written a number of works, among them being a biography of
" Martha Lawrence Ramsay," " Life and Times of Mr. William
Patton," " Sunday-School Manual," etc.
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1695
Wesley Browning pastor, and in 1876, John Garton,
but the congregation refused to recognize the last ap-
pointment or to support the minister. Consequently
in 1877 the church was cut off from its connection
with the Conference, and continued as an independent
organization, with Dr. McAnally as pastor. The
church lot measures one hundred and ten by one hun-
dred and fifteen feet, and the church building twenty-
six by forty-five feet. The property is valued at
three thousand dollars, and the membership is reported
at three hundred persons. The Sunday-school is at-
tended by from eight to ten teachers and from eighty
to one hundred and thirty scholars.
Chouteau Avenue Church. — In September, 1841,
a class-meeting was organized at the house of Reuben
Russell, on Convent Street, and this formed the
nucleus of Wesley Chapel. In 1842, Wesley Brown-
ing being then the presiding elder of the St. Louis
District, the extreme northern and southern portions
of the city were formed into a station, which was
placed in charge of Rev. T. W. Ould, and in the fol-
lowing year the southern charge was constituted a
separate station and designated as the South St. Louis
Church, Rev. W. M. Rush, pastor. In 1844 a church
building known as Wesley Chapel was erected on Paul
Street, between Chouteau Avenue and Hickory Street,
and was dedicated by the Rev. Jonathan Stamper.
The pastor, according to the Conference reports of
1844, was the Rev. John A. Tutt. In 1848 the con-
gregation removed to a lot at the northeast corner of
Chouteau Avenue and Eighth Streets, and began the
erection of another building, which, however, before
being completed was demolished by a storm. The
structure was rebuilt and dedicated by Rev. D. S.
Doggett in 1850. It was a plain two-story brick
building forty by seventy feet, and seated about three
hundred persons. The building was demolished in
1873, and the present edifice, a neat brick structure,
with a capacity for seating three hundred and fifty
persons, was erected at the same locality. The name
was changed at this time from Wesley Chapel to that
of Chouteau Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church
South. The pastors since then have been Revs. J.
H. St. Clair, 1873; F. A. Owen, 1874-75; W. M.
Williams, 1876; J. J. Watts, 1877-79; B. W.
Key, 1880 ; W. R. Mays, 1881-82. The report of
October, 1881, showed that the congregation then
numbered seventy-three members, and that there were
thirteen teachers and one hundred and twenty-five
pupils in the Sunday-school.
Marvin Mission, 2629 Menard Street, Rev. D.
Q. Travis, pastor, grew out of a Sunday-school organ-
ized by a Mr. Ray in a blacksmith's shop in 1859.
A room was afterwards rented, and the school con-
tinued for four years under the care of its founder
and Simon Boogher. It had a checkered career,
being frequently closed for months at a time and re-
opened, until the formation of the present organiza-
tion. The mission now owns a lot fronting thirty-five
feet on Menard Street, and a frame building for wor-
ship with a seating capacity of two hundred and sixty-
five, which was dedicated Dec. 29, 1874. The prop-
erty is valued at three thousand dollars. The pastors
have been Revs. Wesley Browning, J. W. Robertson,
Staunton, J. J. Watts (appointed September,
1875), W. R. Mays (appointed September, 1877),
D. Q. Travis, appointed September, 1881. The mem-
bership of the church is one hundred and forty ; the
Sunday-school has nineteen teachers, and an attendance
of between two hundred and three hundred scholars.
Page Avenue Church, was organized in 1877 with
twelve members. J. T. Dowdall, E. S. Greenwood,
and Rev. J. T. Watson were the first official board,
and Rev. R. F. Chew was the first pastor. Rev. B.
F. Key succeeded him in 1878, and was followed in
1879 by Rev. J. E. Godbey, who has been pastor
since. The erection of a church building is contem-
plated, but in the mean time the congregation occu-
pies a chapel on Page Avenue near Grand Avenue.
The membership numbers seventy-four persons, and
the average attendance at the Sunday-school, of which
R. M. Scruggs is superintendent, is two hundred and
forty.
THE GERMAN METHODISTS.
Prior to 1841 there was no organization of German
Methodists west of Indiana, but in that year the Mis-
souri Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church
established the Belleville mission in Illinois, and the
St. Louis and Pinckney missions in Missouri. Rev.
L. S. Jacoby was appointed to the St. Louis mission,
and took charge of it in August, 1841. He rented
a meeting-house from a Presbyterian organization, and
commenced preaching with great success. At the
close of his first year's labors he reported one hundred
and fourteen members, besides numerous others who
had joined the society but had removed to other places.
He was reappointed for a second year, during which he
greatly strengthened the foundations of the prosperous
German societies, of which there are now four in the
city. St. Louis District was in 1845, with the other
missions in Missouri and Illinois, transferred from the
Missouri to the Illinois Conference, with L. S. Jacoby
and William Nast as presiding elders.
Dr. Nast was extensively known as the father
of German Methodism, and labored with great suc-
cess in St. Louis. He was a native of Germany,
1696
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
where he had been highly educated, and as a young
man emigrated to America. His attention was at-
tracted to the subject of religion by the preaching of
the Rev. Mr. Romer on the banks of the Hudson
River. He was then teaching in West Point, and
subsequently became a professor in Kenyon College,
Ohio. After three years of mental conflict he was
converted in January, 1835. Through the agency of
Dr. Adam Poe he was induced to become a minister,
and in the same year was sent as missionary to Cin-
cinnati. Through his efforts German Methodist
publications were commenced, the first issues being
the General Rules, Articles of Faith, and the Wes-
leyan Catechism. The Christian Apologist was soon
issued under his editorial supervision, and he re-
mained the editor for more than forty years. Under
his preaching in Cincinnati John Swahlen was con-
verted, becoming afterwards an efficient and successful
evangelist, and Dr. Jacoby, who subsequently associated
with him in the missionary work in Missouri and Illi-
nois, was also among his early converts. Dr. Nast
organized the first German Methodist Society in 1838,
and reported to Conference thirty members.
Ludwig S. Jacoby, D.D., was born on the 21st of
October, 1813, in Old Strelitz, Mecklenburg, Ger-
many, and died in St. Louis on the 21st of June,
1874. He received a good education, especially in
the ancient languages, and in 1835 was baptized by
a Lutheran clergyman. In 1839 he emigrated to
America, and located in Cincinnati as a physician.
He also devoted himself to teaching. While at-
tending the religious services held by Dr. Nast on
Christmas-day his interest in religion was awakened,
and he was converted on the following watch-night.
In August, 1841, he was sent to St. Louis by Bishop
Morris to start the first German mission in that city,
and his labors were rewarded with great success. In
1849, owing to his desire for the conversion of his
native countrymen, Bishop Morris, with the co-opera-
tion of the Missionary Board, sent him to Germany
to begin evangelistic work in Bremen. His labors
there resulted in the formation of a Methodist Epis-
copal Society. In his work in Germany he labored
faithfully as presiding elder, pastor, editor, book agent,
and superintendent. Having spent twenty-two years
in that work he returned to the United States, and
was transferred to the Southwestern German Con-
ference, and stationed at the Eighth Street German
• Church, St. Louis. He was a delegate from the
Germany and Switzerland Conference to the General
Conference of 1872.
In 1864 three German Conferences were established,
called the Central, Northwestern, and Southwestern,
St. Louis District being included in the Southwestern.
In 1879 the St. Louis Conference was organized, com-
prising St. Louis, Belleville, and Quincy, 111., and
Burlington, Iowa, Districts. It reported 8344 mem-
bers, 130 churches, 112 local preachers, 67 parsonages,
157 Sunday-schools, with 1555 officers and teachers
and 8471 scholars. The value of the church property
was estimated at $400,000. The presiding bishops
of the Southwestern Conference were : Edmund S.
Janes, 1864, 1868, 1871 ; Edward R. Ames, 1865,
1875 ; Matthew Simpson, 1866, 1870 ; Levi Scott,
1867, 1874; Edward Thompson, 1869; Gilbert
Haven, 1872; Thomas Bowman, 1873; Isaac W.
Wiley, 1876 ; Jesse T. Peck, 1877 ; Stephen M.
Merrill, 1878 ; of St. Louis Conference, Thomas
Bowman, 1879; Edward G. Andrews, 1880; John
F. Hurst, 1881. The presiding elders of St. Louis
District since 1864 have been Revs. Philip Kuhl,
1864; John Kost, 1865; Gerhard Timkin, 1866;
Frederick Stoffregen, 1867-70 ; Henry Pfaff, 1871-
72; L. S. Jacoby, 1873; Wm. Schwind, 1874-77;
J. M. De Wein, 1878-81.
First German Church. — The First German Meth-
odist Episcopal Church, situated at the southwest
corner of Sixteenth and Wash Streets, Rev. Charles
Holtkamp, pastor, was organized in 1841 by Rev. L.
S. Jacoby, who was its pastor during the first two
years of its existence. His successors since 1864
have been Revs. John Schlagenhauf, 1864-65 ;
Henry Pfaff, 1866-68; Charles Heidel, 1869-71;
supply, 1872 ; Henry Pfaff, 1873-75 ; Charles Hei-
del, 1876 ; Henry Schuetz, 1877-79 ; Charles Holt-
kamp, 1880-82. The church is in a prosperous
condition, the average attendance being about seven
hundred. The first place of worship built by the
congregation stands on Wash Street, between Tenth
and Eleventh Streets. It was sold to the colored
Methodists, and is now occupied and known as
Wesley Chapel. It is a two-story brick building,
forty by seventy feet, and seats about two hundred
and fifty persons. The present church building
was erected in 1872. It is a two-story structure,
sixty by one hundred and ten feet, with lecture-
and class-rooms on the first floor. The main audi-
torium, including the gallery, will seat eight hun-
dred persons. The church lot measures seventy-five
by one hundred and fifty feet. The cost of the prop-
erty was for lot, sixteen thousand dollars ; for church,
fifty thousand dollars ; and for parsonage, nine thou-
sand dollars.
Benton Street German Church. — This church
was organized in 1854, and since 1864 has had for
pastors Revs. Henry Waumann, 1864-66 ; Aug. Korf-
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1697
hage, 1867-68; Henry Ellenbeck, 1869-71 ; Henry
Schuetz, 1872-74; George Buehner, 1875-77; H.
Lahrmann, 1878-80 ; and Charles Rodenberg, 1881
-82. The church building is situated at the south-
west corner of Thirteenth and Benton Streets. It
was erected in 1850, and seats about two hundred
persons. There are seventy-five families and two
hundred and twenty members connected with the
congregation, and twenty-six teachers with over two
hundred pupils in the Sunday-school.
Eighth Street German Church was organized
about 1864, since when the pastors have been Revs.
J. M. Winkler, 1864-65; R. Havighorst, 1866;
Jacob Feisel, 1867-68; Henry Pfaff, 1869-70; supply,
1871; L. S. Jacoby, 1872; Charles Heidel, 1873-
75; Henry Pfaff, 1876; J. P. Miller, 1877-78; Fred-
erick Stoffragen, 1879 ; Henry Schuetz, 1880-82. The
membership numbers two hundred, and the morning
Sunday-school is attended by nine teachers and about
eighty scholars. The building, situated at the south-
west corner of Eighth and Soulard Streets, is a two-
story brick, with lecture- and class-rooms on the first
floor. St. Paul's Church, on Sophia Street, between
Pestalozzi and Arsenal Streets, which was established
in 1874, and had Rev. J. Louis Kessler for pastor in
1876-78, is now used exclusively as the afternoon j
Sunday-school of the Eighth Street Church, under j
the supervision of Henry Meyer, with ten teachers
and an average attendance of one hundred scholars.
AFBICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCHES.
Up to 1816 the colored Methodists had no separate ;
organization, but in April, 1816, a convention of col- |
ored delegates was held in Philadelphia, and the !
African Methodist Episcopal Church was formed.
Richard Allen, the first colored minister ordained in |
the United States (ordained by Bishop Asbury in j
1799), was consecrated bishop of the new church on
the llth of April, 1816. The General Conference
of the African Methodist Episcopal Church is now
divided into nine Episcopal districts, the fourth of
which includes the Missouri, North Missouri, Kansas,
and Illinois Conferences, and is presided over by
Bishop T. M. D. Ward, D.D., who was elected and
consecrated to that office at the General Conference
sitting at Washington, D. C., in May, 1868. In
1866 the General Conference of the Methodist Epis-
copal Church South established several colored Annual
Conferences, which organized a colored General Con-
ference, which first met at Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 16,
1870. There were at the time some colored churches
in St. Louis in connection with this General Confer-
ence South, but they have dwindled away, and now
all the colored Methodist Churches in the city (with
one exception) belong either to the African Confer-
ence above named or to what is known as the Zion
Conference.
Wesley Chapel (Colored), 1008 Wash Street, Rev.
J. W. Hughes, pastor, was organized in 1858 with
seventy-five members, and its pastors since 1866 (up to
which time it depended on supplies) have been Revs.
E. W. S. Peck, 1867-69 ; E. Pitts, 1871-72 ; F. H.
Sinall, 1873-75; R. H. Smith, 1876-78; E. Pitts,
1879 ; J. W. Hughes, 1880-82. This is the only
colored church in St. Louis that is connected with the
St. Louis Methodist Episcopal Conference (white). It
reports four hundred and thirty members, one hun-
dred and four probationers, fifteen teachers, and one
hundred and eighty children in the Sunday-schools,
and a church and parsonage valued at about three
thousand dollars.
St. Peter's Church. — The corner-stone of St.
Peter's African Methodist Episcopal Church, situated
at the corner of Elliott Avenue and Montgomery
Street, was laid on the 18th of May, 1874, and the
building, a one-story brick structure, was completed
in 1865. On the 29th of October, 1882, the corner-
stone of a large building to occupy the same lot was
laid. The church is well attended, and attached to it
is a flourishing Sunday-school. The pastor is the Rev.
J. I. Lowe.
St. Paul's Church, situated at the corner of
Eleventh Street and Christy Avenue, is the largest
colored Methodist congregation in the city, and wor-
ships in a large and handsome brick building which
was erected in 1872, under the pastorate of Rev.
John Turner. It is of St. Louis brick, ninety-seven
by fifty-eight feet, and reflects great credit on the
architect, A. T. Berthe, a colored man. The building,
which cost twenty-eight thousand dollars, was dedi-
cated on the 4th of August, 1872. The congregation
embraces five hundred families, with two thousand
two hundred names enrolled on the church, list and
twelve hundred communicants. There are thirty-two
teachers and four hundred scholars in the Sunday-
school, and the pastor is the Rev. T. M. Henderson.
Quinn Chapel, Market and Third Streets, Caron-
delet, Rev. B. W. Stewart, pastor, has an average
congregation of about one hundred and fifty.
Washington Zion Chapel. — This congregation,
situated at 2627 Morgan Street (Rev. A. J. Warner,
pastor), has in its connection three hundred and fifty
families, about one thousand attendants, and one hun-
dred and fifty communicants. There are twenty-five
teachers and nearly two hundred scholars in the Sun-
day-school.
1698
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Washington Zion, St. Mark's Branch, Morgan
Street, between Eighteenth and Nineteenth Streets,
Rev. Anthony Bunch, pastor, has a membership of
fifty families, sixty communicants, and seven teachers
and fifty scholars in the Sunday-school.
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES.
Early History. — Among the American Protestants
who emigrated to St. Louis after the cession of the
territory to the United States was Stephen Hemp-
stead, of New London, Conn. He arrived in St.
Louis on the 12th of June, 1811, with his family,
and settled on a farm which is now part of Belle-
fontaine cemetery. He was in his fifty-eighth year,
and had been a soldier in the war of the Revolution,
and a member of the Presbyterian Church for twenty-
four years. The first sermon heard by him in his
new home was preached, seven months after his ar-
rival, by a Baptist minister. In 1812, Revs. S. J.
Mills and J. F. Schermerhorn were sent out by the
missionary societies of Massachusetts and Connecticut
on an exploring expedition to the South and West,
and from Fort Massac, near Shawneetown, 111., they
wrote to Mr. Hempstead, who, in reply, spoke so con-
fidently of the prospect for ministerial labor, that in
1814 Mr. Mills, with Rev. Daniel Smith, repaired to
St. Louis as agents of the Philadelphia Bible and
Missionary Societies. They remained a short time,
during which they preached frequently. They or-
ganized a Bible society, and collected some three
hundred dollars for it, and their labors marked the
beginning of Presbyterianism in Missouri. Hemp-
stead soon after wrote to Dr. Channing, of Boston,
earnestly entreating that ministers be sent to Mis-
souri. " I think," he says, " the number of families
in the Territory which removed from the States that
have been born and educated in the Presbyterian
Church is not less than one thousand, and not a
Presbyterian minister or society in the country." In
the autumn of 1816, Dr. Gideon Blackburn visited
St. Louis, and remained a short time, preaching in
the theatre on Main Street below Market. But
the real pioneer of Presbyterianism in Missouri
was Salmon Giddings, who was induced by the re-
ports of Mills and others to choose Missouri as his
field of missionary labor. He was commissioned for
this work by the Connecticut Home Missionary So-
ciety, and left Hartford in December, 1815. He
made the journey of twelve hundred miles on horse-
back in the winter, and on April 6, 1816, reached
St. Louis, where he found no Protestant Church of
any kind in existence. He administered the Lord's
Supper, July 21, 1816, to Stephen Hempstead and
his wife and daughter, and probably to Thomas Os-
borne, as the latter and Hempstead were in the follow-
ing year made elders of the first church organized in
the city. This was the first time the rite had been
administered by Presbyterian hands west of the Mis-
sissippi. At Bellevue settlement, Washington Co.,
about eighty miles from St. Louis, four Presbyterian
elders from North Carolina had maintained religious
service since 1807, and here Mr. Giddings organized,
Aug. 2, 1816, the first Presbyterian congregation in
Missouri. It was called Concord Church, and num-
bered thirty members. To this little congregation,
and a large concourse of persons who did not belong
to it, he preached in the open air on Sunday, August
4th. In two years the communicants had increased
in number to forty-eight. In the autumn of 1817
the Rev. Thomas Donnell removed to the Territory
from Kentucky, and received a call from the church
to become the pastor. On the 25th of April, 1818,
he was installed, with the understanding that he was
to divide his time in ministering to this congregation
and to adjacent settlements. During his ministry
many additions to the church were made. Mr. Don-
nell died on the 8th of February, 1843. Owing to
frequent removals of members to other portions of the
Territory, the congregation in 1823 numbered only
forty-five persons.
On the 16th of October, 1876, Mr. Giddings or-
ganized a church of seventeen members at Bonhomme,
St. Louis Co. One of the constituent members
was Stephen Hempstead, Sr. For some years the
church was without a regular pastor, receiving only
occasional visits from different ministers. Among
these the most frequent in attendance was the Rev.
Mr. Giddings. Meetings were usually held in the
log cabins of the settlers, and, owing to the unsettled
state of the country, the early growth of the congre-
gation was not encouraging. In two years four per-
sons were received on profession of faith, and five
were dismissed, owing to their removal. Up to 1824
ten persons had been received, yet owing to deaths
and removals only ten remained. During 1824 and
1825, Rev. John Ball preached occasionally for the
congregation.
Rev. Timothy Flint, the second Presbyterian min-
ister who settled in Missouri, arrived at St. Charles
Sept. 10, 1816, and remained there several years.
Rev. John Matthews was the next, who arrived in
May, 1817. He established himself near the site of
the present city of Louisiana, and organized the Buf-
falo Church.
Mr. Matthews had previously been a resident of
Erie County, Pa. With his duties as minister of the
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1699
church he combined those of an itinerant missionary,
under the patronage of the Connecticut Missonary
Society (Congregationalist) and the General Assembly
of the Presbyterian Church. In 1821 the church had
increased to thirty members. In March, 1825, Mr.
Matthews removed from that region to Cape Girardeau
County, and from thence to Illinois. Subsequently he
became pastor of the church in Bonhomme settlement.
The fourth Presbyterian Church established west
of the Mississippi was the First Presbybertian Church
of St. Louis, which was organized on the 15th of No-
vember, 1817, by the Rev. Salmon Giddings. The
congregation consisted of nine members, of whom the
ruling elders were Stephen Hempstead and Thomas
Osborne. The church at St. Charles was established
Aug. 29, 1818, by Rev. S. Giddings and Rev. John
Matthews. On the 18th of December, 1817, the
Presbytery of Missouri (organized by the Synod of
Tennessee), consisting of the four ministers and four
churches just named, held its first meeting in St. Louis.
Its territory comprised all that portion of Illinois west
of a meridian drawn through the mouth of Cumber-
land River and running north, nearly the whole
State, together with all Missouri. The first sermon j
printed in Missouri was preached by Mr. Giddings, ;
on the death of Edward Hempstead, Territorial rep- j
resentative in Congress, and son of Stephen Hemp- j
stead. The second was by the same minister, on the
first installation west of the river, that of Thomas
Donnell as pastor of Concord Church, April 25,
1818. During the nine years that followed, Pres-
byterian ministers labored industriously and organ-
ized churches throughout the State as far north as
Louisiana, as far west as Chariton, and as far south
as Apple Creek, while Giddings continued his work
of organizing churches throughout Missouri and Illi-
nois. On the 7th of December, 1818, he installed as
pastor of the church at St. Charles the Rev. C. S.
Robinson, who had come from Massachusetts as a
missionary in 1816, and of whom it is related that he
was at one time " entirely out of money and out of
food for his family, but just when his need was great-
est he found a silver dollar imbedded in the earth,
which sufficed for all his wants until a more perma-
nent supply came," — a picture of the trials and diffi-
culties of the pioneer preachers of those days. Dur-
ing the same year the Territory was visited by two
young missionaries, Nicholas Patterson and a Mr.
Alexander, who had been sent out under the patron-
age of the Board of Missions of the General Assem-
bly of the Presbyterian Church. They traveled ex-
tensively in the counties along the Missouri River.
Union Church of Richwoods, Jefferson Co., was or-
ganized by Mr. Giddings on the 17th of April, 1818,
but in a few years became extinct. The church at
Dardenne was constituted Sept. 19, 1819, by the Rev.
Charles S. Robinson.
An interesting episode in the denominational his-
tory of this period is the organization of a mission to
the Osage Indians, which was established in 1820 at
Harmony, near the line of Vernon and Bates Coun-
ties. The company, consisting of three ministers, a
physician, farmers, mechanics, a schoolmaster, and
twelve ladies, had to ascend the Arkansas River and
pass through the Cherokee country to reach their
destination. Two of the ladies died on the way.
Two years later a church was organized with twenty
members, to which only two others were added in ten
years. In April, 1821, the Rev. Edward Hollister
organized a church at Franklin, opposite Boonville,
which survived only a few years. The church of
Apple Creek, in Girardeau County, was constituted
May 21, 1821, by the Rev. Salmon Giddings. In
1825 the congregation had increased from forty-one
(the original number) to fifty-four members, and the
Rev. John Matthews became the pastor.
The first ordination in Missouri was that of the
Rev. W. S. Lacy, March, 1824, by the presbytery,
which held its sessions in the Baptist Church in
St. Louis, the Rev. Messrs. Charles S. Robinson, Jesse
Townsend, Salmon Giddings, and Thomas Donnell
taking part in the exercises. The second ordination
was that of John S. Ball, a State senator, who, having
been converted, resigned his position, received instruc-
tion from Mr. Giddings, and was licensed in 1824 and
ordained June 12, 1825, being then fifty-two years of
age. The officiating ministers at the ordination were
Rev. John Matthews, of Pike County, Rev. Salmon
Giddings, and Rev. W. S. Lacy.
Mr. Giddings died Feb. 1, 1827, in the forty-fifth
year of his age. Salmon Giddings, as we have seen,
was the pioneer of Presbyterianism in Missouri, and for
many years a conspicuous minister and educator in St.
Louis. He was born in Hartford, Conn., on the 2d
of March, 1782. His parents were Congregational-
ists by education and habit, though not regular mem-
bers of the church. In January, 1807, he united
with the Congregational Church in his native parish,
and soon afterwards entered Williams College. After
graduating he remained for some time at that institu-
tion in the capacity of tutor, and then repaired to
Andover Theological Seminary for the purpose of
completing his theological studies. He left the semi-
nary in September, 1814, and was. ordained to the
ministry on the 20th of December following. During
1815 he served as an itinerant minister in Massachu-
1700
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
setts and Connecticut, and in December of that year
received a commission from the Missionary Society of
Connecticut to labor in the Western country, but
more particularly in St. Louis and its vicinity. He
arrived in St. Louis on the 6th of April, 1816, and,
as previously stated, was the first Presbyterian minis-
ter who established himself west of the Mississippi.
Two Presbyterian ministers had visited the country
and had preached six times, but neither of them had
remained permanently.
As we have seen, Mr. Giddings organized on the
2d of August, 1816, the congregation at Bellevue set-
tlement, and on the 15th of November, 1817, the
First Presbyterian Church of St. Louis. For more
than a year previous to this he had conducted a
school (opened Oct. 12, 1816) " in the two-story
frame (house) on the hill, built by James Sawyer, (
south side of Market, above Fourth, just opposite the
south entrance to the present court-house, subsequently
used for long years as the county court and clerk's j
office." On the 3d of January, 1818, he was also
conducting a school for girls, which was situated, ap- j
parently, on the same location, the south side of I
Market Street, above Fourth. In the Republican of '
Nov. 16, 1816, appeared the announcement that Mr.
Giddings would preach at the theatre on the follow-
ing day, but it would seem that services were also
held at his school-room, for on the 23d of October,
1818, notice was given that the Rev. Green P. Rice
would deliver a sermon at the school-room on the fol-
lowing Sunday. On the 20th of September, 1818, a
meeting was held at the residence of Mr. Giddings,
" to take into consideration the expediency of erect-
ing a Protestant house for divine worship." The
building was dedicated on the 26th of June, 1825,
and on the 19th of November following Mr. Gid-
dings was installed as pastor. He did not, however,
restrict himself to this field of labor, but worked
diligently on both sides of the Mississippi, and
established twelve churches, six in Missouri and six
in Illinois. His longest and most arduous journey
was that which he made as the agent of the mission-
ary society to the Omaha, Pawnee, and other Indian
tribes, and which consumed three months. Mr.
Giddings was also an earnest and active agent in the
distribution of Bibles and Sunday-school and tract
publications. The preliminary meeting to form the
first society for the circulation of the Bible west of
the Mississippi was held in his school-room on the
8th of December, 1818. Mr. Giddings died on the
15th of February, 1828. He was a man of untiring
energy, lofty purity of character, and indomitable
zeal in the cause of his religion. He was succeeded
as pastor of the First Church and leader of the
Presbyterian movement by William S. Potts, D.D.
In 1830 a band of seven young men, graduates of
Auburn Seminary, repaired as missionaries to Mis-
souri, and settled at various points. In the same
year also Dr. David Nelson, author of " The Cause
and Cure of Infidelity," appeared as a worker in the
field of Missouri Presbyterianism. Dr. Nelson set-
tled in Northeastern Missouri, but owing to his oppo-
sition to slavery was compelled by a mob to flee from
the State. A similar fate befell Rev. Elijah P. Love-
joy, who was ordained by the St. Louis Presbytery
in June, 1834. Mr. Lovejoy was for some time pas-
tor of the Des Peres Church, and afterwards editor
of the St. Louis Observer, the first religious journal
started west of the Mississippi. He was a bitter and
uncompromising opponent of slavery, and in 1837
his press was destroyed, and himself driven out of
the city by a mob. Before the end of the year he
was killed by another mob at Alton, 111. Dr. W. W.
Hall, better known as the editor of HalTs Journal of
Health, was, about this time, pastor of the St. Charles
Church for two years. The colored people received
earnest attention from the first missionaries and their
successors. Meetings were held, and churches and
schools organized especially for them. The schools
met with some opposition, but not of a serious nature.
The cause of temperance also received its share of
attention. The congregation of the Second Church
in St. Louis, under Dr. Hatfield, was pledged to entire
abstinence, and in a district in Southeast Missouri,
where there were forty distilleries, many of the latter
were speedily closed, and one of them was transformed
into a church. In 1831 the presbytery was divided
into three distinct organizations, — Missouri, St. Louis,
and St. Charles, — and these in 1832 were erected
into a Synod, there being then in the State twenty-
three churches and eighteen ministers, of whom thir-
teen were in the pay of the American Home Mission-
ary Society, although most of them had been sent
out by the Presbyterian Board of Missions. The
reason for the change was that the former fixed their
salaries at four hundred dollars, whereas the board
paid its agents one hundred dollars a year, with the
understanding that they were to obtain whatever ad-
ditional compensation they could from the little mis-
sion churches to which they preached.
In April, 1838, Dr. Artemas Bullard arrived in
St. Louis to assume the pastorate of the First
Church, vice Dr. Potts, then president of Marion
College. He at once took a front rank among the
Presbyterian ministers of the West. The contro-
versy which led to the division of the church into
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1701
Old and New School was raging in the Eastern
States, and making itself felt throughout the West,
although the actual separation did not take place in
Missouri until 1841. At this time Dr. Potts was
recognized as the leader of the Old School and Dr.
Bullard as the leader of the New. Each of the two
schools went on its own way, organizing new churches,
forming new presbyteries, and carrying on missionary
work, — the Old School through the Board of Mis-
sions, and the New through the American Home
Missionary Society. Between the years 1830 and
1840 a remarkable religious agitation occurred in
the western part of Germany, especially in the duchy
of Lippe-Detmold. In nearly every village and town
the people left the established Lutheran Church and
formed themselves into conventicles, prayer-meetings,
and worshiping assemblies. They were severely per-
secuted by the ruling clergy, and in 1849 a num-
ber of peasant families emigrated and settled in Gas-
conade County, Mo. They were not acquainted with
the character of the religious denominations in the
country, but were at length directed to the Presby-
terian Church as the one with which they most nearly
affiliated. Soon afterwards they were organized into
the Bethel Church by the Presbytery of St. Louis,
Old School. Since then they have grown to large
proportions as a denomination.
In 1857 began the long series of troubles growing
out of the question of slavery, to which institution
the New School was known to be opposed, whereas in
the Old School there was but little discussion on the
subject. Hence, in Missouri, many persons left the
New School for the Old, and the New School was
gradually cut off from all missionary work. During
the war it dwindled to such insignificant proportions
that the total extinction of its Synod in, Missouri was
generally expected ; but when the war had ended it
was still intact, and started anew with fresh life and
undiminished zeal. When the secession of the South-
ern States from the Union took place the Presbyte-
rians in those States organized a Southern General
Assembly, and in 1866 the Missouri Presbyterians of
Southern sympathies separated from the Old School
Synod and organized the Independent Synod of Mis-
souri, which is now connected with the Southern
General Assembly. In 1870 the Old and New School
branches of the General Assembly came together and
reorganized as one body, and in the same year the
same reunion was effected in the Missouri Synod.
The Synod of Missouri is now divided into the fol-
lowing presbyteries : St. Louis (southeastern part of
the State), Ozark (southwestern part), Osage (cen-
tral part, Jefferson City to Kansas City), Platte
108
(northwestern part), and Palmyra (northeastern
part). According to the last report this Synod has
215 churches, 134 ministers, 11,667 members, and
15,702 Sunday-school members, and had expended
during the year $19,657 for congregational, and $37,-
336 for benevolent and other uses. The Presbytery
of St. Louis reported 50 churches, 44 ministers, 4183
members, 6714 Sunday-school members, $88,126
spent for congregational, and $27,293 for benevolent
and missionary uses. The Independent (or Southern)
Synod reported 129 churches, 74 ministers, 7761
members, 4100 Sunday-school members, $52,316 for
congregational, and $15,672 for benevolent uses. It
is divided into the St. Louis, Lafayette, Missouri,
Palmyra, and Potosi Presbyteries. St. Louis Pres-
bytery reported 24 churches, 17 ministers, 1513
members, 902 Sunday-school members, $19,297 for
congregational, and $5387 for other uses.
An important institution of the denomination in
St. Louis is the Depository of the Presbyterian Board
of Publication, 1107 Olive Street, which was estab-
lished as a missionary department of the board in
1874 under charge of Rev. R. Irwin, D.D. Dr. Irwin
was succeeded, Sept. 1, 1880, by the Rev. J. W.
Allen, D.D., up to that date editor and publisher of
the St. Louis Evangelist (which he established in
1874), and of which he continues to be the publisher.
At the Synod which met in October, 1882, the scope
of the institution was enlarged, and from a missionary
department it was raised to the rank of a branch
depository of the board of publication, with a capital
stock of fifteen thousand dollars. In the upper rooms
of the spacious building are held the Monday morning
meetings of the Presbyterian Ministerial Association,
and the meetings of the Woman's Presbyterian Board
of Missions for the Southwest, which was organized
about six years ago and has now about two hundred
and fifty auxiliaries.
The First Presbyterian Church, situated at the
northwest corner of Fourteenth Street and Lucas
Place, Rev. Hervey D. Ganse, D.D., pastor, was organ-
ized by Rev. Salmon Giddings, Nov. 15, 1817, at
which date the following document was drawn up and
signed : '• Being desirous of enjoying the benefits of
the ordinances of religion which God has instituted,
and in order to maintain divine and public worship,
live more to His glory, and promote each other's grace
and spiritual comfort, we, the undersigned, mutually
unite together in church relation and covenant, known
by the name of the First Presbyterian Church of St.
Louis. We also solemnly covenant, before God, to
be the Lord's ; to watch over each other in the Lord ;
to conduct as God shall give us grace, in the spirit of
1702
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Christian meekness ; to walk as becometh saints be-
fore the world ; to maintain the worship of God in
our families, and to attend to all the ordinances and
means of grace which God hath appointed to be ob-
served in His church. We take the Scriptures of the
Old and New Testaments for the rule of our faith and
practice, arid the Confession of Faith, as revised and
adopted by the Presbyterian Churches in America, as
the best summary and explanation thereof." The
paper was signed by ten persons: Stephen Hempstead,
Mary Hempstead, Britannia Brown, Chloe Reed, Mary
Keeny, Magdalen Scott, Thomas Osborne, Susanna
Osborne, Susan Gratiot, and Sarah Beebe. Hempstead
and Osborne, the only male members, were ordained
ruling elders on November 23d, and the services of the
church were thenceforth regularly held in Rev. Salmon
Giddings' school-room, on Market Street opposite the
court-house.
On the 20th of September, 1818, a meeting was
held at the residence of Mr. Giddings to take into
consideration the expediency of building a Protestant
house of worship, and on the llth of January, 1819,
another meeting was held to devise means for erect-
ing the proposed building. Stephen Hempstead was
chosen chairman, and Thomas H. Benton, clerk.
Col. Alexander McNair, Rev. Salmon Giddings, and
Nathaniel Beverly Tucker were appointed a commit-
tee to draft a subscription paper, which was circulated
not only in St. Louis, but also in New York, Phila-
delphia, and Washington. John Quincy Adams con-
tributed twenty -five dollars, and subscriptions were re-
ceived from people of all denominations, including
several Catholics. The heaviest contribution was that
of two hundred dollars from Matthew Kerr. The
total subscription was three thousand dollars.
The enterprise thus begun was not completed for
many years, notwithstanding strenuous exertions on
the part of the pastor, who made its completion a
personal matter, collecting funds, laboring with his
own hands, and borrowing money on his personal
security for its completion. His untiring efforts were
at last successful. The lot on which " Veranda
Row" was subsequently built, extending on Fourth
Street from St. Charles Street to Washington Avenue,
was bought for three hundred and twenty-seven dol-
lars, and the building was erected at what was then
the enormous cost of eight thousand dollars (leaving
a debt of five thousand dollars), and was dedicated on
the 26th of June, 1825. It was a brick building,
forty-six by sixty-five feet, two stories in height,
with a cupola and spire.
On the 19th of November, 1826, Mr. Giddings was
formally installed " over the Presbyterian Church and
congregation of St. Louis" by the Presbytery of Mis-
souri. The introductory prayer was offered by the
Rev. Hiram Chamberlain, and the call of the congre-
gation was read by the Rev. John S. Ball. The
sermon was then delivered by the Rev. Charles S.
Robinson. The charge to the pastor was made by
the Rev. John Matthews, and the charge to the con-
gregation by the Rev. Thomas Donnell. The con-
cluding prayer and benediction were delivered by the
Rev. William S. Lacy. Mr. Giddings died, as here-
tofore stated, Feb. 1, 1827, and his funeral was at-
tended by a concourse of persons numbering two
thousand.
His successor was the Rev. William S. Potts, D.D.,
who reached St. Louis on the 14th of May, 1828,
and was prdained by the Presbytery of Missouri, and
installed as pastor Oct. 26, 1828. On this occa-
sion the sermon was preached by the Rev. William
S. Lacey, and the ordination prayer was offered by
the Rev. John Matthews. The charge to the pastor
was pronounced by the Rev. John S. Ball, and the
charge to the people by the Rev. Solomon Hardy.
Next to the Rev. Mr. Giddings, Dr. Potts was
more prominently identified with the cause of Presby-
terianism in Missouri than any other minister. He
was born at Trenton, N. J., in 1804. His parents,
members of the Society of Friends, desired that he
should learn the trade of printing, but before finishing
his apprenticeship he turned his attention to the study
of the law. Soon after this, however, he determined
to devote himself to the ministry, and in 1825 en-
tered the Theological Seminary at Princeton, N. J.
In 1828 he was licensed as a probationer, and, being
in delicate health, determined to go South, in the hope
not only of being benefited by the less rigorous cli-
mate, but of performing effective work among the
Indians. He remained in this field of labor but a
short time, and in May, 1828, by direction of the
Board of Missions, under whose supervision he then
acted, he repaired to St. Louis and preached for the
First Presbyterian Church, over which he was in-
stalled pastor by the Presbyterian Mission the autumn
following. Dr. Potts remained in charge of the First
Church, which developed rapidly under his active and
efficient ministration, until the 26th of June, 1835,
when he resigned the pastorate in order to assume
the presidency of the newly- organized Marion College.
This institution was established for the purpose of
training young men for the ministry. A charter was
obtained and the college organized at Marion City,
Mo., but it did not prove successful, and Dr. Potts ac-
cepted a call to the pastorate of the Second Presby-
terian Church, and was installed Oct. 5, 1839. He
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1703
remained in charge of the church until his death,
which occurred on the 28th of March, 1852, after a
lingering illness, and while the church bell was call-
ing the children to Sunday-school.
Dr. Potts was a man of great learning and exalted
piety, and enjoyed the respect and confidence not only
of his own denomination, but of the community at
large. His successor at the First Church was the Rev.
Dr. William Wisner, who was called July 23, 1835, but
was never formally installed, and resigned on account
of ill health in May, 1837. Dr. Artemas Bullard (than
whom no minister ever exerted a more widespread
influence in the Presbyterian Church in Missouri)
was called April 2, 1838, installed June 27, 1838,
and perished in the Gasconade disaster in 1855.
Dr. Henry A. Nelson, who took charge in October,
1856, was installed Nov. 23, 1856, and resigned in
the spring of 1868 to accept the chair of pastoral
theology in Lane Theological Seminary, Cincinnati,
Ohio. Rev. Charles A. Dickey, of Allegheny City,
Pa., who began his pastoral work in May, 1869, was
installed July 4, 1869, and resigned in October, 1875,
to accept a call to Philadelphia. Dr. H. D. Ganse,
of New York City, was called in December, 1875,
and is still the pastor. In 1832, John Shackford, of
Washington, who styled himself "a friend of missions,"
wrote to Dr. Peters, then secretary of the American
Home Missionary Society, saying, " I wish to add to
the laborers already in the field in Missouri. I have
concluded to devote to that purpose one hundred and
four dollars per quarter, however much my circum-
stances may be thereby straitened or my deprivations
increased. I have determined to preach the gospel
by proxy for two years, if not for life, and I am un-
willing to be persuaded, however avarice, ease, cupid-
ity, comfort, or convenience may plead, to accept a
proposition by which the sum furnished would be re-
duced. I desire you to send the missionary to St.
Louis." In consequence of this offer, Rev. E. F.
Hatfield was sent out, and organized Nov. 23, 1832,
the Second Presbyterian Church of St. Louis, for
which purpose a colony of twenty-nine members
was dismissed by the First Church, the mem-
bership of which had increased to two hundred
and fifty. Mr. Hatfield remained two years and a
half, when, in consequence of the death of his wife,
he returned East, and as it was not convenient for him
to resume his labors in St. Louis, the church became
disorganized and was dissolved, reuniting with the
First Church in February, 1837, and bringing back
fifty-four members in place of the twenty-nine who
had been dismissed.
Subsequently other churches were formed as colo-
nies of the First that have had a longer existence,
to wit: the Second (in October, 1838), Walnut Street,
Thircl (now the First Congregational), Washington
Avenue (now the Pine Street), North, High Street
(now Grand Avenue), and others.
The building now occupied by the congregation,
opposite Missouri Park, is a memorial of the foresight
and great executive ability of Rev. Dr. Artemas Bul-
lard. It was dedicated on Oct. 21, 1855, although the
lecture-room had been occupied for some time previous.
Rev. Dr. Beeman, Rev. Mr. Wisner, and Rev. Dr.
Bullard took part in the exercises. After the sermon,
preached by Dr. Beeman, a funeral hymn was sung,
and during the singing the remains of the first pas-
tor of the congregation, the Rev. Salmon Giddings,
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
were taken into the church, and deposited in a vault
immediately before the pulpit. Among the pall-
bearers were Col. John O'Fallon, Asa Wilgus,
Jesse Lindell, Matthew Carr, and George K. Budd,
members of the First Church in its early days. The
building, which is of brick and stone, cost over one
hundred thousand dollars, and its dimensions are
eighty-four by one hundred and thirty feet ; the
tower is two hundred and twenty-five feet high ; the
main audience-room contains one hundred and fifty
pews, and there are attached to the church a chapel,
Sunday-school rooms, a pastor's study, and ladies'
parlors. There is also a parsonage (No. 1413 Lucas
Avenue), valued, with the lot on which it stands, at
1704
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
about fifteen thousand dollars. In 1855 the lot on
Fourth Street, which cost in 1825 three hundred and
twenty-seven dollars, was sold for sixty-two thousand
dollars, and the proceeds helped to defray the cost of
the new edifice. Dr. Ganse, the present pastor, says,
" No history of the First Presbyterian Church of
St. Louis would be at all complete which should not
commemorate, in connection with all its direct re-
ligious work, the influence which, under its patriotic
pastor, Dr. Nelson, it exerted for the Union during
the civil war." Connected with the church are a
Ladies' and a Young Ladies' Missionary Society, a
Sunday-school, and the Tabernacle Mission School.
About one hundred and seventy-five families are ac-
tively connected with the church, and there are three
hundred and ninety-seven communicants, and the
Sunday-schools are attended by thirty-five teachers
and about five hundred scholars. On the 15th of
November, 1867, the semi-centennial anniversary of
Presbyterianism in St. Louis was celebrated in this
church with appropriate exercises.
The Second Presbyterian Church, northwest
corner of Seventeenth Street and Lucas Place, Rev.
Samuel J. Nicolls, pastor, was organized Oct. 10,
1838, by sixty members from the First Presbyterian
Church and two from other churches. Its first elders
were Hamilton R. Gamble, Wyllys King, and Wil-
liam Holcombe. A temporary building was erected
for worship at the corner of Pine and Fifth Streets,
but the lot on the northwest corner of Fifth and Wal-
nut Streets (where the Temple building now stands)
was bought soon after from Pierre Chouteau for 810,-
800, and in March, 1839, the erection of a permanent
house of worship was begun. In January, 1840,
the lecture-room of the new building was hastily
fitted up, and the congregation abandoned the tem-
porary edifice. The completed building was dedi-
cated Oct. 11, 1840. Rev. C. W. McPheeters, Rev.
J. F. Cowan, and Rev. W. P. Cochran took part in
the services, and the dedication sermon was preached
by the Rev. H. P. Goodrich, D.D. The dedication
prayer was offered by the Rev. Nathan A. Hall, and
the benediction was pronounced by the Rev. W. S.
Potts, pastor of the church. The cost of the build-
ing was about forty-two thousand dollars. It was
occupied for the last time on June 28, 1868, having
been sold to David Nicholson. For some months the
congregation worshiped with that of the First Church.
The lot on which the church now stands costs thirty
thousand dollars, and the erection of the building was
begun in 1857, and the corner-stone was laid on the
23d of March, 1869.
The board of trustees consisted of Sullivan Blood,
chairman ; James E. Yeatman, A. M. Gardiner, Geo.
S. Drake, C. S. Greeley, secretary and treasurer ; and
the building committee of C. S. Greeley, chairman ;
George S. Drake, Rev. S. J. Niccolls, James E. Yeat-
man, Daniel B. Clark, William Downing, Samuel
Bonner, Thomas Lowery, Henry Hitchcock, and
Samuel Copp. The chapel was completed and first
occupied Dec. 27, 1868. The main building was
dedicated Dec. 25, 1870. It is an elegant structure
of rough, unhewn stone, and cost one hundred and
sixty thousand dollars.
On the organization of the church the pulpit was
first supplied by Rev. A. T. Norton, then a city mis-
sionary in St. Louis. In February, 1839, Rev. Wil-
liam S. Potts, then president of Marion College (an
institution that had proved a failure), who had for-
merly been pastor of the First Presbyterian Church,
was called to the pastorate. He entered upon his
duties in July, was regularly installed Oct. 5, 1839,
and died March 28, 1852. During the thirteen years
of Dr. Potts' charge upwards of nine hundred per-
sons united with this church, four hundred and
seventy of them on profession. Rev. Robert P. Farris
(since of Peoria) supplied the pulpit during the year
following. Rev. Nathan L. Rice, D.D., of Cincin-
nati, was unanimously called Jan. 26, 1853. The
call was opposed by the Cincinnati Presbytery, but
was unanimously repeated March 9th, and finally ac-
cepted. Dr. Rice entered upon his duties April 25,
1853, was installed October 9th following, and re-
signed Sept. 15, 1857, to take the chair of theology
in the Theological Seminary of the Northwest. Rev.
James H. Brooks, D.D., though never installed as
pastor, served as such from February, 1858 (having
been called two months previous), until July, 1864,
when he became pastor of the colony that formed the
Walnut Street (now Compton Avenue) Church. Rev.
Samuel J. Niccolls, of Pennsylvania, was called Oc-
tober, 1864, began his labors January 1st, and was in-
stalled March 5, 1865. This church has sent out the
following colonies: Central (or Fourth) in 1844;
Westminster (afterwards Pine Street), 1846; Park
Avenue (afterwards Chouteau Avenue) ; First Ger-
man, 1863 ; Walnut Street, 1864 ; and Grace Church
(afterwards united with Chouteau Avenue), 1868.
It has also contributed largely to the membership of
churches in Carondelet, Kirkwood, and elsewhere.
This church supports four Sunday-schools, — a morn-
ing school, Henry T. Nash, superintendent; an after-
noon school, E. Anson More, superintendent; the
Memorial Tabernacle, or Biddle Market Mission, a
gift from Carlos S. Greeley, Thomas Morrison, super-
intendent; and Kossuth Avenue Mission, near the
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1705
Fair Grounds, Henry A. Smith, superintendent.
These schools have an aggregate attendance of about
two thousand children. It also supports a foreign
mission at Siam and a city missionary, Rev. William
Portcus. Altogether the church contributes about
forty thousand dollars annually to benevolent and con-
gregational uses. A Ladies' Aid Society and Young
People's Working Society are connected with the
congregation. The congregation numbers nearly
eight hundred active members, with a connection of j
two hundred and twenty families, or twelve hundred
persons, among whom are many of the most promi-
nent and influential members of St. Louis society.
Grand Avenue Presbyterian Church. — In Feb-
ruary, 1844, Washington Avenue Church, New
School, was organized, under the direction of Rev.
Dr. Bullard, by a colony of fifty members from the
First Presbyterian Church, who first met for wor-
ship in the State tobacco warehouse on the northeast
corner of Sixth Street and Washington Avenue.
Rev. James Gallaher first supplied the pulpit for
about one year, when Rev. J. B. Townsend was in-
stalled as pastor. Mr. Gallaher died in the autumn
of 1853. A church was subsequently built on the
southwest corner of Eighth Street and Washington
Avenue, and was occupied until the removal of the
society to a second edifice on the northwest corner of
Eleventh and Pine Streets, the ground for which was
bought in 1849. The basement of the new building
was occupied in 1851, and the church was dedicated
in 1853. The first pastor, Mr. Townsend, resigned
on account of ill health in the fall of 1850. Rev.
Mr. Long took charge in 1851, and remained about
a year. Rev. J. W. Hall, D.D., of Alabama, as-
sinned the pastorate in April, 1853, but only re-
mained six months. After his departure the church
was left without a pastor. During the summer of
1853 the church building was completed and dedi-
cated, under the eldership of John Whitehill and
Martin Simpson.
Westminster Church, Old School, was organized
on April 25, 1846, by the Rev. Dr. Potts, with eigh-
teen members, and Rev. H. P. Goodrich, D.D., as
" stated supply." The first place of worship was the
hall of the medical college, on Washington Avenue
opposite Tenth Street.
The church was originally known as the West-
minster Mission. Its first elders were Thomas Can-
non and Leverett Mills. In the latter part of 1846
the congregation moved from the medical college to
the basement of Benton Public School house on Sixth
Street, near St. Charles. Thence it removed to the
Odd-Fellows1 Hall, at Fourth and Locust Streets,
which it occupied jointly and alternately with St.
George's Episcopal Church until October, 1848, when
it purchased an edifice at the corner of Locust and
Fifth Streets, erected by the Associate Reformed
Presbyterians in 1841. Dr. Goodrich resigned July
1, 1848, and Rev. James A. Lyon, D.D., became
pastor Nov. 15, 1848. A number of the members of
the Second Presbyterian Church transferred their
membership to the Westminster, and Thomas Cannon,
Joseph Charless, Leverett Mills, David Keith, and
Alexander C. Donaldson were appointed elders. Rev.
Dr. Lyon resigned the pastorate on the 10th of
November, 1850, and Rev. S. B. McPheeters, of
Virginia, was called Jan. 31, 1851. He accepted,
and was installed Dec. 14, 1851, at which time the
congregation numbered thirty-four families and eighty-
nine communicants.
In November, 1853, a union of the Pine Street
and Westminster Churches was suggested. The for-
mer was without a pastor, and both organizations were
struggling with debt. The proposal commended itself
to the members of both, and on the 30th of Novem-
ber, 1853, the Pine Street Church united with the
Westminster Church in accordance with an agreement
adopted by W. W. Greene, Theodore Poindexter, D.
K. Ferguson, G. Gorin, John Whitehill, and Robert
Dougherty in behalf of the Pine Street Church, and
Joseph Charless, Robert M. Henning, and George P.
Strong in behalf of the Westminster Church.
The congregation adopted the name of Pine Street,
and in accordance with a condition of the union iden-
tified itself with the Old School Presbytery and
Synod. Rev. Dr. McPheeters was elected pastor, and
Joseph Charless, W. W. Greene, David Keith, Wm.
Low, Alexander Marshall, Leverett Mills, Martin
Simpson, George P. Strong, and John Whitehill
were chosen elders of the new organization.
The Westminster Church property was sold in the
spring of 1854, and the proceeds went to the united
congregation. In April, 1854, there were reported
two hundred and thirty-one members, and in 1861
three hundred and twenty-seven members, with one
hundred and sixty pupils in the Sunday-school and
seven hundred in Biddle Market Sunday-school, es-
tablished by this church. During the war the church
was agitated by political strife, and the Union mem-
bers removed Mr. McPheeters from the pastorate,1
after which the church remained for several years
without a minister, and was often closed. At last the
difficulty was settled by the withdrawal of three of
1 In January, 1866, a call was again extended to Rev. Dr.
McPheeters, but, greatly to the regret of the congregation, was
declined by him, owing to his illness.
1706
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
the ruling elders. In 1872 the church united with
the Independent or Southern Synod of Missouri.
The pastors since the reopening of the church have
been Revs. J. C. Thorn, of Waynesburg, Pa., ap- j
pointed July, 1865, died November 28th following;
Rev. B. T. Lacy, D.D., appointed in 1866, resigned
November, 1870 ; Rev. A. P. Foreman, D.D., 1871-
72 ; Rev. E. H. Rutherford, D.D., of Petersburg,
Va., installed in May, 1874. Just previous to Dr. '
Rutherford's installation, the presbytery and Synod
with which the church was connected formed ecclesi-
astical relations with the Southern Presbyterian As- i
sembly. Dr. Rutherford resigned the pastorate of
this church in March, 1881, to accept a call to the
Presbyterian Church at Paris, Ky. By invitation of
the session, Rev. Francis L. Ferguson supplied the j
pulpit for six months from May, 1881.
In January, 1882, Rev. A. Nelson Hollifield, pas-
tor of the Presbyterian Church in Huntingdon, Pa.,
was called to the pastorate, and was installed in the
month of April by a committee of the Presbytery of
St. Louis.
In 1879 the congregation purchased a site for a new
church on the west side of Grand Avenue, opposite
Washington Avenue, on an elevation about seventy-
five feet higher than Washington Avenue, at Third
Street, and from which a beautiful view of that por-
tion of the city is obtained. The site is about one
hundred and fifty feet square. In March, 1880, the
erection of the chapel was begun in accordance with j
plans prepared by the architect, Francis D. Lee. The
chapel was completed within six months. It is of
limestone with white sandstone trimmings, and is con-
structed in the pure English Gothic style. It is lo-
cated at the west end of the lot, and fronts on the
western extension of Washington Avenue.
The chapel has a seating capacity for four hundred
persons, and is still occupied by the congregation,
pending the completion of the church. The building
was dedicated on the 7th of November, 1880, the
officiating ministers being the Rev. Dr. Rutherford,
pastor, Rev. R. P. Farris, Rev. G. H. Rout, and Rev.
Dr. Brank. On this occasion the name of the church
was changed from that of Pine Street to that of Grand
Avenue Presbyterian Church. Its officers at that
time were : Pastor, Rev. E. H. Rutherford, D.D. ; '
Elders, William G. Clark, D. K. Ferguson, John J.
Holliday, James McQ. Douglas, Isaac B. Kirtland,
Dr. William M. McPheeters, Dr. H. N. Spencer,
William Webb, and James H. Wear; Deacons, Elliott
W. Douglas, Edward F. Chappell, Hugh Ferguson,
James Rosebrough, J. W. McLanahan, J. M. Cooper,
and A. N. Craig. The corner-stone of the main '
building was laid Oct. 14, 1882. The new church
will be a superb Gothic structure of St. Louis lime-
stone, with five gable-ends, one hundred feet high, and
large windows of stained glass. The main entrance
will be ornamented with moulded arches and columns
of cut stone. The auditorium will be in the form
of an amphitheatre, and will accommodate twelve
hundred persons, its size being one hundred and fif-
teen by one hundred feet. It is expected that the
building will be ready in the summer of 1883, and
will cost one hundred and ten thousand dollars. The
architect is Francis D. Lee. The church reports a
membership of two hundred and eleven, with two
hundred and thirty-eight in the Sunday-school.
The officers of the church at present are Rev. H.
Nelson Hollifield, D.D., pastor ; Elders, W. G. Clark,
D. K. Furguson, E. S. Frazer, James McQ. Douglass,
I. B. Kirtland, W. M. McPheeters, H. N. Spencer,
William Webb, James H. Wear; Deacons, J. T. Chap-
pell, Archibald Crary, Elliott W. Douglas, Hugh
Furguson, J. W. McLanahan, James Rosebrough.
Among the ministers prominently identified with
the old Pine Street Church was the Rev. Charles D.
Simpson. Mr. Simpson was a native of St. Louis,
and received his early education at St. Louis Univer-
sity. He pursued a course of study at Illinois Col-
lege, Jacksonville, and received from that institution
the degrees of Bachelor and Master of Arts. He
then studied theology at Lane Seminary, Cincinnati,
under the instruction of Lyman Beecher, D.D.., and
Professor Stowe. He was regarded as an exception-
ally close and thorough student, and his attainments
in mathematical science were remarkable. He was
ordained a minister of the Presbyterian Church in
1843, and at once entered upon the duties of his
clerical life at Glasgow, Mo. Subsequently he be-
came a professor in the City University, and also
officiated at Pine Street Church. Mr. Simpson died
early in September, 1866.
Central Presbyterian Church. — This congrega-
tion was organized April 18, 1844, by Dr. William S.
Potts and Rev. William Gilbreath, as the Fourth
Presbyterian Church (Old School), with thirty-two
members, nearly all of whom had obtained letters for
the purpose from the Second Church. ' On the fol-
lowing day the first session was elected, consisting of
Philip Skinner, George W. Meyers, and John Suydam,
and on the following Sunday, April 21st, Messrs.
Meyers and Suydam were ordained, and the session
was installed. The first communion of the church
was celebrated on the same day. The congregation
met in a small frame building on the southeast corner
of Sixth and St. Charles Streets. Rev. Joseph Tern-
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1707
pleton first supplied the pulpit, but on May 12, 1845,
Rev. Alexander Van Court was chosen pastor. He
began his duties in July following. He labored with
great diligence and success, and during his ministry |
the church grew and prospered. In July, 1849, he ;
suddenly fell a victim to the cholera which raged in
that year. In 1845 the church elected as its first
board of trustees John M. Wimer, John Huylman,
and Taylor Blow, to whom, in 1846, were added
David W. Wheeler, Oliver Bennett, and S. Ridgely.
Thomas Osborne and Dr. Thomas Barbor were also
added to the session, and in November, 1846, Othneil
Cannon and Charles N. Lewis were elected the first
deacons. In the spring of 1846 the name was
changed by the presbytery to that of the Central
Presbyterian Church of St. Louis. About the same
time a lot at the northwest corner of Locust and
Eighth Streets was purchased, whither the congrega-
tion removed in the fall of 1848. It worshiped at
first in the basement. During the following winter
Rev. Dr. Hall held a series of protracted meetings \
which added largely to the membership. The build-
ing was finished in 1849. It had two stories, with
rooms for the pastor's use and for other purposes in
the basement. The audience-room, eighty-five by
fifty feet, seated about six hundred persons. After
the death of Mr. Van Court the church remained for
eighteen months without a paster. Revs. Samuel
Pettigrew, John N. Hall, and William M. Ruggles
served as stated supplies, and the congregation was
greatly troubled by dissensions among its members
and other causes until (Dec. 11, 1850) Rev. S. J.
P. Anderson, of Virginia, was called. Mr. Ander-
son entered upon his duties Jan. 20, 1851. He at
once restored harmony to the church, which under
his pastorate soon became prosperous. In March,
1851, its membership had increased to two hundred
and forty-three, and all who were officially connected
with the society labored zealously for its welfare. In
1858 nearly one hundred new members were added,
but during the civil war the church declined. The
pastor was arrested and tried by the military authori-
ties, and the congregation diminished in consequence.
The return of peace, however, brought a return of
prosperity, but on the 25th of May, 1868, Mr. An-
derson's failing health compelled him to resign, and
the church remained again without a pastor. For some
time it was served by Rev. Henry Branch as stated
supply.
Dr. Brank, of Lexington, Ky., the present pastor,
was called in January, 1869, but did not signify his
acceptance until May 31, 1869. Soon after the
present site was purchased, and a temporary chapel
erected, in which an afternoon Sunday-school was
opened in the spring of 1870. Weekly prayer-meet-
ings were held in the same building during the winter
of 1871-72. In the spring of 1873 the congregation
removed to this chapel, their building on Locust
Street having become unsafe owing to the construc-
tion of a tunnel under it. Soon after this the struc-
ture was demolished. On June 8, 1874, a building
committee was appointed consisting of Messrs. B. H.
Batte, I. M. Veitch, S. N. Holliday, D. P. Rowland,
Dent G. Tutt, and Samuel Barren, and a plan pre-
pared by C. K. Ramsey, architect, was accepted. The
chapel was removed to an adjoining lot, and the erec-
tion of the present edifice was begun. It was finished
in 1876. It is built in strict accordance with the
early English style, with two towers in front, one at
each corner, the first one hundred and ninety-two,
and the other one hundred and twenty feet in height.
The transepts are each twenty -six feet wide, with ten
feet projection. The roof is open-timbered, richly
decorated with trusses supported by stone corbels,
constructed of broken ashlar, with cut-stone trimmings
from Warrensburg. The building occupies a lot one
hundred and nine by one hundred and thirty-five feet.
The auditorium is fifty-eight by ninety feet. At the
rear is a chapel, with lecture-room, class-room, library,
parlors, etc. The construction of this edifice involved
the church so heavily in debt that in the summer of
1879 it found itself in great difficulties. Propositions
were made to sell the church and abandon the enter-
prise, and the pastor tendered his resignation, which
was not, however, accepted. Early in 1880, one
Sunday morning the pastor made an earnest appeal
for aid to the congregation, and the sum of twenty-
one thousand dollars was subscribed on the spot, and
afterwards punctually paid. There are at present
about one hundred and thirty families and three hun-
dred and fifty communicants connected with the con-
gregation, and twenty-seven teachers, with nearly
three hundred pupils in the Sunday-school. The
present church edifice is situated at the northeast
corner of Lucas and Garrison Avenues, .and the Rev.
Robert G. Brank, D.D., is the pastor.
The North Presbyterian Church was organized
by a colony of nine members from the First Pres-
byterian Church, together with nine others, on the
27th of March, 1845. The present church, situated
at the northwest corner of Eleventh and Chambers
Streets, was built in 1857. It was a two-story brick
building, sixty by ninety feet, the upper story being
used as a church, and the lower story for the purposes
of the Sunday-school. It seated about eight hundred
persons. During the summer of 1882 the interior
1708
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
was entirely remodeled and redecorated, the seats
were rearranged in amphitheatrical form, the organ
was removed to the back of the auditorium and en-
larged, and stained glass replaced the former plain
panes of the windows. The church thus renovated
was rededicated Oct. 15, 1882. The congregation
numbers about five hundred persons, actual members
two hundred, and the Sunday-school has twenty-five
teachers and three hundred and seventy scholars. The
pastor is the Rev. S. H. Williams.
Carondelet Presbyterian Church, Fourth and Mar-
ket Streets, South St. Louis, Rev. James H. Shields,
pastor, was organized about 1850 by Hon. Henry T.
Blow and wife, Dr. Ashbel Webster and wife, Francis
Quinnette and wife, and others. The first house of
worship was located on Main Street between Kansas
and Illinois Streets. It was sold in 1864 and con-
verted into a dwelling, and the society removed to its
present quarters. The successive pastors have been
Revs. Hiram P. Goodrich, D.D., R. S. Finley, John
T. Cowen, S. A. Mutchmore, 1862-65 ; C. H. Dun-
lap, 1867, '68 ; Samuel Hay, 1868, '69 ; R. A. Con-
dit, appointed November, 1869 ; Henry S. Little,
appointed September, 1874; James H. Shields, ap-
pointed November, 1879. Hope Mission Chapel,
corner of Third and Taylor Streets, is an offshoot of
this church. It has a congregation of six hundred
persons, and a Sunday-school attended by four hun-
dred and twenty scholars. The present officers of
the church are : Session, or Board of Elders (in charge
of spiritual interests), the pastor, chairman, ex officio,
Leonard R. Woods, William D. Starke, Frederick H.
Williams, James M. Gayley ; Board of Deacons (in
charge of the poor and of benevolent work), J. P.
Richardson, John Fitzpatrick ; Board of Trustees
(in charge of temporal concerns), Charles A. McNair,
S. M. Bayless, Dr. E. E. Webster, F. W. Mott, J. P.
Richardson, Leonard R. Woods, Frederick H. Wil-
liams, James M. Gayley. Connected with the con-
gregation are a Ladies' Missionary Society, organized
in 1874, of which Mrs. A. Shawk has been president,
and Miss R. Woods, secretary, from the beginning to
date ; also a Young People's Literary Society, organ-
ized in 1881 ; R. A. Hill, president; H. A. Chapin,
secretary. About one hundred and sixty families
constitute the parish, of whom one hundred and sixty •
persons are communicants. The morning Sunday-
school is attended by twenty teachers and two hundred
and fifty scholars.
Des Peres Presbyterian Church was organized
in the latter part of March, 1833, by Rev. William
S. Potts and Dr. Ingraham, in the dwelling-house of
Rev. Mr. Granville (Methodist), which was rented
for the occasion. The members of the congregation
at that time were Thomas D. Yeates, Matilda Yeates,
Amanda Yeates, Rebecca McCutchan, George Reed,
Mary Reed, James Reed, Thomas Reed, Ellen Parks,
Mary Parks, George Y. Andrew, Ann, Mary, and
Baldwin King. The elders were Thomas D. Yeates,
George Reed, and George Y. King. During the
next year (1834) three acres of land were given —
one acre each by David Small, David Hartshorn, and
Stephen Maddox — for a building site for a church and
a graveyard. A building of stone was commenced the
same year and progressed so far as to be inclosed, in
which condition it was used for public worship until
1840. In the troubles that divided the church into
the Old and New School bodies, this church cast its lot
with, and has recognized the ecclesiastical authority
and control of, the Old School Church. Of the records
of this church from its organization down to Sept. 6,
1837, none remain or are known of to the present
officers of the church. Between the years 1833 and
1837 the pulpit was filled by Rev. William S. Potts,
Dr. Ingraham, and Rev. Mr. Lovejoy. Gary Hick-
man, a licentiate, was in charge of the pulpit when
the present records commence. In 1840 the present
building was completed. Since Mr. Hickman left, the
pulpit has been filled by the following ministers: M.
Hodges, John N. Gilbreath, H. A. Booth, Joseph
Fenton, William J, Lapsley, H. T. Morton, William
C. Claggett, William H. Parks, A. Shotwell, and J.
A. Smith. Rev. J. N. Gilbreath was pastor more
than thirty years.
The elders elected since its organization have been
Zachariah Barron, Jonas Geyer, Ninian B. Barren,
William B. Harwood, Frederick Des Combes, William
McKnight, Ralph Clayton, Henry Barron, Ottawa B.
Harwood, Edward Fitzgerald, Charles Snyder, and
Charles R. Black.
The deacons have been Cornelius D. Demorest,
Thomas M. Barron, Charles Lovercheck, Thomas H.
Ennis, and David L. Des Combes. Since 1837 the
church has received by letter and on profession of
faith one hundred and sixty-one members.
Providence Presbyterian Church. — In 1859 the
Rev. William Parks organized an Old School congre-
gation, known as Providence Presbyterian Church,
which worshiped for some time in a hall on Broadway
between O'Fallon and Cass Avenues. Subsequently
it removed to a hall over what was known as the
Mound Market, standing in the middle of Broadway
near Howard Street. In the fall of 1859 a church
organization was effected by the committee of the
presbytery, consisting of Rev. Dr. McPheeters, Rev.
Dr. Brooks, and Mr. Parks. Subsequently Mr. Parks
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1709
was forced on account of ill health to relinquish the
pastorate, and was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Sluder,
under whose administration a lot at Webster and
Twelfth Streets was purchased, and a two-story brick
building erected. The lower story was used for the
Sunday-school, and the congregation also worshiped
there until the church was completed.
Washington and Compton Avenues Presby-
terian Churches. — The Second Presbyterian Church,
then located at Fifth and Walnut Streets, decided in
1859 to send out a colony to establish a church in the
western part of the city, and for this purpose bought
a lot on the northeast corner of Walnut and Six-
teenth Streets, and commenced building thereon. The
lecture- room was still unfinished in 1861, when the
war came on and funds gave out, necessitating the
stoppage of the work. The Union Presbyterian (In-
dependent) Church sold, in March, 1862, to the
Union Methodist Church its building at Eleventh and
Locust Streets, and leased for two years, from July 1,
1862, the unfinished building at Walnut and Six-
teenth Streets. This congregation completed the lec-
ture-room at a cost of six thousand dollars, which was
repaid when, on the expiration of its lease, it vacated
the premises. From this time the Union Church
ceased to exist as a separate organization. It had
been organized twelve years previous (in January,
1849) with about thirty-five members, and worshiped
for some time in Wyman's Hall. In 1852 the con-
gregation determined to erect a church at the corner
of Eleventh and Locust Streets, and in a little over a
year, Jan. 8, 1854, the building was completed and
dedicated. Its dimensions were sixty- nine by one
hundred and fourteen feet, but the extreme measure-
ments, including the towers, were eighty by one hun-
dred and twenty-one feet. At the southeastern corner
was a tower fifteen feet square, which ascended to the
height of one hundred and forty-five feet, having a
massive projecting base of cut limestone. At this time
the Rev. William Homes was the pastor.
In June, 1864, the original idea of a colony was
revived. Dr. Brookes, then pastor of the Second
Church, and one hundred and fifty of its members
withdrew, and on July 4, 1864, were organized by a
committee of the St. Louis Presbytery (in connection
with the Northern General Assembly) as the Walnut
Street Presbyterian Church, the Second Church
making over to them the property which they then
began to occupy. Within three months one hundred
members of the Second Church joined them, and on
the 25th of December, 1864, they first occupied the
completed church, the erection of which they had
begun immediately after their organization.
The lot, which is one hundred by one hundred and
twenty feet in extent, cost, with the church included,
about eighty thousand dollars. It will seat about fif-
teen hundred persons. The congregation also had a
chapel on the corner of Twenty-second Street and
Gamble Avenue, a frame building seventy by forty
feet. The church was a two-story brick building.
In 1866, owing to certain political action of the
Northern General Assembly on the subject of slavery,
the Walnut Street Church united with others in or-
ganizing the Independent Synod of Missouri, but in
May, 1874, the Northern General Assembly took such
steps as led to a reunion with it of this church, which
has since remained connected with it.
In process of time the location of the church be-
came unsuitable, owing to the removal to western and
southwestern parts of the city of the bulk of its mem-
bers, and by 1878 this unsuitableness had led to the
organization of Lafayette Park Church, which went
out as a colony from Walnut Street. In 1877 the pres-
ent site, southwest corner of Washington and Comp-
ton Avenues, was bought from Mrs. Edgar Ames
for fifteen thousand dollars. The lot is one hundred
and forty by one hundred and fifty-two feet. Ground
was broken July 4, 1877, the corner-stone was laid
Oct. 27, 1877, and the lecture-room was occupied
May 1, 1879. On the 5th of December, 1880, the
first services in the completed edifice were held. This
building is ninety-four by one hundred and thirty-six
feet, English Gothic in style, and of St. Louis lime-
stone, pitch-faced broken ashlar, trimmed with sand-
stone, with stone towers at the four corners, and an
imposing entrance, embellished by moulded and pol-
ished columns of Maine granite and buttresses and
steps of the same. The architect was John H. Mau-
rice, and the building committee was composed of
Thomas E. Tutt, president; John R. Lionberger, vice-
president; J. L. Sloss, treasurer; and William T.
Barron. The main auditorium is eighty-four by
eighty-eight feet and forty-one feet eight inches high.
The pews are arranged in amphitheatrical form, and
the seating capacity, including a gallery at the front
end, is fifteen hundred. The windows are of large
cathedral style, rich in decoration, and several are
memorial. The organ is set in a deep recess back of
the pulpit, under which are the pastor's study and
reception-room. The lecture-room, under the main
floor, is sixty-one feet square and fourteen feet high,
with a seating capacity of five hundred. It can be
enlarged to dimensions of eighty-five by eighty-three
feet by opening folding-doors and throwing into it the
two rooms used for Bible classes. The infant Sunday-
school class-room and the ladies' parlors are on this
1710
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
floor. The building on Walnut Street is still owned
by the church, though offered for sale, and is used
for Sunday-school purposes and religious meetings.
The church, through its pastor, Rev. J. H. Brookes,
D.D., reported to the Synod of 1882 a membership of
five hundred and twenty-seven, with five hundred and
fifty-four pupils in the Sunday-school, an expenditure
for the year of ten thousand six hundred and twenty-
two dollars for congregational and five thousand two
hundred and eleven dollars for benevolent uses, and
an average congregational attendance of about seven
hundred.
Glasgow Avenue Presbyterian Church. — This
congregation, whose present church edifice is situated
at the southeast corner of Glasgow Avenue and
Dickson Street, Rev. William R. Henderson, pastor,
grew out of a conversation held at Webster Groves,
Sunday, May 11, 1873, between Rev. Thomas Mar-
shall, visiting that place on ministerial duty, and L.
E. Alexander, a resident there, who called the min-
ister's attention to the field now occupied by this
church and assured him of his support in case the
enterprise should be attempted. Thursday evening
prayer-meetings were established soon afterwards
at the " old Garrison mansion," corner of Page and
Easton Avenues, and a little later Laclede Hall, cor-
ner of Garrison and Easton Avenues, was rented,
the first services being held there on June 22, 1873,
with a congregation of forty persons. About the
same number also attended the Sunday school in the
afternoon. On the 22d of March, 1874, the church
was organized, with thirty-seven members, as the Gar-
rison Avenue Church by a committee of the presby-
tery, consisting of Revs. Thomas Marshall, J. J.
Marks, D.D., C. H. Foote, D D., and Elders E. A.
Moore and George W. Shaw. Rev. Thomas Mar- !
shall, the first pastor, was installed July 5, 1874.
He resigned November, 1881, having been elected
synodical missionary for the State of Missouri.
Rev. William R. Henderson, of Harrodsburg, Ky.,
was called as his successor in March, 1882, and |
duly installed May 21st. On the 2d of August,
1874, the congregation assembled on the lot it now
holds, and which it had bought for four thousand nine
hundred and fifty dollars from Charles Morgan, of
New York City. Services were held and the work of
building was commenced by the pastor turning the
first spadeful of earth, and on Dec. 19, 1875, the
church removed from Laclede Hall and held services
in the basement of the present chapel, the name of the
church being then changed to its present designation.
On the 14th of November, 1880, the completed
chapel was dedicated, Revs. Dr. Ganse. Niccolls,
Marquis, Rhodes, Brank, Brookes, Porteus, and
Allen, in addition to the pastor, taking part in the
exercises. The church lot is eighty by one hundred
and eighteen feet in area. The basement, chapel, and
furniture cost thirteen thousand dollars. The main
edifice will occupy the corner of the lot, and will
probably be built within the next two or three years.
The number of communicants now connected with
the church is about one hundred and twenty-five,
and the Sunday-school has an enrolled attendance of
about three hundred. Connected with the regular
church organization are a Ladies' Missionary Society,
a Children's Missionary Society, called " Seed-Sowers,"
a Young People's Prayer- Meeting, etc.
Westminster Presbyterian Church, southeast cor-
ner of Pestalozzi and James Streets, Rev. J. G. Reaser,
pastor, was organized Dec. 31, 1873, by Revs. A. Van
der Lippe and I. N. Cundall. and Elder J. E. Cowan,
assisted by Rev. J. W. Allen. The congregation
worshiped in rented rooms at No. 3500 Carondelet
Avenue until their removal to their present church
edifice, the corner-stone of which was laid Aug. 10,
1875. Rev. W. Howell Buchanan was the first
pastor, the present incumbent succeeding him April
1, 1880. The building is of brick, about forty-five
by seventy feet, and with the lot is valued at ten
thousand dollars. The Sunday-school was organized
Oct. 19, 1873, and is now attended by two hundred
and twenty scholars. There are a Ladies' Aid Society
and Young People's Society connected with the church.
The congregation numbers two hundred and fifty per-
sons, and the communicants one hundred and thirty.
Since 1880 fifty-four new members have been added,
and the attendance at worship has doubled.
South Presbyterian Church. — In 1868 a mission
Sunday-school was established at No. 1322 South Sec-
ond Street, and a chapel was erected, which is still
used by the congregation. The church, now known
as the South Presbyterian, Rev. H. B. Holmes, pas-
tor, was organized in May, 1875. It is a chartered
corporation and owns its chapel, which, however, occu-
pies leased ground. The church has never had a regu-
larly settled pastor, but has been supplied by several
ministers, notably by Rev. James R. Dunn, who re-
mained four and a half years, and the present minister,
who has had charge nearly two years. A. S. Pettigrew,
the leading elder of the society, has been from its
inception the main prop of the struggling organiza-
tion, defraying its expenses, paying the minister's
salary, etc. The membership is reported at about
sixty, and the Sunday-school is attended during the
winter by from two hundred to two hundred and
fifty scholars, and by half that number in summer.
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1711
The Second German Presbyterian Church, Grand
Avenue and Thirteenth Street, Rev. Frederick Auf der
Heide, pastor, was organized in 1876, and worships
in a brick chapel. It reports a congregation of about
tbirty-six men, women, and children, a membership of
twelve, and a Sunday-school enrollment of one hun-
dred.
Lafayette Park Presbyterian Church (Lafayette
Church), situated on Missouri Avenue, between Park
and Lafayette Avenues, Rev. D. C. Marquis, D.D.,
pastor, was organized in 1878 as a colony from Wal-
nut Street (now Washington and Compton Avenues)
Church by one hundred of its members who lived too
far from the parent church to attend its services. The
congregation worships as yet in the lecture-room of its
unfinished church, and numbers over six hundred
members. The Park Avenue Presbyterian Church,
organized as a colony from the Second Church, sold
its property (now the Park Avenue Baptist Church)
in 1867, and was merged into the Chouteau Avenue
Church, worshiping at the northeast corner of Chou-
teau Avenue and Eleventh Street. The church
building was erected in 1867. It was forty by sev-
enty feet in size, built of brick, and very neat and
attractive in appearance. Its seating capacity was
about four hundred. Grace Church, organized in
1868 as a colony from the Second Church, was also
consolidated with the Chouteau Avenue Church.
In 1875 the property was sold to the B'nai El
Hebrew congregation, and the society dissolved. Its
members worshiped at different churches until the
organization of the Lafayette Park Church, with
which most of the members of the three short-lived
churches became affiliated. The membership of this
church numbers three hundred and three, and its
Sunday-school six hundred scholars. Its expendi-
tures for 1881 amounted to twenty thousand nine
hundred and twenty-three dollars for congregational,
and six hundred and ninety-seven dollars for benevo-
lent uses. The main church building is in process
of erection.
First German Presbyterian Church. — This
church, situated at Autumn and Tenth Streets, Rev.
Adalbert van der Lippe, pastor, was organized May
18, 1863, in the basement of the Second Presbyterian
Church, on Fifth and Walnut Streets, where the Tem-
ple building now stands, by Rev. J. H. Brookes, Rev.
W. H. Parks, and Elder A. G. Edwards. The con-
gregation held its meetings at first in the South Mis-
sion Sabbath-school, on Marion and Ninth Streets.
The corner-stone of the lecture-room of the present
edifice was laid Oct. 14, 1866, and of the church
itself March 1, 1871. The latter was dedicated Sept.
17, 1871. The first and only pastor was elected Oct.
23, 1863. A Ladies' Sewing Society was organized
March 1, 1864, and a Young Men's Christian Asso-
ciation Oct. 1, 1872. The parish contains about fifty
families and two hundred and seventy-five people.
There are one hundred and twenty-five communi-
cants. The Sunday-school has seventeen teachers and
over one hundred and fifty scholars.
Memorial Tabernacle. — The Protestant Free
School Association, composed mainly but not exclu-
sively of Presbyterians, was organized in 1840, with
five teachers and twenty scholars, Thomas F. Webb,
superintendent, and met in a small frame house at
Sixth and Carr Streets. From this germ sprang the
Biddle Market Mission. In 1846, the owner of the
land on which it stood having objected to its use, the
building was placed on trucks and removed to a lot
at Fourteenth and Carr Streets, belonging to Judge
Carr, and was enlarged to a seating capacity of three
hundred and fifty. On the llth of July, 1848,
Thomas Morrison was made superintendent, and under
his zealous care the mission increased to such propor-
tions that larger accommodations were rendered ne-
cessary, and Biddle Market Hall, Thirteenth and
Biddle Streets, was secured for the use of the mission.
The hall was enlarged and adapted to its new purpose
at a cost of five thousand dollars. After the removal
to this location the school continued to grow until
the average attendance of scholars numbered one thou-
sand. On the 12th of July, 1864, a congregation
was organized by Rev. H. C. McCook, known as the
" First Independent Church of St. Louis," the con-
stituent members being, by certificate from other
churches, Thomas Morrison, Mrs. Eliza Morrison,
Jennie Morrison, J. Burt Turner, Mrs. Mary R.
Turner, John Ifinger, Mrs. L. Becker, Mrs. M. Co-
burn, Elizabeth Ferguson, Mrs. A. Kelly, Mrs. S.
McLean, Mrs. W. Noerr, Ann M. Palmer, Mattie
Palmer, Mrs. J. L. Smith, Mrs. M. Urquhart ;
by profession of faith, Mrs. D. Dickinson, John D.
Eves, Emma Fontanna, Frederick B. Haus, J. M.
Key, Mary Lowney, Fannie Marsh, Allen A. Wat-
kins, Mrs. Amanda McClure, Jennie McFadden,
Frederick Plitsch, Mrs. Henrietta Plitsch, Mrs. Eliz-
abeth Schott, John Wallace, Mrs. Catherine Wallace.
Mr. Morrison subsequently sold his dwelling-house
for six thousand dollars, and having added two thou-
sand dollars to this sum, purchased the lot at the
northwest corner of Sixteenth and Carr Streets, on
which the Tabernacle now stands. The corner-stone
was laid about May, 1865, but after Mr. Morrison
had expended thirty-seven thousand dollars in the
erection of the building it was sold, while still unfin-
1712
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
ished, under foreclosure of a mortgage, for twenty
thousand dollars. At this juncture Carlos S. Greeley
purchased the property from the mortgagee, and headed |
a subscription to finish the building. The congrega-
tion of the Second Presbyterian Church and others
made up the remainder. On Sunday, Nov. 28, 1880,
the Sunday-school met for the last time in Biddle
Market Hall, and proceeded thence to the completed
Tabernacle, where Mr. Greeley presented to the trus-
tees of the mission a deed of gift of the property. Dr.
Niccolls, of the Second Presbyterian Church, at the
same time gave it its present name, in memory of the
donor's deceased wife. It is, perhaps, the largest and
finest building for Sunday-school purposes in the
United States, and is modeled after the famous Spur-
geon Tabernacle in London. The building is of brick,
one hundred by sixty feet, and will seat two thousand
people. The dimensions of the lot are one hundred
by seventy-five feet, and the church property is valued
at forty thousand dollars. The congregation comprises
about one hundred families, with one hundred and
fifty communicants, and the average attendance at the
morning Sunday-school is one hundred and sixty, and
that at the afternoon Biddle Market Mission from one
thousand to twelve hundred. A Young People's Union
meets every Monday evening, and a prayer-meeting is
held every Friday evening. The pastors have been
Revs. H. C. McCook, elected Feb. 28, 1865 ; Lemuel
Jones, elected Nov. 7, 1865 ; Gillum, date of
election unknown ; Dr. Langdon, elected in 1868 ;
William Porteus, elected Jan. 1, 1869, and remained
until July 1, 1881 ; and the present incumbent, Rev.
William H. Clagett, who took charge July 1, 1881.
In addition to the foregoing, several mission Sun-
day-schools are conducted by the Presbyterians,
notably the Kossuth Avenue Mission, two blocks
west of the Fair Grounds, Henry A. Smith, superin-
tendent, supported by the Second Presbyterian
Church, where Rev. William Porteus, city mission-
ary, holds Sunday services. The Bethel, at Main
and Commercial Streets, where the Sunday-school is
attended by twenty-two teachers and two hundred
scholars, is largely supported by Presbyterians, and
there are other missions at Soulard Market and else-
where.
The First United Presbyterian Church, situated
at the northwest corner of Twentieth and Morgan
Streets, was organized in March, 1840, and its first
place of worship was at the southwest corner of Fifth
and Pine Streets. The first church edifice, a brick
structure of the Ionic order, fifty by seventy-five feet,
with a seating capacity of five hundred, was erected !
about 1841 at the northeast corner of Fifth and '
Locust Streets, and was subsequently sold to the Singer
Sewing-Machine Company. The present church at
Twentieth and Morgan Streets was erected in 1873,
and is a handsome structure of brick, the dimensions
of the lot being one hundred and five feet six inches
by one hundred and forty-four feet seven inches. The
total cost of the church property was fifty-five thousand
dollars. There are seventy-five families connected with
the church, embracing one hundred and eighty-six
communicants, and the average attendance at Sunday-
school is eighteen teachers and one hundred and
seventy scholars. A Woman's Missionary Society
and a Pastor's Aid Society are maintained by the con-
gregation. Rev. John A. Wilson, appointed July 28,
1876, is the present pastor of the church, and his
predecessors have been Revs. Henry M. Johnston, ap-
pointed in 1845 ; Thomas M. Cunningham, appointed
Oct. 12, 1852; John McLean, appointed Sept. 30,
1857 ; James G. Armstrong, appointed Dec. 3, 1863 ;
and Henry W. Crabb, appointed July 6, 1869.
In December, 1881, the church established a mis-
sion Sunday-school on Grand Avenue near Clark, in
a building thirty-one by fifty-six feet, which is capable
of seating two hundred and fifty persons. The average
attendance is nine teachers and seventy scholars. The
First United is the only congregation in the city con-
nected with the United Presbyterian General Assembly
of the United States, a large and influential body dif-
fering in minor matters of faith and forms of worship
from other Presbyterians.
The Cumberland Presbyterians commenced
work in St. Louis in 1848, an organization being
effected by Rev. J. G. White, under appointment of
the Board of Missions of the denomination. He was
succeeded in 1860 by Rev. L. C. Ransom. The
church building was situated at the corner of Eleventh
and St. Charles Streets, but it passed out of the hands
of the denomination during the war, and the congre-
gation of about two hundred persons was dispersed.
In 1866, under the leadership of Rev. F. M. Gilliam,
a second effort was made to establish the church. A
small congregation was gathered, and subsequently a
consolidation was effected with a body of independents,
who had built up a large Sunday-school, conducted by
Thomas Morrison, at Biddle Market, making a mem-
bership of about one hundred and twenty-five. Mr.
Gilliam was succeeded by Rev. W. L. Langdon. In
1868 the independent element, being in the majority,
seceded and placed themselves under the control of
the Northern Presbyterians. The building which had
been occupied by the congregation was subsequently
sold to pay a debt of twenty thousand dollars, and the
Cumberland Presbyterians lost over eight thousand
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1713
dollars. The Northern Presbyterians still control the
seceding congregation, which occupied the building
now known as Memorial Tabernacle.
Lucas Avenue Cumberland Presbyterian
Church. — In 1874 a third attempt on the part of the
Board of Missions resulted in the organization of this
church, with Rev. C. H. Bell as pastor. Friends of
the enterprise in the city and surrounding country con-
tributed seventeen thousand dollars, and the present lot,
situated on Lucas Avenue, at the corner of Channing
Avenue, was purchased and the building erected.
The latter, all the property being free from debt, was
consecrated Dec. 2, 1877. The organization, consist-
ing of twenty-eight members, was perfected Feb. 6,
1878. Mr. Bell, owing to impaired health and the
necessary duties of his office as president of the gen-
eral Board of Missions, resigned the pastorate Feb. 1,
1881, and the Rev. W. H. Black was called in his
place. The church is self-sustaining and prosperous,
and the enrolled membership numbers eighty-eight.
The pupils enrolled in the Sunday-school number one
hundred and thirty-five.
First German Cumberland Presbyterian
Church (Gethsemane Congregation). — This con-
gregation was organized Dec. 13, 1857, in Biddle
Market Hall, by its present pastor, the Rev. Fred-
erick Lack. The first church building stood on the
northwest corner of Fourteenth and Chambers
Streets, and was dedicated Dec. 25, 1857. In
August, 1866, the congregation removed to the
northwest corner of Jefferson and Wash Streets, and
erected a one-story brick building seating about three
hundred persons. In August, 1879, having sold this
property, the congregation established itself at the
northeast corner of Sullivan Avenue and Twentieth
Street. There are fifteen families in the parish and
sixty regular communicants. The Sunday-school is
attended by seven teachers and over one hundred
pupils.
The Second German Cumberland Presbyterian
Church. — This congregation, which worships at the
southwest corner of Eighteenth and Montgomery
Streets, was organized during the civil war. Rev.
Charles Landel having been forced to leave his
charge in the interior of the State, owing to the
condition of affairs there, removed to St. Louis and
established a school in the market-house at Eighteenth
and Warren Streets, now the parochial school of the
Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart. In 1867 he
organized the present congregation. After a time
the school was abandoned. The congregation is
composed of about ten families, with eighteen regu-
lar communicants. The Sunday-school, which is
known as the Anchor Band of Hope, No. 5, is con-
ducted by Messrs. Frederick Ingalls and H. Baker,
with fifty scholars. Rev. William Goessling is pastor
of the church.
Reformed Presbyterian Church. — This church,
situated at the northwest corner of Twenty-first Street
and Gamble Avenue, Rev. J. R. Hill, pastor, is the
only representative in St. Louis of this wing of the
denomination. The building, a two-story brick struc-
ture forty-five by ninety feet, was erected in 1854 and
seated about three hundred and fifty persons. The
Rev. Joseph McCracken was pastor of the church in
1868. The services are attended by about sixty men,
women, and children, and the Sunday-school by about
fifty scholars. The church also supports the McKee
Mission, on New Manchester road, and a colored
mission at Nineteenth and Morgan Streets, which is
attended by eight teachers and one hundred and
twenty-five pupils.
PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCHES.
Diocese of Missouri. — The first Protestant Epis-
copal parish organized west of the Mississippi River
was founded by the Rev. John Ward, of Lexington,
Ky., in the autumn of 1819. Mr. Ward arrived at
St. Louis in the latter part of September, but having
been prostrated by sickness was unable to officiate
until some weeks later. In the Missouri Gazette of
October 6th it was announced that Mr. Ward would
preach at the Baptist Church on the following Sun-
day, but the first regular service was held on the 24th
of October, in a one-story frame building on the
southwest corner of Second and Walnut Streets,
which was also occasionally used as a court-house and
as a dancing-room. Mr. Ward officiated, and six
persons composed his congregation, only two of whom
are said to have been supplied with prayer-books and
prepared to respond. These two individuals were
James Clemens, Jr., and Joseph V. Gamier, both of
whom were made members of the first vestry that was
formed. This was the first public service by a clergy-
man of the Episcopal Church west of the Mississippi
of which any record remains.
A subscription-paper, drawn up by Col. Thomas F.
Riddick, and bearing date Nov. 1, 1819, was soon
after circulated. It read as follows : " We, the under-
signed, taking into view the great benefits that our-
selves and our families would derive from the estab-
lishment of an Episcopal Church in the town of St.
Louis, do hereby form ourselves into a congregation,
and bind ourselves to pay over to such person or per-
sons as shall be appointed by the vestry, hereafter to
be chosen, all such sums of money as shall be found
1714
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
opposite to our names, to be applied towards the sup-
port of the church for one year from this date." This
document obtained forty-seven signatures. These,
with the amount subscribed by each, were the fol-
lowing :
Thomas F. Riddick, $100; S. Hammond, $100 ; John Hall,
$100; A. Nelson, $50; D. B. Hoffman, $50; J. Clemens, Jr.,
$100; F. Dent, $50; Clement March, $50 ; J. R. Ober, $50; R.
Wash, $50; Wilson P. Hunt, $50 ; William Rector, $50 ; Henry
Von Phul, $50 ; William Stokes, $50 ; J. V. Gamier, $50 ; W.
Christy, $50; M. Wherry, $15; R. H. Price, $60; Theo. Hunt,
$50 ; A. Rutgers, $50 ; D. C. Boss, $30 ; W. Carr Lane, $10 ;
Abijah Hull, $15 ; William S. Hamilton, $25 : Josiah Bright,
$25; J. W. Hoyt, $10; Peter Ferguson, $10; Rufus Pettibone,
$10; James Kennerly, $25; John Nicholson, $10; William H.
Ashley, $20; A. McNair, $50; Thomas H. Benton, $50; J. G.
Lindell, $10; A. V. Vaughan, $10; H. L. Hoffman, $10; Na-
thaniel Sandburn, $5 ; James Loper, $10 ; Joseph M. Yard, $10 ;
I. Eckstein, $5; Theo. L. McGill, $5; D. V. Walker, $10; Wil-
liam Clark, $34: B. G. Farrar, $50; John O'Fallon, $50; Elias
Rector, $20 ; Peter Haldeman, $20.
Among these are many names that are prominent
in the history of the city and State. The move-
ment led to the organization of the parish of Christ
Church, of which the Rev. Mr. Ward continued in
charge a little over one year, after which, for several
years only irregular services were held. In 1824-25,
Rev. Thomas Horrell visited and held services in
Madison, Washington, Jefferson, and Cape Girardeau
Counties, and reported that " respectable congrega-
tions attended, and many came to partake of the sac-
raments." In December, 1825, he became rector of
Christ Church. In 1831, Rev. L. H. Corson held
services in Manchester and other places in St. Louis
County, and reported that he had found a number of
church people, and had baptized many children.
In 1835 the attention of the vestry of Christ
Church was directed to the fact that the Rev. Jackson
Kemper, of Connecticut, had been selected as the
missionary Bishop of the Northwest, comprising the
States of Missouri and Indiana, and as it seemed
probable that St. Louis would be chosen as his place
of residence, it was decided to call him to the rector-
ship of Christ Church. A call was therefore extended
to him on the 20th of September, 1835, and he was
consecrated bishop on the 25th of the same month.
In their letter to Bishop White, of Pennsylvania, an-
nouncing the decision of the vestry with regard to
Bishop Kemper, the wardens of Christ Church, Wilson
P. Hunt and Christopher Saunderson, stated that
they had invited the bishop to become their rector
with the understanding that the General Missionary
Society would furnish him an assistant minister.
They requested that the Rev. Mr. Minard be ap-
pointed such assistant. This request was granted,
and Mr. Minard reached St. Louis a month in ad-
vance of Bishop Kemper. On the 5th of October,
Messrs. Doan and English were appointed a com-
mittee to provide suitable lodgings for the accommo-
dation of the rector and his assistant upon their
arrival. Bishop Kemper, accompanied by his friend,
the Rev. S. R. Johnson, started from Philadelphia
on the 3d of November, and arrived in St. Louis
some time in December. Soon after the bishop took
charge of this portion of his extensive diocese
services were begun at St. Charles, Boonville, Jef-
ferson City, Fayette, Lexington, Palmyra, and Han-
nibal, in several of which places parishes were organ-
ized and clergymen settled. At a meeting of the
vestry in 1838 a resolution was offered by Josiah
Spalding to the effect that " the vestry highly appre-
ciate the services of Bishop Kemper at the West, and
particularly in this church, and that they should
deeply regret his removal from this station should he
accept of his appointment as Bishop of Maryland."
Bishop Kemper remained at his post, but on the 21st
of September, 1839, he tendered his resignation as
rector of the parish in consequence of the pressure
of his episcopal duties. This resignation was respect-
fully declined by the unanimous vote of the vestry.
At this time a second parish (St. Paul's) had been
established in St. Louis. On the 20th of April, 1840,
Bishop Kemper renewed his resignation, which was
accepted with expressions of regret by the vestry, who
thanked him " for his unwearied endeavors to pro-
mote the welfare and prosperity of our parish in a
season of much difficulty and embarrassment," and
assured him " that as churchmen we do entertain the
most lively sense of the self-denying devotedness of
Bishop Kemper to the great cause of the church, and
that with pleasure we do attest her gradual and effect-
ual growth under his auspices." In March, 1840,
just previous to Bishop Kemper's resignation, at an
informal meeting of a few clergymen and laymen, it
was determined to call a primary convention for the
purpose of organizing the different parishes of the
State into a regular diooese. On Monday, Nov. 16,
1840, the convention assembled at Christ Church.
Bishop Kemper presided, and eight clergymen were
reported as entitled to seats, all of whom were pres-
ent. Four parishes were represented by lay delegates
also, — Christ Church and St. Paul's, St. Louis ; St.
Paul's, Palmyra; and St. Paul's, St. Charles. At
this time Grace Church, Jefferson City, and Christ
Church, Boonville, were organized. A constitution
and canons were adopted, and the diocese formally
established.
Bishop Kemper continued to administer its affairs
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1715
until 1843. His duties had then become so extensive
and burdensome that he was compelled to ask that a
portion of the field be assigned to another. He pro-
posed that the clergy of the diocese and the vestry of
Christ Church should select a clergyman agreeable to
them respectively as bishop and rector of the church,
and then petition the General Convention to appoint
him bishop for the diocese of Missouri. In accord-
ance with this plan the Diocesan Convention which
met at Christ Church parsonage Sept. 27, 1843, de-
cided to recommend the Rev. C. S. Hawks, of Buffalo,
N. Y., for bishop. Dr. Hawks, the first Bishop of
Missouri, was consecrated Oct. 20, 1844. Having been
elected rector of Christ Church, he assumed the pastor-
ate in January, 1844, and continued to act as rector
in addition to the exercises of his episcopal functions.
Bishop Hawks remained in pastoral charge until Feb.
1, 1854. When he assumed charge of the diocese
there were in the State only seven resident Episcopal
clergymen and only three church buildings, — Christ
and St. Paul in St. Louis, and one at Jefferson City.
When Bishop Hawks died (April 19, 1868) there
were in the diocese twenty- four clergymen canon ically
resident, nineteen church buildings, and six parson-
ages, and there had been confirmed during his epis-
copate three thousand and sixty-one persons. On May
29, 1868, the Diocesan Convention elected as bishop
of the diocese Right Rev. D. S. Tuttle, D.D., then
missionary Bishop of Montana, but he declined the
office. At a special convention called Sept. 4, 1868,
and held in St. George's Church, Rev. Charles F.
Robertson, D.D., of New York, was elected. He
was consecrated second Bishop of Missouri, Oct. 25,
1868, and officiated for the first time in the State in
Christ Church, Nov. 8, 1868. There were at that
time reported eighteen hundred communicants in the
diocese. The years since have been marked by great
vigor and growth. In the spring of 1869 was pur-
chased, at a cost of about eighteen thousand dollars,
the handsome episcopal residence at No. 2727 Chest-
nut Street. In 1882 there were sixty-five clergymen j
and nearly six thousand communicants in the diocese, !
seventy-one church buildings, and eleven rectories, i
There have been five thousand nine hundred and six i
confirmations. In St. Louis there are fifteen parishes i
and missions and fourteen church buildings. The
church property in the diocese is valued at something
more than one million dollars. During the last few
years between two and three hundred thousand dol-
lars of church debts have been paid off, and about
one hundred thousand dollars are annually raised for
church purposes. There are two general charitable
institutions under the care of the church (both in St.
Louis), — the Orphans' Home and St. Luke's Hospital ;
there are also the School of the Good Shepherd for
girls in St. Louis, and St. Paul's College, Palmyra.
The latter owed its origin to George R. H. Clark, a
parishioner of Christ Church, who in 1844 presented
to the diocese three hundred and thirty-three acres of
land in Montgomery County, Mo., for the purpose of
establishing a mission, which was named after the
father of the donor, " The Governor Clark Mission."
A mission school was established in 1848, and was
subsequently transformed into St. Paul's College.
During the civil war (in 1862) the college passed out
of the hands of the diocese, but was repurchased by
the church authorities in 1869, and the preparatory
department was carried on until 1879, when the
school was sold, to be continued as a private enter-
prise. St. James' Academy, Macon, established in
1876 by the Rev. Ethelbert Talbot, is also conducted
under church auspices, and there are several parochial
schools.
Jackson Kemper, D.D., was the first missionary
bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church. He was
born in Pleasant Valley, Dutchess Co., N. Y., Dec. 24,
1789, and died at Delafield, Waukesha Co., Wis., May
24, 1870. He was ordained deacon in 1811, and
priest in 1812. For twenty years after his ordination
he labored in the ministry in Philadelphia, but sub-
sequently removed to Connecticut, and while rector
of a church at Norwalk, in that State, was consecrated
(Sept. 25, 1835) missionary Bishop of the Northwest
(Missouri and Indiana). For many years he resided at
St. Louis, acting until April 20, 1840, as rector of
Christ Church, but his diocesan charge having devel-
oped more rapidly than was expected, he requested
the Diocesan Convention to relieve him by the erection
of Missouri into a separate See and the appointment
of another bishop. Accordingly on the 27th of Sep-
tember, 1843, the convention of the diocese determined
to request the General Convention, " by and with
the consent of the Right Rev. Jackson Kemper,
D.D., to appoint a bishop for the diocese of Missouri."
This request was granted, and the Rev. Cicero S.
Hawks, of Buffalo, N. Y., as heretofore stated, was
appointed bishop. After Bishop Hawks took charge
of the diocese Bishop Kemper was transferred to the
missionary See comprised in the States of Wisconsin,
Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, and Nebraska. In 1854 he
wa^ elected Bishop of Wisconsin, and in 1868 he at-
tended the General Council of bishops in London.
Rev. Cicero S. Hawks, D.D., first BLsliop of Mis-
souri, was born in Newborn, N. C., May 26, 1812,
and was the youngest of nine children. He graduated
from the University of North Carolina with the de-
1716
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
gree of A.B., and studied law in Newbern, and
later in New York, but decided to abandon the
law and enter the ministry. He studied theology
under his celebrated brother, Rev. Dr. F. L. Hawks,
of New York ; was ordained deacon in December,
1834, by Right Rev. B. T. Onderdonk, D.D., Bishop
of New York ; was soon after ordained priest by the
same bishop, and was appointed rector of Saugerties
parish, Ulster Co., N. Y.. where he remained two
years. He was next rector of Trinity Church, Buffalo,
until December, 1843. On Sept. 27, 1843, the con-
vention assembled in Christ Church parsonage, St.
Louis (Bishop Kemper, of Missouri and Indiana,
presiding), adopted resolutions asking the General
Convention to give Missouri a bishop. It was also
decided that the following communication should be
addressed to Bishop Kemper, and signed by all the
clerical and lay delegates present : " We, the under-
signed, members of the convention of the diocese of
Missouri, take the liberty of making known to you
our preference for the Rev. Cicero S. Hawks, rector of
Trinity Church, Buffalo, N. Y., as bishop of the said
diocese, and request that you will inform the General
Convention that he, the said Cicero S. Hawks, is one
whom the said diocese would prefer for that office.1'
This action was taken in the convention in an-
swer to a communication from the vestry of Christ
Church, presented by Alexander Hamilton, which
read as follows :
" Resolved, That, as a measure of expediency, and one which
is highly desirable under the peculiar circumstances in which
this church and the diocese are at present situated, we, the
vestry of Christ Church, are perfectly willing, and do hereby
consent to call as rector thereof the Rev. Cicero S. Hawks, of
Buffalo, N. Y., provided, however, that the convention of this
diocese, now in session, shall unite in procuring or applying for
his appointment to the episcopate thereof, under the canon for
that purpose, Sec. 1, Can. 1, of 1838."
Accordingly, Dr. Hawks assumed the rectorship of
Christ Church on Jan. 1, 1844, and at the next meet-
ing of the General Convention was consecrated and
appointed Bishop of Missouri, Oct. 20, 1844.
In his first report to the convention Bishop Hawks
said, —
" I took charge of this parish on the 1st of Janu-
ary, 1844, and found it in a sad condition. ... It
was at that time embarrassed with a debt of seventeen
thousand dollars. I thank God that the parish has
been able and willing to liquidate a large portion of
this debt. My trust is that before winter the amount
of our indebtedness may not exceed five thousand
dollars."
As early as 1847 measures were taken in the con-
vention to relieve the bishop from a parochial charge,
and in answer to a communication from the standing
committee of the diocese it was, on the part of the
vestry of Christ Church,
"Resolved, That the vestry of this church will pay for the
current year for the support of the Bishop of Missouri the sum
of fifty dollars; and the members of this vestry will, as mem-
bers of Christ Church, use their influence to have the same
sum paid annually by this church until sufficient money can be
raised by other means for the support of the bishop of this dio-
1 cese. This resolution to take effect when the bishop ceases to
| be rector of Christ Church."
It was found, however, in the weak state of the
; diocese, utterly impossible to raise any sufficient
amount for the bishop's support.
In 1867, Bishop Hawks experienced the first shock
of the disease which, in the year following, proved
fatal. On April 5, 1868, he attended public worship
for the last time, and was present in the chancel of
Christ Church while Bishop Vail, of Kansas, then on
a visit, administered confirmation, but he took no part
in the service. His last attack occurred on Saturday
evening, April 18th, from which time he was uncon-
scious till he died, at 6.30 P.M. on Sunday, April 19,
1868. On the 23d the remains were taken to Christ
Church, where they lay in state until the following
day, when the funeral services were held. Bishops
Whitehouse, Lee, and Vail officiated, and Bishop
Whitehouse pronounced the funeral discourse. The
standing committee were present as mourners, and
the remaining clergy of the diocese as honorary pall-
bearers.
In February, 1835, Dr. Hawks married his first
wife, a Miss Jones, of Hillsboro', N. C., by whom he
had one daughter. This lady died in July, 1855,
and her child, Isabel, died in June, 1864. The
bishop's second wife was Ada, daughter of Judge
Abiel Leonard, of Howard County, who survived him
with two children. In 1849, during the cholera
scourge in St. Louis, the parishioners of Christ
Church, appreciating his self-sacrificing services, pre-
sented him with three thousand dollars in money,
and afterwards on the same account the property on
Paul Street where he lived.
Bishop Hawks was a man of recognized learning
and piety, and one of the ablest administrators of his
period in the Protestant Episcopal Church. As a
preacher he was greatly admired, and in private life
was extremely popular. Besides furnishing reviews
and contributions to various periodicals, he edited the
" Boys and Girls Library" of the Messrs. Harper, of
New York, and the " Library for My Young Country-
men," published by Appleton & Co., the latter in-
cluding " Uncle Phelps' Conversations for the Young,"
several volumes of which were from his pen, as was
-
C.J.
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1717
also the little work " Friday Christian, or the First-
Born of Pitcairn's Island." In announcing his death
the St. Louis Republican said, —
" He wa.« counted among the most eloquent divines in a
church which has been served by many accomplished pulpit
orators. Under his supervision the Episcopal Church in Mis-
souri grew to large proportions in members and wealth. He
was a faithful bishop, who imitated the great apostle in taking
upon his shoulders the 'care of all the churches.' His devo-
tion to the interests of the Episcopal Church was earnest and
laborious. Yet his spirit was altogether catholic, and the pros-
perity of true religion in all denominations was to him a cause
of rejoicing. The clergy of St. Louis of every name always
found him fraternal, and a ready co-operator in all works which
appealed to general Christian benevolence for support. In
personal intercourse, Bishop Hawks was marked by much of
amiability and genial sociability. His friendships were nu-
merous and warm, both within and without the limits of his
own ecclesiastical connections. The intelligence of his death
will be received with sorrowful surprise in many churches and
in many households throughout the State, and his memory will
be cherished in the Christian Church in Missouri as that of one
whose life was filled up with full measures of usefulness, and
in earnest efforts to promote the public welfare by the dissemi-
nation of the principles of Christian morality and religion."
Right Rev. Charles F. Robertson, D.D., second
bishop of the diocese of Missouri, was born in New
York City on the 2d of March, 1835. His family
had for generations lived in that city. He was edu-
cated in private schools, and it was at first intended
that he should follow his father in mercantile pur-
suits, in which in fact for several years he was en-
gaged. He entered Yale College, however, in his
twentieth year, with a view to preparing for holy
orders in the church, and graduated with honors in
1859. He immediately thereupon entered the General
Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal
Church in New York, was graduated, and ordained in
June, 1862.
He at once assumed the rectorship of St. Mark's
Church, Malone, N. Y., which position he retained,
although frequently solicited to remove to larger
parishes, until Sept. 1, 1868, when he entered upon
the rectorship of St. James' Church, Batavia, N. Y.
Four days after this he was elected by the convention
of the diocese of Missouri to its vacant episcopate.
Dr. Robertson was consecrated Oct. 25, 1868, in
Grace Church, New York, and was at that time one
of the youngest of the diocesan bishops in the church.
With perfect health and strong physical powers, he
entered immediately upon a vigorous exercise of his
office. He arrived in St. Louis early in November,
and preached his first sermon in Christ Church on
the 8th of that month. He preached on the after-
noon of the same day at Trinity Church, and in the
evening at St. George's.
109
During Bishop Robertson's administration of the
diocese of Missouri the growth of the church through-
out the State has been very great. While only
eighteen clergymen joined in his election, there are
now over sixty clergymen connected with the diocese.
Over seventy churches have been built. The parishes,
which were nearly overwhelmed with hundreds of
thousands of dollars of debt ten years ago, are now
almost entirely free from incumbrance. The number
of communicants has multiplied threefold. In St.
1 Louis, while in 1868 there were only five parishes,
I now there are fifteen churches and missions where
services are statedly held.
He received his doctor's degree from Columbia
College, New York. He was married in 1865 to
Miss Rebecca Duane, whose great-grandfather was the
first mayor of New York after the Revolution, and
one of the few lay members of the convention which
organized the Episcopal Church in this country in
! 1784.
Bishop Robertson is connected officially with many
general institutions of the church, and is president of
the board of trustees of Nashotah Theological Semi-
nary in Wisconsin. He is also a member of the
Missouri Historical Society and the Social Science
Association, is corresponding secretary for Missouri of
the National Conference of Charities and Corrections,
and is interested in many other local objects, besides
being head of all the educational and charitable in-
stitutions of the church in his diocese. His home is
at the episcopal residence in St. Louis.
Christ Protestant Episcopal Church is situated
at the southeast corner of Thirteenth and Locust
Streets. Rev. Montgomery Schuyler, D.D., is the
rector. Christ parish is the mother parish of the
Protestant Episcopal Church in St. Louis. It was
organized Nov. 1, 1819, the forty- three signers of the
articles of association being Thomas F. Riddick, F.
Dent, Abijah Hull, William Stokes, J. V. Gamier, A.
Rutgers, M. Wherry, Henry Von Phut, D. B. Hoff-
man, Edw. Horrocks, Wilson P. Hunt, Robert Wash,
H. L. Hoffman, William T. Hamilton, Joseph Char-
less, R. Dean, Jr., J. Clemens, Jr., A. J. Bruce,
Risdon H. Price, James Kennerley, Robert Jones, S.
Hammond, John Stimpson, W. Christy, James Lo-
per, Thompson P. Williams, Clement March, J. R.
Ober, Theodore Hunt, William Carr Lane, A. Nelson,
William Rector, Robert Bailey, Charles Gulager, Dan-
iel C. Boss, J. McGunnegle, A. Brown, Josiali Bright,
J. W. Hoyt, Peter Ferguson, Rufus Pettibone, John
; Nicholson, William H. Ashley. The original docu-
ment and the original subscription-list are both pre-
served in the pastor's study as valuable historical
1718
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
relics. The first vestry, elected Dec. 6, 1819, was
composed of Thomas F. Iliddick and Wilson P. Hunt,
wardens; Samuel Hammond, Henry Von Phul,
James Kennerly, James Clemens, Jr., William Stokes,
Joseph V. Gamier, A. Rutgers, and Frederick Dent.
The first meeting of the vestry was held Jan. 10,
1820, on which occasion Rev. John Ward, of Lex-
ington, Ky., was called to the rectorship at a salary of
one thousand dollars per annum, to date from Novem-
ber 1st previous. He remained until April, 1821, and
then returned to Lexington, where, with his wife, he
conducted a young ladies' seminary with great suc-
cess. He died at Lexington in his eighty-first year,
and was buried May 3, 1860. The infant parish had
worshiped in a one-story frame building on the
southwest corner of Second and Walnut Streets,
which, known as " the long building," had been used
for various purposes, among others as a blacksmith-
shop, and which it had suitably fitted up; but on
being abandoned by its pastor, Mr. Ward, the congre-
gation became disorganized, and on Aug. 21, 1821,
formally surrendered its place of meeting, and sold its
pulpit, desk, and pews to the Methodist Society.
During nearly four years no Protestant Episcopal
service was held in St. Louis, save on the occasion of
chance visits of clergymen from abroad.
Among those who thus officiated was the Rev.
Amos Baldwin, of Western New York. In the fall
of 1825, Rev. Thomas Horrell,1 of Virginia, who
had been engaged in missionary work in various parts
of Missouri, visited St. Louis, and collected the scat-
tered elements of the parish. A new vestry was
elected Dec. 2, 1825, and on Jan. 31, 1826, an ar-
rangement was effected for holding services alternately
with the Methodists in their meeting-house, and after-
wards occasionally also in the Baptist Church, corner
of Third and Market Streets. About this time James
Clemens, Jr., at the request of the parishioners, made
a journey to the Eastern States with the view of col-
lecting the means for the erection of a church. He
called upon Bishop White, in Philadelphia, but the
bishop's response to his appeal was so discouraging
that he made no further effort. On the 24th of June,
1826, it was decided to purchase a lot for four hun-
dred dollars from Messrs. Lucas & Hunt, on the cor-
ner of Third and Chestnut Streets, to contract with
1 Thomas Horrell was born in Calvert County, Md., Sept. 19,
1789, was educated at Charlotte llall, and entered the ministry
at the age of twenty- five years. He served as a minister in
Maryland and Virginia, removed to Jackson, Mo., in 1824, and
thence to St. Louis in 1825. He removed to Cincinnati, Ohio,
in 1831, and afterwards to Columbia, Tenn., returned to St.
Louis in 1842, and died there in February, 1850.
Messrs. Laveille & Mcrton for the erection upon it of
a church building, and to invite Mr. Horrell to become
permanently rector of the parish. The building cost
about seven thousand dollars, and was completed in
1829. It is described as having been " a neat little
edifice in the centre of the city, but looking more
like an academy than a church, having forty-eight
pews capable of seating two hundred and fifty per-
sons, with a gallery at one end, in which is a most
excellent organ." It is recorded that to the liberality
of James Clemens, Jr., and to the pecuniary sac-
rifices of the rector the erection of the building was
mainly due. On the 10th of November, 1829, Wil-
liam H. Ashley, H. L. Hoffmann, and Thomas Biddle,
a committee of the vestry, announced that they would
" offer for sale on Thursday morning at ten o'clock,
on the premises, the pews in the Episcopal Church of
St. Louis, at the corner of Chestnut and Third. The
church, which is handsomely finished, will be opened
on that day, and the terms of sale then made known."
This is believed to have been the first Protestant
Episcopal Church erected west of the Mississippi.
Mr. Horrell resigned March 22, 1831. Rev. Mr.
Davis, a school-teacher, was called April 25, 1831,
and served three months. Rev. L. H. Corson, deacon
and missionary, served about one year. Up to the
expiration of Mr. Corson's term of service there had
been no parish register, and no record of baptisms,
marriages, or funerals. In a letter of the vestry
dated March 3, 1832, to Rev. N. H..Cobb, afterwards
Bishop of Alabama, inviting him to the rectorship of
the church, it was stated that there were at that time
about thirty communicants.
On the 4th of September, 1832, the Rev. William
Chaderton,2 of Philadelphia, was called to the rec-
torship. He at once opened a parish register in
1 William Chaderton was born in the island of Barbadoes in
1788, was graduated at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland,
and was ordained deacon in 1813, and soon after priest. He re-
turned to the West Indies, and held appointments successively in
the islands of Antigua and Tortosa, then came to the United
States, and was for a time assistant to Bishop White, of Philadel-
phia. He became rector of Christ Church, St. Louis, in October,
1832, resigned June 8, 1835, went to Northampton, Mass., and
towards the close of 1836 was appointed by the Bishop of Mon-
treal to the chaplaincy of St. Peter's in Quebec, where he died
July 15, 1847. He was a man of rare zeal and devotion, but
also of an equally rare, almost morbid, sensitiveness of con-
science. He was obliged to leave the Danish island of Santa
Cruz because he refused to accept unworthy persons as spon-
sors, preferring to wander as a poor missionary in a strange
land. He also left Christ Church in St. Louis because he
feared his ministrations were not productive of sufficient results,
although the vestry were satisfied with him, his parishioners
loved him, and he had infused new life into the parish and in-
creased the number of its communicants from thirty to seventy.
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1719
proper form, and made suitable records of all his offi-
cial acts. Mr. Chaderton entered upon the discharge
of his duties in October, 1832, and resigned June 8,
1835. The prospects of the parish must have greatly
improved under Mr. Chaderton's rectorship, for at a
meeting of the vestry in 1833 a proposition was made
to enlarge the church, though at the time there was
a debt of some three thousand five hundred dollars
existing against it. When Mr. Chaderton resigned
he left " the State of Missouri with only one organ-
ized Protestant Episcopal parish, one church built, and
no officiating clergyman, — not a very large result for
sixteen years of growth."
Right Rev. Jackson Kemper, D.D., missionary
bishop-elect of Missouri and Indiana, was called Sept.
20. 1835, and began his pastorate in December follow-
ing, with Rev. P. R. Minard as assistant, who began
one month before the bishop. In May, 1836, Mr.
Minard made the following report to Bishop Kemper :
"Upon my arrival, in November last, I found a church edifice,
neat in appearance, but more like an academy than a house of
public worship, capable of containing about two hundred and
fifty persons. It was well furnished, and contained a small
but fine-toned organ. The church had been built for about six
thousand dollars, for one of which the vestry are still in debt.
On the parish register, which I found in good order, there were
forty-five communicants who could be found. There were en-
rolled as belonging to the congregation in all one hundred and
ninety persons. A Sunday-school had been continued until I
arrived. The first day it was visited by me it contained eigh-
teen scholars. The average attendance at that time was from
twenty to thirty. Our school now has a constant attendance of
sixty or seventy. The church now contains forty-eight pews,
and it is the opinion of the vestry that fifty more could be let
if they had them. For this reason the vestry have determined
to build a larger house, and already think they have the means
within their control. They intend to build a house about sixty
by ninety, with a gallery, in a part of which the negroes can
be accommodated."
Mr. Minard resigned in February, 1839, to take
temporary charge of Kemper College.
He was assistant in the parish for a period of about
three and a half years, and during his ministry the
register shows one hundred and thirty-nine baptisms,
thirty-nine marriages, fifty-seven burials, and sixty-
three confirmations.
The Rev. W. G. Heyer succeeded him, and remained
but for a period of about six months, during which
time there were twelve baptisms, five marriages, and
twenty-three burials.
The Rev. F. F. Peake succeeded the Rev. W. G.
Heyer, and for six months officiated in the capacity
of assistant, during which time there were twenty-one
baptisms, six marriages, twenty-two burials, and
twenty-five confirmations.
Bishop Kemper resigned on the 20th of April,
1840, having served the parish as rector for four
years and a half, giving to it as much time as his
arduous duties as missionary bishop " of two States,
two Territories, with a large portion of the Indian
country," would allow. On several occasions the
vestry gave expression to their gratitude to his " very
useful and indefatigable service," and the generous
sacrifices made from time to time in their behalf, hav-
ing refused all remuneration from the parish, and
giving to his assistant the full salary pledged to the
rector.
Rev. F. F. Peake,1 who had succeeded Rev-
Mr. Minard as assistant to the bishop, was called to
the rectorship Aug. 19, 1840. He began his pastor-
ate September 5th following, and resigned Oct. 27,
1842. During his incumbency of the parish there
were ten baptisms, thirty-two marriages, thirty-seven
burials, and twenty-eight confirmations.
Rev. E. C. Hutchinson, D.D., was called Oct. 31,
1842, but declined, his friends being unwilling that
he should leave Kemper College, of which he was
president. Bishop Kemper resumed charge until
March, 1843, when Rev. Mr. Horrell returned, and
served until Jan. 1, 1844, when Rev. Cicero S.
Hawks, of Buffalo, N. Y., who had been called to
the rectorship Sept. 27, 1 843, took charge. Bishop
Hawks had as assistants Rev. Charles Tomes, for
nearly a year from January, 1848, and Rev. William
A. Leach, called in the fall of 1849, and resigned No-
vember, 1851, to become rector of St. Paul's. Bishop
Hawks resigned the rectorship Nov. 30, 1853, to take
effect Feb. 1, 1854, and the parish pledged itself to
contribute a sufficient sum annually for five years to
secure him a salary of two thousand five hundred dol-
lars. Rev. D. G. Estes next served until Easter, and
Rev. Mr. Harrison for a short time after. Then the
church and parsonage were closed some months for
repairs, and on Oct. 1, 1854, Rev. Montgomery
Schuyler, D.D.,2 took charge of the parish. He
1 F. F. Peake graduated at the Protestant Episcopal General
Theological Seminary, New York, in 1836, and the same year
went as missionary to Boonville, Mo., whence he was called to
the rectorship of Christ Church in 1840. From St. Louis he
went to Pensacola, Fla., where he built up a flourishing parish
and established the West Florida Collegiate Institute. He died
of consumption in 1846.
2 Montgomery Schuyler was born in New York City, Jan. 9,
1814. He is descended of old Dutch stock, his remote ancestor,
Philip Pieterse Van Schuyler, having come from Holland soon
after the establishment of the Dutch colony on the Hudson, and
settled at where is now the city of Albany. " The Flats," first
occupied by him, is still in the possession of the family, one
of the oldest homesteads in the country. The present Dr.
Schuyler entered Geneva (now Hobart) College, but was grad-
uated at Union College, Schenectady, in 1834, after which he
1720
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
has had as assistants Rev. D. W. C. Loop, appointed
in 1856 ; Rev. T. I. Holcombe, deacon, from June
28, 1858, till Oct. 1, 1859, when he went as mis-
sionary to Springfield, Mo. ; and Rev. W. W. Sil-
vester, who still fills the position.
The church, which had been built in 1829, was
consecrated May 25, 1834, by Right Rev. B. B.
Smith, Bishop of Kentucky, this being the first visit
to St. Louis of a bishop of the Protestant Episcopal
Church, and the first occasion on which the rite of
confirmation was administered by a Protestant Epis-
copal bishop in Missouri. In May, 1836, the parish
(after sixteen years of growth) numbered only one
hundred and ninety persons in the congregation, forty
communicants, and from sixty to seventy children in
the Sunday-school. On the 29th of June of that
year it was decided to erect a new and larger building,
sixty by ninety feet. A lot at the corner of Fifth
and Chestnut Streets, eighty-five by one hundred and
thirty-five feet, was purchased for ten thousand two
hundred dollars (one hundred and twenty dollars per
foot), and the old building and lot were sold to the
Baptist Society for twelve thousand dollars, possession
to be given in a year's time. The basement of the
new building was occupied in March, 1838, and the
completed edifice was consecrated by Bishop Kern per
on the 17th of February, 1839. Josiah Spalding,
on behalf of the wardens and vestry, read and pre-
sented to the bishop the instrument of donation.
The sentence of consecration was read by the Rev.
P. R. Minard. There were present of the clergy, be-
studied law for two years, then turned his attention to theology,
and entered the ministry in 1841. He was for three years rector
of Trinity Church, Marshall, Mich. ; for a year and a half rector
of Grace Church, Lyons, N. Y. ; for nearly ten years rector of
St. John's Church, Buffalo, N. Y. ; and has been for over
twenty-eight years rector of Christ Church, St. Louis. He has
been twice married, first in 1843 and again in 1854, and has a
large family. A son, Rev. Louis S. Schuyler, died in 1879, at
the age of twenty-seven, a self-devoted victim of yellow fever,
in Memphis, whither he had voluntarily hastened in response to
the cry for ministerial help, dying as he had lived, a hero in the
cause of religion and a martyr to his own zeal. During the civil
war Dr. Schuyler promptly espoused the cause of the Union, in
the face of unpopularity and the desertion of friends, ministering
to the sick and wounded in the military hospitals, when such
ministrations were regarded as evidences of antagonism to the
South and resented as such by Southern sympathizers; but
when Confederate soldiers began to fill the hospitals and prisons
and Dr. Schuyler was found to be as zealous in his ministra-
tions to them as to those of the Union armies, the nobility of
his character began to be appreciated and the clouds of unpop-
ularity broke away. During his pastorate in St. Louis he
has been several times called to other fields and twice back to his
old parish in Buffalo, but has always declined to abandon his
post. There is probably to-day in St. Louis no pastor more
thoroughly venerated or beloved by his congregation.
sides the bishop and his assistants, the Rev. Messrs.
Dresser, of Springfield ; Darrow, of Collinsville ; and
Homan, of Kemper College.
The church it had been estimated would not cost
more than $40,000, but when all the claims had been
presented the aggregate was swelled to $70,000, leav-
ing the parish $20,000 in debt. On the day follow-
ing that of the consecration (Monday) the pews were
sold. The building is described by Rev. Dr. Schuyler
as being " a nondescript, of which nothing can be
said save that it furnished uncomfortable sittings for
about six hundred people."
At the time of the completion of the church the
wardens were Wilson P. Hunt and H. L. Hoffman,
and the vestrymen were J. P. Doan, Daniel Hough,
H. Von Phul, Edward Tracy, Asa Wilgus, R. M.
Strother, A. Hamilton, H. S. Coxe, and Josiah
Spalding.
In March, 1839, Bishop Kemper announced that
a body of Lutherans who had been persecuted by the
government of Saxony, and who had arrived in St.
Louis about three months before, desired to hold ser-
vices in the church, and that he had granted their
request. This congregation continued to worship in
the basement of the church until 1842.
In the autumn of 1839 a burial-ground was pur-
chased for the use of the parish for the sum of three
thousand dollars, and steps were taken for laying out
and ornamenting the grounds. In the fall of 1848
the church edifice was repaired at a cost of about five
thousand dollars, and the church was closed for four
months. In September of the same year a handsome
marble font was presented to the church by Hon. L.
M. Kennett.
On the 9th of May, 1853, a committee was ap-
pointed to inquire where a new church lot could be
bought, and for what the old could be sold, but no
further action was taken until March 12, 1859, when
the building and lot on Fifth Street were sold to
Messrs. Crow & McCreery for eighty thousand dollars,
with the condition that the consecrated walls should
never be applied to any secular use, but should be at
once torn down. The amount of the original pur-
chase by the parish in 1836 was ten thousand two
hundred dollars. On April 10, 1859, the present lot,
one hundred and seventy-five feet on Locust Street
by one hundred and six feet four inches on Thirteenth
Street, was bought of James H. Lucas for forty-three
thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars. The plans
for the new building furnished by Leopold Eidlitz, of
New York, were adopted July 11, 1859, and contracts
were given out and work at once begun. The esti-
mated cost was one hundred and twenty-five thousand
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1721
dollars. The last service in the old church was held
Jan. 22, 1860. During the interval, before the com-
pletion of the new church, service was held at Mer-
cantile Library Hall, until April 7, 1861, when the
congregation united for worship with that of St.
Paul's Church, which was then without a rector.
The corner-stone of the new edifice was laid April
22, 1860. Bishop Hawks conducted the ceremonies,
assisted by Rev. Montgomery Schuyler, D.D., rector
of Christ Church ; Rev. F. J. Clerc, of Grace Church ;
Rev. E. F. Berkley, of St. George's Church ; Rev.
John Coleman, D.D., of St. John's Church ; Rev. R.
E. Terry, of St. Paul's Church; and Rev. E. C.
Hutchison, of Trinity Church. Among the contents
of the corner-stone were those which had been depos-
ited in the corner-stone of the old church. After the
usual ceremonies, Bishop Hawks delivered an address.
The chapel was completed early in May, 1862, but owing
to the delays and embarrassments caused by the civil
war the main building was not finished until five
years later. The walls had progressed to the height
of some ten feet, and it was hoped that they would be
ready for the roof by July, 1861, but when the ap-
proach of winter necessitated a stoppage of the work,
it was found that the funds had been exhausted. On
the 4th of December, 1861, a resolution was passed
by the vestry directing the building committee to
notify the contractors to proceed no further with the
main body of the church, and to cancel the contracts,
if possible. Towards the close of 1861 it was decided
that a strenuous effort should be made to complete
the chapel, and mainly through the exertions of
Alfred Mackey, secretary of the vestry, this work
was accomplished in the spring of 1862. It was es-
timated that sixty-five thousand dollars would be
needed to put the main building in condition for wor-
ship, and on the 8th of February, 1864, thirteen thou-
sand dollars of the fifteen thousand dollars required to
make up this sum was pledged by members of the
congregation. Early in the spring of 1864 work on
the walls was resumed. It soon became evident that
more money would be required, and in the following
autumn a fair was held, which realized the sum of
ten thousand and twenty-five dollars. On the 22d
of February, 1866, a parish-meeting was held to con-
sult upon the best plan for raising funds to complete
the church. According to the estimate of the archi-
tect $40,120.50 would be required. It was agreed
by the meeting that the vestry should be empowered
to mortgage the property of the church for a sum
sufficient to finish and furnish the building. On the
14th of May, 1866, another parish-meeting was held
for the purpose of organizing as a religious corpora-
tion under the State Constitution. Articles of asso-
ciation were adopted, and it was agreed to borrow the
sum of fifty thousand dollars to complete the church.
After several failures the loan was negotiated, and the
work went on. The contributions to the building
fund on Easter-day, 1867, amounted to twenty-one
thousand five hundred and forty-seven dollars, and
the construction of the edifice was now pushed more
rapidly. In June, 1867, a proposition was made by
Davis and Ritchie to erect galleries in the north and
south transepts, on the condition that they should receive
the proceeds of the sale of these pews and their rental
for two years, the rental after that period to revert to
the church. The sum of five thousand four hundred
and fifty dollars was also realized in the presentation
to the church by different individuals of twenty memo-
rial windows. The church was first used for public
worship on Christmas-day, 1867. During the interval
the congregation had worshiped in the chapel, which was
itself a church of moderate dimensions, and had been
built as nearly as possible in accordance with the orig-
inal plans. It was of the Gothic style of architecture,
and its interior finish was elegant and beautiful.
In its completed form, Christ Church is undoubtedly
one of the noblest edifices of its kind in the country.
The architecture is Gothic, of the ornate early English
style, and the arrangement is that of a nave and
! aisles. The nave is one hundred and twenty-six feet
i long, thirty-six feet wide, and ninety-three feet high,
i twenty-five feet higher than that of Trinity Church,
and only ten feet lower than that of Westminster
| Abbey. The north and south aisles are each sixty-
eight by fourteen feet wide, and the north and south
transepts each eighteen by thirty-six feet. The chan-
cel is thirty-five feet deep by thirty-seven and a half
feet wide, and is separated from the nave by a hand-
some arch. The total interior length is one hundred
and sixty-one feet. At the north side is a vestry-
room, into which a door opens from the chancel, and
above the vestry-room there is a rector's study. A
gallery is placed across the north and south transepts,
and also at the west end of the nave, where the organ
is situated. At the northwest corner of the building
is the tower, -as yet uncompleted. The structure is
built in the most substantial manner throughout. All
the stone used in the building is the Illinois sand-
stone. The roof of the nave and chancel is open-
timbered, massive in its framing and mouldings, and
richly decorated. The uncompleted tower is to be
one hundred and fifty feet high without spire, and
handsomely ornamented. A stone porch and flying
buttresses are also yet to be built. The walls and
buttresses, and the mullions and tracery of the win-
1722
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
dows, are all of stone. The heavy stone arches of the
chancel, transepts, and nave rest on four columns
four feet in diameter, octagonal in shape and without
capitals, a feature which adds to their apparent
height and the grace of the arches. The lofty clear-
story is supported by octagonal pillars two feet ten
inches in diameter. The seating capacity (including
the transept galleries) is fifteen hundred. The chapel
attached will seat three hundred persons, and has
connected with it rooms for Sunday-school, library,
ladies' charitable meetings, choir rehearsals, and social
gatherings. The windows of the church and chapel
are of stained glass, and the pews and interior fittings
throughout are of black walnut. The pulpit is octago-
nal and of handsome design, as are also the altar, chan-
cel rail, stalls, and prayer-desks. The edifice cost two
hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars, and is un-
equaled in the city, and almost in the United States,
for the massive grandeur of its interior. The rector
reported during 1882 four hundred and thirty-four
communicants, and an attendance at Sunday-school
of two hundred and thirty-nine scholars.
The congregation of Christ Church celebrated the
semi-centennial anniversary of its organization on the
1st of November, 1869. The sermon was preached
by the rector, Rev. Dr. Schuyler.
St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church was the
second Episcopal congregation established in St. Louis.
On the 5th of November, 1839, a preliminary meet-
ing was held in the basement of Christ Church, at
which Bishop Kemper presided, to take into consid-
eration the expediency of establishing a new parish.
It was decided that such action was expedient, and a
committee of thirteen of the leading members of
Christ Church was appointed to co-operate with the
Rev. Mr. Minard in carrying the resolution into effect.
The movement was regarded as being of a missionary
character, and the church was usually spoken of as the
Mission Church. St. Paul's Church was organized,
and the first vestry were elected on the 20th of April,
1840. Its first rector was the Rev. Peter R. Minard,
previously assistant at Christ Church, whose pastorate
lasted from 1840 to 1846. Mr. Minard's successors
were William B. Corbyn, 1846-48; David P. San-
ford, 1850-51 ; William A. Leach, 1851-54; D. Gor- •
don Estes, 1854-55 ; R. E. Terry, 1856-60. During
Mr. Terry's pastorate a new church edifice was con- '
secrated. The congregation had worshiped since its
organization in a building at the corner of Fifth and
Wash Streets, for which five thousand dollars was
paid, but in 1856 this property was sold, and in the
following year lots were purchased at the southwest
corner of Olive and Seventeenth Streets. On this
site a church and rectory were built at a cost of sixty-
four thousand dollars, the work of construction having
been begun in March, 1857, and the corner-stone laid,
Bishop Hawks officiating, May 10, 1857. The church
was finished and consecrated on the 19th of June, 1859.
Dr. Hawks began the service by' reciting the 24th
Psalm, and was followed by the Rev. Mr. Clerc, of
Grace Church, who read the usual form of request for
consecration. The rector, Rev. Mr. Terry, read the
sentence of consecration, and Rev. Mr. Weller, of Jef-
ferson City, and Rev. Mr. Dunn, of Hannibal, read
the prayers. The lessons were read by the Rev. Mr.
Clerc, of Grace Church. Bishop Hawks preached
; the consecration sermon, after which the communion
was celebrated. The location of the church was at
that time more westerly than that of any other Prot-
\ estant Church in the city. It was of Gothic archi-
tecture, with a front of sixty feet and a depth of one
hundred and twenty feet. The tower rose to a height
! of eighty feet, and the front elevation was fifty feet
from the pavement. An organ " of the workmanship
of Messrs. Pilcher & Brother," of St. Louis, was
placed in the building.
Rev. R. E. Terry, rector of the church, studied law
in the office of Henry S. Geyer, of St. Louis, and prac-
ticed his profession for two years in Howard County.
He then studied theology, and was ordained a minis-
ter of the Protestant Episcopal Church. On assuming
the pastorate he found that the number of commu-
nicants had dwindled to thirty-five. The congre-
gation soon removed from Fifth and Wash Streets,
where it had previously been established, to the hall
of the Washington University, and services were held
at the latter place until plans could be matured for the
erection of the proposed new church. Through Mr.
Terry's energetic labors, seconded by those of the con-
gregation, the erection of the new building was pushed
rapidly to completion. In 1861 the church had be-
come so heavily encumbered with debt that the con-
gregation was forced to sell the property, and St.
Paul's became extinct.
St. Paul's Church (P. E.), Third near Lafayette
Street, South St. Louis (Carondelet), Rev. Joseph De
Forest, rector, was organized in the summer of 1868,
and held its first services August 30th of that year.
The service was read by Rev. Charles Stewart, and the
sermon was preached by Rev. E. F. Berkley. The
congregation worshiped in rented halls until its present
church was built. The property cost about five thou-
sand dollars. The rectors have been the Revs. Charles
Stewart, 1868-69; W. G. Spencer, D.D., 1869-70 ;
M. S. Woodruff, 1870-72 ; 0. H. Staples, 1873-79 ;
J. P. T. Ingraham, 1879-81 ; and the present pas-
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1723
tor since 1881. The church reports thirty-eight
families and seventy-five communicants connected
with the congregation, and three teachers with sixty
children in the Sunday-school.
St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church. — A
meeting of Episcopalians in favor of forming a parish
in the southern part of St. Louis was held in Christ
Church Oct. 12, 1841. Rev. Mr. Minard was chosen
chairman, and J. W. Twitchell acted as secretary. On
the 28th of December, 1861, St. John's Church was
formally organized and the first vestry elected. At
the same time the Rev. Whiting Griswold was chosen
rector. Services were held at first on the upper floor
of an engine-house, on Second Street south of Plum,
it being deemed inexpedient to build a church at that
time, owing to the financial embarrassment of the
mother parish, — Christ Church. Subsequently a
brick edifice was erected on leased ground at the
corner of Fifth and Spruce Streets. This was re-
placed by another brick structure, seating five hundred
persons, erected at the southeast corner of Sixth and
Spruce Streets, which was consecrated by Bishop
Hawks in the latter part of August, 1853. This
property was sold in 1871 for fifteen thousand dollars,
for the use of the Italian Catholic congregation.
Rev. Whiting Griswold, first rector, died on the
24th of July, 1849, from congestion of the brain,
superinduced by overwork during the yellow fever
pestilence. At the time of Mr. Griswold's death a
lot had been purchased at Eighth and Gratiot Streets
and the foundation laid for a new church edifice.
After that clergyman's death the vestry were com-
pelled to sell the lot, but in 1852, during the pastorate
of the Rev. Francis J. Clerc, they purchased the
property at Sixth and Spruce Streets and erected a
small church, as previously stated. Over the chancel
a mural tablet was placed in memory of Mr. Griswold.
The erection of the present edifice was begun in
1870, and the corner-stone was laid by the Right
Rev. C. F. Robertson, bishop of the diocese, on the
1st of August, 1871. The new church, situated at
the northeast corner of Hickory and Dolman Streets,
was completed in 1872, after designs by F. W. Reader.
The building is of brick, and is one of the most beau-
tiful churches in the city. Besides the main struc-
ture, it has Sunday-school- and lecture-rooms, rector's
study, library, etc. Its rectors have been the Revs.
Whiting Griswold, 1841-49 ; Francis J. Clerc, 1849-
57 ; William R. Johnson, 1858 ; John Coleman, D.D.,
1859-61; William G. Spencer, 1861-68; J. P. T.
Ingraham, D.D., 1868-79 ; and the present pastor,
Rev. Joseph T. Wright, since 1880. The communi-
cants reported for 1882 number two hundred and
thirty-seven, and the Sunday-school had nine teachers
and an average attendance of one hundred scholars.
Grace Protestant Episcopal Church, Eleventh
and Warren Streets, Rev. J. P. T. Ingraham, rector,
I was organized in May, 1844. Its site was a lot of
i ground in the Chambers tract, North St. Louis. This
property was orignally owned by Col. William Cham-
bers, of Kentucky, an officer of the United States
army stationed in St. Louis, who purchased it in
1816. Several years later Col. Chambers sold one-
third of the tract to Maj. Thomas Wright, and an-
other third to William Christy, father-in-law of Maj.
Wright. Soon after the admission of Missouri as a
State, Messrs. Chambers, Wright, and Christy united
in a plan for the establishment of a town upon their
property. A plat of the proposed town was made,
and four parcels of land were dedicated to the general
use of the city. One of these, designated as " Circle
No. 3," was set apart " for the purpose of erecting a
! house of worship and a burying-ground, to be opened
for the interment of all denominations of religious
persons." The street around this circle was named
Church Street, but was afterwards known as Marion
Alley. The circle afterwards became the site of
Grace Church and graveyard. It was about three
hundred feet in diameter, and contained nearly one
and three-quarter acres in area. Subsequently the
heirs and assigns of the proprietors disputed the title
of Grace Church to the cemetery lot, and litigation
followed. Bishop Hawks, in an address to the Dio-
cesan Convention in 1860, gave the following account
of the organization of Grace Church :
" Acting by the advice of my friend, that learned member of
the bar, Mr. Josiah Spalding, then senior warden of Christ
Church, of which I was rector, and with the hearty co-operation
of the Rev. P. R. Minard, then rector of St. Paul's Church, St.
Louis, and Mr. Calvin Case, a zealous layman in North St.
Louis, all of whom are now deceased, I caused a subscription to
be raised in North St. Louis, to which two-thirds of the inhab-
itants subscribed, to build an Episcopal Church upon that
ground. Having obtained this, I filed the record and inclosed
the ground. Grace Church was then organized, and soon a
small church building was erected. Messrs. Cressy, AVeller,
and Woodward were- the successive pastors in this weak enter-
prise. At length the Rev. Mr. Clerc became the rector, and
under him the old edifice was beautifully enlarged, and, thus
enlarged, it was my comfort to consecrate it. The property, in
the day when it was given, was considered of little value, but
with the growth of our city has become very valuable. It is
not far, too, from our Orphans' Home, and, from its position
alone, has become almost the chapel and the guardian, as
spiritual things, of that institution."
The charter of Grace Church recites that, whereas
Circle No. 3, "just west of Sixth Street," had been
set apart for the erection of a house of worship thereon,
and the inhabitants of North St. Louis had organized
1724
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
an association for worship according to the forms and
discipline of the Protestant Episcopal Church, there-
fore " the undersigned, proprietors and representatives"
of the original proprietors, agreed, in consideration of
the premises and of one dollar paid to them by Martha
T. Christy, of North St. Louis, to relinquish and con-
vey to her all their right and title to the property in
question. This instrument was executed on the 31st
of May, 1844, and was signed by M. T. Christy,
Mary A. Wright, M. N. Taylor, and M. F. Christy.
A supplementary agreement was entered into to the
effect that, inasmuch as the property for the church
edifice had been secured and a vestry organized, the
subscribers would pay to Calvin Case, treasurer of
the vestry, the sums set opposite their names. The
signatures of one hundred and ten persons were sub-
scribed to this document, attached to which was the
acknowledgment of Archibald Carr, justice of the
peace, that Calvin Case had sworn that the list of sub-
scribers comprised two-thirds of the heads of families
residing in North St. Louis on the 9th of April, 1845.
The Mrs. Martha T. Christy mentioned in the charter
as trustee for the property was the widow of William
Christy, and the most active of the persons engaged
in the work of organizing the church and establish-
ing the cemetery. Among the members of the first
vestry and most of the successive vestries were
Dr. Alfred Heacock, Dwight Durkee, Hon. Isaac
H. Sturgeon, Thomas L. Sturgeon, Daniel A. Rollins,
Benjamin O'Fallon, Joseph Branch, and John Hal-
sell. Henry Overstolz, afterwards mayor of the city,
was a vestryman of this church in 1850, and Hon.
Erastus Wells was a member of the vestry in 1854.
The cemetery was consecrated by Bishop Hawks, and
the erection of the church edifice was begun in 1846.
The building was not completed until 1851, but ser-
vices were held in it without intermission after its
construction had been sufficiently far advanced to per-
mit of its use. It was a wooden structure, in the
form of a cross, and with a steeple, and stood on ele-
vated ground, the entrance being reached by a long
flight of steps. In I860 the building was enlarged,
and on the 15th of April of that year was conse-
crated by Bishop Hawks, assisted by Rev. Dr. Schuy-
ler, of Christ Church, Rev. Dr. Coleman, of St.
John's, Rev. Mr. Terry, of St. Paul's, Rev. Mr.
Berkley, of St. George's, Rev. Mr. Clark, of Calvary,
and Rev. Mr. Clerc, rector of the parish. The con-
secration sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. Cole-
man. In 1881 the ground, which was twenty feet
above the grade of the street, was cut away, and the
church, which had faced the east, was let down and
turned so as to face the south, and was greatly im-
proved. It will now seat seven hundred persons. The
parsonage, which stood a few steps from the church,
was erected during the pastorate of the Rev. Mr.
Woodward. The renovated church was reconsecrated
Sunday, May 28, 1882. As it had once been for-
mally consecrated by the bishop, it was deemed un-
necessary to repeat the ceremonies in full, and a con-
secration prayer merely was therefore offered. The
services were conducted by the pastor, Rev. Dr.
Ingraham, and his assistant, the Rev. Mr. Phelps.
Dr. Ingraham preached the consecration sermon, in
the course of which he stated that the amount re-
quired to defray the cost of the alterations, payment
of the old debt, etc., was ten thousand five hundred
dollars. Of this sum five thousand dollars had been
given and pledged by Joseph W. Branch, and over
five thousand dollars more by the parishioners, leav-
ing an indebtedness still remaining of one thousand
three hundred and thirty dollars.
The rectors of St. John's have been the Revs. E.
H. Cressy, 1845-48; R. H. Weller, 1850-51; W.
H. Woodward, 1851-58 ; Francis J. Clerc, 1858-60 ;
Bishop C. S. Hawks, D.D., 1863-67; William L.
Githens, 1868-73; William N. Webbe, 1873-74;
William L. Githens, 1874-77 ; Abiel Leonard, 1877
-78 ; J. Gierlow, Ph. D., 1878-81 ; J. P. T. Ingraham,
1881. Dr. Ingraham is still the rector. Rev. Philip
McKim and Benjamin O'Fallon were respectively as-
sistant rector and lay reader of the church in its early
days. According to the report of the rector for 1882,
there were ninety communicants and sixteen teachers
and one hundred and sixty children in the Sunday-
school.
St. George's Protestant Episcopal Church, is
situated at the northwest corner of Beaumont and
Chestnut Streets, Rev. John Fulton, D.D., rector.
The organization of this parish grew out of the loss
of Kernper College, which was sold for debt in 1845,
while Rev. E. Carter Hutchinson was its president.
Some time before Bishop Hawks was invited to be-
come rector of Christ Church, Mr. Hutchinson had
received a call from the vestry, but had declined it,
his friends wishing him to remain at the head of the
college. When the college was sold, many who were
attached to him, in order to retain him in the diocese,
proposed to organize a parish of which he should be
the rector, and under date of March 22, 1845, ad-
dressed to Bishop Hawks the following petition :
" The undersigned, being anxious to advance the interests of
the Protestant Episcopal Church in this growing city, beg leave
to state that the medical faculty of the St. Louis University have
generously offered the use of their hall, on Washington Avenue,
between Tenth and Eleventh Streets, as a house of religious wor-
ship, during the spring, summer, and autumn months. As there
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1725
is a rapidly increasing population in that neighborhood, we
deem it important that a speedy effort should be made to pre-
sent the claims of the church there. We understand there is a
canon of the church forbidding a clergyman to officiate within
the limits of a city where there are regularly organized churches
without the consent of the settled rector or rectors. We do,
therefore, most respectfully and earnestly solicit your permis-
sion and co-operation in the furtherance of our wishes. We
have understood that the Rev. Mr. Hutchinson, late president
of Kemper College, will probably spend some months in this
vicinity for the purpose of arranging some matters of business, '
and although he has not been advised with by us on the sub-
ject, we are not without hope that his services may be procured
in aid of this important object." Signed, James Hutton,
Robert Ranken, James Gresham, Robert C. Greer, David H.
Armstrong, Frederic L. Billon, Isaiah Forbes, W. Carr Lane, II . j
S. Geyer, B. H. Randolph, Edward Tracy, Thomas Shore, Samuel
B. Churchill, H. W. Chambers, Thomas T. Russell, Charles j
Pettit, Z. B. Curtis, T. S. Rutherford, P. H. McBride, Edward j
E. Archer, B. H. Batte, Henry C. Hart, David M. Hill, Henry !
B. Belt, Josiah Spalding, Britton A. Hill, M. S. Gray, J. O'Fal-
lon, W. H. Pritchartt, Henry Von Phul, G. Erskine, Edward
Mead, William Glasgow, R. Wash, Win. Smith, H. S. Case,
Thomas Skinker, Edward Stagg, J. S. B. Alleyne, Julius Mo- !
rise, Edward Charless, John D. Daggett, Dr. John Shore, F. •
W. Southack.
The necessary consent having been obtained, a
meeting was held in the hall of the St. Louis Lyceum,
Gen. William Milburn presiding, and a new parish
organized, with the Rev. E. C. Hutchinson as rector,
and John O'Fallon, Henry S. Geyer, William Milburn,
Thomas Shore, James Henry, Josephus W. Hall, and
Josiah Dent as vestrymen. The name of St. George j
was given to the church by the rector, after a church
of the same name in New York, in charge of Dr.
Milnor, a leader of the Evangelical school, the doc- ]
trines of which were indorsed by Mr. Hutchinson. j
On May 13, 1846, the church was admitted into the
Diocesan Convention, and reported fifty-five commu-
nicants. For nearly two years the services were held
in the morning at the public school-house on Sixth
Street, and in the afternoon at the Methodist Church
on Fifth Street. The first church building erected
by the parish stood on Locust Street near Seventh,
and was dedicated April 13, 1847. In 1851, Rev.
S. G. Gassaway, of Georgetown, D. C., was chosen
assistant rector. Questions which had arisen as to
the administration, and afterwards as to the loss of
Kemper College, of which Mr. Hutchinson was one
of the creditors, caused much feeling and division,
and although St. George's Church was built expressly
for its first rector, and many of his friends thought
that he should have remained and outlived the oppo-
sition which had begun to be manifested, after an
assistant minister had been called Mr. Hutchinson
resigned, in 1852, and three years later organized
Trinity Church. Mr. Gassaway then became rector. |
He was one of the victims of the explosion of the I
St. Louis and Alton packet, just after it had left the
St. Louis wharf, Feb. 16, 1854. His many virtues
and zealous devotion to his parish had greatly en-
deared him to his parishioners, who presented his
family with five thousand dollars, and erected to his
memory a marble tablet, which was placed in the
church, and subsequently removed to the walls of the
new building and placed near the font.
The rectors of the church since then have been
Rev. William Colvin Brown, deacon, ordained priest
Dec. 10, 1854; Rev. T. A. Hopkins, son of Bishop
Hopkins, of Vermont, called July 8, 1855, resigned
in the fall of 1857 ; Rev. Edward F. Berkley, D.D., of
Lexington, Ky.,1 took charge Nov. 20, 1858, resigned
Dec. 5, 1871 ; Rev. Robert A. Holland, of Baltimore,
called Jan. 1, 1872, resigned Nov. 1, 1879, to take
charge of Trinity Church. Chicago ; Rev. S. W.
Young, of Canada, had temporary oversight of the
parish until the present rector entered upon his duties
(April 4, 1880). After the death of Mr. Gassaway,
St. George's parish fell off from one hundred and
fifty-five communicants to sixty-eight ; the indebted-
ness increased from six thousand nine hundred dollars
to over ten thousand dollars, and in February, 1855,
a number of the members withdrew to form Trinity
Church. In 1856, however, the Rev. Mr. Hopkins
reported one hundred and sixty-six communicants and
the church free from debt. In 1857 the church
bought a lot in Bellefontaine cemetery for the inter-
ment of its indigent communicants. In 1860 the
organ which is still in use was bought for four thou-
sand three hundred dollars. At the close of the war,
in 1865, the church was in debt to the extent of fif-
teen thousand dollars, but this was fully paid off in
1866. In September, 1868, the Diocesan Conven-
tion, which elected Bishop Robertson, was held in
this church. In 1871 the present site of the church
was bought for eighteen thousand six hundred and
fifty-six dollars, and in 1872 the first church build-
ing and lot on Locust Street were sold to John R.
Shepley for fifty thousand dollars, although services
1 A controversy having arisen as to the mode in which Henry
Clay, the Whig statesman, was baptized, the Rev. Mr. Berkley,
who had officiated at that ceremony and who also read the fu-
neral service at the interment of Clay at Lexington, Ky., was
appealed to by W. A. Beil, of Paducah, Ky., for information on
the subject. Mr. Berkley replied that Mr. Clay was baptized
in his parlor at Ashland on the 22d of June, 1847, in the
form ordinarily observed in the Episcopal Church, — i.e., "by
pouring a handful of water on his head in the name of the
Holy Trinity." One of bis daughters-in-law and four of his
granddaughters were baptized in the same way. It had been
asserted that Mr. Clay had been baptized by immersion, but this
statement was specifically denied by Mr. Berkley.
1726
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
continued to be held there until the chapel of the new
building was completed, May 1, 1873. The corner-
stone of the present church edifice was laid May 30,
1873, and the first services in the completed church
were held on Easter Sunday, 1874. The building is
cruciform, the nave being one hundred and fourteen
by fifty-five feet, and the transepts seventy-seven by
twenty-five feet. The height from the street to the
finial of the spire is one hundred and forty-five feet.
The seating capacity is eight hundred. The property
cost in all one hundred and fifteen thousand dollars, !
and a debt of fifty-nine thousand dollars which re- j
mained at the time of completion was entirely canceled
in May, 1879. The present officers of the church
are : Senior Warden, John W. Luke ; Junior Warden,
Joseph W. Branch ; Secretary, D. E. Garrison ; '
Treasurer, M. W. Alexander ; Vestry, Edwin Harri- !
son, Isaac M. Mason, Hugh Rogers, John G. Wells,
H. T. Simon, H. H. Curtis, John D. Pope, John C.
Orrick, and Western Bascome. The number of com-
municants in 1882 was two hundred and seventy-five,
and the Sunday-school pupils numbered four hun- i
dred.
Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church is situ-
ated at the northwest comer of Washington Avenue
and Eleventh Street. Rev. George C. Betts is its
rector. In the sketch of St. George's Church it was
stated that Rev. E. Carter Hutchinson, D.D., resigned
the rectorship of that parish in 1852, much against
the wishes of a large number of his friends. These
friends at once conceived the project of organizing a
new parish for him, but nearly three years elapsed
before their efforts were successful. In February,
1855, however, Trinity parish was organized, mainly
by members of St. George's, who withdrew for the
purpose, and who elected as the first vestry, James
W. Finley, senior warden; T. S. Rutherford, junior
warden ; and L. Levering, C. Derby, N. Phillips, T.
Skinker, W. M. Price, M. Moody, S. 0. Butler, T.
Griffiths, L. P. Perry, E. Barry, and J. Y. Page,
vestrymen. The new congregation met at first, and
for some months, in St. Paul's Church, corner of
Fifth and Wash Streets. A hall was then rented
from the Cumberland Presbyterians, at Eleventh '
and St. Charles Streets, and later a building which :
' ~
had been used by the Congregationalists on Locust
between Tenth and Eleventh Streets. The present
site of the church was leased for a term of forty years
from Feb. 1, 1859, Messrs. Derby, Powell, and
Shands being the selecting committee, and in October,
1859, the erection of the building was begun. The
corner-stone of the church was laid with impressive ;
services by Bishop Hawks, assisted by several other '
clergymen, on March 14, 1860, and the rector, Dr.
Hutchinson, preached his first sermon in the com-
pleted building, then considered one of the finest in
the city, on June 20, 1861. The structure was sixty-
six feet long, forty-seven feet wide, and fifty-six feet
high. The number of communicants June 20, 1861,
was one hundred and thirty. On Jan. 22, 1865, the
church was burned down, but was immediately re-
built and again consecrated Aug. 27, 1865. It is a
neat stone edifice, with a seating capacity of nearly
seven hundred, and has a chapel and Sunday-school
room in the rear. Dr. Hutchinson resigned the rec-
torship Feb. 1, 1869, and was succeeded by Rev. J.
D. Easter, D.D., who served until 1872. During
this period the parish suffered greatly from financial
embarrassments and the withdrawal of its members,
several of whom joined in organizing the Church of
the Holy Communion. Rev. Joseph Cross, D.D.,
served as rector for a few months in 1872, but on the
15th of November, 1872, Bishop Robertson assumed
the rectorship, with Rev. Edwin Coan as assistant,
and under their management strenuous efforts were
made to clear off the debt. Several changes were in-
troduced, one that remains yet being the substitution
for the paid choir of one composed of surpliced men
and boys, whose music has become justly celebrated.
The present rector entered upon his duties on Easter,
1876. Under his ministrations the church has pros-
pered, and is now in a fair way to clear off all incum-
brances. When the lease expires in 1899, or perhaps
sooner, the parish will probably be prepared for a re-
moval farther west. The congregation at present
numbers about one hundred families, or four hundred
and fifty persons, with two hundred and seventy-five
communicants. The Sunday-school is attended by
ten teachers and eighty scholars.
The Protestant Episcopal Church of the Holy
Communion, situated at the northwest corner of
Twenty-eighth Street (Leffingwell Avenue) and Wash-
ington Avenue, Rev. P. G. Robert, rector, grew out
of a mission Sunday-school in connection with Trinity
Church (Rev. Dr. Hutchinson, rector), with William
H. Thomson superintendent, which was held in a
brick school-house on Morgan Street, near Garrison
Avenue. This building had been fitted up for relig-
ious purposes, and services were held in it thence-
forward every Tuesday evening, the city clergy
officiating in turn. After several unsuccessful efforts
the parish was finally organized Jan. 24, 1869,
its first vestry consisting of Francis Webster and
William T. Mason, wardens ; Francis Carter, James
Wilgus, N. G. Hart, William J. Lewis, R. W. Powell,
R. M. Wilson, H. G. Isaacs, L. E. Alexander, Wil-
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1727
liam H. Thomson, Elijah Welles, and J. T. Utter-
back. Francis Carter was elected clerk, and L. E. Alex-
ander treasurer. Rev. P. G. Robert, then at Little
Rock, was chosen rector, and preached his first ser-
mon June 6, 1869. A lot was bought on the corner
of Washington and Ewing Avenues, which was sub-
sequently exchanged for the present site, which is
eighty and three-twelfths feet in width, and cost twelve
thousand dollars. Ground was broken June 15,
1870, and a chapel (now the transept) was built and
first occupied Dec. 18, 1870. The little school-
house on Morgan Street, which this congregation had
up to this period used, was the property of William
J. Lewis (one of the vestrymen), who had given the
use of it, rent free, for five years. Its site is now oc-
cupied by a residence. Work on the nave was begun
June 15, 1876, the first stone was laid July 2, 1876,
and the whole church was opened for service on Easter
Eve, March 31, 1877. The building is of stone, and
one hundred and twenty -five feet in depth, and it
contains seven hundred and two sittings. In this
church no pews are sold, and the singing is congre-
gational, these having been two of the conditions
upon which the rector took charge of the parish.
Nearly all the furniture and ornaments of the church
are memorials of deceased persons. The sacred ves-
sels were manufactured from silver relics of departed
friends, some of the articles being nearly two hundred
years old, contributed for the purpose by members
of the congregation. The communion-plate was
first used Jan. 2, 1876, and the alms-basin on the
Easter following. While the nav,e of the church
was building the congregation worshiped in a wooden
chapel which they had purchased from Dr. Brank's
congregation. The parish began with twenty-three
communicants, and now numbers four hundred and
seven. Its membership embraces two hundred and
twenty families. The Sunday-school has twenty-
seven teachers and an attendance of two hundred and
seventy-five pupils. Connected with the church are
the Parish Aid Society, Maternity Society for assist-
ing poor women, Young Ladies' Sewing Circle, and
the Parish Missionary Society, all in vigorous opera-
tion, and the Parish Guild. The Parish Record, a
four-page monthly journal, is published by an asso-
ciation of members of the parish. Its first number
was issued Nov. 28, 1880.
Mount Calvary Protestant Episcopal Church,
southwest corner of Lafayette and Jefferson Avenues,
Rev. Benjamin E. Reed, rector, was organized Sept.
6, 1870, in Compton Hill Mission school-house, a
small frame building on Henrietta Street, north of
Lafayette Avenue. Prominent among its founders
were George D. Appleton, Wells Hendershott, Lewis
Lipman, James 0. Broadhead, T. A. Hutchins,
David Davis, and Hugh Davis. Henry Shaw gave
a lot, one hundred and seventy-five by four hundred
feet, at the head of Lafayette Avenue, on Grand Av-
enue, and on this, through the munificence of George
D. Appleton, who defrayed nearly the entire cost, a
beautiful church was built at an expenditure, for build-
ing, furniture, etc., of about twelve thousand dollars.
It was consecrated in 1871. C. B. Clark was the arch-
itect. The rectors have been Rev. W. 0. Jarvis, who
took charge Jan. 23, 1871, resigned Jan. 31, 1872;
Rev. Dr. Hedges (pro fern.), resigned Sept. 30, 1872 ;
Rev. Benjamin E. Reed, took charge Dec. 25, 1873.
In the spring of 1877, the congregation having grown
too large for the building, and the remoteness of the
situation rendering its removal advisable, a joint-stock
company was formed, under the title of " The Mount
Calvary Building Association," which having pur-
chased a lot seventy-five by one hundred and forty
feet on Lafayette and Jefferson Avenues, erected
(1877-78) a chapel with a seating capacity of three
hundred and fifty, and at a cost of ten thousand dol-
lars. This also has since proved too contracted, and
the parish is contemplating the building of a large
and handsome church capable of seating from eight
hundred to one thousand. The present rector is also
chaplain of the Episcopal Orphans' Home. The
property on Grand Avenue still belongs to the parish.
There are several societies belonging to the congrega-
tion,— a Humane Society (organized in 1872) for the
relief of the poor, that has done important work, dis-
tributing in gifts about six hundred dollars per annum ;
a Sewing Society, Young Ladies' Association, Parish
Library, Young Men's Guild, and a Missionary So-
ciety. In 1882 there were one hundred and eighty-
six communicants, and the Sunday-school was attended
by over thirty teachers and three hundred scholars.
Calvary Protestant Episcopal Church, an off-
shoot from Christ Church, was organized in August,
1859, by the Rev. J. W. Clark. Mr. Clark under-
took the work with the understanding that there was
to be no charge for pews or seats. At first the con-
gregation worshiped in Veranda Hall, but soon after
its organization steps were taken for the erection
of a church building at the corner of Morgan and
Twenty-first Streets, after designs by George Mitchell,
of St. Louis. The corner-stone was laid on Sunday,
June 4, 1860. The architecture was Gothic, of the
early English style, and the exterior dimensions of
the building, including vestibule, porch, and bell-gable,
were to be one hundred and thirty-seven by fifty feet,
affording about one thousand sittings. The material
1728
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
to be used was brick with stone dressings, and the j
estimated cost was ten thousand dollars. Had it been
completed it would have been the largest Episcopal
Church in St. Louis, with the exception of the new
Christ Church. The building committee was com- i
posed of E. Morgan, James Duncan, E. J. Cubbage,
and Samuel Spencer. The church was never built.
In his historical address, at the semi-centennial anni-
versary of Christ Church in 1869, Rev. Dr. Schuyler
stated that the enterprise " soon died out."
St. James Protestant Episcopal Church, El-
leardsville, Rev. C. S. Hedges, D.D., rector, was or-
ganized in 1870 (services having been held for a year
before that), in which year the building of the church
was begun. The edifice was completed and conse-
crated by Bishop Robertson, May 29, 1871. The
rectors have been Revs. J. I. Corbyn, 1870-74 ;
Louis S. Schuyler, 1874-75 ; D. E. Barr, 1875-76 ;
and the present pastor since 1876. In 1882 there
were twenty communicants, and forty pupils in the
Sunday-school.
The Protestant Episcopal Church of the Holy
Innocents, Oak Hill, Rev. Thomas H. Gordon, rec-
tor, was organized in the spring of 1871, Rev. Edwin
Wickins holding the first services. The rectors have
been the Revs. A. I. Samuels, M.D., 1871-72 ; J.
N. Chestnutt, 1872-73 ; Louis S. Schuyler, 1873-
78 ; A. Batte, 1879-80 ; Thomas H. Gordon since
1881. The church has no building of its own. The
last report of the rector stated that there were fifty-
five communicants, and ninety individuals connected
with the Sunday-school.
The Protestant Episcopal Mission Church of
the Good Shepherd, Eighth Street, between Lan-
caster and Pestalozzi Streets, Rev. H. A. Grantham,
rector, was organized in March, 1871, in a building
on Seventh Street, near Sidney, where the congrega-
tion worshiped until the completion of the present
chapel in 1873. This building has since been en-
larged. The rectors have been the Revs. Edwin
Wickins, 1871-73 ; M. A. Hyde, 1873-75 ; H. D.
Jardine, 1875-79 ; and the present rector since 1881.
The communicants number one hundred and five, and
the Sunday-school is attended by five teachers and fifty
pupils.
St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church, Grand
Avenue, between Olive Street and Washington Ave-
nue, Rev. Edward F. Berkley, D.D., rector, was or-
ganized by its present rector in 1872, in a hall on
the northeast corner of Jefferson Avenue and Olive
Street, where worship was continued until the chapel
now occupied was finished, in the fall of 1873. This
chapel is of stone, of Gothic architecture, and will
seat two hundred and fifty persons. It stands in the
rear of the lot bought by the church in 1872, on the
northeast corner of Olive Street and Washington
Avenue, the front part of which was sold after the
erection of the chapel, fifty-five by one hundred feet
being retained. The rector reports about sixty com-
municants, and one hundred and twenty pupils in the
Sunday-school.
The Protestant Episcopal Church of the Good
Samaritan, Rev. Cassius M. C. Mason, rector, was
organized in 1873 by Rev. James E. Thompson, for
colored members of the church. It was then called
the Mission of our Saviour, and worshiped in the
chapel of Trinity Church until 1875, when the old
Jewish Synagogue, on Sixth Street, near Cerre", was
purchased for its use. This building, however, was
abandoned in 1881, the location having proved un-
suitable, and the congregation now meets for worship
in Trinity Church, at Eleventh Street and Wash-
ington Avenue. The second and present rector
(appointed Sept. 26, 1880) reports forty-four families,
or two hundred persons, with seventy communicants,
as being connected with his church, and five teachers
with ninety pupils in the Sunday-school.
The Protestant Episcopal Church of the Ad-
vent, Twentieth Street, near Wash, Rev. J. N.
Chestnutt, rector, was formed out of a mission Sun-
day-school which was organized in 1871 and met in
the Masonic Hall, corner of Wash and Eighteenth
Streets, until 1876, when the present building wa#
bought from the Presbyterians. It has since been
much improved. The rectors have been the Revs.
D. E. Barr, 1875-76 ; L. E. Brainerd, 1876-77 ; and
the present pastor since 1877. There are eighty-
three communicants, and ten teachers and seventy-
five pupils in the Sunday-school.
St. Luke's Protestant Episcopal Mission was
begun in 1881 in a hall at the corner of Garrison
and Easton Avenues, where its services are still held.
Rev. John Gierlow, Ph.D., is the rector.
UNITARIAN CHURCHES.
Church of the Messiah. — In the summer of 1830,
Rev. Dr. John Pierrepont, an eminent Unitarian
divine, poet, and temperance advocate, visited St.
Louis and preached in the market-house at Main and
Market Streets. Three years later Rev. George Chap-
man, a Unitarian minister from Louisville, Ky.,
preached three times in the parlor of the National
Hotel, corner of Market and Third Streets, then just
built. There existed in St. Louis at the time a small
band of Unitarians, recent immigrants from New Eng-
land, and among these Christopher Rhodes, James
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1729
Smith, and George H. Callender specially interested
themselves in raising funds to provide for the rent of
a room or hall and the board and lodging expenses of
a minister. Their efforts resulted in the establishment
in November, 1834, of regular religious exercises in
Elihu H. Shepard's school-rooms, opposite the court-
house. The minister was Rev. W. G. Eliot, Jr., then
a recent graduate of the Harvard University Divinity
School, and afterwards one of the most distinguished
preachers and educators of St. Louis. On the 26th
of January, 1835, " The First Congregational Society
of St. Louis" was organized, with C. Rhodes as presi-
dent, and Joseph M. Chadwick as secretary and treas-
urer. On the 1st of November of that year the society
removed from the school-rooms to the third story of
the Masonic Hall, at the corner of Main and Locust
Streets, over John Riggins' store. This building is
still standing, being one of the few business structures
spared by the great fire of 1849. Previous to this,
however, the society had purchased a lot at the corner ;
of Fourth and Pine Streets. The corner-stone of the >
first church located on this site was laid in May, 1836,
and the building was dedicated on the 29th of Octo-
ber, 1837. In 1842 it was enlarged, the addition
being half the original size of the building, which, as
remodeled, presented the appearance of a Grecian
temple of the Doric order. In the winter of 1835-36
an informal association for the care of the poor, which
has continued in active operation ever since, was or-
ganized. The first communion service was held at
Easter, 1836, eight persons participating, and two
years later, the number of communicants having
doubled, a regular church covenant was adopted. In
1836 the first attempt was made to establish a Sun-
day-school, but it failed ; eight teachers appeared, but
no scholars. In the spring of 1837, however, a very
small Sunday-school was organized, which in 1839
was put under the care of Seth A. Ranlett as superin-
tendent, who served as such until 1870. In the fall
of 1840 a "ministry at large" was established, Revs.
Charles H. A. Dall, Mordecai De Lange, Carlos G.
Ward, and Thomas L. Eliot, a son of Dr. Eliot, now
settled at Portland, Oregon, successively, but irregu-
larly, filling the position, and in November, 1841, the
church members resolved themselves into a charitable
association, with the minister at large as agent, for
the conduct of schools for the poor, sewing and in-
dustrial schools, etc. For the use of these schools
some years later a house and lot on Eighth Street,
between Locust and St. Charles, were secured at a cost |
of fifteen thousand dollars. In 1879-80 the present
mission house, a beautiful structure, situated at the
southwest corner of Ninth and Wash Streets, was
erected and endowed, with provision for twenty-five
constant inmates, orphans or neglected children. Here
are conducted a day school of fifty children, for whom
dinner is regularly supplied, and who receive more or
less aid during the winter ; a sewing-school, which
meets on Saturdays, with two hundred and sixty
scholars ; and a Sunday-school with an attendance of
nearly three hundred. Occasional Sunday services are
held, although no minister at large is now employed.
On the 1st of May, 1 850, ground was broken, and
on the 1st of July following the corner-stone of a
second church edifice was laid at the northwest corner
of Olive and Ninth Streets, and the building, though
not quite completed, was dedicated Dec. 7, 1851. It
cost, when finished, one hundred and five thousand
dollars, nearly half of which remained as a debt. For
the purpose of devising a plan for the liquidation of
this debt, a meeting of twenty gentlemen was held
at the house of John Tilden, Oct. 19, 1852. Sub-
sequently, by means of contributions varying from
one hundred to three thousand dollars, several persons
borrowing the money they gave, and the sale of pews,
the whole amount was raised, and when all obligations
were canceled a small amount remained over. The
new church was a beautiful edifice of brick with
stone cappings, and having a seating capacity of
twelve hundred. It was situated on a lot, the dimen-
sions of which were one hundred and five by one
hundred and fifty-two feet, and had two fronts of
seventy and one hundred and twenty feet respectively.
The style of architecture was nominally " mixed
Gothic," but possessed features original with the archi-
tect. Its general effect was that of breadth, solidity,
and spaciousness. The building was regarded at the
time as a model of good workmanship, and as being
one of the finest and most durable church edifices in
the city. The steeple was one hundred and sixty-
seven feet in height, and was covered with thick
copper plates from its base on the tower to its top.
The church was sold in June, 1879, for seventy thou-
sand dollars, and was converted into Pope's Theatre.
Dr. Eliot continued as pastor of the society until the
close of 1872, when he retired to become chancellor
of Washington University, but at various times the
pulpit was filled for continuous terms by other clergy-
men, either in the absence of the pastor or as his as-
sociates. Rev. W. 0. White, of Keene, N. H., served
for several months in 1846-47, and Rev. Robert
Hassal was chosen as "colleague" during 1850, and
Rev. Carlton A. Staples served in the same capacity
from 1857 till October, 1861. Rev. Thomas Lamb
Eliot was ordained as associate pastor in 1865, and
continued as such until December, 1867. Rev. John
1730
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Snyder, of Hingham, Mass., was unanimously elected
to succeed Dr. Eliot as pastor, and was installed April
20, 1873, Rev. Dr. Henry W. Bellows preaching the
installation sermon. On the 6th of July, 1879, the
last services were held in the old church, after which
the congregation worshiped first in a small chapel on
Beaumont Street, then at Pickwick Hall, and then in
the Mission House at Ninth and Wash Streets. In
November, 1879, ground was broken on the site of
the new edifice, at the northeast corner of Garrison
Avenue and Locust Street. The corner-stone was
laid Feb. 1, 1880, and the finished building was ded- j
icated Dec. 16, 1881 (although it had been occupied,
in an unfinished condition, since Dec. 26, 1880), the
sermon being preached by Rev. Dr. Henry W. Bel- |
lows. This discourse was the last from the gifted pen j
of that eminent minister, who died Jan. 30, 1882, in
New York City.
The church is situated on a natural plateau one
hundred and thirty-five feet square, raised several feet
above the surrounding streets, to which the ground
descends in terraces. It is built in the early English
Gothic style, of blue limestone, quarried within the
limits of St. Louis, laid in ashlar, and relieved by
horizontal string-courses of drab sandstone from War-
rensburg, Mo., which was also used for the facings of
the doors and windows. The spire, of stone, is one
hundred and forty-two feet in height, and about it the
different parts of the church are picturesquely arranged
so as to give them the appearance of a group of build-
ings. The furniture is of native, unpainted yellow
pine, and the roof is of open timber-work, resembling
that of Westminster Hall. The windows are nearly
all memorial, — Hudson E. Bridge, Emily Frances
Partridge Eaton, Georgiana C. Louderman, Ebenezer
and Theoline Richards, Henry S. Reed, and Edward
Y. and Susan A. Ware being thus memorialized.
To the memory of James Smith a brass tablet has
been erected in an arch of the eastern wall, and por-
traits of Seth A. Ranlett and of Henry Glover have
been hung in the Sunday-school room. The church
and ground, exclusive of the memorial windows, cost
nearly one hundred and nine thousand dollars, and no
debt remains upon them. In addition to the main
building, which has a seating capacity of seven hun-
dred, there are a chapel which is used for the Sunday-
school, class- and library-rooms, sewing-room, pastor's \
study, a dining-room, and kitchen. The Church of the j
Messiah has always borne a prominent and active part
in benevolent and educational work, and there is no
charity in the city, Protestant, Catholic, or secular,
to which its members have not been contributors. ;
During the last twenty-five years the congregation has
annually given for extra religious work over forty
thousand dollars. There are two hundred and twenty-
five families connected with the congregation, and the
Sunday-school has an average attendance of ten teach-
ers and one hundred and fifty scholars. Rev. John
Snyder is still pastor.
The history of the Church of the Messiah, as will
be seen from the foregoing narrative, is conspicuously
identified with that of the ministry of the Rev. W.
G. Eliot, D.D., president of the Washington Univer-
sity, who was pastor of the congregation from Novem-
ber, 1834, until the close of 1872. Dr. Eliot's career
in St. Louis has been one of remarkable energy, use-
fulness, and self-denying zeal. Both as pastor of the
Church of the Messiah and head of the Washington
University, he has been a prominent figure before the
public of St. Louis for many years, and one of the
ablest and most untiring promoters of religious, benevo-
lent, educational, and reformatory enterprises, as well
as of the moral and social progress of the community
at large. He has been called " the most accomplished
and successful beggar" for charitable objects of modern
times ; and while competency after competency has
been presented to him unconditionally, he has invaria-
bly disposed of them in such manner as he deemed
most likely to produce permanently good results.
Church of the Unity.— The Church of the Unity
(Unitarian) is situated at the northeast corner of Park
and Armstrong Avenues, and the pastor is Rev. J. C.
Learned. In May, 1868, a few gentlemen, antici-
pating the formation of a new Unitarian Society, pur-
chased for twelve thousand five hundred dollars a lot
of ground at the above location, having a frontage of
one hundred and sixty-five feet on Armstrong Avenue.
When, in the following June, the congregation was
organized and incorporated, the ground was conveyed
by its purchasers at cost to the society, the incorpora-
tors of which were William H. Pulsifer, E. S. Rowse,
William H. Maurice, J. S. Cavender, F. B. Homes,
C. L. Dean, William N. Hinchman, J. P. Young, and
C. L. Bush. The trustees set apart for sale seventy-
five feet of the rear of the lot fronting on Park
Avenue, and reserved the corner lot, fronting one hun-
dred and twenty feet on Armstrong Avenue, for the
erection of a large church edifice. Upon the remain-
ing forty- five feet they built a neat Gothic chapel,
thirty-five by sixty feet, and capable of seating two
hundred and fifty persons. The corner-stone was laid
Aug. 5, 1869, Rev. Mr. Staples, of Chicago, formerly
associate of Dr. Eliot in the pastorship of the Church
of the Messiah, and Rev. Mr. Harrison, of Blooming-
ton, 111., officiating. The .building was dedicated
May 15, 1870, the cost of its erection having been
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1731
;about ten thousand dollars. Rev. John C. Learned
ihas been pastor since his appointment in April, 1870.
This church is an offshoot of the Church of the
Messiah, and its creed is based not upon a declaration
of belief, but upon an acknowledgment of duties.
About one hundred families are connected with the
church, and eighteen teachers with one hundred
scholars compose the Sunday-school.
EVANGELICAL CHURCHES.
The earliest German Protestant organization in St.
Louis was that of the " German Evangelical Church
of the Holy Ghost," which was established in 1834.
Its membership embraced both the Lutheran and Re-
formed denominations, which continued to worship
together for nine years. In the year 1842, however,
dissensions arose on points of doctrine, and in July,
1843, the pastor of the Church of the Holy Ghost,
Rev. G. W. Wall, with Messrs. Buenemann, Schmidt,
W. Schrader, Jacob Westerman, and seventy-two
others, who adhered to the doctrines of the Reformed
denomination, withdrew, and on the 31st of July or-
ganized the " German Evangelical Congregation of
St. Louis." They worshiped in the Benton school-
house on Sixth Street, between Locust and St. Charles
Street, until 1845, when they erected two churches,
one called the North Church, afterwards St. Peter's
German Evangelical Church, at Carr and Fifteenth
Streets, and the other known as South Church, after-
wards St. Marcus' or St. Mark's Church, at the corner
of Jackson and Soulard Streets. Both were alike in
size and design, each being thirty by forty feet in
dimensions, and remained the common property of the
congregation until 1856, when a division was effected,
and two distinct churches were organized. " The Ger-
man Evangelical Congregation of St. Louis," organized
in July, 1843, formed the nucleus of the "Evangel-
ical Synod of the West," which has since spread
over the United States. This Synod, in conjunction
with a few congregations in Canada, is called " The
German Evangelical Synod of North America," and
being the American Branch of the Prussian State
Church, it receives biennially the interest on a large
fund which was subscribed some twenty years ago by
the Evangelical congregations of Prussia for the
benefit of their brethren in this country. The Ger-
man Protestant Orphans' Home, formerly within the
city limits, but now ten miles from the court-house
on St. Charles Rock road, was organized by the Ger-
man Evangelical Synod, as was also the Good Sa-
maritan Hospital, Twenty-fifth and O'Fallon Streets.
The same Synod is about to erect near St. Louis a
building for its theological seminary. This seminary,
under the name of the Missouri College, has been
located for about thirty-five years at Femme Osage,
in St. Charles County, Mo., but will soon be removed
to St. Louis. A building-site of eighteen acres has
been secured on the St. Charles Rock road, seven
miles from the court-house, just on the edge of the
city limits, at an expense of nine thousand eight hun-
dred dollars. Plans for the main building have been
prepared, and the work is under way. The main
building will have a front of one hundred and sixty-
four feet, basement, three stories and attic, with tower.
It will contain all the modern improvements, and
have room for one hundred students. The cost, with-
out furniture, will be fifty -six thousand dollars, and
it will be completed by the fall of 1883. Rev. Louis
Haeberle is inspector of the institution, and Rev. C.
Kungmann the first professor, besides other teachers
from the city. The Synod is divided into seven dis-
tricts, and has four hundred and fifty ministers and
upwards of five hundred congregations. It owns
another college for ministers and teachers at Edin-
burgh, Page Co., 111., sixteen miles northwest of
Chicago.
The Independent Evangelical Church of the
Holy Ghost was the outgrowth of the original Ger-
man Evangelical Church of the Holy Ghost, which,
as previously stated, was organized in 1834, and com-
prised both the Lutheran and Reformed congregations.
The old congregation first met in the Methodist build-
ing at Fourth Street and Washington Avenue, but in
January, 1839, removed to the directory of the First
Presbyterian Church, on Fourth Street, between Wash-
ington Avenue and St. Charles Street. It had pre-
viously purchased a lot at Seventh Street and Clark
Avenue, and here a building was erected and dedi-
cated on the 9th of August, 1840. Rev. G. W. Wall
had been appointed pastor in December, 1836, and
was assisted at the dedication by the Rev. Louis E.
Nollau, pastor of what was then known as the
Gravois settlement. In 1843 the division of the
congregation, resulting from the withdrawal of the
adherents of the Reformed Evangelical Church, led
to the organization of the remaining members of the
congregation into the Independent Evangelical Church,
which has continued as such ever since. In 1858 the
present church, situated at the corner of Eighth and
Walnut Streets, and known for some years as Pastor
Krebs' Church, was erected. It is a substantial brick
building, with a Gothic front, seating about two thou-
sand persons, and has a parochial residence attached.
In 1869 three schools had been organized in connec-
tion with the church, — one in the basement of the
building on Eighth Street, with one hundred and
1732
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
seventy-five scholars ; one on Eleventh Street, be-
tween Carr and Biddle, with four hundred scholars ;
and the third on Decatur Street, between Geyer
Avenue and Ann Street, with about one hundred
and fifty scholars. The church is now so far from
the residence centre of the city that a removal farther
west will doubtless soon be effected. The congrega-
tion numbers two hundred and fifty families, with
five hundred communicants, and there are six teach-
ers and sixty scholars connected with the Sunday-
school. Rev. J. G. Eberhard is the pastor.
St. Marcus or St. Mark's German Evangelical
Church., situated at the corner of Soulard and Jack-
son Streets, Rev. John H. Nollau, pastor, was one of
the three churches which sprang from the old Ger-
man Evangelical Church of the Holy Ghost, the his-
tory of which, with which its own is identical until
July, 1843, has already been narrated. On the 31st
of that month Pastor Wall and seventy-six members
of the original congregation withdrew and organized
the German Evangelical congregation, from which
subsequently sprang both St. Mark's and St. Peter's
Churches. A building known as the South Church
was erected at Soulard and Jackson Streets, and was
dedicated on the 14th of December, 1845. Its di-
mensions were thirty by forty-five, and it remained,
together with the North Church, the joint property
of the association until 1856. In that year the con-
gregation was divided, and the church at Soulard and
Jackson Streets was thenceforth known as St. Mark's.
Pastor Wall was called to the Gravois settlement,
and Pastors Cavizel, Ries, and Baltzer preached at
both city churches until the separation in 1856, when
Pastor Baltzer remained with St. Mark's until Sep-
tember, 1848, and was followed by Pastor Meier,
until May, 1849, and Rev. W. Binner, until May,
1850, who resigned to take the presidency of the
Evangelical Seminary at Marthasville. Pastor Wall
was then recalled, and remained until his death, April
20, 1867. During his pastorate of seventeen years
he twice represented the American congregations at
the General Synod held in 1852 at Bremen, Germany,
(Rev. C. Nestel supplying the pulpit in his absence),
and in 1864 at Altenburg, Germany. During his
absence on this occasion Rev. P. F. Meusch offi-
ciated at St. Peter's. In the spring of 1866 the first
church building was torn down and the present one
erected on its site. The corner-stone was laid Auir.
12, 1866, and the building dedicated Aug. 4, 1867.
It is a two-story brick building with stone ornamenta-
tion, and its dimensions are fifty and one-half feet by
ninety feet. Its seating capacity is eight hundred
persons, and its whole cost, including organ and fur-
nishing, was thirty thousand three hundred and twelve
dollars. The church lot is one hundred feet square,
and contains also a parsonage and three large class-
rooms, in which a parochial school is conducted.
Pastor Meier, a student of the seminary, preached for
a few months after the death of Pastor Wall, and
subsequently Rev. Henry Braschler became pastor,
and remained until May, 1875. He was succeeded
by Rev. J. Hoffman, who served until the fall of
1877, and Rev. J. H. Nollau, who has been pastor
since Dec. 10, 1877. In 1856 this church bought a
cemetery, known as St. Mark's, on Gravois road, seven
miles from the court-house, and containing about
thirty-seven acres. Before this it owned, in common
with St. Peter's Church, a cemetery on Cherokee
Street and Lemp Avenue, which has not been used
for burial purposes since 1857. Connected with the
church are a Benevolent Ladies' Society, reorganized
October, 1877, and having now one hundred and one
members ; a Young Men's Christian Association, or-
ganized 1879 ; a Young Ladies' Society, organized
February, 1882, and having forty-five members ; a
day school, established when the congregation was
first organized, and which is attended by from sixty
to one hundred pupils, under the charge of C.
Braeutigam, and a Sunday-school with twenty-three
teachers and six hundred and fifty pupils, organized
in 1873, the pastor being its superintendent. The
congregation numbers about one hundred and twenty
families.
St. Peter's German Evangelical Church was one
of the two Reformed congregations founded by Pas-
tor Wall, of the Church of the Holy Ghost, in 1843.
It was' organized in 1844, and the first building occu-
pied was erected at the corner of Sixth Street and
Franklin Avenue in 1846, but was torn down on the
removal (in 1850) of the congregation to the present
building at Fifteenth and Carr Streets. It is a plain
brick structure, with a steeple, and its dimensions are
thirty by forty-five feet, with a seating capacity, in-
cluding the gallery, of about one thousand. The first
pastor was the Rev. Mr. Ries, the elders at that time
being W. Shrader, H. Saeger, F. Riecke, W. Leune-
brink, F. Dieckmann, D. Voepel. W. Shrader was
also trustee. Since the pastorate of Mr. .Ries the
ministers in charge have been Louis E. Nollau, ap-
pointed Sept. 6, 1852 ; A. W. Roeder, appointed
Oct. 10, 1860 ; E. Roos, appointed Sept, 26, 1870 ;
A. B. P. J. Thiele, appointed March 1, 1880. The
Sunday-school, organized in 1851, has now twenty-
five teachers and three hundred and seventy-five
scholars. The average attendance at the services
numbers nearly six hundred persons. A Young
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1733
Men's Christian Association, organized in 1853 ; a
Ladies' Aid Association, organized in the same year ;
a Young Ladies' Aid Association, organized in 1872 ;
and Men's Aid Society (consisting only of members
of the church), organized Feb. 19, 1872, are con-
nected with St. Peter's Church.
St. Paul's German Evangelical Church, corner
of Decatur Street and Lafayette Avenue, was organ-
ized Oct. 23, 1848, by Messrs. Jacob Kleiber, Wil-
liam Hogan, John Machenheimer, Frederick Chris-
topher, George Henkler, Henry Hirb, Chr. Dietrich,
Melchior Siemann, Jacob Schleyer, Martin Uebel,
Frederick Weber, and Jacob Kleiber, Sr., with Rev.
A. Baltzer as pastor. The present lot, one hundred
and thirty by one hundred and twenty feet, was pur-
chased and the erection of a building was begun dur-
ing the same year. The church was completed and
dedicated in 1849. It was a two-story brick building
with school-rooms in the basement, and seated about
five hundred persons. Pastor Baltzer was succeeded
by the following : Revs. I. Will (who served ten years),
J. C. Seybold, Dr. R. Yohn (who served fifteen years),
C. A. Richter, Otto Telle (served ten months), Jacob
Irion, and J. F. Rowing (acting temporarily in 1882).
The society was incorporated Jan. 23, 1877, with
H. H. Schweer, J. E. Brandenburger, Henry Spenge-
mann, Henry Roth, John H. Baumann, and Henry
Wiebusch as corporators, under the title of " The
German Evangelical St. Paul's Congregation at St.
Louis." Upon the lot are situated, besides the church,
a parsonage, a young men's hall, and a parochial
school which numbers sixty pupils. Connected with
the congregation are a Young Men's Christian Asso-
ciation of sixty members ; a Ladies' Missionary So-
ciety, sixty members ; and a Young Ladies' Society,
fifty members. About four hundred people compose
the congregation, and the Sunday-school has twelve
teachers and three hundred and fifty scholars. The
church property is valued at sixty thousand dol-
lars.
St. John's German Evangelical Church. — This
church, situated at the southeast corner of Madison
and Fourteenth Streets, Rev. Gottlieb Mueller, pastor,
was organized in 1855, and has grown to be a large
congregation. The church building, erected about
the same year, is a fine Gothic brick structure, forty
by seventy-five feet, with a spire, and is situated on a
lot ninety by one hundred and seventy-five feet. Ad-
joining the church is a commodious parsonage, The
parochial school is attended by four teachers and about
four hundred and fifty pupils.
German Evangelical Friedens Church was or-
ganized in March, 1858, by its present pastor, Rev.
110
John M. Kopf, and first met for worship in the
Fairmount Presbyterian Church building, at Ninth
Street and Penrose Avenue, which was subsequently
sold to the Congregationalists and is now Hyde
Park Church. The corner-stone of the present
building, which is situated at the southwest corner
of Newhouse Avenue and Thirteenth Street, was
laid in August, 1860, and the building was dedi-
cated in April, 1861. It is a handsome Gothic
structure of brick, forty-six by seventy-five feet, with
a tall spire, and has a seating capacity for one thousand
persons. On the church lot, the dimensions of which
are one hundred by one hundred and twenty-three
feet, are also situated the pastoral residence and the
parochial school building. Connected with the latter
I are three teachers and two hundred and twenty pupils.
The congregation comprises one hundred and fifty
families, numbering fifteen hundred persons, and there
are about eight hundred communicants. The Sunday-
school comprises fourteen teachers and five hundred
scholars. Several societies are maintained by the con-
gregation, among them the ladies', young men's, and
singing societies, and an association for the relief of
widows and orphans. The church property is valued
at thirty-seven thousand dollars.
Bethania German Evangelical Church was or-
ganized on the 15th of May, 1867, by Rev. Chris-
topher F. Stark, now pastor of Bethlehem Church,
in a hall at the southeast corner of Twenty-third
Street and Franklin Avenue. It worshiped at first
in a small chapel situated at the southwest corner
of Twenty-fourth and Carr Streets, where Carr
Lane School now stands, which was purchased from
the Methodist denomination, the price paid for the
building and lot (one hundred by seventy-five feet)
being six thousand dollars. The chapel was a low
one-story brick building, thirty by forty feet, and
seating about three hundred persons, in the rear of
which the congregation erected a substantial brick
school-house. The erection of the present building
at the northeast corner of Twenty-fourth and Wash
Streets was begun in 1874 and finished in 1875.
Rev. Mr. Stark resigned Jan. 1, 1878, and was suc-
ceeded by Rev. M. Herberg, who served less than a
1 year, the present pastor, Rev. Lewis Austmann, suc-
1 ceeding towards the close of 1878. The church
property, including lot fifty by one hundred feet, ia
valued at thirty thousand dollars. Connected with
the congregation are about eighty members, a Sunday-
school with twelve teachers and one hundred pupils,
a parochial school with two teachers and fifty pupils,
a singing society of twenty members, and Bethania
Cemetery of sixteen acres, situated on St. Charles
1734
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Rock road, seven miles from the court-house, estab- j
lished about 1871.
Independent Evangelical Protestant Church
(German). — This congregation, which numbers from '
six hundred to eight hundred members, worshiped
originally in a church at the corner of Mound and
Eighth Streets, which was purchased by it from the
Presbyterians in 1856. The building occupied a lot
seventy-five by seventy-six feet, and its own dimen-
sions were fifty-four by thirty-six feet, affording a
seating capacity for about five hundred persons. The
lower story was used by a primary school, which num-
bered one hundred and fifty children. The building
was of brick and had a small steeple. About 1868
the building was sold to an independent Baptist or-
ganization, and the German congregation erected a
new church edifice ninety-two by fifty-six feet, with
a steeple one hundred and seventy-four feet high,
on the lot at the northeast corner of Webster and
Thirteenth Streets, which is still occupied by the
congregation. Rev. P. Godfrey Gerber was the pas-
tor in 1869, and the present pastor is the Rev. John
F. Jonas. There is no Sunday-school connected
with the church.
Carondelet German Evangelical Church was
organized by the Rev. John Will, who served as its
first pastor, on the 7th of November, 1869. It is
situated at Fourth Street and Koeln Avenue, South
St. Louis, and the present pastor is the Rev. E.
Berger. The corner-stone was laid in November,
1869, and the completed building was dedicated in
November, 1870. It is a brick structure forty -two
by seventy-two feet. Connected with the church are
one hundred and fifty families, two hundred and
seventy-seven communicants, nine teachers, and one
hundred and twelve pupils in the Sunday-school, an
Evangelical Young Men's Society, organized in 1880,
and a parochial school, organized in 1882, with thirty-
eight pupils.
Zion's German Evangelical Church, Rev. J.
Henry Klerner, pastor, is located at the corner of
Beuton and Twentieth Streets. It was organized in
1869, in the hall of a market-house at Eighteenth
and Montgomery Streets, the incorporators being J. j
H. Lippelman, Henry Klages, G. Frederick, and i
Rev. A. Miiller. The first building occupied by the
congregation stood at the corner of Nineteenth and
Montgomery Streets. Its corner-stone was laid in
the fall of 1869, and the church was dedicated in
the fall of 1870. It was converted into a dwelling-
house after the congregation had removed to its pres-
ent location, in the fall of 1872. The pastors have
been Revs. A. Miiller, F. Koewing, and J. H. Kler-
ner. A Christian Aid Society, Ladies' Society, and
Young Men's Society are maintained in connection
with the regular organization of the church.
St. Lucas German Evangelical Church, situated
at the northeast corner of Scott and Jefferson Avenues,
Rev. Henry Walser, pastor, was organized in 1870 by
Pastor Reusch, who was succeeded by Pastor Jungk,
and in 1881 by the present incumbent. A small
chapel was first erected on the rear portion of the
church lot, which is now used as the parish school.
An addition to it, which is used as the teacher's
residence, has been built, and the school is attended
by seventy-five pupils. The present elegant Gothic
church edifice, of brick, forty by seventy feet, with a
seating capacity of eight hundred, was built in 1878.
The parsonage, on Jefferson Avenue adjoining the
church lot, was erected in 1882, and is a neat and
commodious dwelling. The membership of the
church numbers nearly two hundred persons, and
the Sunday-school is attended by fifteen teachers and
seventy-five scholars.
St. Matthew's German Evangelical Church was
organized Nov. 14, 1875, at the private school-rooms
of G. H. Braeutigam, on Carondelet Avenue near
Anna Street, the incorporators being Henry Brasch-
ler, Nicholas Frank, William Kollmeyer, John Voepel,
and Louis Hunt. Besides these, P. HuefFner, P. H.
Sauerwein, W. Winefeld, G. Schildroth, and a few
others were the first members. The corner-stone of
the church building, 3331 South Seventh Street, was
laid Nov. 28, 1875, and the building was dedicated
March 5, 1876. Rev. Henry Braschler has been the
pastor from the first. The choir and Sunday-school
were organized in March, 1876. The latter now
numbers over three hundred scholars. The pastor
resides in the church building, in which is also main-
tained a day school attended by fifty scholars, and
conducted by Rev. Henry Drees, assistant pastor of
the church. It was organized in 1879. The parish
numbers about fifty families.
ST. MATTHEW'S CEMETERY, Pennsylvania Avenue
and Morgan Ford road, is connected with St. Mat-
thew's German Evangelical Church. The corpora-
tion was chartered April 18, 1878, with Charles
Bauer, Henry Braschler, William Kollmeyer, Wil-
liam Habighorst, and Conrad Brinkmann as incor-
porators. It is distant three miles from the church,
contains twelve acres, and is handsomely laid out and
ornamented. The sale of lots is not confined to mem-
bers of the church, but is open to all.
Bethlehem Church. — The congregation of Beth-
lehem German Evangelical Church was organized by
its present pastor, the Rev. C. F. Stark, with twenty-
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1735
five members, on the 6th of January, 1878, in the
church built by the Beaumont Street Baptist congre-
gation, at the northeast corner of Morgan and Beau-
mont Streets. The Evangelical congregation rented
the building, and occupied it for about one year and a
half, at the expiration of which it was sold to the
Turners. Their present building, situated at the
northwest corner of Elliott Avenue and Wash Street,
was purchased in January, 1881, from the congrega-
tion of St. Mark's English Lutheran Church, which
had erected it at a cost of twenty-two thousand dol-
lars. It is a brick edifice forty-six by eighty feet,
with a capacity for seating five hundred persons, and
has two stories, the first of which is used by a day
school, attended by one teacher and thirty pupils, and
a Sunday-school of seventy-five scholars, under the
charge of the pastor and one teacher, and as a lecture-
room. The lot is fifty by one hundred and thirty-five
feet. About fifty families compose the congregation,
and the communicants number seventy.
EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCHES.
In 1838 a body of Lutherans who had been sub-
jected to persecution by the government of Saxony
on account of their adherence to the doctrines of the
Augsburg Confession of Faith emigrated to this coun-
try and settled partly in St. Louis and partly in Alten-
burg, Perry Co., Mo. Those who made St. Louis
their home arrived there in the winter or early spring
of 1839, and applied to the rector of Christ Church
for permission to use the church building for their
services. The request was granted, as appears from
the following notice, which was read by the rector,
Bishop Kemper, in the church one Sunday in March
of that year :
" NOTICE. — A body of Lutherans, having been persecuted by
the Saxon government because they believed it their duty to
adhere to the doctrines inculcated by their great leader and con-
tained in the Augsburg Confession of Faith, have arrived here
with the intention of settling in this or one of the neighboring
States, and having been deprived of the privilege of public
worship for three months, they have earnestly and moat re-
spectfully requested the use of our church that they nniy again
unite in all the ordinances of our holy religion. I have there-
fore, with the entire approbation of the vestry, granted the use
of our church for this day from 2 P.M. until sunset to a denomi-
nation whose early members were highly esteemed by the Eng-
lish Reformers, and with whom our glorious martyrs Craniuer,
Ridley, and others had much early intercourse."
This congregation of Lutherans occupied the base-
ment of the church for three years from 1839 to 1842.
They established the first Evangelical Lutheran
congregation of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession
in St. Louis, which soon began to grow rapidly in
membership and wealth. In 1869 four congregations
had been established, with two large churches and over
six hundred communicants. There are now twelve
churches of this denomination in St. Louis subject to
the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio,
and other States, which, with three other Synods, con-
stitutes the " Synodical Conference." The Synod of
Missouri, etc., is now divided into eleven districts, with
over eight hundred ministers, and owns and maintains
the Concordia College and Theological Seminary in
St. Louis, Concordia College at Fort Wayne, Ind.,
the Theological Seminary at Springfield, 111., and the
Teachers' Seminary at Addison, 111. It also possesses
an extensive printing establishment and book-store,
situated on the northwest corner of Miami Street and
Indiana Avenue, which is the central supply depot of
the Synod, and at which are published Der Luther-
aner, Lehre und Wehre, and Evangelischeslulher-
isches Schulblatt (three semi-monthly journals),
Magazin fur Evangelischelutherische Homiletik
(monthly), the St. Louis Theological Monthly, and
The Lutheran Witness. Members of this denomina-
tion settled in the vicinity of Concordia College and
the Church of the Holy Cross form a large and
wealthy community.
Concordia College and Theological Seminary
was established jointly by the congregations of St.
Louis and Alteuburg, Mo., in 1842, and was located
at Altenburg^but in 1850 it was removed to St. Louis,
where the first college building had just been erected.
The dedication of this structure took place July 11,
1850. In 1851 the ownership of the college was
transferred by the joint congregations to the Synod of
Missouri, Ohio, etc. In the summer of 1882 the
first college building was demolished, and on its site
is being erected a much larger and more imposing
edifice, the corner-stone of which was laid Oct. 1,
1882. It is to be of Gothic architecture, with a cen-
tral steeple one hundred and thirty-six feet in height,
and the main building and two wings will have a front-
age of two hundred and thirty-four feet. The depth
will be sixty-four feet, and the buildings will contain
a vestibule, a class-room for one hundred students, four
class-rooms for sixty-eight students, a library- and read-
ing-room, a number of smaller dwelling and sleeping
apartments, bath-rooms, etc. In the basement of the
tower there will be a gymnasium sixteen feet in height.
The college will accommodate two hundred students.
It was attended during 1882 by ninety-two students,
and has a faculty of five professors. The college
grounds, which are three hundred and fifty by two
hundred and twenty -five feet in size, are situated on
Jefferson Avenue and Winnebago Street, and in addi-
tion to the main building, are occupied by several
smaller houses connected with the institution.
1736
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Lreinigkeits Church, U. A. C.1 — It has already
been related how, in 1839, a body of Lutheran im-
migrants procured permission from Bishop Kemper
to hold religious services in the basement of Christ
Protestant Episcopal Church, and how the congrega-
tion continued to worship there until 1842. This
society of Lutherans was organized under the name
of the " Dreinigkeits" (or Trinity) Church of the
Evangelical Lutheran denomination, and was the first
or original congregation, from which sprang all the
other German Lutheran Churches of St. Louis. In
1842 the congregation removed to a building of its
own, on Lombard Street. The present building, at the
southeast corner of Lafayette and Eighth Streets, was
erected in 1865. It is a handsome brick structure
in the Gothic style, and has a tower two hundred
feet high. The nave measures sixty by one hundred
and ten feet, and the transepts forty-five by ninety
feet, and the building is capable of seating fifteen |
hundred persons. The dimensions of the lot, on j
which a fine parsonage is situated, are one hundred j
and fifty by one hundred and forty feet. The total i
cost of the ground and buildings was one hundred !
and twenty thousand dollars.
The pastors have been Revs. Hermann Walther,
Z. F. W. Walther (brother to the former), Pastors
Wienigen, Schaler, Brauer, and the present pastor,
Rev. Otto Hanser. The parochial schools are con- !
ducted in two buildings, one on Victor Street and the !
other at Eighth and Barry Streets. They are at- (
tended by six teachers and four hundred scholars,
who, in lieu of attending Sunday-school, assemble at
stated periods for instruction and examination in re-
ligious subjects. The congregation embraces two i
hundred and twenty-five families.
Immanuel's Church, U. A. C. — Immanuel's Evan-
gelical Lutheran Church, U. A. C., situated at the
southeast corner of Morgan and Sixteenth Streets,
was organized in 1848 by the Rev. F. Buenger, its
first pastor, who died Jan. 23, 1882. His successor
was the Rev. Gustavus Wangerin, who took charge
on the 16th of August following, and is still the
pastor. The first church erected by the congregation
stood at the corner of Eleventh Street and Franklin
Avenue. It was destroyed by fire on the 9th of De-
cember, 1865, the walls only being left standing.
These were at once roofed over, and the building was
still used for worship until the present edifice was
ready for occupancy, when the former property was
1 The initials U. A. C. are an abbreviation of the term Un-
altered Augsburg Confession, used to distinguish this particular
branch of Lutherans.
sold and converted to business purposes. The present
church was dedicated March 22, 1868, and the exer-
cises were continued on the following day, Monday,
March 23d. It is a noble Gothic edifice of brick,
sixty by one hundred and thirty-five feet, and will
seat fifteen hundred persons. The steeple is two
hundred and nine feet, and rises from the main portal.
Situated on the same lot are a handsome pastoral
residence and a fine parish school building sixty feet
square and two stories high, capable of seating three
hundred and eighty-four scholars. There are three
teachers and one hundred and eighty-eight pupils
connected with the school. The cost of the ground
and buildings was about one hundred and eighteen
thousand six hundred dollars. The congregation
comprises one hundred and eighty families and a
membership of five hundred persons. The Nor-
wegian Evangelical Lutheran Church, Rev. J. Jo-
hansen, pastor, a small congregation of about twenty
families, assemble for worship in the parish school
building on Sundays.
Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Holy
Cross (Saxon). — This congregation, whose church is
located on Miami Street, between Texas and Ohio
Avenues, Rev. G. Stoeckhardt, pastor, was organized
in 1 858 as the Third District of the First Evangelical
Lutheran Congregation of the Unaltered Augsburg
Confession in St. Louis, and until the erection of the
present church building held its religious services at
Concordia College. The corner-stone of the church
building was laid on Trinity Sunday, 1867., and the
edifice was dedicated on the second Sunday in Advent,
1867. It is located on the old cemetery of the con-
gregation, which is no longer used for burials, this
church, together with Dreinigkeits Church, now own-
ing a cemetery near Gravois road. The old graveyard
is three hundred by five hundred feet in area, and the
church building is forty-five by sixty-five feet, and
has five hundred seats. It cost thirty thousand dol-
lars, and is a handsome edifice of modernized Gothic
architecture. The tower and steeple are one hundred
and seventy-five feet in height, and the general ap-
pearance of the structure is very pleasing. The par-
sonage on Texas Avenue stands on a lot fifty by
seventy-five feet, and the house and lot are valued at
two thousand dollars. The church has had two pastors,
— Rev. Theodore Brohm, appointed June 22, 1858,
and Rev. G. Stoeckhardt, Oct. 13, 1878. The parish
comprises one hundred and twenty-five families, or
about six hundred and fifty persons, in addition to
the students of Concordia College, and there are five
hundred communicants. No Sunday-school is con-
ducted by the church, but the parish maintains a
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1737
flourishing day school, attended by three teachers and
one hundred and eighty pupils. It was established
in 1850, and first occupied a building erected for the
purpose in 1851 in the Concordia College grounds.
The present school-house is situated on the northwest
corner of Ohio Avenue and Potomac Street. It was
| built in 1872, is thirty-five by sixty feet in size, and
will seat two hundred and ten pupils.
St. Trinity Church (German), U. A. C., east
side of Sixth Street, between Robert and Koeln j
Streets, South St. Louis, Rev. C. F. W. Sapper, pas-
tor, was organized in 1860, and the first house of
worship was dedicated on the third Sunday in Ad-
vent of that year. It is a two-story brick building,
twenty-eight by forty feet, situated opposite the
present church. It was used both for worship and
school purposes, but is now entirely occupied by the
school. The present edifice was dedicated on the
third Sunday after Trinity, 1873. It is a handsome
Gothic structure of brick, forty five by one hundred
feet, with a spire one hundred and fifty feet high, and
will seat six hundred persons. The lots owned by
the church measure two hundred by one hundred and
fifty feet, and the property is valued at twenty-five
thousand dollars. The pastors have been Rev. 0.
Hanser, appointed in 1860 ; Rev. M. Hamann, ap-
pointed in 1862, and the present pastor, who has
served since 1866. This was the first German, and
is still the only Lutheran congregation in Caron-
delet. It embraces one hundred and twenty families,
with one hundred and five voting members, and eight
hundred communicants. The parochial school, estab-
lished simultaneously with the church, is conducted
by two teachers, and attended by one hundred and
twenty pupils. The cemetery connected with the
church is located on Lami Ferry road, two miles
south of Carondelet.
Zion Church, U. A. C. (German), situated on
the southeast corner of Warren and Fifteenth Streets,
Rev. George Link, pastor, was organized in 1860 by
Rev. Frederick Boese, its first pastor. The present
pastor was appointed in August, 1873. The church
is a brick edifice, forty-five by seventy-five feet, of
two stories, with a lecture-room on the first floor. A
fine parsonage adjoins the church on the east. The
parochial school building, erected in 1868, stands in
the rear of the church, and the school comprises four
teachers and two hundred and twenty pupils. The '
church lot is one hundred by one hundred and eight
feet. Two hundred and twenty families compose the
parish, and the communicants number twelve hun-
dred. As is frequently the case in this denomination,
no regular Sunday school is conducted, but the chil-
dren of the parish school are required to attend a
class for instruction and examination in the catechism,
the pastor conducting it in person.
St. PauPs Church (German), U. A. C.— The
Evangelical Lutheran St. Paul's Church (German)
was organized in 1862 at Lowell, North St. Louis,
and first assembled for worship in a hall on what is
now De Soto Avenue and Benedict Street, and in
1863 built a small frame church, which has since
been converted into a dwelling. Rev. G. R. A. Glaus,
who organized the congregation, was its first pastor.
The corner-stone of the present building, which is
situated at the northeast corner of Prairie Avenue
and Von Phul Street, was laid on Sunday, July 28,
1872, and the completed structure was dedicated May
25, 1873, Rev. J. H. Ph. Graebner, of St. Charles,
Mo., preaching the sermon. On this occasion the
second pastor of the church, Rev. I. Achilles, was
installed. It is a brick building with a steeple, and
its dimensions are thirty-four by sixty-eight feet. In
the first story the parochial school is located, with two
teachers and one hundred and two pupils. The pres-
ent pastor, Rev. C. C. E. Brandt, was installed on Nov.
5, 1876, Revs. Professor G. Schaller, George E. Link,
0. Lenk, and M. Hein being the officiating clergymen.
There are now one hundred and five families, about
five hundred persons, connected with the church, of
whom fifty-two are members (voters), and three hun-
dred and forty-five communicants. There are a Young
Men's and Young Ladies' Society in full vigor, and in
lieu of Sunday-school the pastor conducts a catechism
class and examinations on Sunday afternoons.
St. John's Church (German), U. A. C., corner of
Morgan Ford road and Chippewa Street, was organ-
ized in 1865 by Professor August Craemer, its first
pastor. The congregation worshiped in the Epis-
copal Church until, in 1866, it began to occupy its
present building, a frame structure with a seating
capacity of one hundred and fifty. The church owns
one acre of land, and is about to erect a second and
larger building. Rev. Hermann Bartels, its second
and present pastor, was ordained and installed by
Professor Craemer, Aug. 1, 1875. About sixty fam-
ilies, with two hundred communicants, are connected
with the congregation. The Sunday-school has eighty
pupils, and the parochial school the same number.
Bethania Church, U. A. C. (German), Natural
Bridge road, near Spring Avenue, Rev. M. Martens,
pastor, was organized in 1872, by Mr. Mangold, who
had previously conducted a private school, which then
became the school of the parish. Rev. Mr. Heine
was the first pastor. The congregation numbers about
sixty members, and there are seventy pupils connected
1738
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
with the day school. The building is a frame chapel,
which is also used for the day school, under the
charge of H. Papke.
St. Mark's English Lutheran Church. — St. Mark's
English Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized
on the 14th of May, 1867, at the residence of John A.
J. Shultz, No. 1116 North Twentieth Street, by John
A. J. Shultz, D. C. Siegrist, R. R. Honeyman, and
their wives, with others. Their first house of wor-
ship was situated at the corner of Wash Street and
Elliott Avenue. Its corner-stone was laid Sept. 6,
1868, and the completed building was dedicated on
the 21st of January, 1872. The edifice was of
brick, of Doric architecture, and its erection was
superintended by G. W. Berry, after designs by C. S.
Artaugh. The dimensions of the building were forty-
five by sixty feet, and those of the lot on which it
stood fifty by one hundred and thirty-two feet. The
exterior was plain, but the interior is described as
having been neat and attractive. Rev. Mr. Rhodes
officiated, and the music was rendered by the " St.
Cecilia Vocal Union," directed by Professor Malmene.
The building cost twenty-two thousand dollars, and
was sold in 1881 for seven thousand five hundred dol-
lars. The church has had three pastors, — Rev. S. W.
Harkey, D.D., Professor J. B. Corbet, and Rev. M.
Rhodes, D.D.
At the beginning of Dr. Rhodes' pastorate, ten
years ago, the congregation numbered only twenty
members, and the church was embarrassed with a debt
of twelve thousand dollars. This has since been paid
off, and the membership has increased tenfold. The
congregation is in a highly prosperous condition, and
during the last ten years has contributed thirty thou-
sand dollars to the benevolent operations of the church.
The lot at the southwest corner of Bell Street and
Cardinal Avenue, on which the present edifice stands,
is most eligibly situated for its purpose. It is seventy-
five by one hundred and thirty-four feet in area, and
was purchased in 1880 for five thousand two hundred
and fifty dollars. The corner-stone of the building
was laid May 29, 1881, and the lower or lecture-room
was first occupied Feb. 19, 1882. The completed
church was formally dedicated Sunday, Oct. 1, 1882,
on which occasion the exercises were participated in
by a number of ministers from other churches, among
whom were Rev. Drs. W. V. Tudor, James H.
Brooks, W. W. Boyd, C. E. Felton, C. L. Goodell,
H. D. Ganse, T. M. Post, and Rev. W. H. Black, of
St. Louis ; Rev. Dr. S. A. Ort, president of Wittenberg j
College, Springfield, Ohio ; Rev. Dr. G. F. Stelling,
of Omaha, Neb. ; Rev. Dr. F. Springer, president of
the Synod of Central Illinois, and others. The edi-
fice, which is entirely unique among the churches of
the city, was designed and erected under the super-
vision of C. K. Ramsey, architect, and combines several
styles of architecture, English Gothic predominating.
The exterior dimensions of the building are seventy-
five by one hundred and twenty feet. The main
auditorium is sixty-five by ninety-five feet and thirty-
six feet in height, and is arranged in the form of an
amphitheatre ; it will accommodate eight hundred
persons, and is noted for the excellence of its acoustic
properties. The walls are frescoed in oil, and the win-
dows are of cathedral glass, rich in color and design.
The church is furnished in walnut richly carved, and
the organ is built in an alcove to the left of the pulpit,
with a balcony extending for the choir. The base-
ment contains three furnaces, a dining-room, kitchen,
and other rooms. The lecture-room seats four hun-
dred and fifty persons, and there are also class-rooms,
a library, and other apartments for the use of the
pastor and congregation. Altogether St. Mark's is
one of the most complete and thoroughly appointed
church structures in the country. As its pastor, Rev.
M. Rhodes, D.D., says, " The whole edifice is a pic-
ture, a harmony, a magnificent tribute to the skill of
the designer and the liberality of a joyous and favored
people." The entire cost of the lot, building, and
furnishing was a little over sixty thousand dollars.
The present membership of the church numbers
three hundred persons, and the Sunday-school is
attended by two hundred and eighty pupils. A
week-day school is conducted in the building, and is
attended by one hundred and twenty-five scholars.
HEBREW CONGREGATIONS.
United Hebrew Congregation. — The oldest re-
ligious association of Hebrews in St. Louis is that of
the " United Hebrew Congregation," Rev. Henry J.
Messing, rabbi, located at the southeast corner of
Olive and Twenty-first Streets. Its organization was
effected in the spring of 1839, at the house of H.
Marx, on Locust Street, between Third and Fourth
Streets. A. Weigel was elected president, and ser-
vices were held at first in a house on Carondelet Ave-
nue, in the section then known as Frenchtown. In
September, 1848, the society removed to a brick
building on Fifth Street, between Washington Ave-
nue and Green Street, which was consecrated on the
27th of the same month. In 1855 a lot on the east
side of Sixth Street, between Locust and St. Charles
Streets, was purchased from Judge W. Beirne for the
sum of six thousand two hundred and forty dollars,
on which a synagogue was erected. The work of
construction was commenced in 1856, and the build-
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1739
ing was consecrated on the 17th of June, 1859, Rev.
Dr. Raphael, of New York, officiating. It was a sub-
stantial and elegant structure of brick with cut-stone
foundations, and school-rooms in the basement, stained
windows, a gallery around the whole audience -room,
and seats for about nine hundred persons. It was
in the Romanesque style of architecture, forty-two
feet front and eighty feet two inches in depth, and
cost twenty-one thousand dollars. Its erection was
specially due to the energetic labors of A. J. Latz,
aided by other members of the congregation.
The Sixth Street property was sold in 1879. The
synagogue now occupied by the congregation (at the
corner of Olive and Twenty-first Streets) was com-
pleted in 1880, and is a lofty and handsome structure
of brick, its dimensions being sixty by ninety-six
feet.
In 1844, A. J. Latz purchased a lot on Pratte
Avenue for a Hebrew cemetery, which was deeded to
the trustees of the society by John Farrell, and was
used for burial purposes until 1856, when Mount
Olive Cemetery, in Central township, was given to the
society by the B'nai Jeshurem congregation, which
had purchased it in 1854. The present owners have
erected on it a building costing five thousand dollars,
and have greatly improved and beautified it. A. Ger-
shon has been its superintendent for many years.
The society now numbers one hundred and thirty
members, and its officers are P. F. Myers, president ;
Abraham Spiro, vice-president ; Falk Levi, treasurer ;
M. P. Silverstone, secretary ; H. Rosinski, M. Kempf,
Joseph Davis, Simon Zork, Joseph Rheinholdt, A. B.
Jach, and Hermann Levi, trustees.
B'nai El Congregation, northeast corner of Chou-
teau Avenue and Eleventh Street, Rev. M. Spitz, D.D.,
rabbi, was established about 1839 or 1840. It wor-
shiped subsequently in a building at Sixth and Cerre"
Streets, which was finished in 1855, and consecrated
on the 7th of September of that year. It formed an
octagon of about seventy-five feet in diameter, and
terminated in a cupola. The seating capacity was about
three hundred persons. In 1875 the present building
(at Chouteau Avenue and Eleventh Street) was pur-
chased from the Chouteau Avenue Presbyterian
Church for fourteen thousand dollars, and was re-
fitted so as to be adapted to Hebrew forms of wor-
ship. About the same time the Sixth Street prop-
erty was sold to the Episcopalians for the Good
Samaritan Church (colored).
Temple of the Gates of Truth..— In 1866 an as-
sociation of some seventy wealthy Israelites of St.
Louis was chartered under the name of the St. Louis
Temple Association. The first president was Alex-
ander Suss, and the other officers were Isaac Hoff-
heimer, vice-president ; T. Rosenfield, secretary ;
Joseph Weil, corresponding secretary ; and Bernard
Singer, S. Schiele, T. L. Bothahn, Isaac Hellman, M.
Lansdorf, L. R. Strauss, Leopold Steinberger, M. L.
Winter, P. Seligmann, S. Marx, and Levi Stern,
directors. They were all laymen, and in the forma-
tion of their association were guided by the desire to
" escape dogmatic discussions and dissensions," and
to " bring the Israelitish form of worship into harmony
with the views and principles of modern society."
With this object in view they introduced the organ
and choral singing into their services, and ordered
that " the old oriental habit of entering the audience-
room with covered heads be abandoned."
T. W. Brady was selected as the architect for the
house of worship, which it was decided to build at the
northeast corner of Seventeenth and Pine Streets, and
on the 24th of June, 1867, the corner-stone of the
structure was laid with Masonic ceremonies by the
Grand Lodge of Missouri. Dr. Wise, of Cincinnati,
was the orator of the occasion. The building, which
is still used by the congregation, has a frontage of
seventy-one feet on Seventeenth Street and a depth of
one hundred feet on Pine Street, the dimensions of
the lot being one hundred and ten by one hundred
feet. The temple is a handsome edifice, its architec-
ture being modeled after the Moorish style, and the
fagade is flanked by two towers, each fifteen feet six
inches square. The building was dedicated in August,
1869. At that time the trustees of the congregation
were Isaac Hoffheimer, president ; M. Lansdorf,
vice-president; Levi Stern, treasurer; Joseph Ros-
enfield, secretary ; and A. Kramer, • B. Hysinger, A.
Wise, Joseph Weil, H. S. Winter, L. M. Hellman, S.
Sandfelder, B. Singer, M. Friede, L. Steinberger, and
A. Suss. Six months previously the old society had
been organized into a congregation under the name of
the " Gates of Truth congregation," and the follow-
ing trustees elected: B. Hysinger, president; A.
Kramer, vice-president ; A. Frank, treasurer ; and
Messrs. Hoffheimer, Steinberger, Rosenfield, Wise,
D. Dillenberg, S. Schiele, and M. Lansdorf.
While adhering to the essentials of the Jewish
faith, the congregation, as indicated above, has dis-
carded many of the ancient forms and ceremonies of
the Jewish ritual. Rev. S. H. Sonneschein, the
present rabbi, is a man of wide and liberal culture,
and has been a frequent lecturer on historical and
other topics. He has repeatedly tendered the use of
his temple to Christian congregations, and is emi-
nently popular among Christian ministers, as well as
foremost in all public charities and reformatory move-
1740
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
ments. The society is a large one, and connected
with it is a well-attended Sabbath-school.
Congregation "Scheerish" Israel, 926 North
Sixth Street, is a religious association of Hebrews |
who occupy a rented room and worship according to
the most ancient forms. The present officers are
M. Harris, president; H. Abrahams, vice-president;
L. Lipman, secretary; J. H. Abrahams, treasurer;
D. Priver, L. Michael, H. Rosenberg, A. Cohen, M.
Schuchat, and P. Whol, trustees.
Chebra Kadish Congregation meets for worship
on Seventh Street, between Franklin Avenue and
Wash Street. Rev. M. Leberstin is rabbi.
BETHEL ASSOCIATION.
The St. Louis Bethel Association, located at 300
and 302 North Commercial Street, Rev. Peter Kitwood,
chaplain, is an auxiliary of the Western Seamen's
Friend Society. The headquarters of this society
are at Cleveland, Ohio, and its ramifications extend
throughout the West. The work in St. Louis was
commenced in 1841, a meeting having been held on
the 16th of June of that year for the purpose of de-
vising measures for the establishment of " a Bethel
Church for the use of the boatmen and watermen of
the Mississippi." Rev. Wesley Browning presided, j
and resolutions were adopted to the effect that the !
work be undertaken without delay, and that two com-
mittees be appointed, one to procure a room and en-
gage a minister, and the other to prepare a constitu-
tion for an association to be called " The St. Louis
Port Society," under whose control the proposed
Bethel Church should be placed. The committee ap-
pointed to secure the minister and a room was com-
posed of F. W. Southack, Dr. Knox, John H. Gay,
John Thompson, Samuel C. Davis, J. P. Sarpy, and
L. Farwell. The committee chosen to draft the con- j
stitution consisted of George K. Budd, George Kings- j
land, Edward Tracy, Theodore Labeaume, Joseph j
Tabor, M. De Lange, A. Hamilton, Edward Dobyns, j
J. G. Dinnies, and C. D. Drake.
The mission does not appear to have been perma-
nently successful, for in December, 1848, a meeting j
was held at the Westminster Presbyterian Church, of
which Rev. W. S. Potts, D.D., was chairman, for the :
purpose of forming an association for the promotion
of the moral and physical interests of the Western
boatmen. The meeting resulted in the formation of
the •' Western Boatmen's Union of St. Louis," to the j
chaplaincy of which the Rev. Charles S. Jones was \
unanimously elected. Mr. Jones entered upon the :
discharge of his duties on the 22d of April, 1849. !
His. first sermon to boatmen was preached to a con- >
gregation of some eight or nine persons in a Metho-
dist Church. Subsequently the use of Westminster
Church was procured for afternoon service, in which
building he continued to preach until the great fire of
May 17, 1849. He then departed for the East, and
commenced a vigorous canvass of the Eastern churches
for funds to aid in the building of a Boatmen's Church.
In this mission he was so far successful as to collect
some fifteen hundred dollars. On his return he com-
menced divine services in the ." Odd-Fellows' Hall."
Subsequently a lot of ground was leased, on which an
edifice was erected at a cost of fifteen thousand dollars,
capable of accommodating between six and seven hun-
dred persons, and fitted up, embellished, and arranged
so as to be ostensibly and peculiarly a " Boatmen's
Church." This building was located on Green Street,
between Second and Third, near the river, and was
said to be the first organized church of the kind west
of the lakes. It was dedicated on. the 21st of March,
1852. The officiating ministers were the pastor, Rev.
Charles J. Jones, Rev. J. C. Abbott, Rev. Dr. Ka-
vanaugh, and Rev. J. A. Lyon.
The mission proved successful during the time it
was under the direction of Mr. Jones, but the church
became involved, Mr. Jones was called to New York,
and the institution practically collapsed, the building
being appropriated to other purposes. It was also too
remote from the Levee for convenience of the class in-
tended to be benefited by it. Matters thus remained
until 1868, but in that year the enterprise was revived,
and a room in the Boatmen's Building, on the north-
west corner of Vine Street and the Levee, was rented
for the purpose of establishing regular religious ser-
vices and a Sunday-school for boatmen and their
families and others near the Levee not provided for by
the city churches. The hall was dedicated March 14,
1869, the exercises being under the management of
Gen. C. B. Fisk, president of the association, assisted
by the directors, a number of clergymen, and boatmen
from St. Louis and other cities. The following were
the officers of the institution at that time: Managers,
E. D. Jones, William C. Wilson, George Partridge,
John G. Copelin, E. 0. Stanard, Nathan Ranney,
Clinton B. Fisk, Samuel Cupples, Austin R. Moore,
Thomas Morrison, Joseph Brown, James Richardson,
Isaac M. Mason, Thomas Rutherford, Nathan Cole.
Officers, C. B. Fisk, president; Samuel Cupples, vice-
president; Austin R. Moore, secretary ; William C.
Wilson, treasurer ; Executive Committee, Joseph
Brown, William G. Wilson, Samuel Cupples, C. B.
Fisk, I. M. Mason ; Chaplain and District Superin-
tendent, Rev. M. Himebaugh ; Corresponding Secre-
tary, Rev. A. Wheeler, D.D., of Cleveland ; President
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1741
and General Superintendent Western Seamen's Friend
Society, Rev. B. Frankland, of Cincinnati.
In 1875 the mission was removed to 300 North j
Commercial Street, and in the spring of 1882 the ad- j
joining building was added, doubling its capacity, j
The buildings are in the centre of the wholesale busi- j
ness portion of the city and of the steamboat traffic.
They were erected and had been used for stores, and
front both on Commercial Street and the Levee, four
stories on the former and five on the latter. The two !
stores on the first floor (Commercial Street) have j
been thrown into one and constitute the chapel, in
which a congregation of one thousand people have
assembled. The floor beneath (entered from the
Levee) is used as a restaurant, where poor working-
men may obtain bread and a bowl of coffee for five
cents, or a meal for ten. The upper stories are used as
class-rooms, sewing- rooms, etc., and (the highest floor
of all) as a dormitory, where over one hundred men
find nightly lodgings at a cost of ten cents. The work
of the Bethel is divided into two classes, religious and
secular. The religious work comprises a Sunday-
school, held in the afternoon (no services are held
on Sunday mornings), attended during the winter
months by forty to fifty teachers and over eight hun-
dred scholars ; a regular church service on Sunday
evenings, attended by an average congregation of from
two hundred to three hundred, of whom about one
hundred are communicants ; separate classes for relig-
ious and secular instruction, on Sundays and week-
days, for white mothers, colored mothers, colored
boys, and colored girls, and several weekly prayer-
meetings. The secular work is under the superin-
tendence of David Crofton, and embraces the man-
agement of the restaurant and dormitory above
mentioned, where deserving objects of charity are fed
and lodged gratuitously ; maintenance of outside
charities among the worthy poor, for whom rent is
paid, and to whom food and clothing are supplied,
and of a sort of savings institution, consisting only of
an iron safe, in which poor roustabouts and others are
induced to deposit their earnings for safe-keeping in-
stead of squandering them, and the deposits in which
now amount to about two thousand two hundred dol-
lars ; and finally the work of the Ladies' Bethel
Association, who conduct sewing-classes for girls and
for mothers, teaching them to sew, and rewarding
them with the fruits of their industry, the ladies
themselves devoting one day of the week (Friday) to
making garments and distributing them among the
poor. Over one thousand children were clothed in
1882, and the Saturday sewing-school is attended
during the winter by fully three hundred girls.
The officers of the Ladies' Bethel Association are
Mrs. J. A. Allen, president; Miss Ellen Budd, vice-
president ; Mrs. George S. Edgell, secretary ; Mrs.
Chapman, treasurer. Two lady city missionaries are
employed, Mrs. Margaret Skinner and Miss R. A.
Manning, whose chief work is among the poor. The
managers of the Bethel are Nathan Cole, president ;
G. S. Paddock, vice-president ; J. C. Hall, secretary ;
George A. Baker, treasurer ; Isaac M. Mason, J. H.
Wear, John W. Larhnore, H. N. Spencer, E. E.
Souther, George S. Edgell, W. W. Carpenter, D. R.
Wolfe, Leonard Matthews, D. Crawford, Jos. Specht,
and P. Kitwood, directors. The Bethel is supported
by voluntary contributions, and extends its benefits to
all the poor, regardless of creed or color, the white and
colored people having separate rooms for classes and
lodging. It is affiliated with no religious denomina-
tion, but is aided by all. Its chaplain, Mr. Kitwood,
is a man of untiring energy, and devotes his efforts
specially to elevating the morals of the people in his
field of labor.
SWEDENBORGIAXS.
The First New Jerusalem Society of St. Louis,
Lucas Avenue near Ewing Avenue, was organized by
Rev. T. 0. Prescott, of the Cincinnati New Church,
at the house of Charles Barnard, druggist, on Morgan
Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Streets, on Sun-
day, Nov. 20, 1842, with the following constituent
members: Joseph Barnard, Francis B. Murdock,
Charles R. Anderson, Eliza B. Anderson, Susan Bar-
nard, Margaret Barnard, John H. Barnard, and Tim-
othy Keith. On the following evening, at the house
of John H. Barnard, on Morgan, between Ninth and
Tenth Streets, a constitution was adopted, and Joseph
Barnard was elected reader and F. B. Murdock secre-
tary. It was decided that the congregation should
meet for worship alternately at the houses of Charles
and John H. Barnard and F. B. Murdock, the latter
being at the southeast corner of Fifth and Elm Streets.
From a paper bearing date March 27, 1843, it ap-
pears that a number of persons subscribed the sum of
sixty-three dollars, in amounts ranging from one dol-
lar to five dollars, for the purchase of New Church
books, and on the llth of May, 1843, a "society
for the examination of the writings of Emanuel
Swedenborg'' was established, with Elijah C. Eads,
J. H. Barnard, C. R. Anderson, Charles Barnard,
Timothy Keith, and Joseph C. Edgar as constituent
members. To these were subsequently added twenty-
two others, among whom were Thomas H. Perry, B.
G. Child, George F. Lewis, J. H. Brotherton, Rich-
ard Rushton, George I. Barnett, John Warden, and
Charles Gleim. The society continued to meet in
1742
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
private, and rented rooms for reading and discussion,
and assembled for the last time " at the school-rooms
of the late Professor T. H. Perry, former secretary of
the society," May 17, 1849, and " was adjourned in-
definitely." The New Jerusalem Society, however,
continued to exist, and in October, 1847, reported
twelve members, one of the original number having
died, and a Sunday-school, organized Sept. 19, 1847,
with fifteen scholars. On the 5th of December, 1847,
a room was rented for meetings at the corner of Wash-
ington Avenue and Fifth Street, and Professor T. H.
Perry, licentiate, preached every Sunday. On the
20th of August, 1848, Thomas H. Perry was ordained
to the ministry in Peoria, 111., by Rev. J. R. Hibbard,
and was installed pastor of the St. Louis Society, but
died in May, 1849. In the winter of 1849-50, Rev.
George Field delivered a course of lectures in St.
Louis, and on the 20th of April, 1850, he was elected
pastor of the society, the election to date from Octo-
ber 1st following. He was installed Oct. 27, 1850,
and resigned October, 1852. Soon after his installa-
tion he insisted on a change in the constitution which
should make baptism by a New Church minister es-
sential to membership or admission to the Lord's Sup-
per. On this question the society divided, the major-
ity, seventeen in number, indorsing the pastor. They
seceded with him, and formed, April 17, 1851, the St.
Louis New Church Society. The minority (of twelve
members) met once. May 9, 1851, after the division,
but there is no record of their existence since that
time. On the 20th of May, 1850, a stock company
was formed for the purpose of building a church, and
on the 10th of October, 1850, the society met in its
own hall, at the southeast corner of Sixth and St.
Charles Streets. This property passed into the hands
of the seceding society, of which Dr. C. W. Spalding
was the leading member, being chosen at the first
election president, superintendent of Sunday-school,
and leader of the choir.
On the 1st of June, 1852, a lease for the lot at
Sixth and St. Charles Streets was executed to the
society by George F. Lewis, and on the 14th of June
a building committee was appointed for the erection
of a two-story building, the lower part to be rented as
a store, and the second story to be used as a hall for
worship. After the resignation of Mr. Field, the
meetings were for the most part suspended until Aug.
30, 1856, when nineteen persons appeared at a called
meeting, abolished the obnoxious baptismal require-
ment, and reorganized the society on a basis of first
principles. Late in 1857 the society fell into pecu-
niary embarrassments, and the hall was rented to other
parties. On the 26th of January, 1858, nine mem-
bers withdrew, and but a precarious existence was
maintained, with occasional visits from Revs. George
Field, Chauncey Giles, C. A. Dunham, and others,
until January, 1864, when regular meetings were
resumed and conducted by John Jay Bailey as
reader, to which office he was elected July 7, 1864.
He was licensed to preach by the General Convention,
Oct. 19, 1864, and resigned the leadership of the so-
ciety Jan. 11, 1866, at which time it had increased
to forty active members. Rev. Charles Harden was
elected pastor March 14, 1866, and resigned June
24, 1867. Rev. Mr. Brickman supplied the pulpit
during the fall of 1867, and Rev. J. B. Stuart was
elected pastor Jan. 9, 1868, and resigned June 1,
1871. He reorganized the society and gave it the
name of " The First Parish of the New Church in St.
Louis," by which title it was incorporated March 28,
1868, with forty-six members. Its government was
vested in a board of wardens, the first elected mem-
bers of which were William Chauvenet, John H.
Barnard, George W. Simpkins, John Warden, E. C.
Sterling, George F. Lewis, G. B. Stone, R. L. Tafel,
John Jay Bailey, C. S. Kauffman, David R. Powell,
and Charles R. Anderson. In May, 1868, Mr.
Stuart called a convention of New Church Societies
in Missouri, and organized them into the diocese of
Missouri, of which he was made bishop. After his
departure a return to first principles was inaugurated,
and on the 6th of May, 1874, the " Missouri Associ-
ation" (as the "diocese" had come to be called) was
finally dissolved. On the 21st of October, 1877, the
" parish" was reorganized as the original First Society
of the New Jerusalem in St. Louis, and was chartered
March 8, 1878. On the 16th of March following the
" parish" transferred to the society all its possessions
and became extinct. The lease of the church lot ex-
pired June 1, 1872, and the building was sold for two
thousand dollars, a lot forty feet front (the present
site) purchased for four thousand dollars, and a
chapel capable of seating one hundred persons erected
on it at a cost of nine thousand and fifty dollars. The
building was first occupied Sept. 29, 1878. During
1873-74, Rev. James E. Mills officiated as leader of
the society, and services were subsequently conducted
by a reader. On the 3d of December, 1878, Rev. E.
A. Beaman was employed to preach two Sundays in
the month, and on the 1st of October, 1882, Rev. A.
F. Frost commenced an engagement as preacher, but
no regular pastor was chosen. The constitution of
the parish received, all told, one hundred and six signa-
tures. The present society has had, in all, thirty-eight
active members, now reduced by deaths to thirty-four,
and the congregation numbers about seventy persons.
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1743
The Sunday-school has five teachers and about forty
pupils.
The German New Jerusalem Society, corner of
Twelfth and Webster Streets, was organized in 1854,
and at one time worshiped at the corner of Howard
and Fourteenth Streets. Its congregation numbers
about two hundred, and about one hundred children
attend the Sunday-school.
CHRISTIAN CHURCHES.
The Christians, or Disciples of Christ, m'ore
popularly known as " Campbellites,'' from Alexander
Campbell, their foremost leader, who professed to re-
store the simple faith and worship of the primitive
Christians, and discarding all creeds, to take the Bible
for the sole guide in life and doctrine, have now three
organizations in St. Louis, viz. :
First Church, southwest corner of Olive and Sev-
enteenth Streets, Elder W. T. Tibbs, pastor.
Central Church, northeast corner of Washington
Avenue and Twenty- third Street, Rev. J. H. Foy,
D.D., pastor.
North St. Louis Church, southwest corner of
Eighth and Mound Streets, Elders George Anderson
and G. Jacknian, pastors.
These three congregations sprang successively from
a small gathering of Campbellites, originally only
seven members, which met on Sundays at a private
residence, and which in 1842 had increased in num-
ber to twenty-seven persons, with Elder Robert H. Fife
as leader. They next rented a small school-room on
Morgan Street, and a year lated rented Lyceum Hall,
and called to the pastorate Dr. W. H. Hbpson, then
a young man, who afterwards became one of the most
prominent ministers in the denomination. Owing to
his energy and activity the congregation increased so
rapidly that in 1845 it removed to a more commo-
dious building on Sixth Street and Franklin Avenue.
Elder Jacob Creath was the next pastor for two years,
and was succeeded by Elder Joseph Patton, who died
in 1850. The church next purchased a lot on Fifth
Street, between Franklin Avenue and Wash Street,
and erected a building at a cost of twenty-five thou-
sand dollars, which was dedicated Aug. 15, 1852, by
the pastor, Elder Samuel S. Church. The structure
was of the early English Gothic style of architecture,
and its dimensions were sixty by one hundred and
seven feet six inches, the seating capacity being about
eight hundred persons. Mr. Church died some years
later, and was followed by Elder Proctor, whom ill
health caused to resign in 1861. In June, 1863, the
church purchased from D. A. January the building
now occupied, at the southwest corner of Olive and
Seventeenth Streets. It had been St. Paul's Prot-
estant Episcopal Church, but was closed and sold for
debt in 1861. It was dedicated in July, 1863, by
the pastor, Elder Benjamin H. Smith, whose suc-
cessors in the pastorate have been Elders Henry H.
Haley, Henry Clark, John A. Brooks, 0. A. Carr,
Dr. W. H. Hopson, their first minister, who returned
in 1874 and remained one year; T. P. Haley, who
took charge in 1875 and resigned in November,
1881, leaving the church without a pastor until the
appointment of Elder W. T. Tibbs, of Kentucky, early
in 1882. In 1870 the question as to whether an
organ should be placed in the church caused dissen-
sions in the congregation, and in June, 1871, a large
number who favored instrumental music withdrew
and formed a new congregation, now called Central
Church. They met in a hall at Fourteenth and St.
Charles Streets, and in 1875 purchased the lot on
which they erected their present house of worship,
which they supplied with an organ and an efficient
choir. Their first pastor, Elder Enos Campbell, was
called to the charge at the time of the secession from
the First Church and remained until 1879, when the
present pastor was called. The congregation at Eighth
and Mound Streets has long been a small and strug-
gling one, but now, under its two able leaders, is be-
ginning to increase and flourish. The First Church
reports a membership of one hundred families and
three hundred communicants, and twelve teachers and
seventy-five pupils in the Sunday-school ; the Cen-
tral has two hundred members, and fifteen teachers
and one hundred scholars in the Sunday-school ; and
the North St. Louis comprises about sixty families
and one hundred members, with nine teachers and
one hundred children in the Sunday-school.
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES.
First Congregational Church. — The first Con-
gregational Society established in St. Louis was organ-
ized in the spring of 1852, and was an offshoot from the
Third Presbyterian Church. In 1847, Rev. Truman
M. Post, D.D., arrived in St. Louis under an engage-
ment for four years as pastor of what was then the
Third Presbyterian Church, whose members wor-
shiped on Sixth Street, between Franklin Avenue
and Wash Street. This congregation had been or-
ganized in April, 1842, by eighty-five members of the
First Presbyterian Church, who had been dismissed
for that purpose, and Dr. Post continued to serve as
its pastor until about the time of the organization of
the Congregational Society. At the request of several
leading citizens, Dr. Post preached, on the llth of
January, 1852, a discourse on Congreeationalism and
1744
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
the expediency of forming a Congregational Church
in St. Louis, and on the 14th of March following the
First Congregational Society was organized by sixty-
seven members of the former Third Presbyterian
Church and ten others. The interest of the other
owners in the building on Sixth Street was purchased,
and the new organization continued to worship there
with Dr. Post as pastor. Shortly afterwards the sum
of twenty thousand dollars was raised by subscription,
and a lot at the northwest corner of Tenth and Locust
Streets was purchased. On the western edge of this
lot a chapel was eredted, into which the congregation
moved in December, 1855, having sold the Sixth
Street property and with the proceeds liquidated the
debt incurred in building the chapel. The corner-
stone of the main church edifice was laid in the
spring of 1858, and the basement was occupied on
the 16th of October, 1859. The chapel was then
rented to the Homoeopathic Medical College, and on
the 4th of March, 1860, the church was dedicated,
its entire cost being fifty-five thousand dollars. Since
1879 the building has been rented to the Young
Men's Temperance Union. Its dimensions are one
hundred by seventy feet, and it occupies a lot one
hundred and two by eighty feet. It is a brick struc-
ture, with a solid stone basement. In 1863 the con-
gregation found itself burdened with a debt of forty
thousand dollars, and at the annual meeting of that
year it was determined to liquidate it. The sum of
ten thousand dollars was subscribed on the spot, ten !
thousand dollars more was obtained by subscription
soon afterwards, and in 1864 the chapel property was
sold, the society being thus 'lifted out of debt. Pil-
grim Church was founded as a colony from the First |
in 1866, and during the same year several members
withdrew for the purpose of forming the Webster
Grove Church. The location of the First Church
became from year to year more and more unsuitable,
owing to the removal of population westward, and
finally the present site of the church (Delmar and
Grand Avenues) was purchased, and a wooden chapel
erected, which the congregation first occupied in Feb-
ruary, 1879, and in which it still continues to wor-
ship. In January, 1872, Dr. Post tendered his res-
ignation as pastor, but withdrew it at the urgent
request of his congregation, and on the 1st of Janu-
ary, 1882, he was allowed to retire from the active
duties of his charge, his congregation, however, con-
tinuing him in honorary connection with the pastorate,
under the title of Pastor Emeritus. The present
pastor is the Rev. J. G. Merrill.
Rev. Truman M. Post was born in Middlebury,
Vt., June 3, 1810. His father, a lawyer, died before
he was a year old, and his training devolved upon his
mother. He attended the common schools of his
native place, but studied and read independently of his
teachers, his progress being so rapid that at the age of
fifteen he entered Middlebury College, a self-taught
and rather precocious young man. He graduated
from this institution when only nineteen years old, as
valedictorian of his class. He was then engaged for
a year as principal of the Castleton Academy, and for
two years as a tutor at Middlebury College. He then
began the study of law, but he had also a decided
bias for theological investigation, and in 1831, while
a tutor at Middlebury, he was led to change his pur-
pose. Accordingly, in the autumn of 1832, he went
to Andover. with the view of pursuing a course of
study for the Christian ministry, but when about to
make profession of Christianity he found himself de-
barred from communions which seemed genuinely
representative by creeds which required, as conditions
of membership, categorical statements of belief which
seemed to him speculative, and as to which he had no
positive convictions. These difficulties not yielding,
he turned again to the law, and in the prosecution of
his studies spent the winter of 1832—33 in Wash-
ington, where he was a constant attendant upon the
sessions of the Supreme Court, and a deeply-interested
spectator of the exciting oratorical contests between
Webster, Calhoun, and other giants of the period,
which marked the close of the old regime and the
inauguration of a new political era.
While yet in doubt as to his future course, Mr.
Post was persuaded by Gen. (afterwards Governor)
Duncan, of Illinois, to visit the West, and in the
spring of 1833 started thither, passing a few days at
Cincinnati, where he made the acquaintance of Salmon
P. Chase, then a young lawyer, whose friendship he
retained through life, and of Dr. Lyman Beecher,
who advised him as to his religious difficulties. He
arrived at St. Louis in May of that year, and made
arrangements to enter the law-office of H. R. Gamble.
Before settling down to his new career, however, he
visited his friend, Gen. Duncan, at Jacksonville, 111.,
and soon after his arrival there was prevailed upon to
accept a temporary engagement as assistant instructor
in Illinois College, at that point. This temporary
arrangement was soon made permanent, and resulted
in a stay of fourteen years at Jacksonville.
In the fall of 1833 he made his first formal public
profession of faith in Christianity (his religious diffi-
culties having been partly removed), and joined a
little Congregational Church then being formed. In
1835 he revisited Middlebury, his native place, and
married a daughter of the Hon. Daniel Henshaw, a
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1745
prominent citizen of Vermont. The union proved a ;
singularly happy one.
In the financial revulsions of 1837-38 the funds
of the college failed, and pecuniary considerations
urged Mr. Post to return to the law. But while con-
sidering the problem he was besought by the church
to " take license" and become its pastor. Eventually
he acceded to the request, but on appearing before
the association for examination he expressly repudi-
ated the term " licensing" or " being licensed," and
the implied assumption of spiritual authority over
preacher or congregation. The association was star-
tled, but on examination of Mr. Post's historical ref-
erences it conceded his position, and granted him
merely a recommendation as a preacher. For several
years he combined the classical instruction and his-
torical lectures of the class-room with the labors of
the pulpit and the pastorate.
But the revenue from both sources was still insuf-
ficient to satisfy his pecuniary necessities, and a change
became imperative. Meanwhile he had been repeat-
edly solicited to remove to St. Louis, to assume charge
of the Third Presbyterian Church, and in 1847 he
received a specially urgent call. He was, however,
deeply attached to the college, and was also extremely
unwilling to live in a community in which slavery j
existed. He finally accepted the invitation on the
express condition that his letter of acceptance should
be read publicly, and then the question of renewing
the call be submitted to the people. In this letter he
stated that he regarded holding human beings as prop-
erty as a violation of the first principles of the Chris-
tian religion, and that while he did not ' require the
church to adopt his views, he thought every Chris-
tian should be alive to the question of slavery ; and
as for himself, he must be guaranteed perfect liberty
of opinion and speech on the subject, otherwise he
did not think God called him to add to the number
of slaves already in Missouri. The church heard the
letter and unanimously renewed the invitation, where-
upon Professor Post, in the fall of 1847, became the
pastor of the Third Presbyterian Church of St. Louis,
limiting the engagement to four years, in the hope
that he might be able to return to the college at the
expiration of that period.
But at the close of the allotted term, the church
with great unanimity voted to become a Congrega-
tional Church, and chose Rev. Mr. Post as its pastor,
a position which under the circumstances he was
constrained to accept, and which he held uninter-
ruptedly until his resignation, which took effect Jan.
1, 1882. Under his pastorate the church prospered,
and became the rallying-point for opinions that later
became potential in the great civil war. During that
period Mr. Post did not forbear to assert the suprem-
acy of those principles of personal liberty and respon-
sibility which he had brought with him from New
England, but did so with so much courtesy as well as
courage, that he commanded the entire respect of a con-
gregation and community of widely differing opinions.
REV. TRUMAN M. POST, D.D.
Outside of the duties immediately pertaining to
his pastorate, he became closely identified with the
development of the educational and charitable enter-
prises of the city, and labored with an energy and
catholicity of spirit not excelled by any in his pro-
fession. The abolition of slavery removed a great
barrier to the spread of Congregationalism, and the
subsequent rapid planting of churches of that faith
in this portion of the Mississippi valley was greatly
aided by his counsels.
His resignation as pastor of the First Congrega-
tional Church was accepted with reluctance, and, as
previously stated, in recognition of his years of service,
the title of Pastor Emeritus was conferred upon him.
Many years ago his Alma Mater, Middlebury Col-
lege, bestowed upon him the degree of Doctor of
Divinity.
Force and effectiveness are the characteristics of Dr.
Post as a preacher. He possesses a brilliant and
poetic fancy, and his historical studies enable him to
analyze events with a philosophic eye. This perhaps
was the secret of his power and influence in the agita-
tion preceding and attending the civil war. Many
1746
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
of his discourses and addresses were widely circulated,
and contributed greatly to strengthening the hands of
the Unionists. He also aided the cause by frequent
contributions to the press.
Although a prominent actor in the local agitation
of the period, Dr. Post was never lacking in the per-
formance of any of the usual duties of a pastor, and
his nearly thirty-five years in the ministry in St.
Louis were singularly faithful and useful ones.
In 1873, while in Europe, he was summoned home
by the death of his estimable wife. Their union had
resulted in three sons and three daughters, all living ;
two of the sons are lawyers and one is a physician,
all of them occupying a creditable position in their
several callings.
Pilgrim Congregational Church, corner of
Washington and Ewing Avenues, Rev. C. L. Goodell,
D.D., pastor, grew out of Pilgrim Sabbath-school, or-
ganized in 1853, by Rev. F. A. Armstrong, of Ten-
nessee, temporarily residing in St. Louis. The school
was established in the upper room of a two-story
frame house at the northwest corner of Garrison
Avenue and Morgan Street, where the residence of
William Ballentyne now stands. After conducting
the school one Sunday Mr. Armstrong was called
away, and Stephen M. Edgell, a member of the
First Congregational Church, continued it, chiefly at
his own expense. For about twelve years he had per-
sonal care of the school-room, and in winter brought
coal and kindling-wood from his own home, acting
both as instructor and janitor. In 1854, the school
having become too large for its quarters, Mr. Edgell
leased a lot where now stands the residence of D. P.
Rowland, 2910 Morgan Street, and erected on it a
one-story brick building, in which besides the school
religious services were held. On the 22d of Septem-
ber, 1865, an informal meeting was held at the house
of William Colcord, 2800 Morgan Street, to consider
the question of erecting a permanent building for the
Sabbath-school and of organizing a new congregation.
In June, 1866, S. M. Edgell and James E. Kaime
purchased a lot fronting eighty and eight- twelfths feet
on Washington Avenue, and one hundred and thirty-
four and three-twelfths feet on Ewing Avenue, for
$7620, and presented it for the " uses of an orthodox
Congregational Church." Pilgrim Chapel, a brick
building, capable of seating four hundred people, and
costing $14,460.80, was erected on this lot during
the same year. On the 5th of December, 1866, the
proposed church was organized as a colony from the
First Congregational Church, thirty-six of whose
members had been dismissed for the purpose. The
chapel was dedicated on the 22d of December, 1866,
the 22d being known as " Forefathers' day," the an-
niversary of the day on which the Pilgrim Fathers
landed at Plymouth Rock. A council of Congrega-
tional Churches was convened for the occasion, with
Rev. J. M. Sturtevant, Jr., of Hannibal, as moderator,
and Rev. J. M. Bowers, of Sedalia, Mo., as scribe.
In 1 867 the foundations of the present stone build-
ing were built, at a cost of three thousand and forty
dollars and forty-five cents, and Dec. 21, 1867, the
corner-stone was laid with appropriate services at the
northeast corner. In 1871 the erection of the pres-
ent edifice was commenced, and on the 22d of De-
cember, 1872 (Forefathers' day), the building was
formally dedicated. The total cost, including that of
organ and furniture, was fifty-six thousand three
hundred and forty-eight dollars and nine cents. S. M.
Edgell and D. F. Kaime were the building committee,
and Henry L. Isaacs was the architect. The church
is capable of seating thirteen hundred and twenty
persons. The spire and tower were finished in 1876,
and in the latter is the " Oliphant chime" of ten bells,
presented at Christmas, 1876, by Dr. R. W. Oliphant,
in memory of his deceased wife and son. In con-
nection with the chimes is a tower clock, striking the
famous Cambridge University quarters, the first of
its kind in America. The bells, clock, etc., cost ten
thousand dollars. The pastors have been Revs. John
Monteith, Jr., of Cleveland, Ohio, began Nov. 1, 1866,
dismissed with seventy-one other members to form a
colony, March 15, 1869; W. C. Martyn, of Union
Presbyterian Theological Seminary, appointed June
24, 1869, resigned Sept, 1, 1871 ; H. C. Haydn, ap- .
pointed Dec. 1, 1871, resigned April 1, 1872; C. L.
Goodell, called Sept. 12, took charge Nov. 27, 1872,
and formally installed June 5, 1873, the installation
having been delayed by his illness.
In December, 1871, S. M. Edgell presented the
two-story brick dwelling-house and twenty-five feet of
land adjoining the church for a parsonage.
The brick chapel was rebuilt in the autumn of
1873, with a stone front, and raised to the height of
the main edifice, and was fitted up with sewing-rooms,
parlors, etc., at a cost of $13,229.80, and dedicated
Jan. 21, 1874. The entire church property has cost
$106,207.89. This was the first church erected west
of Seventeenth Street, and out of it have grown the
Third, Plymouth, Fifth, and Hyde Park Churches.
It has also dismissed several members to unite with
the Congregational Church at Webster Grove. About
fifteen hundred persons are connected with the church,
and there are seven hundred and fifty communicants.
The Sunday-school has seventeen officers, fifty-four
regular teachers, and a reserve corps of nineteen others.
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1747
During the year 1881 the whole number of scholars
was seven hundred and fifty, the additions seventy-
five, number of classes fifty-six, and number of vol-
umes in the library five hundred and forty-two. Con-
nected with the church are a Young Ladies' Mission-
ary Society, a Ladies' Home Missionary Society, a
Woman's Board of Missions, the Pilgrim Workers, a
Flower Mission, etc., while the congregation is also
largely represented in the Young Men's Christian
Association, missionary work in the jail, and several
other religious and benevolent enterprises. During
1881 the church contributed in outside benevolence
$26, 638.85, and during the year previous $25,-
882.87.
Rev. Constans L. Goodell, D.D., pastor of Pilgrim
Church, is descended from Robert Goodell, one of the
early settlers of Salem, Mass., who came from Eng-
land in the ship "Elizabeth," landing there in 1634,
six years after the founding of that town and fourteen
years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. One of
his descendants, Aaron Goodell, emigrated to Calais,
Vt., where Constans L. Goodell was born March 16,
1830. He belongs to a race which has contributed
much to the growth of Christianity in our own and
other lands. His mother, Elvira Bancroft, was of a
family which for five successive generations furnished
a deacon in each (of the same name) for the church
in Lynn, Mass. Eleven of his ancestors chose the
ministry for their life-work, including the eminent
Dr. William Goodell, for forty-two years a missionary
of the American Board in Turkey.
Dr. Goodell is a graduate of the University of Ver-
mont, class of 1855, and of Andover Theological Semi-
nary, 1858. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was
conferred by his Alma Mater in 1874.
He married, May 5, 1859, Miss Emily Fairbanks,
daughter of Governor Erastus Fairbanks, and sister of
Governor Horace Fairbanks, of St. Johnsbury, Vt.
Mrs. Goodell has had a large share in his remarkable
success, and few women have exercised so wide and
valuable an influence on the life of a great city. All
the rich gifts of her generous heart and cultured mind
are fully consecrated to the work to which his life is
devoted. She is beside her husband in all his labors,
and all movements for the advancement of the church
and for reaching and comforting the uncared-for and
afflicted are planned by the two together. His first
pastorate was at New Britain, Conn., wkere he was
settled over the South Congregational Church in 1859,
and where he remained fourteen years.
On Nov. 27, 1872, he commenced his pastorate in
St. Louis, and this date marks the commencement of
that rapid growth which has placed Pilgrim Church
among the great evangelizing forces of the city. That
his work has been successful is clearly shown by its
effects. The high position universally accorded him is
the result of the labor which has developed a church
of ninety-two members into one of eight hundred, and
increased its benevolence from three thousand dollars
a year to nearly thirty thousand dollars, all in the
short space of ten years. He uses no sensational
methods, but depends on quiet and effective labor.
When asked once what was the secret of his success,
from a human stand-point, he replied, " Eternal vigi-
lance." He is remarkably successful in inspiring others
with a love for Christian effort.
His belief is thoroughly evangelical, and what is
technically known as the "New England theology,"
and he preaches only his convictions. No one has
ever heard doubts ventilated from Pilgrim pulpit while
he has occupied it. He is thoroughly consecrated to
the work of the pastorate. He knows his people
thoroughly, and is as well known by them. A stranger
at one of the services said that when the preacher
rose in the pulpit he knew at once that he was the
pastor of that church ; his manner, his prayers, and
his preaching all showed that he was the shepherd of
the flock. In the church of which he is the pastor
people of all sects and circumstances are perfectly at
home.
Many churches in St. Louis have felt the impulse
of Dr. Goodell's work, and through him have gained
courage to go forward. There are several organiza-
tions in the city besides Pilgrim Church that are now
strong, and becoming more vigorous and useful every
year, which might not be in existence but for him.
At least three new churches have been organized
within the city limits as the direct result of his wise
planning and generous help ; and they have all been
set in motion with such a liberal spirit that their suc-
cess was assured from the start. Numerous churches
in various parts of the State afford the same evidence
of the thoughtful care and wise generosity of Dr.
Goodell. His influence on his brethren in the min-
istry is great, and not only by his example, but by
his active sympathy and sound advice, has he saved
them from many grave mistakes, and contributed
greatly to their success.
In educational matters he has always been active.
Drury College owes much of its prosperity to his la-
bors as a trustee and an earnest friend. There are
many who believe that but for him the college could
never have survived the trials through which it has
passed. Illinois College and other similar institutions
have also felt the effects of his efforts and counsel.
Dr. Goodell's life is an eminently peaceful one. He
1748
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
studiously avoids all controversies, believing that the
plain preaching of the truth and earnest work form
the best answer to any attack or criticism. It natu-
rally follows that his influence in unifying and har-
monizing Christian work is great. The Young Men's
Christian Association has always found in him a
faithful and practical ally. The different branches of
union effort in the city have representatives and ac-
tive workers from his membership, and look with
confidence to the pastor of Pilgrim Church for help
and advice. During the time that Rev. E. P. Ham-
mond, the evangelist, labored in St. Louis, and later
when D. L. Moody held his meetings, Dr. Goodell
was foremost in the work. The Evangelical Alli-
ance has learned to expect from him words of peace j
and wisdom on difficult points, and one of its pleas-
antest and most helpful years was that in which he was
its president.
In his own denomination Dr. Goodell is recognized
as a leader and has great influence. At the meeting I
of the National Council of Congregational Churches
in Detroit, in 1877, his paper on " Woman's Work as
a Part of the Religious Movement of the Time" was
regarded as one of the wisest and most timely utter-
ances ever made on that difficult subject. In 1881, ,
in his sermon before the American Home Missionary \
Society at its annual meeting in New York City, he j
asked for " one million dollars a year for home mis- i
sions," and the churches seem likely in the near fu-
ture to meet this demand. He is a member of the
committee of twenty-five, appointed for the purpose
of framing a new statement of Christian doctrine, and (
occupies many other positions of trust and influence.
There have been several efforts to draw Dr. Goodell
away to other pastorates and positions of great im-
portance, but his response in each case has been that
his work was in St. Louis.
Third Congregational Church. — On the 22d of |
December, 1867, the Young People's Association of '
Pilgrim Congregational Church organized the May-
flower Mission Sabbath -school, which was located at
the corner of Luckey Street and Grand Avenue. In
the fall of 1868 a lot on Boston Street, between Grand
and Spring Avenues, was purchased, and a chapel forty
by fifty feet erected. The building was completed
and dedicated June 13, 1869 ; a colony of sixty-two
members from Plymouth Church, to whom the chapel
was transferred, having on the 15th of March previous
organized a new church, with the name of Mayflower
Church. The pastors of Mayflower Church have
been Rev. John Monteith, who assisted in the first
organization, and resigned on account of ill health,
April 26, 1871, but continued to officiate until re-
lieved by his successor ; Rev. E. P. Powell, appointed
April 26, 1871, took charge Sept. 17, 1871, resigned
Sept. 12, 1873 ; Rev. W. S. Peterson, appointed Jan-
uary, 1874, resigned January, 1875; Rev. William
Twining served as supply three months in 1875 ; Rev.
Theodore Clifton, appointed Oct. 12, 1875. During
the last quarter of 1873, the congregation being with-
out a pastor, lost so many members that in January,
1874, it reorganized, and closed the year with sixty-
six members, of whom thirty-nine had belonged to
the former organization. In 1875 it suffered from
the same cause, and the organization was only pre-
served by the determination of a few individuals. In
December, 1875, when the present pastor, Rev. The-
odore Clifton, took charge, only twenty-five resident
members remained, the services during the interval
having been conducted by a reader, and a debt of one
thousand dollars had accumulated.
Since then, however, the congregation has prospered.
On the 12th of April, 1876, the church united with
the St. Louis Congregational Association, and Oct.
1, 1876, its name was changed to that of "Third
Congregational." In November, 1876, S. M. Edgell,
of Pilgrim Church, presented the church with fifty
feet of ground on Francis Street, and in the fall of
1877 the Boston Street lots were sold, the debt was
paid, and the building was removed to the new location
on Francis Street, and enlarged, repaired, and refur-
nished at a cost of $2015.35, of which $1350 was given
by the Pilgrim and First Congregational Churches.
The remainder was raised by the members of the
Third Church. The edifice was rededicated, free of
debt, Dec. 19, 1877, by Revs. C. S. Goodell and Dr.
T. M. Post. In June, 1882, the lot occupied by the
present church, at the southeast corner of Grand
and Page Avenues, was purchased from D. R. Garri-
son for the sum of twelve thousand dollars. Its
dimensions are one hundred and twelve by one hun-
dred and fifty feet, and on it is situated a handsome
residence, which was included in the purchase and is
now the parsonage. The church, a neat Gothic frame
building, was removed to the new site, and two thou-
sand dollars was expended in refitting it. A lecture-
room and other apartments were added as a basement,
and the building, which is capable of seating five
hundred persons, was formally reopened on the 10th
of November, 1882. The membership numbers over
two hundred. There are about one hundred and fifty
families connected with the church, and the average
attendance is about one hundred and fifty. The Fair
Ground Mission Sunday-school was organized July
17, 1870, and formally recognized as a mission of the
church Dec. 19, 1877. It has fifteen teachers and
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1749
two hundred scholars. The Ladies' Aid Society,
Young People's Christian Association, and Children's
Missionary Society, called " Coral Workers," are active
auxiliaries of the church.
Plymouth Church.. — The fourth of the Congre-
gational Churches of St. Louis, in point of organiza-
tion, is Plymouth Church, situated on the west side
of Belle Glade Avenue, north of Parsons Street, Rev.
James A. Adams, pastor. It grew out of a Sunday-
school called the " Hope Mission School," which was
organized in 1865 by Rev. William Porteus, city
missionary, at Elleardsville, then a suburb of St. Louis.
His connection with it lasted only a few months, and
it dwindled away until, in the fall of 1868, Mrs.
Lucy J. Moody appealed to Pilgrim Church for
laborers to sustain the school. The church in re-
sponse sent out Deacons Wm. Colcord and Lyman
B. Ripley, the latter of whom was soon compelled
by the pressure of his church duties to leave the
enterprise in the hands of the former, to whose ef-
forts and pecuniary aid the school owed its growth,
and Plymouth Church, perhaps, its existence. Mrs.
Lucy J. Moody gave the school a lot thirty-three
by one hundred and forty feet, and the erection of a
building upon it was commenced in 1868, when in
response to appeals for aid the First Pilgrim and
Webster Grove Congregational Churches pledged
each five hundred dollars towards the erection of a
suitable building. These subscriptions were made
with a view to organizing a church in connection
with the school, and as further aid was promised from
other sources the idea was adopted. The contract for
the building was executed in March, 1869, and the
structure was completed and dedicated July 1 1, 1869.
On Saturday, July 31, 1869, a meeting was held and
the church organized, its first communion occurring
on the following day. The building is of frame,
thirty by sixty-two feet, with a seating capacity of
three hundred. In 1879 a lecture-room of the same
.seating capacity was erected beneath the superstruc-
ture. An additional lot, thirty-three by one hundred
and forty feet, has been added to the first, and the
property is now valued at five thousand dollars. The !
successive pastors have been Revs. W. H. Warren, a
graduate of Harvard College and Andover Seminary,
ordained and installed Dec. 7, 1869, resigned Sept.
25, 1872 ; Win. Perkins (supply), May 4 to Nov.
30, 1873 ; then an interval without a pastor ; W. B.
Millard, a graduate of Chicago Seminary, installed
June 26, 1874; resigned April 11, 1875 ; Alex. S.
McConnell, May 16 to Nov. 16, 1875 ; J. E. Wheeler,
November, 1875, to September, 1877 ; J. H. Har-
wood, a graduate of Williams College and Union
111
Seminary, Oct. 10, 1877, to Aug. 15, 1880; James
A. Adams, a graduate of Knox College and Union
Seminary, called September 4th, ordained and in-
stalled Dec. 3, 1880. Associated with the church
are a Ladies' Aid Society, organized in 1878, and a
Ladies' Missionary Society, organized in 1879. The
church numbers one hundred and twenty-eight mem-
bers, and its Sunday-school is attended by three hun-
dred pupils.
Fifth Congregational Church, southwest corner
of Clark Avenue and High (or Twenty-third) Street,
Rev. George C. Adams, pastor, is the third child of
Pilgrim Church, and was originally the High Street
Mission Sunday-school. It was established by Pil-
grim Church, Oct. 31, 1880, and carried on until
May 1, 1881, when Rev. George C. Adams took
charge of it and began holding regular services. On
the 3d of July, 1881, the Fifth Church was organ-
ized. It was recognized by council Oct. 11, 1881,
and Mr. Adams was installed as pastor. The build-
ing now occupied was erected by the High Street
Presbyterian Church, and was purchased for the Fifth
Church by Pilgrim Church, which up to Jan. 1, 1882,
had spent six thousand one hundred and fifty dollars
for the new society. It is cruciform, the nave being
seventy-eight feet in length and the transept eighty
feet. The dimensions of the lot are one hundred and
thirty- four by one hundred and twenty-five feet, and
the property is valued at nine thousand dollars. The
congregation maintains in connection with its church
work the Ladies' Aid Society, organized March, 1882;
the Young People's Home Missionary Society, organ-
ized September, 1881 ; and the Youths' Christian
Association, organized in January, 1882. The church
membership embraces one hundred and fifty families,
one hundred' and thirty-one communicants, and an
attendance of four hundred at the Sunday-school.
Hyde Park Church was the sixth Congregational
Church organized in St. Louis, and the fourth offshoot
from Pilgrim Church. It is situated at the north-
west corner of Bremen Avenue and Twelfth Street,
and the pastor is Rev. L. L. West. In April, 1881,
a church building which stood on Ninth Street, be-
tween Farrar and Salisbury, and which had been
known as the Fairmount Presbyterian Church, was
purchased for its use. The building was removed to
its present location opposite Hyde Park, refitted, and
dedicated July 10, 1881. The society was organized
with twenty-one members, July 25, 1881, and the
present pastor, who is from Chicago Theological Semi-
nary, was elected. The building, removal, and re-
pairing cost Pilgrim Church $3848.27. In May,
1882, the congregation comprised one hundred and
1750
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
forty families and fifty-six communicants, and there j
were seventeen teachers and between one hundred
and fifty and two hundred pupils in the Sunday-
school.
In addition to the Congregational Churches named,
the Fair Ground Mission Sunday-school, belonging
to the Third Church, is conducted under the superin-
tendence of Garden Hepburn. The Ministers' Meet-
ing is held every Monday at eleven A.M., in the par-
lors of Pilgrim Church, and the St. Louis District
Association of Congregational Ministers and Churches
meets twice a year, in April and October. Its regis-
trar is 0. L. Whitelaw, 617 North Second Street.
There is also a State Central Home Missionary Com-
mittee, composed of Rev. T. M. Post, D.D., Rev. C.
L. Goodell, D.D., Rev. Henry Hopkins, Rev. Theo-
dore Clifton, Rev. J. C. Plumb, Rev. E. B. Burrows,
and S. M. Edgell.
CEMETERIES.
Early in the present century we find that portions
of Col. Auguste Chouteau's property were used as i
burial-places, and on Oct. 12, 1815, he gave notice !
" forbidding any further interments in his land, near
the court-house in the town of St. Louis, under penalty
of prosecution." On the 1st of June, 1816, James
Sawyer announced that " having purchased the lot
No. 6 in Col. Chouteau's addition to the town of
St. Louis, on which there are some graves, and being
about to build thereon, the friends and connections
of the departed are hereby notified that he will
have no objection to their removing the remains of
their connections; or if they prefer leaving them
where they are, every respect shall be paid to them
on my part of which the case will admit. • The
conditions on which Col. A. Chouteau sold this and
all the lots in his addition expressly, prohibit the
purchasers from permitting the interring of the dead
thereon for the future, under the penalty of forfeiting
the lot ; this inconvenience he hopes will be effectually
remedied, as Messrs. Chambers, Christy & Co. have
set apart a high and handsome situation in the vicinity
of St. Louis for the use of a church and burying-
ground, of which they have made a donation to the
public, under the express conditions that it is at all
times to remain open for the interment of the dead of
all religious denominations."
The public burying-ground here referred to was
that which was afterwards known as "the old Grace
Church graveyard," at Warren and Eleventh Streets.
Col. William Chambers, of Kentucky, an officer in the
United States army, was the original purchaser, and
afterwards sold a third each to Maj. Thomas Wright
and William Christy. As an inducement for wealthy
persons to settle in that section, these gentlemen
set apart four parcels of land for public uses, and
among them a " circle" containing about one and
three-fourths acres, " for the purpose of erecting a
house of worship, and a burying-ground to be opened
for the interment of all denominations of religious per-
sons." This circle was used as a burying-ground as
early as 1825, but it was not until 1844 that a grave-
yard was regularly established.
In the latter year a number of Episcopalians or-
ganized a church society, and induced other persons
of various Protestant denominations to unite with
them in establishing a burying ground, which re-
mained under the control of the vestry of Grace Prot-
estant Episcopal Church, the church and ground
being originally consecrated by Bishop Hawks.
During the cholera epidemic of 1849 the number of
interments here was so large that the grounds were
closed in 1851. A large number of the bodies were
afterwards transferred to Bellefontaine cemetery. The
subsequent improvements in the neighborhood of the
graveyard, such as grading and opening new streets,
etc., disturbed many of the graves, and the contents
of others were exposed by crumbling of the hill on
which the graveyard was situated, and in such in-
stances the bones were removed to the basement
under the church. Among the graves thus disturbed
was that of Governor Howard. This circumstance
was brought to the notice of the City Council, who
authorized the reinterment of Governor Howard's re-
mains in Bellefontaine cemetery. Years ago the
cemetery circle had trees on it, and the place was a
popular resort in summer and autumn evenings for
loving couples, and the old people who lived in the
vicinity amused their friends by narrating roman-
tic and ghostly stories concerning courtship adven-
tures in the old graveyard. It was customary in
those days for displeased parents and jealous parties
to get up ghost scenes to scare the young people
when promenading or seated in the place.
In February, 1823, the trustees of the town passed
an ordinance " prohibiting the burial of dead within
its limits."
On June 28, 1824, Messrs. J. B. Belcour, M.
Murphy, G. Paul, and J. McGovern, trustees of the
Catholic Church, gave notice as follows: "The in-
habitants of St. Louis and its vicinity are made ac-
quainted that a public graveyard, under the superin-
tendence of the wardens of the Catholic congregation,
and adjoining their burial-ground, is now opened, and
that burials may hereafter take place by conforming
with the following resolutions passed by the commit-
tee : Applications for burials to be made to the warden
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1751
in office for the year. The price of burial to be ten
dollars, five dollars for children under ten years of
age. Persons who would fence in a particular spot
for their family, each burial to be twenty dollars, and
ten dollars for children under ten years of age. The
amount of burial to be settled with the church warden
before the burials take place. No grave to be dug
but by the digger appointed for that purpose, and ac-
cording to the regulations for said graveyard. The
warden in office for this year is Mr. J. B. Belcour."
In 1827 we find that orders for graves in the city
graveyard, and digging them, were received by the
sexton, living next to it, and by A. Rutgers, on Church
Street, between Plum and Poplar Streets, and are told
that a lot for twelve coffins cost twenty dollars; for
one coffin, five dollars; price for digging a grave, two
dollars.
In 1833 the city authorities set apart a tract of
ten acres, a portion of the commons belonging to St.
Louis, lying southwest of the city, for the purpose of
a burial-ground, but inclosed only one acre, which was
" deemed sufficient for the purpose for some years to
come."
The Bellefontaine cemetery was incorporated as
" the Rural Cemetery," under an act of the General
Assembly of Missouri, approved March 7, 1849, the
incorporators being Messrs. John F. Darby, Henry
Kayser, Way man Crow, James E. Yeatman, James
Harrison, Charles S. Ranriels, Gerard B. Allen, Phil-
ander Salisbury, William Bennett, Augustus Brew-
ster, and William McPherson. On May 24, 1849,
the " Rural Cemetery Association" was organized by
the election of Dr. William Carr Lane, president ;
A. G. Farwell, secretary ; and a committee, consisting
of Messrs. Wayman Crow, John O'Fallon, J. B.
Crockett, Christian Rhodes, John F. Darby, John
Smith, John Kerr, Nathan Ranney, and N. E. Jan-
ney, was appointed on the selection of a site for the
cemetery and permanent organization. Upon this
committee reporting the permanent organization was
effected by the election of James Harrison, president;
Wayman Crow, treasurer; William M. McPherson, sec-
retary. The capital stock was fixed at fifty thousand
dollars, and a tract of land comprising one hundred
and thirty-eight acres was purchased from Luther
M. Kennett, on the Bellefontaine road, at two hun-
dred dollars per acre. On the 15th of May, 1850,
it was dedicated as the " Bellefontaine Cemetery."
Hon. John F. Darby presided at the dedicatory
ceremonies, which were participated in by Rev. Mr.
Bullard, of the First Presbyterian Church; Rev. Mr.
Hutchinson, of St. George's Episcopal Church ;
Rev. Mr. Eliot, of the Unitarian Church ; Rev. Mr.
Jeter, of the First Baptist Church, and Rev. T. M.
Post. A hymn composed by Mrs. F. M. Brotherton,
and an ode composed by William J. Blackwood, were
sung by the choir. At the close of the ceremonies
lots to the amount of thirteen thousand seven hun-
dred and seventy-seven dollars were sold. The
first interment in the cemetery was made May 19,
1850. On November 4th the first annual meeting
of the association was held, and the following board
of trustees was elected : John F. Darby, William M.
McPherson, Gerard B. Allen, Augustus Brewster,
William Bennett, Wayman Crow, James Harrison,
Luther M. Kennett, John R. Shepley, John O'Fal-
lon, and James E. Yeatman. Up to Jan. 1, 1878,
two thousand four hundred and seventy-two lots had
been sold, and there had been nineteen thousand nine
hundred and seventy-one interments. At this time
the resources of the association amounted to one hun-
dred and thirteen thousand one hundred and seventy-
six dollars, and the income for the preceding year
was twenty-six thousand and seventy-three dollars.
The cemetery at present comprises nearly three hun-
dred and fifty acres. The present officers are James
E. Yeatman, president ; George S. Drake, vice-presi-
dent; Samuel Copp, secretary and treasurer; A.
Hotchkiss, superintendent.
The Wesleyan Cemetery Association was incorpo-
rated under an act of the Legislature of Missouri,
approved Feb. 28, 1851. An amendatory act of
March 5, 1855, provided that no street or highway
shall be opened through any part of the Wesleyan
cemetery. By a subsequent act, passed in 1874, the
Wesleyan Cemetery Association was authorized to re-
move the bodies buried therein and to sell and dispose
of the property. The association disposed of their old
property in the city and removed the remains therein
to the new Wesleyan cemetery.
In 1852 the St. Louis Republican, in speaking of
the cemeteries and graveyards of the city, said, " The
old French cemetery, at the corner of Second and
Market Streets, is still fresh in our memory, and this
thoroughfare is now one of the busiest in the city.
So, too, of the burying-place at the corner of Fourth
and Market Streets, started at a later period. The
public cemetery, on Park Avenue, west of Carondelet,
is to be recognized to-day only by the three or four
broken tombstones which are left. Not a single trace
of the inclosure exists, and as a new cellar is excavated
or an adjacent street improved, the remains of the dead
are taken up carelessly, to be placed in this or that cem-
etery. Nay, the cemeteries on Franklin Avenue,
which were only a short time ago believed to be far
beyond the encroachments of city improvements, to-
1752
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
day form the centre of a populous, busy district, and
their removal is already contemplated, as they retard
in a measure the progress of necessary improvements."
In 1854 a new Catholic cemetery was laid out near
the Bellefontaine cemetery, to which the name of Cal-
vary was given.
In 1865 the St. Louis City Council passed an
ordinance for the removal of bodies buried in the
old city cemetery to the quarantine burying-ground.
The ordinance provided that the bodies shall be re-
moved by the city by the 15th day of March follow-
ing, but that persons claiming the remains of friends
or relatives buried might remove them.
In 1866, during the prevalence of the cholera, the
city authorities decided to bury the victims of the
scourge on Arsenal Island, where the smallpox hos-
pital was situated. The bodies were conveyed to the
foot of Miller Street in ambulances, and were trans-
ferred thence to the island in skiffs.
On June 22, 1873, the corner-stone of a new chapel
in Mount Sinai cemetery was laid, Rev. Drs. Wolfen-
stein and Sonneschein officiating.
In 1827 a post cemetery was established a short
distance south from Jefferson Barracks, on land be-
longing to the United States government, and the
first interment was made there in 1828. This cem-
etery included an area of one and one-fourth acres,
and in it seven hundred and fifty interments were
made prior to 1863. In that year a national cem-
etery was established there, including twenty and one-
half acres, and in 1877 additions were made to this,
so that now the area of the cemetery is forty-five acres.
Forest-trees at first covered the ground, but these
have been removed, the surface has been graded, and
ornamental trees, shrubs, vines, etc., to the number
of several thousand have been planted, so that the
grounds have now the appearance of a well-kept sub-
urban cemetery. There are here eleven thousand five
hundred and eight graves ; one thousand one hundred
and six are those of Confederate soldiers, marked
with cedar head-boards. All graves of United States
soldiers are designated by marble regulation head-
stones, or by monuments which the friends of those
who lie entombed there have erected. Here repose
the remains of the nation's heroes, and the lines of
the soldier-poet, which are inscribed on a modest
tablet near the entrance, are peculiarly appropriate, —
" On fame's eternal camping-ground
Their silent tents are spread,
And memory guards with solemn round
The bivouac of the dead."
The national flag floats constantly over this ceme-
tery, and thousands of patriotic and grateful peo-
ple come here annually to bedeck the graves with
flowers.
In addition to the foregoing there are a number of
other cemeteries near the city, most of them being
connected with the different religious denominations.
CHAPTER XL.
RELIGIOUS, BENEVOLENT, SOCIAL, SECRET, AND
OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.
ST. Louis has always been justly famed for its public
and private philanthropy, and its history is distin-
guished by a multitude of class or religious organiza-
tions, having for their sole object the relief of the
needy, the destitute, and the suffering; yet it
was not until within the past twenty years that the
city, officially, made any movement to supplement the
good work that was being accomplished by religious
denominations, associations, and private individuals.
This, however, may be accounted for, in a great meas-
ure, by the fact that the system of philanthropy re-
ferred to has been of the most disinterested and the
broadest character, and whenever the field was found
to be in need of more extensive or general work, the
citizens arose spontaneously and by energetic action
and liberal charity met fully the requirements of the
hour. So, all the way down from the second decade
of the nineteenth century, we find at intervals evi-
dences of this commendable spirit on the part of the
citizens. The first instance of this kind occurs in
1824, the ladies of St. Louis banding themselves to-
gether for the purpose of " relieving the poor of every
description in this city." This organization was called
the " Female Charitable Society," and at its head as
officers were —
Mrs. Hough, who was first directress; Mrs. Robinson, second
directress; Mrs. Coursault, treasurer; Mrs. Agnes P. Spalding,
secretary ; Managers, Mrs. J. Smith, Mrs. R. Paul, Mrs. \Vah-
rendorff, Mrs. Landreyville, Mrs. Brazeau, Mrs. Spencer, Mrs.
0. C. Smith, Mrs. G. Paul, Mrs. Tracy, Mrs. Forsyth, Mrs.
Shackford, Mrs. Papin.
Again, in the early part of 1838, when the suffer-
ings of the poor demanded extraordinary recognition,
the St. Louis Samaritan Society was formed. It em-
braced the ladies of the city, who associated them-
selves for the purpose of making up and supplying
clothing free of cost to those who could not get it in
any other way, and who were not cared for by any
charitable institution. The officers of this society
were : First Directress, Mrs. Jones ; Second Directress,
Miss Berrien ; Secretary, Mrs. Ross ; Treasurer, Mrs.
RELIGIOUS, BENEVOLENT, SOCIAL, SECRET, AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS. 1753
Whitehill ; Managers, Miss Page, Miss Patterson,
Miss Learned, Miss Strother, Miss Van Zandt, Miss
Marks, Mrs. Nourse, Mrs. Nevitt, Mrs. Stibbs, Mrs.
Ranlett, Mrs. Wiswell, and Miss Smith. On Feb. 6,
1840, a meeting, at which Beverly Allen presided,
was held in the court-house for the purpose of de-
vising means to relieve the suffering poor within the
city, at which it was deemed expedient to take up a
collection for the suffering poor of the city, and for
this purpose a committee of three from each ward
was appointed by the chair to obtain subscriptions,
and a committee of five was appointed to properly
distribute the moneys thus obtained. A few days
later a " Society for the Diffusion of Alms" was
formed, which announced that " We, the undersigned,
do resolve ourselves into a society for the general dif-
fusion of alms, and without heeding anything of the
poor, save their honest poverty, do pledge our exer-
tions to bestow our mite upon them with impartial
observance." The officers of the society were —
M. P. Leduc, president; Christopher Garvey, first vice-presi-
dent; Stewart Matthews, second vice-president; L. A. Benoist,
treasurer; A. W. Manning, secretary. Collectors, First Ward,
JoJin Picher, Francis Mallet, John O'Rourke, and James P.
Barry ; Second Ward, Baptiste Belcour, Joseph W. Walsh,
Michael Tesson, and L. V. Bogy; Third Ward, John Timon,
Patrick Walsh, P. A. Berthold, and L. T. Lebeaume; Fourth
Ward, Christopher Garvey, Matthew Lyon, M. Hogan, and
John Walsh. Distributors, First Ward, H. O'Neil (chairman),
R. A. Darst, John T. Mitchell, Peter Weizenecker; Second
Ward, William Tighe (chairman), John McEvoy, J. C. Dinnis;
Fourth Ward, Austin Piggot (chairman), Edward Walsh, Hugh
O'Brien. Physicians, Dr. Vitali, Dr. Luthy, Dr. H. Lane.
Counselors,. B. Mullanphy, T. Polk.
In December, 1842, a public meeting for the relief
of the poor was held at the court-house. Nathan
Ranney presided, and Martin Thomas was secretary.
The following committee was appointed to solicit do-
nations: First Ward, William B. Wood, Henry C.
Lynch, Phineaa Bartlett ; Second Ward, Matthias
Steitz, H. L. Hoffman, Capt. W. Greene, Warrick
Tunstall ; Third Ward, Jesse Little, Robert B. Fife,
Dr. Robert R. Simmons ; Fourth Ward, Asa Wilgus,
John C. Dinnis, Henry S. Coxe; Fifth Ward, Na-
thaniel Childs, T. 0. Duncan, Martin Thomas, George
K. Budd, John Whitehill, William C. Christy ; Town-
ship, James H. Lucas, S. H. Robbins. The following
committee was appointed on distribution, with James
Clemens treasurer : First Ward, W. H. Wood ; Second
Ward, Thomas Cohen; Third Ward, D. D. Page;
Fourth Ward, Wayman Crow; Fifth Ward, H.
O'Brien ; Township, Rev. N. Childs.
In the spring of 1844 the Mississippi overflowed
its banks and rendered hundreds of families destitute
and homeless. To relieve their suffering and destitu-
tion a meeting of citizens was held in front of the
court-house, and on motion of A. B. Chambers, Ber-
nard Pratte was called to the chair, and Henry B.
Belt was appointed secretary. It was then resolved
that a committee of twenty should be appointed to
carry out the objects of the meeting, and the follow-
ing gentlemen were appointed for the purpose, viz. :
John M. Wimer, John Sefton, W. Glasgow, John
Simonds, Ferdinand Kennett, T. B. Targee, Asa Wil-
gus, Rene Paul, A. Gamble, Charles C. Whittlesey,
Dr. Simmons, A. B. Chambers, Frederick Kretsch-
mar, W. Furness, Dr. Adreon, William Lowe, T.
Polk, W. C. Jewett, W. R. Dawson, and Henry
Singleton.
The committee, after consultation, recommended
that application should be made to the City Council
to appropriate some funds for the relief of the sufferers,
and that a committee of five should be appointed to
solicit subscriptions in each ward. The suggestions
of the committee were acted upon, and the following
gentlemen were nominated to collect gratuities :
For First Ward, Matthias Steitz, H. G. Soulard,
John Dunn, William Horine, and John Withnell.
For Second Ward, Hiram stiaw, S. M. Sill, J. G.
Barry, George Morton, and John J. Anderson. For
Third Ward, John B. Sarpy, J. B. Brua, A. L. Mills,
T. B. Targee, and Gibson Corthron. For Fourth
Ward, George A. Hyde, Col. George Mead, Robert
P. Clark, J. B. Camden, and Jacob Hawkins. For
Fifth Ward, N. Aldrich, A. Carr, John Leach, John
Whitehill, and J. G. Shands. For Sixth Ward,
Dennis Marks, W. Field, James Gordon, and T. O.
Duncan. There was also a committee appointed to
distribute among the sufferers the sums collected from
private bounty.
On Dec. 3, 1845, another public meeting was held,
at which George Collier presided, and Henry B. Belt
was secretary. A committee, consisting of Hon.
Bryan Mullanphy, Gen. Nathan Ranney, Unit Raisin,
Capt. Connoly, Edward Bredell, H. D. Bacon, Ed-
ward Tracy, M. De Lange, Maj. A. Wetmore, Mr.
Meyers, Alex. Kayser, Dr. R. P. Simmons, was ap-
pointed to inquire into the condition of the poor of
the city. The committee reported to an adjourned
meeting the following day that a supply of fuel was
more needed than anything else, as that the article
was selling at eight dollars per cord for wood, and
twenty cents per bushel for coal. The following gen-
tlemen were appointed for the several wards to inquire
into the cases of suffering and want in the same :
First Ward, A. Wetmore; Second Ward, N. Ranney; Third
Ward, Edward Tracy; Fourth Ward, Capt. Connolly; Fifth
Ward, Alex. Kayser; Sixth Ward, B. Mullanphy.
1754
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
This led to provisions for ample relief at that time.
A meeting of the citizens was held at the court-house
Jan. 7, 1847, for the purpose of adopting some meas-
ures of relief for the suffering poor. John Simonds
was called to the chair, and C. C. Cady appointed
secretary. The meeting resulted in the appointment
of a committee of seventy to take whatever measures
were necessary for the relief of the destitute. The
committee was composed of —
Sixth Ward, William Vandeventer, Col. A. P. Field, Peter
Brooks, Gregory Byrne, Charles B. Anderson, D. W. Dixon, Dr.
E. B. Smith, Calvin Case, Maj. Dobyns, John Sigerson, Larkin
Denver, A. P. Ladew; Fifth Ward, Dr. Reuben Knox, Lyman
Farwell, John Leach, John B. Carson, John Whitehill, Samuel
Gaty, David Tatum, Capt. Sparhawk, Laurason Riggs, William
Brannagan; Fourth Ward, George Collier, J. B. Brant, H. T.
Darrah, C. B. Parsons, Samuel H. Peacke, AVm. T. Christy,
Way man Crow, William Nesbit, Asa Wilgus, Demetrius A.
Magahan, N. E. Janney; Third Ward, Bernard Pratte, Dr.
Anderson, Dr. Linton, Col. L. V. Bogy, H. L. Patterson, George
K. McGunnegle, Edward Walsh, W. P. Fisher, P. B. Tiffany,
Edward Bredell, Col. Keemle, Col. A. P. Field, B. Mullanphy ;
Second Ward, John Wolff, John Simonds, Patrick Ryder,
Robert Campbell, Dr. Julius Henry, Charles S. Rannels, John
H. Watson, D. D. Page, George R. Taylor, A. B. Chambers,
Charles Jacoby; First Ward, Col. P. M. Dillon, H. Milking-
ton, C. Urici, Charles HutHJ Wm. Glasgow, Jr., Judge David
Chambers, John Black, D. B. Hill, Matthias Steitz, John Dunn,
D. D. Donovan; township, R. Earth, Ernest Angelrodt, Adol-
phus Meier, Col. J. P. Thompson, H. D. Bacon, Henry Chou-
teau, Neree Valle", Isaac McHose, John Withnell, H. Paddle-
ford.
This committee made collections, and a second com-
mittee was appointed on distribution, consisting of —
First Ward, David P. Hill, treasurer; Charles Huth, C.
Ulrich, H. Pilkington, B. Soulard. Second Ward, G. H. Tay-
lor, treasurer; Nathan Ranney, Charles S. Rannels, David
Keith, Henry Keyser. Third Ward, Henry Von Phul, treas-
urer ; Adam L. Mills, Charles R. Hall, J. C. Bredell, Henry T.
Blow. Fourth Ward, William C. Christy, treasurer; Theron
Barnum, Wayman Crow, H. R. Singleton, C. C. Whittlesey.
Fifth Ward, Laurason Riggs, treasurer; Dr. R. Knox, John
Whitehill, L. Farwell, Joshua Tucker. Sixth Ward, Dr.
Donelson, treasurer; Col. William Chambers, A. P. Ladew,
W. Vandeventer, G. Byrne. Township, Robert Earth, treas-
urer; Adolphus Meier, John Withnell, H. D. Bacon, Augustus
H. Evans.
During the prevalence of the cholera in St. Louis
in 1849, Mayor John M. Krum called a public mass-
meeting to adopt measures for the relief of the sick
and suffering poor, and later in the year another
mass-meeting was held " for the relief of the chil-
dren made destitute by the prevailing epidemic." At
the latter meeting ample measures were adopted by a
committee consisting of Hiram Shaw, John H. Gay,
Waldemar Fisher, T. B. Hudson, W. W. Greene,
W. D. Skillman, A. J. P. Garesch6, John S.
Blane, Edward Hale, Francis Toncray, John R.
Hammond, Rudolph Birch er, A. Riddle, John
R. Hammond, and Nathaniel Childs, who operated
under the supervision of the Committee of Public
Health, comprised of R. S. Blennerhassett, Trusten
Polk, G. Thomas, A. B. Chambers, Isaac A. Hedges,
J. M. Field, L. M. Kennett, Lewis Bach, William. G.
Clark, T. T. Gantt, H. L. Patterson, and Thomas
Dennis.
The following extract from a local paper in 1852
shows the feeling existing among the citizens of St.
Louis regarding charity and benevolence :
" The present year has been one of signal instances of noble-
hearted contributions to objects of general utility and public
benevolence. There was the subscription of twenty thousand dol-
lars by II. D. Bacon to the Mercantile Library Association, then
Col. O'Fallon built and donated to the Medical College the elegant
edifice at the corner of Seventh and Spruce Streets, at a cost of
more than twenty thousand dollars, for the purposes of a dispen-
sary for the use of the poor. He has also made provision for
the perpetual payment of one thousand dollars per annum for
the support of the dispensary. Recently the lady of one of our
citizens has been instrumental in securing ten thousand dol-
lars for the purpose of erecting an asylum for poor widows, or a
' widows' home.' In this ten thousand dollars there are six
one-thousand-dollar subscriptions ; and it may be mentioned,
to the high honor of Col. O'Fallon, that in addition to a sub-
scription of one thousand dollars to this object he subscribed
fifteen acres of valuable land near the city to the same. It is
a noticeable fact in St. Louis that our young men are among the
most generous contributors to benevolent objects. Of the six who
subscribed one thousand dollars each to the Widows' Home,
three are among our young business men, Messrs. H. T. Blow,
William Belcher, and H. D. Bacon. The same week that Mr.
Belcher subscribed to this object he subscribed one thousand
dollars to the church under charge of the Rev. Mr. Homes, and
Mr. Bacon, as is well known to many, has, with unbounded
liberality, entered into the same enterprise."
The general periodical movements on the part of
the citizens culminated in the formation of the St.
Louis Provident Association in 1862, with the object
of looking after the interests of the poor of the city
not otherwise provided for by churches or other be-
nevolent bodies, of providing them with suitable em-
ployment when expedient, and of otherwise aiding
them in such ways as might be deemed most judicious.
As an organization it depended almost entirely for its
support on public confidence in its directory and the
principles upon which it was governed, which were,
briefly, to relieve no case except upon personal inves-
tigation, and only through the visitor of the appli-
cant's district, and then to give only necessary articles,
to prevent interference with the sphere of churches
and charitable associations, and to prevent applicants
from receiving assistance from various charities at the
same time. In 1863 the association was incorporated
by an act of the Legislature. During the epidemic
which prevailed in the city in 1866 the calls upon the
association greatly increased. The County Court, with
RELIGIOUS, BENEVOLENT, SOCIAL, SECRET, AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS. 1755
commendable liberality, gave five thousand dollars to
assist the poor, to be dispensed by the Provident As-
sociation. The officers of the association then were
Joshua Cheever, president ; William Downing, vice-
president ; S. A. Ranlett, treasurer ; and J. W. Mc-
Intyre and Levin H. Baker, secretaries. The direc-
tors were William Downing, Levin H. Baker, Joshua
Cheever, Henry C. Yeager, Thomas Morrison, James
P. Fiske, J. W. Mclntyre, John R. Lionberger, J.
P. Doane, and D. K. Ferguson. The incorporators
of the association in 1863 were M. M. Harrison, J.
W. Mclntyre, T. B. Edgar, R. I. Lockwood, John
R. Lionberger, Joshua Cheever, Thomas Morrison,
Edward D. Jones, William Downing, and Levin H.
Baker. Its officers in 1882 were —
George Partridge, president ; George H. Morgan, secretary ;
Directors, George Partridge, Henry S. Platt, John W. Donald-
son, John W. Larimore, Charles Forthwein, R. M. Scruggs,
Dwight Durkee, John R. Lionberger, George S. Drake, S. M.
Dodd, Augustus Knight, Robert Dougherty, T. B. Chamberlain,
John T. Davis, Charles W. Barstow, Joseph W. Branch, John
C. Fischer, James M. Corbitt, G. Sessinghaus, George A.
Baker.
The depot of the association is at No. 1416 Cham-
bers Street. From its organization until Nov. 1,
1881, the association had expended for the poor of
St. Louis $418,657.42.
In 1867 an association of Protestant ladies was organ-
ized in St. Louis for the gratuitous maintenance and
liberal education of Southern female children whom the
calamities of war have deprived of other means of edu-
cation. The best schools of such different Protestant
denominations as were desired by parents or guardians
were selected, as near the respective homes of the
pupils as eligible, and every care was taken to secure
the welfare and happiness of those committed to the
association. The officers of the association were :
President, Mrs. Jane E. Lewis; Treasurer, Mrs.
Archibald Robinson ; Recording Secretary, Mrs. Wil-
liam N. Beall ; Corresponding Secretary, Miss Pamela
H. Cowan.
Bible and Tract Societies. — In the year 1814
two missionaries, Messrs. Mills and Smith, mentioned
elsewhere, visited St. Louis and awakened an interest
in the minds of several persons regarding the circula-
tion of the Bible in the city and State, but at that
time nothing was accomplished to this end. In 1817
the first Bible Society west of the Mississippi was es-
tablished in Washington County, Mo. On Dec. 15,
1818, a meeting of the citizens of St. Louis was called
at the court-house for the purpose of forming a Bible
Society. It was largely attended, Col. Rufus Easton
presiding, and John Simonds being secretary. A con-
stitution was adopted declaring that, " impressed with
the importance of a general circulation of the sacred
Scriptures, we. the undersigned, agree to form ourselves
into a society designated by the name of the Missouri
Auxiliary Bible Society." On December 22d follow-
ing an adjourned meeting of the society was held at
the residence of Rev. Salmon Giddings, at which the
following officers were chosen :
Nathaniel B. Tucker, president; Stephen Hempstead, Col.
Alexander McNnir, and Rev. James E.Welsh, vice-presidents;
Col. Samuel Hammond, treasurer; Rev. S. Giddings, secretary ;
Col. Rufus Easton, Rufus Pettibone, Rev. John M. Peck, John
Jacoby, Charles W. Hunter, John Simonds, Thomas Jones,
directors.
In an annual report a few years later the executive
of the society, referring to the original formation of
the organization, said, —
" It is fully in the recollection of some present that at that pe-
riod irreligious principles and contempt for the holy Scriptures
were openly avowed. Societies for their circulation met with
sneers and ridicule. Those who ventured forward in the Bible
cause counted the cost. They enlisted with the determination
to persevere."
In 1819 an auxiliary Bible Society was established
at St. Charles, and accomplished good results in the
country in the forks of the Missouri and Mississippi
Rivers, and " among the soldiers at Council Bluffs."
For several years the society, as stated at that time,
did little more " than to be almoners of the bounty of
the parent institution, and to circulate a box of Bibles,
barely retaining its existence." In 1825 efforts were
made to revive it, and the following well-known citi-
zens were associated with it as officers :
Col. John O'Fallon, president; Rev. Andrew Monroe, Rev.
Thomas Horrell, Hon. Thomas II. Benton, vice-presidents ; Rev*
James Keyte, secretary ; Rev. J. M. Peck, assistant secretary;
Rev. Salmon Giddings, treasurer; Charles S. Hempstead, Jo-
siah Spalding, Joseph V. Gamier, Thomas Essex, Dr. II. L.
Hoffman, Dr. John Young, managers.
The latter part of the following year found many
of those who had been identified with the Bible So-
ciety interesting themselves in the formation of a
tract society. This movement resulted in the organ-
ization, on Dec. 11, 1826, of the Missouri and Illi-
nois Tract Society, auxiliary to the American Tract
Society in New York, the object of which was " to
promote evangelical religion and morality by the cir-
culation of religious tracts, and to aid the parent so-
ciety in extending its operation." The officers of this
society for the first year were —
Rev. Thomas Horrell, president; William Collins, vice-presi-
dent; Rev. S. Giddings, corresponding secretary; John Rus-
sell, recording secretary; Rev. James Keyte, treasurer and
agent; Rev. J. M. Peek, Rev. John Drew, Stephen Hempstead,
executive committee.
1756
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
In February, 1843, in accordance with a public
notice read in the pulpits of the various Evangelical
Churches, a meeting was held in the Fourth Street
Methodist Church, having for its object the formation
of an evangelical association. On motion of Rev. Dr.
Bullard, Rev. Dr. Potts was called to the chair, and
stated the object of the meeting and the character of
the society to be formed. H. M. Field was chosen
secretary. A committee, consisting of Messrs. Boyle,
Bullard, and Wall, was appointed to report a constitu-
tion, which they did in a short time, and the title of
" The Evangelical Society of St. Louis" was adopted,
its objects as stated being to " promote the moral and
spiritual interests of the inhabitants of the city by the
distribution of Bibles, religious books and tracts, and
personal visitation." The following officers were elected :
President, Capt. John Simonds : Vice-Presidents, Revs. A.
Bullard, D.D., William S. Potts, D.D., I. T. Hinton, J. H. Linn,
Joseph Boyle, H. M. Field, G. Smith, W. M. Rush, D. W. Pollock,
L. S. Jacoby, G. W. Wall ; Superintendent, Rev. Dr. Heath ; Sec-
retary, Moses M. Pallen, M.D.; Treasurers. A. Kellogg; Ex-
ecutive Committee, Rev. Nathaniel Childs, Jr., William M. Mc-
Pherson, David Keith, J. A. Ross, R. R. Field, Seymour Kellogg,
John Schoettler.
The society was in existence several years, and ac-
complished much good.
In 1847 the Missouri Bible Society was established,
and among its promoters were Hon. Peter G. Gam-
den, Hon. Edward Bates, Trusten Polk, George K.
Budd, J. B. Crockett, H. S. Geyer, Nathaniel Childs,
David Keith.
The St. Louis Young Men's Christian Associa-
tion.— On Thursday evening, Oct. 13, 1853, twenty-
three young men from various churches of this city
met in the lecture-room of the Second Baptist Church
to deliberate upon the expediency of the formation of
a St. Louis Young Men's Christian Association. At
this meeting it was unanimously decided that an or-
ganization should be effected, and a committee of five,
consisting of George W. Tracy, S. B. Johnson, Charles
C. Salter, Henry W. Rice, and John T. Campbell,
with the chairman, was appointed to draft a con-
stitution and by-laws, to be presented at an adjourned
meeting to be held one week thereafter in the lecture-
room of the Second Presbyterian Church. This com-
mittee met from evening to evening in pursuance of
its duty, and finally, on Oct. 1, 1853, permanently
organized under the title of " The St. Louis Young
Men's Christian Association," at the Westminster
Church, by the election of E. W. Blatchford, presi-
dent; A. Henry Fondan, secretary; Isaac Wyman,
treasurer. On Sunday evening, November 13th, the
first public meeting was held in the Second Presbyte-
rian Church. The evangelical churches throughout
the city were closed, and the clergymen representing
eight different denominations participated. The pres-
i ent association of the same name was permanently
organized Dec. 16, 1875, after a preliminary meeting
November 4th preceding in the pastor's study of the
then Union Methodist Episcopal Church, now the prop-
erty and home of the association. The original officers
were H. C. Wright, president ; F. L. Johnston and
Dr. L. H. Laidley, vice-presidents ; Charles C. Nich-
olls, recording secretary ; S. J. Junkin, registering
secretary ; E. D. Shaw, corresponding secretary ; E.
Anson Moore, treasurer. The early meetings were
held in a small room in a hotel corner of Twelfth and
St. Charles Streets, kept by Mrs. L. H. Baker, until
early in 1876, during the meetings conducted by
Messrs. Whittle and Bliss at the Rink, and through
their agency the association made such progress that
on March 30, 1876, with a membership of one hun-
dred and fifty, rooms were rented in the Singer
Building, corner of Fifth and Locust Streets. Soon
after this it became practicable to employ a general
secretary, and Walter C. Douglass, then a young
convert, was appointed to the position, which he con-
tinues to fill. In September, 1876, the growing
membership and increasing work necessitated a sec-
ond removal to 620 Locust Street, in which building
were fitted up a pleasant reading-room, a large hall
for prayer and business meetings, social gatherings,
lectures, concerts, etc., and an office for the general
secretary. The association was chartered Nov. 30,
1877, Messrs. E. Anson Moore, F. H. Bacon, and
H. M. Blossom being the in corporators.
In January, 1878, a third removal was made into
more commodious rooms at 704 Olive Street. As the
result of efforts on the part of Rev. D. L. Moody, at
the close of his labors in St. Louis during the winter
of 1879-80, and through the aid of citizens, the as-
sociation was enabled to purchase, May 4, 1880, from
the trustees of the Union Methodist Episcopal Church,
the property which it now occupies, at a cost of thirty-
seven thousand five hundred dollars.
The building was erected by the Union Presbyte-
rian Church (an independent organization), and Messrs.
Page & Bacon, then the leading bankers of the city,
were the principal contributors to its erection, as well
as to the support of Rev. Mr. Homes, its pastor ; but
when this banking firm failed, and Mr. Homes retired
from the ministry, the congregation became disorgan-
ized and eventually dissolved. On March 14, 1862,
they sold their church to the Methodists, who paid
them for it thirty-seven thousand three hundred dol-
lars. It had cost to build, including parsonage and
furniture, ninety thousand dollars.
RELIGIOUS, BENEVOLENT, SOCIAL, SECRET, AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS. 1757
The lot has a frontage on Eleventh Street of one
hundred and two and a half feet by a depth of one
hundred and twenty-one feet. The building fronts on
Eleventh Street, and runs back on Locust Street the
entire length of the lot. The square tower at the
southeast corner of the building is one hundred and
forty five feet in height, and commands a fine view of
the city. On the first floor of the building is a large
and commodious reading-room. Directly in front of
the main entrance and to the left of this are the offices
of the general secretary, assistant secretary, and sec-
retary of the German branch.
To the left of the side entrance to the building on
Locust Street is a large, pleasant, airy hall, in which
are held all the noon-meetings, the Sunday-school, etc.
The upper floor, formerly the main auditorium of the
church, is used for concerts, lectures, larger gospel
meetings, and as a public hall for outside lectures. It
is handsomely carpeted, and has a capacity for one
thousand persons.
The former church parsonage, a building of ten
rooms, adjoining the main building on the north, has
been converted into a free dispensary for the relief of
the indigent sick from all parts of the city. The
German Young Men's Christian Association united
with the general association on July 16, 1880, with a
membership of one hundred and twenty-five. The
association has two branches for railroad work, one in
East St. Louis, where a handsome and commodious
building has been erected on ground leased for a nom-
inal sum from the Vandalia Railroad. The building
was put up at a cost of two thousand dollars, which
was defrayed by the several railroad and transporta-
tion companies centring here, and they also unite in
providing for its maintenance. It contains a reading-
room, wash-rooms, barber shop, etc. The other branch
is in the Union Depot building, where the association
has established a reading-room, with checker-boards,
dominoes, and chess.
E. Anson Moore was the second of the three
presidents whom the association has thus far had.
The present board of officers consists of F. L. Johnston,
president ; H. C. Wright and I. M. Mason, vice-pres-
idents; H. H. Wright, recording secretary; H. E.
Knox, registering secretary ; W. H. Mason, corre-
sponding secretary ; E. P. V. Ritter, treasurer. Paid
officers : Walter C. Douglass, general secretary ; Geo.
W. Jones, assistant secretary ; Jacob Kessler, secre-
tary German branch.
The St. Louis Women's Christian Association
was organized November, 1868, and chartered Jan.
5, 1870, Jane E. Allen, Mary A. Edgar, Anna C.
Moore, Clarice C. Partridge, Emily R. Stevens,
and C. R. Springer being the incorporators. Its
object was, at first, the care of young industrial women,
but this care has since been extended to aged men and
their wives. The Women's Christian Home was first
located in rented rooms on the corner of Fifth and
Poplar Streets. The corner-stone of the present
building, No. 1812 Washington Avenue, was laid in
May, 1876, and the building occupied in January,
1877. There is also a Branch Memorial Home at
Grand and Magnolia Avenues. The presidents of
the association have been Mrs. J. E. Allen, 1869 to
1875; Mrs. C. R. Springer, 1875 to 1882. The
first board of directors consisted of Mrs. J. E. Allen,
president; Mrs. A. H. Burlingham, corresponding
secretary ; Mrs. C. R. Springer, recording secretary ;
and six vice-presidents. The present board is com-
posed of Mrs. C. R. Springer, president ; Mrs. D.
Arnold, corresponding secretary ; Mrs. Q. J. Drake,
recording secretary ; and six vice-presidents.
Colonization Societies. — In March, 1825, a pub-
lic meeting was held in the Methodist Episcopal
Church to take into consideration the propriety of
establishing in St. Louis an auxiliary to the American
Colonization Society. Rev. Salmon Giddings was
chairman, and Rev. James Keyte secretary. . On
motion of Hon. William Carr Lane, it was resolved
that it was expedient to form the society, and Messrs.
A. Monroe, S. Giddings, and J. Keyte were named
as a committee to draft a constitution. The perma-
nent organization was not, however, effected until
1828, when Hon. William C. Carr was chosen presi-
dent; Col. John O'Fallon, Hon. James H. Peck, Dr.
William Carr Lane, and Edward Bates, vice-presidents ;
Theodore Hunt, Edward Charless, Henry S. Geyer,
Charles S. Hempstead, Thomas Cohen, Robert Wash,
H. L. Hoffman, John Smith, Joseph C. Laveille,
Salmon Giddings, John H. Gay, and John M. Peck,
managers ; Josiah Spalding, corresponding secretary ;
D. Hough, recording secretary ; H. Von Phul, treas-
urer. The title of this organization was the St.
Louis Colonization Society, auxiliary to the American
Society. In 1831 the officers of the society were —
William C. Carr, president; William Carr Lane, first vice-
president ; Henry S. Geyer, second vice-president ; A. McAl-
ister, third vice-president; A. Gamble, fourth vice-president;
Henry Von Puhl, treasurer; Beverly Allen, corresponding sec-
retary ; D. Hough, recording secretary ; Managers, Henry S.
Potts, Thomas Cohen, John Shackford, John Finney, J. V.
Garnier, John H. Gay, H. R. Gamble, John K. Walker, A. L.
Johnson, Edward Bates, N. Ranney, E. J. Phillips.
We find no further record of this organization. On
the 26th of July, 1839, the friends of the American
Colonization Society met, pursuant to adjournment,
at the Methodist Church. The committee to which
1758
HISTORY OP SAINT LOUIS.
was assigned the duty of preparing a constitution for
the Missouri State Colonization Society, and furnish-
ing a list of candidates for the same by its chair-
man, Logan Hunton, presented a constitution and
list of officers. The officers, who were unanimously
elected by the meeting, were —
President, Beverly Allen; Vice-Presidents, Hon. William
C. Carr, Right Rev. Jackson Kemper, Rev. A. BuIIard, Rev.
William M. Daily, Rev. W. S. Potts, Hon. William Carr Lane,
Gen. Ranney, of C;ipe Girardeau ; Hon. D. Dunklin, Washing-
ton County ; S. L. Hart, Jefferson City ; Hon. David Todd, Boone
County ; Maj. W. Blakely, Marion County. Managers, II. R.
Gamble, II. S. Geyer, P. G. Camden, John C. Dinnies, Rev.
Joseph Tabor, George K. Budd, Wayman Crow, Josiah Spald-
ing; Treasurer, J. B. Camden; Secretary, Trusten Polk.
The Missouri State Colonization Society continued
in existence for several years. Its annual meeting,
held Nov. 14, 1844, in the Centenary Church, was
addressed by Charles C. Whittlesey, Rev. R. S. Fin-
ley, Artemas Bullard. I. T. Hinton, Joseph Boyle, J. .
H. Linn, Mr. Heath, and Dr. F. Knox. Gen. N. Ran-
ney presided, and the following officers were elected ;
for the ensuing year :
President, Hon. Edward Bates; Vice-Presidents, Hon. J. C. I
Edward?, Gen. N. Ranney, Rev. A. Bullard, I. T. Hinton, Wil- '
liam S. Pott?, II. II. Johnson, Wesley Browning, Good- j
rich, of Jefferson City; Right Rev. C. S. Hawks, Hon. James j
Young, and Abiel Leonard, of Howard County ; Secretary, Rev.
Robert S. Finley ; Treasurer, Charles C. Whittlesey; Managers,
Rev. James Boyle, H. II. Field, William G. Eliot, Wyllys King, j
John Camden, Archibald Gamble, William Burd, Trusten Polk,
William M. McPherson, Thomas Shore, John Whitehill, Wm. j
M. Campbell.
On Jan. 11, 1848, "we find that at the meeting of
the Young Men's Colonization Society, held at the
Unitarian Church, John F. Darby was called to the
chair, and William Glasgow, Jr., appointed secretary. '
On motion of the Rev. Mr. Finley, a committee of
three was appointed to nominate officers for the en-
suing year; whereupon the following nominations |
were made and confirmed: President, Rev. 'William
G. Eliot ; Treasurer, H. S. Woods ; Secretary, J. R. ;
Barret ; Board of Managers, Rev. Mr. Finley, Josiah
Dent, Barton Bates, R. F. Barret, John Henderson,
Mr. Jamison, William Warder, and C. Carroll.
The Erin Benevolent Society. — About the 1st j
of February, 1818, " a meeting of Irishmen to form
a benevolent society" was held at the house of Jer-
emiah Conner, of which Thomas Brady was chair- I
man, and Thomas Hanly, secretary. A committee on ;
organization was appointed, consisting of Jeremiah
Conner, John Mullanphy, James McGunncgle, Alex-
ander Blackwell, and Arthur Maginnis. From this
on to Oct. 10, 1819, no progress appears to be made. :
On that date another meeting was called at the office of
Jeremiah Conner, who was called to the chair. James
Nagle was chosen secretary. A committee of seven
was appointed to draft a constitution for the " Erin
Benevolent Society," for the " relief of those of our
countrymen who may be in distress." The meeting
then adjourned to the 15th, when the committee re-
ported a constitution, which was adopted, and the
following officers were elected :
President, Jeremiah Conner ; Vice-President, Thomas
Hanly ; Treasurer, Hugh Rankin ; Secretary, Lawrence
Ryan ; Standing Committee, Robert H. Catherwood, Thomas
English, Hugh O'Neil, Joseph Charless, Sr., and James Timon ;
Visiting Committee, John Timon, Robert Rankin, and Francis
Rochford.
The French Benevolent Society was established
about 1840, and after languishing until April, 1851,
was reorganized with M. Cortambert as president.
It now meets at 408 Washington Avenue.
The St. Andrew's Society. — A meeting of the
natives of Scotland resident in St. Louis was held
in the school-room of Mr. Brown on the night of
Sept. 31, 1839, for the purpose of forming a benev-
olent association. John S. Thompson presided, and
T. T. Stewart was secretary, and on motion of T. S.
Rutherford, an organization was effected under the
title of " The St. Andrew's Society of St. Louis, the
object of which will be not only to cherish and keep
alive that kindly feeling which ought to subsist be-
tween natives of the same country, but also to render
aid to those whose circumstances require it "
Mechanics' Benevolent Society. — An associa-
tion of this name was organized April 10, 1817,
with Joseph Charless, president ; Abraham Keys, sec-
retary.
The American Sunday-School Union, the main
house of which is located at No. 1122 Chestnut Street,
Philadelphia, was first represented in St. Louis in
1867, when a branch house was established, with S.
Paxson & Co. as agents. It was continued as the de-
pository of the American Sunday-School Union until
1879, when a change was made in its management,
and A. L. Paxson succeeded to the business as merely
resident agent for the Union. Stephen Paxson, during
his connection with the American Sunday-School Union
fora period of thirty years, established thirteen hundred
and fourteen Sunday-schools, containing eighty-one
thousand teachers and scholars.
St. Louis Prison Discipline Society. — In 1848
a society of this name was organized, with the follow-
ing officers: Hon. James B. Townsend, president;
David N. Hall, vice-president ; Charles H. Haven,
corresponding secretary ; Spencer Smith, recording
secretary ; Franklin Fisher, treasurer. It began its
RELIGIOUS, BENEVOLENT, SOCIAL, SECRET, AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS. 1759
labors with a library of one hundred and fifty volumes
in the county jail, and carried on a beneficial work
among the prisoners.
The Catholic Orphan Association, of St. Louis,
was founded Feb. 13, 1841, the founders being An-
gela Hughes, Frances McEnnis, Prudentia Dorsey,
Winnifred Mullen, Milonel Doyle, and Bibiana
O'Malley. The board of managers included John
B. Sarpy, Edward Walsh, Bryan Mullanphy, Ama-
dee Valle, Joseph Murphy, John Haverty, Thomas
Gray, Thomas Flaherty, and Patrick J. Ryder. Under
this management it was incorporated in 1849 as the
Roman Catholic Male and Female Orphan Asylum of
St. Louis. On Sept. 17, 1849, the managers assem-
bled for the purpose of organizing. John B. Sarpy
was elected president ; John Haverty, vice-president ;
Amadee Valle, treasurer; and Thomas Flaherty,
secretary. The first location of the asylum was on
Walnut Street, near the Cathedral. The building
was torn down in 1841, and a home for female or-
phans was established shortly after on a lot donated
by Mrs. Ann Biddle, at Tenth and Biddle Streets. A
male department was established at Fifteenth Street
and Clark Avenue, in a house built by the managers.
St. Bridget's Half-Orphans' Asylum for Girls was es-
tablished on Lucas Avenue and Beaumont Street in
1858. Sister Seraphine is the present Superior of
the latter house. Half-orphans from five to twelve
years old are placed here by the surviving parent.
In connection with the asylum there is a Catholic
protectorate at Glencoe, under the management of the
orphan board. Orphans over nine years old are sent
there from the city institutions, and are taught farm-
ing and trades. The three asylums are under the
management of the board, which meets on the second
Thursday of each month. The present officers are
Rev. P. J. Ryan, president ; Rev. William Walsh,
vice-president ; Rev. Philip P. Brady, secretary ; Jo-
seph O'Neil, treasurer; Rev. James Henry, Rev.
M. W. Tobin, Rev. John J. Hennessy, Rev. James
McCaffrey, Rev. Andrew Eustace, Messrs. M. Dough-
erty, Alexander J. P. Garesche, Charles Slevin, J.
B. C. Lucas, Patrick Fox, and John F. Gibbons,
directors.
St. Vincent's Seminary, at Grand and Lucas
Avenues, conducted by the Sisters of Charity, was
established in 1843, at Tenth and St. Charles Streets,
where it remained for many years. When the busi-
ness portion of the city had spread beyond the semi-
nary, and the number of pupils increased, the sisters
sought another location, and the present site was
chosen, and in November, 1875, the sisters moved
into the extensive building which had been com-
pleted for them. Sister Olympia, who died in 1875,
was the first Superior ; she was succeeded by Sister
Lucina. The office was next filled by the present
incumbent, Sister Mary Elizabeth. The seminary is
managed by twelve sisters, and is self-sustaining.
The old building on St. Charles Street is owned by
the sisters, and leased as a glass-factory.
The Convent of the Good Shepherd is lotated
at Seventeenth and Pine Streets. The Sisterhood
of Our Lady of Charity, better known as Sisters of
the Good Shepherd, was organized in France some
two hundred and fifty years ago by a band of ladies
belonging to the nobility, and its members are drawn
from the very flower of Catholic maidenhood, and
must be in independent circumstances, for the work
brings no pay. The work of the order in St. Louis
was begun in January, 1849. Its first location was
on Decatur and Marion Streets ; the corner-stone of
the present convent was laid in 1852, and it was dedi-
cated in 1854, having since been enlarged by succes-
sive additions ; the land on which it was built was
donated by Mrs. L. Hunt. The objects of the insti-
tution are the reformation of fallen women and the
preservation of young girls in danger. Its inmates
are divided into four classes, which are kept entirely
separate in occupation, recreation, worship, and living,
as follows : (1) the Industrial Class, or orphans of
respectable parentage ; (2) the Class of Preservation,
or young girls rescued from danger and the beginnings
of evil ; (3) the Penitents, or class of reformed
women ; (4) the Magdalens, or such of the reformed as
choose to remain in the institution, some of whom
have been there twenty and some even thirty years.
The order in St. Louis was chartered under the name
of Sisters of the Good Shepherd in 1869. Rev.
Mother Provincial, Sister Mary of the Sacred Heart,
has been in charge of the order since 1861 ; Sister
Frances Patrick is her assistant. In the spring
of 1882- they were divided as follows: inmates,
First class, forty-two ; second class, one hundred and
twenty-one ; third class, one hundred and seventy-
five ; fourth class, sixty-six. In all these classes in-
dustry, education, and religion are brought to bear.
The Convent of the Sisters of St. Mary was
founded by Mother Odilia, who, with six sisters of
the order of the Servants of the Divine Heart of
Jesus, commonly called Sisters of St. Mary, arrived
in St. Louis from Germany in November, 1872, and
were chartered in 1873, under the corporate name
of Servants of the Divine Heart of Jesus, Sisters
Margaret Mary, Bernadine, Clara, Elizabeth, and
others being the incorporators. The community is
devoted to nursing and visiting the sick and poor in
1760
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
their own homes. The convent of the order is located
at the corner of Third and Mulberry Streets ; it was
built in 1873 on a lot of ground donated by Arch-
bishop Kenrick. They have also a hospital on Papin
Street, between Fifteenth and Sixteenth Streets,
known as St. Mary's Infirmary, which was established
in 1877. The first president of the community
was Mother Odilia, who died Oct. 17, 1880,
and was succeeded by Mother Seraphia. The pres-
ent board of officers consists of Mother Seraphia,
president ; Sister Margaret Mary, mother assistant
and mistress of novices ; Sister Cecilia, secretary and
treasurer.
The House of the Guardian Angel. — In 1859,
Archbishop Kenrick gave the Sisters of Charity a
small two-story building on the corner of Marion and
Menard Streets. In this little house, with four rooms,
the sisters opened a female protectorate. In a few
years their work extended, and a larger building
was erected on the same lot. In 1882 another ad-
dition was made. There are about fifty children in
the house. Sister Mary Rose is the Superior.
The Convent of Carmelite Nuns, at Second Ca-
rondelet Avenue and Victor Street, was built in the
year 1877. This community was declared incor-
porated under the name and style of " The Carmel of
St. Joseph" in the year 1873. The incorporators
were Louise J. Roman, Jane B. Edwards, Mary J.
Smith, Ella M. Boland, Elizabeth Dorsey, Mary
Eliza Tremoulet, Anna M. Wise, and others. The
corner-stone of the present building was laid in 1873.
They had, previous to the year 1877, occupied the
country residence of Archbishop Kenrick, west of
Calvary Cemetery. They elect one of their own
number as Prioress every three years. The present
Mother Prioress is Mother Mary.
St. Vincent's German Orphan Asylum, on Twen-
tieth Street, between O'Fallon Street and Cass Avenue,
was organized June 13, 1851, and incorporated the
same year. The incorporators were John Mountel,
F. L. Stuver, Francis Sturwald, F. J. Heitkamp, J.
H. Grefenkamp, Francis Saler, and S. F. Blattarr.
The original officers were F. L. Stuver, president ;
Charles F. Blattarr, secretary ; Francis Saler, treas-
urer. Present chief officers : Fred. Arndes, president of
society; H. J. Spaunhorst, president of board of trus-
tees. The corner-stone of the building was laid in
September, 1850. The object of the asylum is to
receive, maintain, and educate orphans of German
parentage. The institution has one hundred and
seventy-eight children, in charge of the Sisters of St.
Joseph, who receive a small annual compensation from
the society. The entire expense is borne by members
of the St. Vincent's Society of German Catholics, and
by semi-annual collections in the German Catholic
Churches. The improvements and grounds cost over
sixty thousand dollars. The boys receive two hun-
dred dollars when they become of age, and the girls
fifty dollars.
Western Female Guardian Society. — In May,
1866, a number of ladies resolved to establish a
society, the object of which should be to protect the
unprotected, house the homeless, save the erring, and
help the tempted and destitute women in obtaining an
honest livelihood. The society was to consist of those
persons who would annually contribute one hundred
dollars to its treasury, or give five years' faithful ser-
vice to its board of managers. It was some time be-
fore a suitable location could be decided upon for such
a home as was needed. In June the Weimar mansion,
fronting on Brooklyn Street, near Twelfth, with a
depth of one hundred and twenty-five feet and three
stories high, was bought for the sum of fourteen
thousand five hundred dollars, and nearly five thou-
sand dollars more were spent upon it for repairs.
Immediately after its opening the house was filled to
its utmost capacity.
The Home of the Friendless, Carondelet road,
south of Meramec Street, Mrs. Mary S. Burroughs,
matron, had its origin in the circumstance of
the death at the county poor-house of an elderly
lady, who from a position of wealth and refinement
had fallen into poverty. Thereupon Mrs. Joseph
Charless undertook to establish a retreat for other
ladies who might be similarly afflicted. She obtained
from her husband five hundred dollars as a nucleus,
and from Henry D. Bacon a subscription of one thou-
sand dollars, conditioned on her securing a total sub-
scription of ten thousand dollars. She did secure sub-
scriptions to the amount of thirteen thousand dollars,
whereupon the Home was organized and incorporated
by charter bearing date Feb. 3, 1853, and designating
as the corporation " all such persons of the female sex
as heretofore have, or hereafter may, become contrib-
utors of pecuniary aid to said institution." As the
managers are required to be corporators, the male sex
is entirely excluded from active participation in the
affairs of the Home. The first board of trustees con-
sisted of Mary 0. Darrah, first directress ; Sarah B.
Brant, second directress; Amanda M. Park, treasurer;
Helen C. Annan, secretary; and Anna M. Perry,
Mary S. Bennet, Julia A. Bacon, Mary H. Belcher,
Sophia Gay, Charlotte T. Charless, Louisa Pratt,
Angelica P. Lockwood, Minerva Blow, Rebecca M.
Sire, Susan M. Simonds, Amelia J. Ranney, and Caro-
line O'Fallon, managers. The charter authorized the
RELIGIOUS, BENEVOLENT, SOCIAL, SECRET, AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS. 1761
city of St. Louis to give to the Home thirty thousand
dollars in land or bonds, and the county to give
twenty thousand dollars in bonds. The county court
did give the amount so authorized, and the present ;
site of the Home was bought for eighteen thousand
dollars, soon after the issue of the charter. The house \
had been built for a Swiss Protestant College, but the
enterprise fell through. Two years ago an addition ;
of twenty rooms was made to the original building ;
they were dedicated in December, 1880. They are j
largely the product of memorial offerings, and on the
doors of many of them may be read the names of
those who are thus memorialized.
The Home now contains sixty-four rooms for in-
mates and six rooms for offices ; the grounds contain
over seven acres, and are beautifully laid out. Every
comfort, almost every luxury, of life is provided for
the inmates, who now number fifty-five ; the location
of the Home and the views from its windows are
truly delightful. The rules provide that no one
under the age of fifty (except such as are disabled)
shall become an inmate ; that all shall pay an admission
fee of one hundred dollars, and shall further covenant to
reimburse the Home for their maintenance in the case
of their subsequently acquiring property. Since its
establishment the Home has furnished shelter to six
hundred old ladies ; its total income last year was ten
thousand two hundred and seventy-seven dollars and
forty-three cents, of which five hundred and six dol-
lars was from annual subscriptions of the corporators,
seven hundred and fifty-nine dollars and seventy-seven
cents from cash donations, and the balance from vested
funds, legacies, etc. The principal subscribers to the
original fund for the establishment of the Home were
as follows: Subscribers of $1000, Henry D. Bacon,
Henry T. Blow, William H. Belcher, Pierre Chou-
teau, John Gay, Wyllys King, William M. McPher-
son ; subscribers of $500, Joseph Charless, Oliver
Bennett, Edw. J. Gay, John Simonds, Bernard
Pratte, William M. Morrison, Alfred Vinton, Ann
M. Perry ; of $300, Andrew Christy, R. J. Lock-
wood, D. A. January ; of $250, J. B. Brant ; of
$200, Taylor Blow, W. H. Barksdale, Wayman
Crow, 0. D. Filley, James E. Yeatman, Loker,
Renick & Co. ; $150, George R Robinson ; the
rest being subscribed in amounts of $100 and less.
Other benefactions have been as follows : County of
St. Louis, in September, 1853, bonds which sold at
par $20,000, used in purchase of the Home ; and the
following legacies: 1862, Mrs. Jane Wilgus, $2500;
1867, Asa Wilgus, $5000 ; 1869, Andrew Christy,
$500 ; 187-4-82, Maj. William H. Bell (one-eighth
of estate), $16,500; 1875, Mrs. R. W. Oliphant,
$500; 1876, Hudson E. Bridge, $5000; 1876,
Clara B. Ridgway, $6000; 1881, Mrs. Henrietta
Jaccard, $1124.07. John O'Fallon and wife in
1858 gave to the Home fifteen arpens of land just
west of the Fair Grounds, estimated value $15,000
to $20,000. The successive first directresses of the
Home have been Mrs. Henry T. Darrah, February,
1853, to November, 1854; Mrs. Joseph Charless, to
April, 1865 ; Mrs. George Partridge, to November,
1866 ; and Mrs. Charles Holmes, from November,
1866, to the present time. The second directresses
have been Mrs. Sarah B. Brant, Mrs. George Par-
tridge, Mrs. Rebecca M. Sire, Mrs. Charles Holmes,
Mrs. George Partridge, Mrs. William Downing, Mrs.
Henry T. Blow, Miss Martha Smith, Mrs. A. F.
Shapleigh. Secretaries, Mrs. Helen C. Annan, Mrs.
Henry T. Darrah, Mrs. George Banker, Mrs. James
Fiske, Mrs. L. N. Bonham, Miss Martha Smith, Mrs.
J. G. Chapman (since 1873). Treasurers, Mrs. An-
drew Park, 1853 to 1864 ; Mrs. Samuel Copp, 1864
to the present time. There now sixty-two inmates.
The officers are —
Mrs. Charles Holmes, first directress; Mrs. A. F. Shapleigh,
second directress; Mrs. J. Gilbert Chapman, secretary; Mrs.
Samuel Copp, treasurer; and Mrs. Henry Kennedy, Mrs. Wil-
liam Stobie, Mrs. Thomas Howard, Mrs. Gerard B. Allen, Mrs.
E. C. Copelin, Mrs. E. A. Hitchcock, Mrs. E. E. Webster, Mrs.
John C. Vogel, Mrs. S. F. Humphreys, Mrs. G. Mattison, Mrs.
J. C. Krafft, Mrs. D. C. Young, Mrs. John T. Davis, Mrs. Wil-
liam H. Benton, Miss Jennie Glover, Mrs. L. M. Collier, Mrs.
S. C. Cummins, board of trustees.
The Girls' Industrial Home. — In 1854 a number
of the ladies of St. Louis established a charitable in-
stitution called " The Industrial School and Temporary
Home for Destitute Children," for the purpose of re-
claiming and teaching habits of industry to and
educating orphan children and the children of desti-
tute parents. In 1855, Mrs. Mary B. Homes, Mrs.
Mary Ann Ranlett, Mrs. Mary B. Murray, and Mrs.
Caroline E. Kasson, as incorporators, obtained from
the Legislature a charter under the name of " The
Girls' Industrial Home," by which name it has since
been known. The Home is now situated at the cor-
ner of Nineteenth and Morgan Streets, to which place
it was removed in 1867. Its first president was Mrs.
Mary Ann Ranlett, but for the past twenty-five years
Mrs. John S. Thomson has filled that position. Its
present officers are —
Mrs. John S. Thomson, president; Mrs. Robert Anderson,
first vice-president; Mrs. Jonathan Jones, second vice-presi-
dent ; Mrs. E. W. Clarke, recording secretary ; Mrs. Ed-
ward Morrison, corresponding secretary ; Mrs. W. A. Jones,
treasurer. Managers, Mrs. Clara Barnard, Mrs. S. Cupples,
Mrs. A. S. W. Goodwin, Mrs. J. M. Corbett, Miss M. P. Sim-
mons, Mrs. E. A. Morse, Mrs. J. Arnot, Mrs. R. E. Briar, Mrs.
1762
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
George A. Madill, Mrs. M. C. Libby, Mrs. F. B. Chamberlain,
Mrs. J. 0. Talbot, Mrs. E. N. Leeds, Mrs. J. H. Alexander,
Mrs. E. 0. Stanard, Mrs. W. H. Gregg, Mrs. M. M. Buck, Miss
Mary Ganse, Mrs. Charles H. Smith, Mrs. John A. Snaithers,
Mrs. S. Pepper, Mrs. H. D. Waterman, Mrs. William Mitchell,
Mrs. W. F. Brinck, Mrs. E. G. Obear, Mrs. J. S. Dunham, Miss
Anna Pulliam, Mrs. F. S. Waters, Mrs. G. L. Joy. Sewing
Committee, Miss Ella Fairrnan, Miss Belle Anderson, Miss
Laura Anderson, Miss Ewald. Advisory Committee, A. F.
Shapleigh, S. Cupples, E. G. Obear, E. Morrison. Counsel,
Henry Hitchcock, S. P. Gait. Physicians, J. F^Stevens, J. M.
Stevens.
The Working Women's Home and Home for
Blind Girls. — The Working Women's Home was or-
ganized in 1875, under the direction of the Western
Sanitary Commission, comprising George Partridge,
C. S. Greeley, James E. Yeatman, and J. B. John-
son. The object of this institution was to supply a
home for working women and a day nursery. In
connection with the Working Women's Home a
Home for Blind Girls was established in 1879. The
latter was founded because it was found that many of
the girls on leaving the Missouri Institution for the
Blind were left without a place of refuge. A society
was organized among the blind girls of the institution,
known as the Blind Girls' Band. At a meeting held
by them for raising a fund the collections amounted
to one dollar and sixty-two cents. The band went to
work, and by their exertions, with a few donations, suc-
ceeded in raising a fund of six thousand five hundred
dollars. The Western Sanitary Commission offered
the band the use of a portion of the Working Wo- J
men's Home free of charge, and they established an
Industrial Home for the benefit of poor blind girls.
Mrs. M. A. Evans has long presided over the man-
agement of the Home. The Home is on Twelfth
Street, between Cass Avenue and 0' Fallen Street.
The buildings are owned by the Sanitary Fund.
The Worthy Woman's Aid, 1712 North Tenth
Street, is a home institution, conducted by Mrs. Hariot
for women who are out of employment. Shelter is
given them, and situations are sought for worthy ap-
plicants. Mrs. Hariot conducts the Home, which has
twenty inmates, without the aid of any organized
charity.
The Methodist Orphans' Home. — In 1865,
William H. Markham determined to establish an
orphans' home. His object was to take care of the
helpless orphan children of Methodist parents, and if
able to receive and provide for any destitute orphans,
without regard to the religion of the parents, to edu-
cate them at the public schools so far as necessary for
business, trades, etc. Mr. Markham proposed to bear
the responsibility for all necessary expenses, but no
one was prohibited from contributing to the enter-
prise. In 1866 a building known as the Chamburg
House, on the southwest corner of Twelfth and Mon-
roe Streets, was rented and furnished. It was soon
found that this house was too small, and the Dobyn
mansion being then for sale, it was purchased by Mr.
Markham for about thirteen thousand dollars. The
Home is located on the southwest corner of Twelfth
and Brooklyn Streets, and both the house and the
grounds are admirably adapted to its purpose. In
1867 the control of the Home was transferred to the
keeping of the Methodist Episcopal Church South,
by which it was reorganized, and went into operation
with the following officers :
William H. Markham, president; Levin H. Baker, first vice-
president; Hiram Shaw, second vice-president; Austin R.
Moore, permanent secretary; and Hon. Trusten Polk, Wil-
liam T. Gay, Robert Baker, James Bissell, and John C. Bull,
Mrs. William Finney, Mrs. J. G. Shelton, Mrs. William T.
Gay, Mrs. C. C. Anderson, Mrs. Levin H. Baker, Mrs. P. H.
Lockwood, Mrs. John O'Fallon, Mrs. Trusten Polk, Mrs. Sam-
uel Cupples, Mrs. Edwards, Mrs. Jesse Arnot, Mrs. Dr. Br3rant,
Mrs. M. R. Collins, Mrs. Bissell, Mrs. Capt. Logan, Mrs. Jesse
Boogher, Mrs. A. McCamant, Mrs. J. B. Coleman, Mrs. Nathan
Coleman, Mrs. W. C. Goodwin, Mrs. Dr. AVilliam Johnston,
Mrs. 0. G. Rule, Mrs. James Merriman, Mrs. Barbee, Mrs.
Mary Avis, Mrs. Higgins, Mrs. Jos. Patterson, Mrs. Gates,
Mrs. W. L. Larimore, Mrs. Vandever, Mrs. T. F. Drake, Mrs.
Smizer, Mrs. James Miller, Mrs. J. C. Bull, Mrs. McCausland,
Mrs. Dr. Penn, directors.
After the reorganization the Home was removed to
3533 Laclede Avenue, its present location.
Mullanphy Emigrant Relief Fund. — Bryan
Mullanphy, a philanthropic citizen of St. Louis, who
died June 5, 1851, left the following will:
" I, BRYAN MULLANPHY, do make and declare the following
to be my last will and testament :
"One equal undivided third of all my property, real, per-
sonal, and mixed, I leave to the city of St. Louis, in the State
of Missouri, in trust, to be and constitute a fund to furnish re-
lief to all poor emigrants and travelers coming to St. Louis, on
their way, bona fide, to settle in the West.
"I do appoint FELIX COSTE and PETER G. CAMDEN execu-
tors of this my last will and testament, and of any other will
or executory devise that I may leave; all and any such docu-
ment will be found to be olograph, all in my own hand-
writing.
"In testimony whereof, witness my hand and seal.
"BRYAN MULLANPHY. [SEAL.]
" Witnesses present :
" ADOLPHUS WISLIZENUS.
"JOHN WOLFF.
"M. W. WARNE.
" D. AUGUST SCHNABEL."
The city of St. Louis accepted the trust, but the
will was contested by relatives of the deceased. After
litigation for several years, the will was declared valid,
and the terms of the instrument have been carried
into effect. The fund consists of real estate altogether
KELIGIOUS, BENEVOLENT, SOCIAL, SECRET, AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS. 1763
and the income from it, and it is now estimated at
nearly $600, 000. It is managed by a board of thir-
teen commissioners appointed by the City Council, the
mayor being ex officio a member of the board. An
immense amount of good is being done for poor emi-
grants and travelers through the distribution of this
fund. Commissioners are appointed every three years,
but their terms of office do not expire at the same
time, three being chosen each year. The present
board is composed of August Frank, president ; Al-
exander Cameron, vice-president; G. H. Boecken-
kamp,Dr. Frederick Hill, Adam Linck, H. C. Meyer,
C. H. Miller, L. W. Mitchell, William Nichols, E. J.
O'Connor, D. T. Parker, Philip Stock, and R. M.
Scruggs. William H. Block is secretary of the
board, and the general office is located at No. 807
Locust Street.
The Home for Aged and Infirm Israelites of
St. Louis. — About twenty years ago the Hon. Isidor
Bush and others endeavored to establish in St. Louis
a Jewish hospital. The city authorities donated a
block of ground near the Marine Hospital for that
purpose, conditioned, however, that the hospital be
erected within two years thereafter. The Jewish
community being unable to raise the requisite means
to build the hospital, and other difficulties arising, the
property reverted to the city. No action was there-
after taken to further the object until Oct. 13, 1878,
when at the suggestion of the late Bernard Singer,
its president, the United Hebrew Relief Association
of St. Louis subscribed sixteen hundred and twenty
dollars in annual meeting in aid of a home for old and
infirm Israelites, and appointed a committee, consisting
of Rev. Dr. Sonneschein, Jacob Furth, and A. Bins-
wanger, to draft an appeal to all Israelites of the city
to meet at Harmonie Club Hall Oct. 27, 1878, for
the purpose of organizing a Jewish Hospital Associa-
tion. The appeal was issued ; a large number of per-
sons convened, and the association adopted as its name
the title of u Jewish Infirmary and Hospital Associa-
tion of St. Louis." At this meeting eight hundred and
seventy dollars, additional to the sixteen hundred and
twenty dollars before contributed, were subscribed,
with the understanding that no part of said subscrip-
tions were to be collected until the sum of five thou-
sand dollars was subscribed. The association organ-
ized by electing Jacob Furth as president, William
Goldstein as treasurer, and A. Binswanger as secretary.
After this there appeared to be a lack of interest in
the subject, and the Relief Association, in view of this
fact, concluded to establish a home for aged and infirm
persons, with a hospital as an appendage, thereby re-
versing the plan previously adopted, and making the
hospital an appendage to " the Home." To carry out
this purpose they annually set aside from the proceeds
of grand charity balls of the Relief Association cer-
tain sums of money until the sum thus set apart
amounted to seven thousand two hundred dollars.
For about twenty years there had existed an asso-
ciation known as " The Ladies' Widows and Orphans
Society," which had been organized to aid in estab-
lishing an orphan asylum here. The asylum being
located at Cleveland, Ohio, under the auspices of the
order of B'nai B'rith, the Ladies' Widows and Or-
phans Society kept its fund intact, but donated the
interest thereof annually to the Cleveland Orphan
Asylum. In 1882 it had a fund of ten thousand dol-
lars in its treasury. The president of the Relief
Association conceived the idea of persuading the
society to donate its fund to establishing a home for
aged and infirm persons, and after much deliberation
the fund of the Ladies' Widows and Orphans So-
ciety was equally divided between the Cleveland Or-
phan Asylum and this association.
The Ladies' Zion Society, through its president,
Mrs. Joseph Wolfort, was next enlisted in this be-
half, and it generously promised to contribute fifteen
hundred dollars. Then the young ladies of the city,
under the leadership of Misses Flora Isaacs, Clara
Maas, Josie Bush, Sophie Glaser, and Sarah Schiele,
organized an association called the Young Ladies'
Hospital Aid Society, whose chief purpose was to raise
means to furnish the hospital when erected. They
raised the handsome sum of fourteen hundred dollars,
which was placed in the hands of Jacob Furth and
Joseph Wolfort as trustees. The idea of establishing a
hospital having been abandoned, they agreed to con-
tribute this fund, which had swelled to the sum of
eighteen hundred dollars, towards establishing a
" Home." The property No. 3652 Jefferson Street
was purchased in April, 1882, by the United Hebrew
Relief Association, and a society was permanently or-
ganized as " The Home for Aged and Infirm Israel-
ites of St. Louis," with B. Hysinger, president;
A. Binswanger, secretary. The home was formally
dedicated May 28, 1882. The contributors to the
purchase and equipment of the institution were the
United Hebrew Relief Association, $7777 ; the
Ladies' Widow and Orphan Society with $5000; the
Young Ladies' Aid Society with $2000 ; the Ladies'
Pioneer Society with $1000; the Ladies' Zion So-
ciety with $1500; the Ladies' Hebrew Relief Society
with $300 ; L. M. Hellman, $1000 ; Mrs! Lewis Beau-
man, $1000 ; Nicholas Scharff and wife, $500 ; Mar-
cus Bernheimer and wife, $500 ; Albert Fischer, $250 ;
' M. Fraley, $100 ; and Albert Fishel, of Pittsfield,
1764
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
111., $50. The house and lot cost $10,500, the im-
provements necessary to fit the building for a home
cost $2000, the furniture and carpet cost $3500, and
other incidentals cost $500; total, $16,500. The
grounds are two hundred and eighteen by two hun-
dred and seventy-nine feet, and are tastefully laid out
and carefully kept. The house is a brick structure,
three stories in height with a basement. Fifty per-
sons can be cared for in the Home, and only infirm
Israelites over sixty years of age and of good moral
standing are admitted. The present officers are B.
Hysinger, president ; Mrs. Albert Fischer, vice-presi-
dent ; August Binswanger, secretary ; Benjamin Eise- \
man, treasurer; and L. M. Hellman, N. Scharff,
Mrs. A. Frank, Miss B. Langsdorf, Mrs. J. Wolfort,
Mrs. M. Fraley, W. Goldstein, Mrs. L. Stern, M.
Loewenstein, directors.
The German General Protestant Orphans' As-
sociation of St. Louis was organized Feb. 13, 1877,
and located on Natural Bridge road, near White Av-
enue. The names of the incorporators are Philip
Krieger, Sr., Charles G. Stifel, Heinrich Hertz, Fritz
Zelle, Francis H. Krenning, Claus Kiehts, William
Lefmann, John H. Conrades, Adolph Fischer, Gerhard
Boeckenkamp, Ernst Knickmeyer, August Schulen-
berg, Nicholas Berg, Friedrick Dietroeger, Otto Pe-
ters, Casper Prange, William Reipschlaeger, Hugo
Starkeoff, and John Woestmann. The object of
the association is to receive, as far as possible, all
poor orphans and educate them without charge, also
to receive half-orphans and orphans with means
provided by the surviving parent or guardian. The
first president was Philip Krieger, Sr., who resigned
May 26, 1879. His successor, who is now holding
the office, is John H. C. Conrades. The corner-
stone of the building was laid Sept. 6, 1877. On
Oct. 20, 1878, it was dedicated, and occupied by the
first orphans a few days after its dedication. The
present officers are John H. C. Conrades, president ;
Charles G. Stifel, vice-president ; Ernst Knickmeyer,
secretary ; Frederick Zelle, financial secretary ; Francis
Krenning, treasurer ; Adolph Fischer, William Reip-
schlaeger, William Lefmann, William Noelker, Fred-
rich Dickroeger, H. Bloebaum, Gerhard Boecken-
kamp, Theador Lessinghaus, Claus Kiehts, Claus
Grote, H. W. Moermann, Conrad Fath, August
Gehner, and C. Hager, directors.
The German Emigrant Aid Society was organ-
ized Feb. 6, 1851, and was chartered under an act of
the Legislature of Missouri, Feb. 27, 1851. The
original incorporators were Robert Hanning, Arthur
Olshausen, William Sturnpf, Ferdinand Overstoltz,
and others. Its object is the relief of German im-
migrants after their arrival in this country, by fur-
nishing them with money, supplies, etc. The present
officers are Arthur Olshausen, president ; C. J. Sti-
fel, vice-president; H. T. Wilde, recording secretary;
Dr. H. Kenney, corresponding secretary; and C. R.
Fritsch, treasurer.
The Farmers' and Mechanics' Mutual Aid
Association of St. Louis was incorporated Sept.
22, 1878, with J. F. C. Fagg, F. M. Doan, A. V.
Cobb, J. S. Brown, F. K. Doan, S. R. Peters, and G.
Hurt, incorporators, as a beneficial association. Its
present officers are Hon. Thomas J. C. Fagg, presi-
dent ; Nathan Shumate, vice-president ; F. M. Doan,
secretary; J. S. Brown, treasurer; Frank K. Doan,
general manager ; S. R. Peters, counsel ; Garland
Hurt, medical director.
Covenant Hall Association. — This organization
was incorporated in December, 1877, by A. Kramer,
Isidor Bush, S. Wolfenstein, H. Newland, Jacob
Furth, and David Loewer, for the purpose of pro-
viding and furnishing a suitable meeting-place for
the different Jewish benevolent societies. It is lo-
cated in the Druid Hall building, corner of Ninth
and Market Streets. Its present officers are H. New-
land, president; and Isidor Bush, secretary and treas-
urer.
The Mullanphy Emigrant Home. — This build-
ing, situated on Fourteenth Street, between Mullan-
phy and Howard Streets, was erected in 1867, at a
cost of thirty thousand dollars, partly supplied from
the Mullanphy Fund. The Home was maintained
until 1877, when the trustees, finding that it was
less expensive to carry out the provisions of the
devisee in other ways, leased it to the school board,
by whom it is now used for school purposes.
The St. Paul's Benevolent Society was incor-
porated May 16, 1868, by Frederick Arendes, Nich-
olas Helmbacher, G. L. Gretz, A. Geisel, Louis Metts,
and others. The membership numbers nearly six
hundred. The object of this society is to render aid
to its members in case of sickness or death. The offi-
cers are Frederick Arendes, president; Julius Peter-
son, treasurer; P. W. Bergs, secretary.
Ancient Order of Hibernians. — In 1847 some
Irish -Americans of New York City organized the
Ancient Order of Hibernians, to relieve the distresses
of the thousands of their countrymen who in that
period were fleeing to this country to escape the
horrors of the memorable famine in Ireland. It is
said they patterned it after some of the numerous
patriotic secret societies which for centuries have
flourished on Irish soil. The order gradually spread
to other States, and finally assumed a beneficial char-
RELIGIOUS, BENEVOLENT, SOCIAL, SECRET, AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS. 1765
acter. In St. Louis the first division was established
in 1870 by John Tigh, Andrew Ferry, Peter Leonard.
Patrick Coughlin, and others. Divisions 2 and 3
were organized during the same year, and others fol-
lowed until at the present time every district in the
city is supplied.
The order provides sick benefits, and a death benefit
of one thousand dollars. Members must be Irish, or
of Irish descent, and must also be Catholics. The
opposition to the order on the part of the church au-
thorities in some sections has never been manifested
in St. Louis; on the contrary, it has always had their
sanction and support.
In 1870 a State Division was also established.
There are now sixteen divisions in Missouri, with
about nine hundred members. The present State
officers are : State Delegate, P. J. Kelley, St. Louis ;
State Secretary, John J. Granfield, Kansas City ;
State Treasurer, Charles Landers, St. Louis.
The affairs of the order in St. Louis are managed
by a board of five officers from each subordinate di-
vision. The present County Delegate is James Gar-
rigan ; County Treasurer, J. A. Flynn.
The divisions in St. Louis are as follows :
Divisi
Tott
)n No. 1
Membership.
135
2
120
150
4
80
5
75
6
58
7
114
8
119
9
89
10
100
il....
.. 1040
The Helvetia Huelfs-Gesellschaft is an associa-
tion of Swiss residents of St. Louis, organized in 1873
to relieve the distress of needy immigrants or travel-
ers of that nationality, as well as the wants of any of
its members. It has about fifty members. It is sup-
ported by fees and dues, and by appropriations from
the Swiss government and Swiss cantons. The yearly
receipts are about one thousand dollars. During the
last year two hundred and forty-six persons were re-
lieved. The officers are : President, Rev. J. G. Eber-
hard ; Vice-President, F. T. Ledergerber ; Secretary,
H. Graf; Treasurer, Jacob Buff. While an inde-
pendent body, it is in affiliation and correspondence
with similar associations in Philadelphia, Chicago, and
New Orleans.
Marine Engineers' Association, No. 6. — The
Marine Engineers' Association, No. 6, was organized
Feb. 25, 1875, for the purpose of the mutual im-
provement of its members. It obtained a charter
April 25th of the same year. It was located at first
112
on the corner of Eleventh Street and Franklin Ave-
nue, but afterwards removed to No. 411 North Third
Street, where it is now situated. Its presiding offi-
cers have been J. W. Shea, Hunt Owen, and Thomas
H. Nelson. Its present secretary is James H. Harris.
The association numbers three hundred and fifty mem-
bers. There are thirty-four similar associations in the
United States.
Millwrights' Assembly. — This assembly was or-
ganized March 7, 1880, for the purpose of improving
the condition of its members and obtaining legitimately
for their labor as high wages as possible. It was
chartered in April, 1880, with Porter Pleasant, C. F.
Metz, F. 0. Sernn, and J. O'Connell, incorporators,
and located at No. 902 South Fourth Street. Its
presiding officers have been, successively, A. Landgraf,
P. Pleasant, J. McClure, and J. C. Booth. Its pres-
ent officers and directors are A. Landgraf, A. J.
Burns, C. F. Metz, F. Woehne, C. Schmidt, H.
Bernch, and T. Hill, with Thomas Howard, secre-
tary.
United Sons of Erin Benevolent Society. — this
is an open association of Irishmen who are Catholics
for mutual assistance. It was organized in 1866, and
among the early members and promoters were Rev.
James Henry, Francis Noonan, Dr. W. H. Brennan,
James Bligh, and others. It is the only association
of the name in St. Louis, is confined to the city, and
has about two hundred members. It pays six dollars a
week for sick benefits, and in the event of a member's
death the heirs receive one dollar from each surviving
member. The officers for 1882 were —
Spiritual Director, Rev. Father Henry; President, M. Wha-
len; Secretary, John Costello; Treasurer, Richard O'Neill;
Medical Examiner, Dr. W. N. Brennan.
Gruetli Verein. — By 18-45-48 quite a colony of
Swrss had settled in St. Louis, and in 1848-49 (some
say a year or two earlier) the " Swiss Benevolent So-
ciety" was formed. It appears to have been subordi-
nate to the National Gruetli Verein, which was or-
ganized in 1848. About the same time the Gruetli
Gesangverein was organized, and after some years the
two societies consolidated. Both had good libraries,
and the benevolent society had three hundred and fifty
dollars. The association was known as the Gruetli
Verein, and its objects were beneficiary. Ultimately
the song section withdrew and became the Swiss
Maennerchor.
The Gruetli Verein was one of the first of the
foreign societies to parade in St. Louis, and its ap-
pearance in public on the 4th of July and November
17th, when the " Gruetli Oath" was celebrated, occa-
sioned much comment. One of its conspicuous mem-
1766
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
bers was John Bachman, who was dressed as William
Tell, and whose gray beard fell to his knees.
In 1861 the Gruetli Verein was chartered, the in-
corporators being J. C. Brandenberger, Francis J.
Ackerman, J. J. Kiburz, John Rudy, Gregor Meury,
Ole F. Schneider, J. C. Kaiser, Noel Kiburz, and
Charles Ehrmann.
During the war it lost many members who fought
on the side of the Union. Since then its career has
been without special incident. It has about one hun-
dred and fifty members, and pays six dollars a week
for sick benefits, and three hundred dollars in case of
death. Of late years it has worked independently of
any outside authority.
The present officers are: President, J. C. Mueller;
Vice-President, ' John Meyer; Secretary, G. Hegg ;
Financial Secretary, John Grob ; Treasurer, Conrad
Hippenmeier ; Librarian, J. Schlach.
Sons of Temperance. — This order originated in
New York in 1842, and in February, 1844, A.
Spalding, of St. Louis, petitioned the National Di-
vision for a charter for a division in St. Louis, which
was granted, and St. Louis Division, No. 1, was organ-
ized, probably during the same year. In 1846, Henry
Stagg, the Recording Scribe of the division (a well-
known lawyer), and W. F. Chase represented Mis-
souri in the National Division. On the 5th of May,
1847, the Grand Division of Missouri was instituted
by William S. Stewart, Deputy M. W. P. Five di-
visions existed in Missouri, and Rev. C. B. Parsons,
D.D., was the first Grand Worthy Patriarch. Among
the prominent members of that body were Bernard
Bryan, Ira Vail, J. R. Lackland, Rev. W. Z. Protts-
man, Jonathan Jones, James Spore, John B. Higdon,
William A. Lynch, Isaac N. Hedges, and T. H. Cav-
anaugh. William S. Stewart was a prominent Odd-
Fellow, and had been Grand Master of the I. 0. 0. F.
Grand Lodge.
The records of the Grand Division of Missouri are
lost, and details of the progress of the order in the
city are very meagre. Bernard Bryan represented
the State in the National Division in 1848, and re-
ported two thousand two hundred and eight members ; j
in 1849 three thousand three hundred and seventy j
members were reported. At one period before the i
war there were one hundred divisions in the State, j
with perhaps fifteen thousand members, but the war
nearly destroyed the order, leaving but eight or ten
divisions, with only about two hundred members. In
St. Louis there were ten divisions before the war, with
a membership of one thousand to fifteen hundred.
There is now but one St. Louis division, No. 1, about
fifty members. There are six divisions in Missouri, '
with some three hundred members. The present
Grand Division officers are —
G. W. P., P. R. Ridgeley, Palmyra; G. W. A., Miss R. E.
Anderson, Palmyra; G. S., J. J. Garver, St. Louis; G. T.,
Mrs. F. E. Lane, Palmyra ; G. Chap., Rev. M. M. Hawkins,
Palmyra; G. Con., N. W. Dunn, Philadelphia; G. Sent., J. W.
Tattman, Philadelphia; E. II. Hulin, Palmyra, P. G. W. P.
Catholic Total Abstinence and Benevolent So-
ciety.— This society was the pioneer of all the Catho-
lic temperance societies which have sprung up within
the past thirty years. It was organized on the 15th
of August, 1848, by the Rev. John Higginbotham,
a retired chaplain of the British army. He was the
pastor of St. John's Catholic Church, and built the
new St. John's Church, and remained at the head of
the society until he left St. Louis, which was about
1855. He went to Halifax, N. S., and started a
similar and flourishing society there, and then re-
entered the British service. After some years he
was retired, and is now living in England with the
rank of colonel.
The second president of the society was Rev. James
Bannon, who in 1861 or 1862 entered the Confeder-
ate service as chaplain, and after the war returned to
Dublin, where he is living, a Jesuit Father, and
regarded as one of the ablest preachers in Ireland.
The third president was the Rev. James O'Brien, who
in 1863 or 1864 was succeeded by the Rev. Father
Henry, who has been the president uninterruptedly
ever since. Father O'Brien is reported to be teach-
ing in a college in Illinois.
The first officers of the society were —
President, Rev. John Higginbotham ; Vice-President, Michael
McEnnis; Secretary, Thomas Lawless; Treasurer, Michael
Hogan ; Grand Marshal, Col. Joseph Kelley.
Of these officers, Father Higginbotham, as previ-
ously stated, is still living. Mr. McEnnis is also still
alive, and in 1881 was president of the Merchants'
Exchange. He was succeeded by Dennis Kehoe, who
is dead. James Mulholland was the second secretary,
and the third secretary was Patrick Sullivan, who has
filled that office for many years. Michael Hogan was
treasurer for a number of years, and then Michael
Whelan. Both are dead. The next treasurer was
Edmund Burke, and the next was Michael E. Smith,
who was succeeded by Michael Clary, who has held
the office for nearly a decade.
Until the civil war the society had seasons of great
prosperity, and at one time nearly one thousand mem-
bers were enrolled. The war caused a serious divis-
ion, and many of the members enlisted, some on
the side of the Confederacy, but the great majority
in the Union army. After the war the society was
RELIGIOUS, BENEVOLENT, SOCIAL, SECRET, AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS. 1767
subjected to loss by reason of the establishment of
numerous beneficiary orders, which attracted tho
young men ; consequently it is now composed princi-
pally of middle-aged and old members. Originally
established purely as a temperance society, relying on
moral inducements, it was found expedient some years
ago to adopt certain beneficiary features, viz. : Funeral
benefits of one dollar per capita on the death of a
member ; seventy-five dollars on the death of a mem-
ber's wife, and five dollars per week sick benefits.
The society is not secret, and it is confined to Catho-
lics. The present membership numbers nearly three
hundred, and the present officers are —
President, Rev. Father James Henry; First Vice- President,
Robert Kelleher; Second Vice-President, Thomas J. Donahue;
Secretary, Patrick Sullivan; Treasurer, Michael Cleary; Mar-
shal, James Duffy ; Messenger, Dennis Daly.
In relieving distress and in assisting those of in-
firm will to escape the bondage of drink, the society
has done an amount of good that cannot be estimated.
Independent Order of Good Templars. — This
popular temperance organization originated in Central
New York in 1852, and was the first society of any
kind to admit women to every position of official dig-
nity and honor on equal terms with men. The first
lodge in Missouri was established at Booneville, April
25, 1854, by B. F. Mills, a prominent member of
the Sons of Temperance, who during a visit to the
East in the interest of that order was initiated into a
Good Templars' lodge, and returned full of enthusiasm
for this new temperance institution. The first lodge
in St. Louis was instituted early in 1855, and soon
after, in the order named, St. Louis Lodge, Lily of
the Valley Lodge, and Mound Lodge were established.
Mr. Mills was the instituting officer of all these.
On the 14th of March, 1855, the Grand Lodge of
Missouri was established in St. Louis. . So rapidly
had the order grown that there were seventy-seven
lodges and several hundred Good Templars in the
State, yet at the institution of the Grand Lodge only
eleven lodges were represented, located in Alexandria,
Columbia, California, Farmington, Paris, Platte City,
Springfield, Warsaw, two at Warrenton, and one
(Mound Lodge) at St. Louis, the delegate from the
latter being Mrs. Jane P. Moon, still a resident of
St. Louis, who has been uninterruptedly a member of
the order. The first Grand Worthy Chief Templar
of Missouri was Col. William F. Switzler, of Colum-
bia, and of the fifteen members of that Grand Lodge
he and Mrs. Moon are believed to be the only sur-
vivors. The first officers of the Grand Lodge were —
Grand Worthy Chief Templar, Col. William F. Switzler,
Columbia; Vice-Templar, Mrs. Jane Walker; Counselor, R.
E. Blakeley ; Secretary, B. H. Mills; Treasurer, E. E. Pleasant;
Chaplain, Rev. W. M. Rush ; Marshal, H. B. Callahan.
Up to the breaking out of the war the order flour-
ished in St. Louis, and among its promoters were
John F. Grandy (now dead), who became Grand Sec-
retary and Grand Worthy Chief Templar ; John Libby
(now dead), who became Grand Secretary, and who at
one time edited a temperance paper ; John Campbell,
now of Moberly Mound, who also became Grand
Worthy Chief Templar ; C. S. Barrett, a lumber mer-
chant of Carondelet ; R. R. Scott, still living, and for
several years one of the most energetic Grand Secre-
taries the Grand Lodge ever had ; and Timothy Par-
sons, an active member of several other temperance
societies.
When the war broke out the Good Templars had
nearly five hundred lodges in Missouri, but that con-
test nearly broke the order up, and when the first
Grand Lodge met after the war only about twenty-
five lodges responded to the call. In St. Louis, how-
ever, the order did not greatly suffer, as the lodges
were recruited from the numerous bodies of soldiers
in the city, and one of the most flourishing lodges
was the one in connection with the camp at the Fair
Grounds. The Good Templars reached their greatest
prosperity in St. Louis after the war, when, under
R. R. Scott's Grand Secretaryship, there were eleven
lodges in the city, with about twelve hundred mem-
bers. There are now eight lodges in St. Louis, as
follows :
Anchor, No. 1 ; Lily of the Valley, No. 5; Resolute, No. 216;
Our Neighbors, No. 233 ; Hope, No. 963 ; Western Star, No. 58 ;
North Star, No. 904 ; Lone Star, No. 44 ; Meramec, No. 46.
The present officers of the Grand Lodge are as
follows :
G. W. C. T., W. F. Switzler, Columbia, Mo. ; G. W. C., J. T.
Nesbit, Paris, Mo.; G. W. V. T., Mrs. Mary J. Alexander, St.
Louis; G. W. Sec., W. D. Crandali, Brookfield, Mo.: G. W.
Treas., Mrs. Ann W. Broughton, Paris, Mo. ; G. W. Chap., T. J.
Hutchinsou, Springfield, Mo. ; G. M., R. Brookes, Frederick-
town, Mo.; Supt. of Juvenile Templars, Mrs. Jane P. Moon,
St. Louis.
Several attempts have been made to organize lodges
among the colored people of St. Louis, but without
much success.
The order has not been beneficial, but in 1881 the
Grand Lodge authorized the organization of a Mutual
Benefit Association, and in May, 1882, the " Good
Templars' Mutual Bepefit Association of America"
was reported organized, with headquarters at Colum-
bia, Mo. It embraces insurance for one thousand,
two thousand, three thousand, four thousand, and five
thousand dollars.
The Shamrock Society. — In the summer of
1708
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
1854 a riot occurred in St. Louis, continuing three
days, and among the victims were many Irishmen.
While engaged in caring for their injured country-
men, some of the leading Irishmen of that period pro-
jected the establishment of a permanent society to
relieve the wants of their distressed compatriots, and
in September, 1854, the Shamrock Society was or-
ganized. The meeting was held at the house of Pat-
rick Moran, Eighth and Biddle Streets, and among
those participating were M. J. Dolan, William Hughes,
William Delehunt, Patrick O'Neill, Edward Lester,
Martin Keary, and several others. Edward Lester
was the first president. The object of the society
was declared to be beneficial, embracing sick benefits
of five dollars per week, and an assessment of one
dollar per member in case of death. The society
flourished up to the war, and at one time had nearly
three hundred members. During the war it suffered
from political divisions, but since that period has had
a prosperous but unostentatious career, and now num-
bers about two hundred and twenty-five members.
It is not a secret society. While exclusively a St.
Louis organization, it is in correspondence with the
Irish Catholic Benevolent Union, and traveling mem-
bers receive help if needed. Safeguards, however,
are provided for the protection of the society against
fraud. The present officers are —
President, Patrick Monahan ; Vice-President, Richard
Reddy ; Recording Secretary, Thomas Cullinane; Financial
Secretary, John Walsh; Treasurer, John Hall.
Chapter of Temperance and Wisdom.— On
Sept. 5, 1859, some young men who had been mem-
bers of a temperance order for young people in Buffalo,
N. Y., organized Mount Vernon Chapter of Temper-
ance and Wisdom of St. Louis. The charter members
were D. R. Mason, H. D. Moore, C. F. Parsons, M.
Dole, David Daniels, M. D. Degge, Charles C. Lacey,
Franklin Lacey, A. J. Fox, Henry Fox, and D. R.
Mason was the first presiding officer (or king). In
1860 the Grand Chapter of Missouri was organized,
the Grand King being Timothy Parsons. This chap-
ter assumed supreme functions, and issued charters
for chapters in Pittsburgh, Pa., and Springfield, Mo.,
besides organizing several chapters in St. Louis, —
Perseverance Chapter, in 1870; North Star Chapter,
in 1872; and Silver Star Chapter, in 1873. All
these chapters were very successful for a season, and
had at one time five hundred members in the aggre-
gate, but eventually all died except one, which has
about one hundred members. The order was specially
designed for the young, and the ritual was showy and
attractive. The existing chapter has the following
officers :
Grand King, H. D. Moore; Grand Queen, Emma R. Barnes;
Grand Marshal, J. W. Barnes ; Grand Recorder, J. J. Garver;
Grand Treasurer, Alexander McAllister.
The Catholic Knights of America, organized at
Nashville, Term., about the year 1874, for mutual
aid and support, is a beneficiary order, paying two
thousand dollars death benefits, and sick benefits at
the option of the subordinate branch. In St. Louis
the first branch of the order was organized Sept. 4,
1879, by J. W. Mertz, J. W. Rooney, P. O'Brien,
James Mullen, A. R. Rivet, Robert Parkinson,
F. W. Stephens, J. P. Kane, and Daniel Gray.
Among other prominent promoters of the order in
St. Louis are J. St. Cyr, J. W. O'Connell, J. Guig-
non, P. Monahan, Dr. F. Lutz, M. J. Brennan, A.
Finney, John J. O'Neill, J. Moran, M. Haughey, F.
A. Rogers, Henry McCabe, M. W. Hogan, and others.
There are thirteen branches in St. Louis, with about
nine hundred members. The membership in Mis-
souri is about fourteen hundred. The State Council
was organized April 12, 1882, with the following
officers :
Spiritual Director, Rev. W. II. Brantner, St. Louis; Presi-
dent, John J. Thompson, St. Louis; Vice-President, H. B.
Denker, St. Charles ; Secretary, P. O'Brien, St. Louis ; Treas-
urer, James Glass, Sedalia.
The Band of Hope. — The Chapter of Temperance
and Wisdom may justly be regarded as the parent of
an important and useful organization among the young
known as " Bands of Hope." To these youth of
both sexes are admitted, and the pledge enjoins absti-
nence from tobacco, profanity, and intoxicating liquors.
The first band was organized April 14, 1861, and the
chief promoter was H. D. Moore, who had been a
prominent worker in all the temperance orders of
the period. Five small boys were all that could be
mustered for charter members. One of them was
chosen president, but soon Mr. Moore was elected
to that position, and has occupied it continuously
until the present. The society grew rapidly, and at
intervals has had five hundred members, and for the
past ten years has averaged three hundred. It has
assisted in the organization of numerous societies of
a similar character, many of which flourished for a
season and finally died, but several still live and are
doing well.
The band was organized at the corner of Wash-
ington Avenue and Fourth Street, over what was
then Tichnor's clothing-store; it met here a year,
and subsequently for six years at Dr. Post's church,
Tenth and Locust Streets ; it then made several
changes, and occupied the " old Ebenezer Church,"
Seventh Street and Washington Avenue, where it was-
RELIGIOUS, BENEVOLENT, SOCIAL, SECRET, AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS. 1769
burned out. After one or two more removals it
located in il Avenue Hall," northeast corner of Wash-
ington Avenue and Ninth Streets, in a building erected
by Mr. Moore himself, but the Lindell Hotel having
been destroyed by fire, and Washington Avenue greatly
impaired for business purposes, Mr. Moore's invest-
ment proved a poor one, and the society had to
abandon the hall and returned to Dr. Post's church,
which it has occupied for ten or twelve years.
The society is claimed to have accomplished an im-
mense amount of good. It is asserted that fully one-
half of the members of the adult temperance societies are
graduates from the Band of Hope. More than sixty
of the female teachers in the St. Louis public schools
were members of the band, and the boys who have
graduated from the same organization are now num-
bered among the best of St. Louis' young business
men, and are prominent in temperance and church
work in the city, and in this and neighboring States.
The list of those who, as superintendents, have as-
sisted Mr. Moore embraces the names of John Libby,
a well-known citizen, now dead ; Mrs. S. S. Gannett,
a lady noted for her philanthropy ; the Rev. Mr. Cof-
land ; Dr. T. H. Hammond ; H. Eberly, a promi-
nent real estate broker, and J. W. Barnes, a well-
known builder, the last of whom has been superin-
tendent for several years.
In addition to Mount Vernon Band, which is the
pioneer, there are five bands in various parts of the
city. The full list is as follows :
Name and Number. Where Located. Membership.
Mount Vernon, No. 1 Central St. Louis 300
Fainnount, No. 2 Salisbury St., North St. Louis... 600
Anchor, No. :', St. Louis Avenue and 18th St.... 400
Central, No. -1 Twenty -fourth anil Morgan 300
Washington, No. ."> North St. Louis 450
Western Star, No. 0 Elleardsville, West St. Louis 250
Total 2300
Anchor Band of Hope is composed largely of youth
of German parentage. Its superintendent is Charles
Goessling, a young German.
Father Mathew Young Men's Total Absti-
nence and Benevolent Society. — The object of
this association is to inculcate and encourage temper-
ance, and provide a fund for the families of deceased
members, etc. Members are pledged to total absti-
nence. It is named after Father Mathew, the distin-
guished Irish temperance apostle, who visited St.
Louis in the spring of 1850, and its members are
of Irish lineage. This society was instituted in St.
Louis in 1870, and among the charter members were
Thomas Fox, Edward Devoy, James Hagerty, John
D. Hagerty, James McGraw, James J. McGeary,
Francis Lacey, Charles F. Irving, and Martin Duddy.
It is confined to St. Louis, and there is but one coun-
cil of the order in the city. A benefit of two dollars
from each member is paid on the death of a member.
In 1873 the council was most prosperous, having
thirteen hundred members ; the membership now is
about three hundred and fifty. The present officers
are —
President, Jeremiah Sheehan ; First Vice-President, Matthew
Bond; Second Vice- President, James Hennessy ; Recording
Secretary, S. M. Ryan ; Financial Secretary, James Hagerty ;
Treasurer, Patrick Cassidy.
United Hebrew Relief Association. — This as-
sociation of the Hebrews of St. Louis originated in
1871, when the great fire in Chicago scattered thou-
sands of the Jews of that city. Hundreds of them
sought shelter in St. Louis. They found the He-
brews of the city totally unprepared to meet the un-
expected draft upon their energies. Nevertheless a
number of young unmarried Hebrews hastily organ-
ized a temporary relief committee, with Augustus
Binswanger as chairman, and among the other mem-
bers the names of Lewis Hutzler, Nathaniel Myers,
and Simon Popper have been recorded. A call for
a meeting to organize permanently to relieve the
distressed Hebrews from Chicago was seconded by
Abraham Kramer, president of Congregation Shaare
Emeth ; Adolph Isaac, president of United Hebrew
Congregation ; and L. R. Straub, president of Con-
gregation B'nai El. Pursuant thereto a meeting was
held Oct. 17, 1871, at the synagogue, then at the
corner of St. Charles and Sixth Streets, and the
United Hebrew Relief Association was organized.
The officers were as follows :
President, B. Singer; Vice-President, A.Jacobs; Treasurer,
William Goldstein; Secretary, Augustus Binswanger; Corre-
sponding Secretary, Nathaniel Myers ; Directors, William
Keller, Isaac Baer, Moses Fraley, Lewis Hutzler, Simon Popper,
Joseph Baum.
The association pushed forward with great energy
the work of relieving the needs of the Chicago suf-
ferers, and took its place as one of the established and
permanent Jewish institutions of the city, its province
being to care for indigent Hebrews, whether transient
or resident. It has also established and maintained
an employment bureau, which has proved of great
benefit. For the ten years from 1871 (when it was
organized) until 1881 the association disbursed thirty-
eight thousand one hundred and ninety dollars and
thirty-five cents for relief, besides laying aside seven
thousand two hundred dollars for a Home for Aged
and Infirm Israelites.
During the winter of 1881-82 the association un-
dertook the work of caring for such Hebrew refugees,
1770
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
the victims of Russian persecution, as might be sent
thither, and afforded relief and found situations for
a large number of immigrants.
The present officers of the association are —
President, B. Hysinger; Vice-President, L. M. Ilellman;
Secretary, Augustus Binswanger; Treasurer, M. Levy; Direc-
tors, B. Eisemann, A. Fisher, George Lewis, B. Cohen, A. Rosen-
thai, Rev. Dr. Rosenthal, Rev. Dr. M. Spitz, Rev. H. J. Mes-
sing, 11. Weil; Superintendent, L. Wolfner; Medical Staff, Dr.
Bernard Block, Dr. M. J. Epstein, Dr. J. Friedman, Dr. H. Tu-
holske, Dr. Moritz Block, Dr. W. E. Fischel, Dr. F. Kolbeu-
heyer, Dr. S. Pollitzer.
Knights of Father Mathew. — This order was
instituted on Ascension Thursday, May 9, 1872,
under the title of " Knights of Father Mathew, St.
Louis, Mo.," with Thomas Fox as president; Thomas
E. Phelan, vice-president ; John Rohlf, corresponding
secretary; John McGrath, financial secretary; and
John B. Haggerty, treasurer. Total abstinence was
the corner-stone of the organization. All members
were required to appear in uniform on public occa-
sions, and to be thoroughly drilled. The organization
continued in its original form for some nine years,
with an average membership of about one hundred.
On the 18th of July, 1881, the order was incorpo-
rated under the title of " Knights of Father Mathew
of Missouri," with the following charter members :
Rev. P. F. O'Reilly, Thomas Fox, Patrick Long,
Daniel O'C. Tracy, John B. Haggerty, James Hagerty,
Michael Larisey, Patrick Mulcahy, Michael J. Ratch-
ford, James Walsh, John H. Gamble, James Meegan,
James Hardy, Festus J. Wade. An insurance fea-
ture of two thousand dollars was added to the provi-
sions requiring members to be Catholics and to prac-
tice total abstinence. The " new departure" proved j
immensely popular. Within a year the membership i
was increased to nearly one thousand, and but one •
death had occurred.
There are twelve councils in St. Louis, as follows :
St. Louis, No. 1 ; St. John's, No. 2 ; Annunciation, No. 3 ;
St. Patrick's, No. 4: St. Lawrence O'Toole's, No. 5; St. Mala-
chy's, No. 6 ; St. Teresa's, No. 7 ; St. Bridget's, No. 8 ; St.
Mary and St. Joseph's, No. 9; Emerald, No. 10; Immaculate
Conception, No. 11; Cathedral, No. 12.
Connected with the order is a literary and debating
society, which holds frequent debates and other
exercises. D. O'C. Tracy is its president. There
is a ritual appropriate and special to the order.
While the society is in no sense a secret one, as
commonly understood, it claims and exercises the
right of legitimate privacy in all its affairs. Father
John O'Neil, S.J., of the St. Louis University, was
the first spiritual director. His successors were Father
E. A. Noonan and Rev. Father P. F. O'Reilly. The
following are the officers and members of the Supreme
Council :
Supreme Chief Sir Knight, Rev. P. F. O'Reilly; Deputy Su-
preme Chief Sir Knight, Patrick Mulcahy; Supreme Recorder,
Charles C. Concannon; Supreme Banker, John B. Haggerty;
Supreme Financial Recorder, Thomas Morris; Supreme Medi-
cal Examiner, Dr. E. L. Feehan; Supreme Sentinel, Thomas
Fox. Members of Executive Board, Daniel O'Connell Tracy,
John Clark, James Hennessy, Richard T. Sheehy. Members of
Supreme Council, Festus J. Wade, Thomas P. Culkin, James
Hardy, James Meegan, M. J. Ratchford, Michael Larisey,
Dennis Dunn, Thomas Carroll, John H. Gamble, James Hag-
gerty, James Walsh, J. B. Hagerty, John W. O'Connell,
John Marriner, Patrick Long, John Hunt, Thomas F. Doyle,
John Coughlin, James K. Grace, P. J. Harris, Thomas Horan.
The Central St. Louis Unterstuetzungs Verein
is a secret benevolent socrety of German ladies, organ-
ized Jan. 28, 1878, and with one hjmdred and twenty-
five members. The officers are —
President, Katrine Zilek ; Vice-President, Marie Vindel ;
Secretary, Mrs. Sophia Krage; Financial Secretary, Mrs. Ka-
trine Roesner; Treasurer, Mrs. Sophia Brown.
The Spiritual Association was incorporated in
November, 1882, by John B. Crocker, president; C.
H. Crocker, vice-president; E. M. Moore, secretary;
and S. T. De Wolf, treasurer ; Miss May Bangs, C.
Burrows, E. E. Weber, August Wobe, and William
F. Burrows. The objects of the association are to
ameliorate all conditions of suffering and distress by
establishing retreats for the infirm, and hygienic in-
stitutions for the prevention as well as cure of all
physical diseases and moral disturbances, " to afford
material aid and protection in the exercise of those
spiritual gifts and mediumistic qualities with which its
members may be endowed, and to guarantee the rights
of private judgment, liberty of conscience, and uni-
versal toleration in matters of opinion." The Spiritu-
alists established themselves in St. Louis in 1860.
Their meetings are held at the Mercantile Library Hall.
Charles Tuckett is the president.
The Liberal League was incorporated in 1871.
The meetings are held in a hall on the corner of
Eleventh and Olive Streets. The membership num-
bers about three hundred. Charles Kershaw is presi-
dent; Mrs. Jackson, secretary; and John Penibling,
treasurer.
The Turnverein. — As stated elsewhere, the failure
of the German revolution of 1848 and the vehement
persecution of the men engaged in it drove to this
country thousands of the most advanced thinkers and
most energetic spirits of Germany. Most of them
had been schooled in the celebrated gymnasium (or
turnschukn) of " Father Jahn," and they at once
proceeded to establish that system of training in their
adopted country.
RELIGIOUS, BENEVOLENT, SOCIAL, SECRET, AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS. 1771
Ou the 12th of May, 1850, Carl Speck, F. Roeser,
L. Barthels, Carl B. Dieckride, Johann Bolland,
Theodor Hildebrandt, Wilhelm Meyer, Willibald
Moll, and Wilhelm Grahl met and organized a gym-
nastic society (or turnvereiii), and called it Bestrebung
(or Endeavor), but soon afterwards they gave it the
name of St. Louis Turnverein. For two or three
years the young society had modest quarters at or
near Collins and Cherry Streets, but being cramped
for room the leasehold of a lot on Tenth Street near
Market was secured, a stock company was organized,
and on the 12th of November, 1855, the corner-stone
of the present Central Turnhalle was laid. In Novem-
ber, 1858, the building, a spacious one for those days
and considering the size of the society, was dedi-
cated.
In 1852 the Verein was divided, and the Missouri
and Germania Associations were successively organ-
ized; but they were short-lived, and many, of the
seceders returned to the mother organization, which
went into the new building with one hundred and
fifty members.
When the war broke out five hundred names were
enrolled, but on the fijst call for troops many of the
members enlisted, and as the conflict progressed
hardly enough Turners were left to keep the society
in existence. The first Turner platform obligated
every member to oppose slavery in every form with
all his power, and it was therefore natural that the
Turner should heartily espouse the cause of the
Union. Long before hostilities were declared, their
hall was a gathering-place where the members prepared
for the contest which many felt was imminent, and
their stanch advocacy of Union principles in those
early days, as well as their readiness to go forth and
fight for them, first directed general attention to the
Turners and their system, and caused them to be re-
garded with much greater interest than had hitherto
been the case. Whole companies of volunteers, and
almost whole regiments, were composed of Turners,
and among the most gallant of them was the famous
Seventeenth Missouri, or the " Western Turners'
Regiment."
When the war was over the Turnbund was organ-
ized. The St. Louis Verein again prospered, its only
losses being the depletions it has sustained from the
formation of six additional organizations.
This union has four hundred and sixteen members
and a school of two hundred and fifty pupils. Its
hall is valued at twenty-five thousand seven hundred
dollars, and is' clear of debt ; and it has a library of
two thousand one hundred and thirty-two volumes,
and a song section of twenty-two voices.
The verein pays sick benefits of five dollars per
week and funeral benefits of one hundred dollars.
The present officers are : President, C. A. Stifel,
who has been a member since the second year ; Vice-
President, Henry Braun ; Recording Secretary, Louis
Kaufman ; Corresponding Secretary, Herman Um-
rath ; First Cashier, George Klein ; Second Cashier,
William Muegge ; Librarian, Hugo Gollmer.
South St. Louis Turnverein. — In 1865 the
verein established a turn-school in South St. Louis.
During that year, through the exertions of Messrs. A.
Krieckhaus, C. A. Stifel, and Charles Speck, money was
raised to build a turnhalle, and in the fall the edifice
was ready. It was located at the corner of Ninth and
Julia Streets. For four years it served as the train-
ing-place for the youth of the St. Louis Turnverein.
On Sunday, Sept. 12, 1869, some members of the
parent verein assembled at the hall and formed a
new turnverein, the second organized in this city.
The number of members was fifty-one, and the first
officers were : President, F. P. Becker ; Vice-Presi-
dent, Jacob von Gerichten ; Treasurer, F. Dietz ;
Recording Secretary, F. C. P. Tiedeman ; Corre-
sponding Secretary, John Mohrstadt. Of the original
fifty-one only the following remain with the union :
T. Faust, Henry Rauth, George Loebs, Theodore
Rassieur, Jacob von Gerichten, C. H. Vortriede, F.
P. Becker, and F. C. P. Tiedemanu.
The society rapidly grew, and proved a great con-
venience to Turners, whom distance prevented from
frequently visiting the Central Turnhalle. Eventually
the need of a larger hall was felt, and finally a lot was
bought at Tenth and Carroll Streets, and on May 15,
1881, the corner-stone of a new building was laid,
and on May 6, 1882, the new hall was dedicated with
appropriate exercises, most of the German societies
in the city participating. The building is a stately
one, and is one hundred and seventeen by eighty-four
feet, two stories in front and four in the rear, has a
large hall thirty feet high, with dressing-rooms, a bil-
liard-room, etc., and cost twenty-one thousand dollars.
It was built by stock subscription, and there is a debt
of eight thousand dollars on the property.
The verein has two hundred and seventy-seven
members and a school of three hundred and fifty-seven
pupils. It maintains a fund for sick and distressed
members.
The present officers are Francis P. Becker, presi-
dent; Francis P. Troll, vice-president; F. C. P. Tiede-
niann, secretary; William Merkens, treasurer.
Socialer Turnverein. — On the 8th of October,
1872, a dozen Turners organized the Socialer Turn-
verein, the first president being Charles Wedig. For
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
some years the society met at Sixteenth and Montgom-
ery Streets, but had a struggling life until it gained
prominence by the occupancy of Sturgeon Market Hall.
On the 8th of September, 1878, it laid the corner-
stone of a new hall at Thirteenth and Monroe Streets,
and on Jan. 8, 1879, the building was dedicated.
This is regarded as in some respects the finest build-
ing of the kind in the city. Its dimensions are eighty
by one hundred and twelve feet, and its gymnasium
and dance hall are noteworthy for being free from
pillars and resting entirely on the walls, supported by
trusses. The hall was built by a stock association.
It cost about eighteen thousand dollars, and is free of
debt. The society has also personal property amounting
to nearly three thousand dollars. The membership
numbers 217 ; scholars, 239 ; library, 240 volumes.
It also has an excellent song section of some thirty
voices. The society levies one dollar per member in case
of death for the benefit of the heirs of the deceased.
The present officers are : President, Henry Over-
schelp ; Vice-President, Mr. Lammersick ; Record-
ing Secretary, Mr. Knoch ; Corresponding Secretary,
Odo Stifel; Cashier, F. W. Wiesehahn ; Second
Cashier, Charles Link.
Concordia Turnverein. — In December, 1875, some
thirty-two persons, mostly members of the Central
Turnverein, but who lived too far from the Central
Hall to conveniently attend the society, signed a call
for a meeting to organize a turnverein in extreme
Southern St. Louis, and on Jan. 8, 1875, the society
was organized, with E. F. Schreiner, president ; Nich-
olas Berg, vice-president ; J. R. Ballinger, recording
secretary; C. F. Groffman, corresponding secretary;
and C. C. Goelde, treasurer. On June 1, 1875, articles
of incorporation were granted C. Schreiner, R. Glaess-
ner, J. H. Kassing, C. H. L. Hoffman, and Richard
Fischer. On the 13th of October. 1876, the society
was incorporated by William Hahn, G. W. Hall, C.
F. Vogel, W. J. Lemp, Hermann Stamm, and C. C.
Goedde, and on Jan. 24, 1877, the corner-stone of a
new hall was laid at Arsenal and Carondelet Streets.
On the 18th of November, 1877, the building was
dedicated. It cost nineteen thousand five hundred dol-
lars, on which a debt of two thousand dollars remains.
The society has also personal property valued at two
thousand three hundred and fifty dollars. The mem-
bership numbers 410; pupils, 445 ; library, 300 vol-
umes; song section, 15; singing-school, 125.
The present officers are —
President, Oscar Hoefer; Vice-President, Julius Hertz; Re-
cording Secretary, R. Bennecke ; Corresponding Secretary,
Bernhardt Keuss ; Cashier, Jacob Walter; Treasurer, Nicholas
Berg; Book-keeper, C. F. Laitner; Turnwart, Fred. Hahn:
Second Turn wart, Alexander Lifka; Librarian, H. Ruppelt.
The Carondelet Turnverein was organized April
4, 1875, and the corner-stone of the present hall at
Fourth and Taylor Streets, Carondelet, was laid Sept.
4, 1875. The building was dedicated March 11,
1876. The hall cost about eighteen thousand dollars,
on which is a debt of twelve thousand three hundred
dollars. The verein has about twelve hundred and
fifty dollars in personal property. The membership
is eighty-five, pupils thirty-four, library about fifty
books. Connected with the society is a very efficient
ladies' and dramatic club.
The present officers are —
President, Herr Hinsmann ; Vice-President, Christian Koeln ;
Recording Secretary, Charles Bruno ; Corresponding Secretary,
Rudolph Giebermnnn; Cashier, F. W. Dauth; Second Cashier,
E. G. Hofmann ; Turnwart, John Wette ; Second Turnwart,
Thomas Ahrens ; Zeugwart, Martin Stein ; Chairman of the
Literary Committee, Dr. H. M. Stackloff.
Vorwaerts Turnverein. — This society was organ-
ized Dec. 21, 1878, and once had forty members. It
never accomplished much, and after a flickering career
was disbanded in 1881.
West St. Louis Turnverein. — For some years there
flourished a " Schiller Club," at Franklin and Leffing-
well Avenues, and during the summer of 1 879 one
hundred and twenty -eight of the members agreed to
merge the society into a turnverein. An organization
was effected Sept. 22, 1879, and Dec. 19, 1880, the
corner-stone of the present hall was laid at Beaumont
and Morgan Streets. The property was occupied by
the Second Baptist Church as a mission, and the
verein proceeded to put up an additional building,
making the hall seventy-five by thirty-six feet. The
building was dedicated May 8, 1881. It was erected
by a stock association, of which J. J. Suller was presi-
dent ; A. W. Straub, vice-president ; John Denberger,
secretary ; J. F. Conrad, treasurer ; and J. H. Tror-
licht, John Nies, J. L. Bernecker, F. W. Henze, John
Schoenke, Julius Hirschfeld, and Louis J. Holthaus
directors. The building and its equipments cost about
five thousand dollars, on which a debt of less than
one thousand dollars remains. The membership
numbers five hundred, the largest in the city ; pupils,
four hundred and thirty-six ; library, three hundred
volumes ; song section, twenty-five voices.
The present officers are —
President, Emil A. Becker; Vice-President, Adolph Braun ;
Recording Secretary, Christ. F. Hertwig ; Corresponding Secre-
tary, George Scherer; Cashier, L. II. Hasselbarth ; Treasurer,
J. F. Conrad; Turnwart, Otto Keil ; Second Turnwart, George
Powell ; Zeugwart, Theodore Klipstein.
The membership of the St. Louis Turners' Asso-
ciation is classified as follows :
RELIGIOUS, BENEVOLENT, SOCIAL, SECRET, AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS. 1773
Members.
St. Louis Turoverein 416
South St. Louis Turnverein 277
Socialer Turnverein 217
Concordia Turnverein 410
West St. Louis Turnverein 506
North St. Louis Turnverein 185
Carondelet Turnverein 85
Active
Members.
149
140
120
39
200
125
25
U.S.
Citizens.
366
241
190
410
475
180
75
Total 2096 798 1937
The St. Louis associations, with those at High-
land, Trenton, Belleville, Nashville, Alton, and
Quincy (all in Illinois), constitute the " St. Louis
Turn Circuit," which is the largest district, numeri-
cally, in the country, although several others own
more property. St. Louis Turnbezirk has thirteen
societies, with : Members, 2623 ; active Turners, 1 102 ;
citizens of the United States, 2431 ; scholars, boys,
1549 ; scholars, girls, 700 ; value of property,
$158,485; debts, 841,670; excess of property over
debts, 8116,815; volumes in the libraries, 7302.
Eleven of the societies own their halls.
The present officers of St. Louis Bezirk are —
President, Francis P. Becker ; Vice-President, Einil Mueller ;
Recording Secretary, C. H. Hertwig ; Treasurer, Ernst Eisch-
mann ; Turnwart, Mazzini Kruer ; Directors, Herman Ruppelt,
IS. von Gerichten, Rudolph Geibermann, C. J. Trebers, John
Schoenle.
The St. Louis Microscopical Society was organ-
ized in 1869, the officers consisting of Homer Judd,
M.D., president; D. V. Dean, M.D., vice president ;
W. H. Eames, D.D.S., treasurer ; T. H. Hammond,
M.D., recording secretary; T. F. Rumbold, M.D.,
corresponding secretary ; H. Z. Gill, M.D., librarian.
It was incorporated Aug. 17, 1872, with Drs. H. Z.
Gill, Homer Judd, Thomas F. Rumbold, R. J. Steele,
and D. V. Dean as the first officers under the act of
incorporation. The society is still in existence, and
has quite a sum of money in the treasury, but has
not held regular meetings for two or more years.
The Western Rowing Club was organized in 1867,
and chartered in 1870, with John F. Johnson, Jacob
L. Reinhardt, Paul M. Hunt, Leo Ilassieur, Charles
Hilliker, Thomas Hilliker, and E. H. Vordtriede as
incorporators, to cultivate the art of rowing. Its
boat-house is located on the river front, between Har-
per and Dorcas Streets. Leo Rassieur has been the
president since its formation. This club is the oldest
of the kind in St. Louis, and is the parent of the
half-dozen clubs now in existence. As far back as
1819, however, there is a record that Capt. George
H. Kennerly, Alexander St. Cyr, the Arnold brothers,
and others formed a boat club which had its house on
the banks of Chouteau's Pond, about three hundred
yards north of Chouteau's mill. The members of the
club wore a uniform of Scotch plaid.
St. Louis Institute of Architects. — In January,
1870, a number of St. Louis architects met and de-
cided to form an association for the purpose of " uniting
in fellowship the architects of the city and vicinity,
and combining their efforts so as to promote the ar-
tistic, scientific, and practical efficiency of the profes-
sion." As a result of this meeting the St. Louis
Institute of Architects was incorporated during the
same month by George I. Barnett, John F. Mitchell,
J. C. Edgar, Thomas Walsh, A. Grable, G. W. Os-
borne> George D. Rand, J. W. Herthel, E. Jungen-
feld, S. M. Randolph, C. B. Clark, and others. A
permanent organization was immediately effected by
the election of the following officers :
Thomas Walsh, president; George I. Barnett, M. Randolph,
John F. Mitchell, trustees; R. Desbonne, treasurer; George D.
Rand, secretary.
Since its inception the institute has been success-
fully sustained, and has been very influential in its
operations. The meetings were first held in the office
of Randolph Brothers, northwest corner Walnut and
Fifth Streets. Subsequently rooms at 320J North
Third Street were occupied until an arrangement was
made with the Board of Public Schools, whereby the
session-room of the Polytechnic Building was secured,
and has been used ever since. The several presidents
of the institute have been Thomas Walsh, George I.
Barnett, John F. Mitchell, J. C. Edgar, C. B. Clarke,
J. W. Herthel, J. H. McNamara, F. W. Raeder, John
Beattie, A. Druiding. The present officers are —
President, A. Druiding; Trustees, A. Grable, T. J. Furlong,
J. H. McNamara; Treasurer, C. B. Clarke; Secretary, J. F.
Mitchell ; Board of Managers, A. Druiding, A. Grable, T. J.
Furlong, J. H. McNamara, J. F. Mitchell, C. B. Clarke.
The North St. Louis Turnverein. — This society
was organized in 1868 as the North St. Louis Turn-
schule and Kindergarten, reorganized Oct. 25, 1870,
and in February, 1874, incorporated as the North St.
Louis Turnverein. The society had their hall at first
at, the corner of Bremen Avenue and Broadway, and
afterwards in a hall at the corner of Bremen Avenue
and Fifteenth Street. In 1879 the society decided to
have a permanent hall. A lot on the southeast corner
of Salisbury and Fourteenth Streets was purchased
for four thousand dollars, and a building sixty-five feet
front on Salisbury Street, with a depth of one hundred
and twenty-five feet on Fourteenth Street, was erected.
The building, which cost eighteen thousand four hun-
dred and twenty-five dollars, was erected under the
supervision of H. W. Kirchner, architect. The board
of directors and building committee of the society
were as follows : Francis H. Brinkman, chairman ;
Charles E. Kircher, treasurer; Charles J. Doerr, sec-
1774
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
retary ; and Henry Schmidt, Louis Hammer, Anthony
Noake, J. F. Voyt, Charles Kohlberg, William
Shreiber, Herman Schwartze, E. 0. Haus, Aug.
Allershausen, and Matthias Herman. The society
has one hundred and eighty-five members, one hundred
and forty pupils, a song section thirty strong, a ladies'
dramatic section of about sixty, a corps of drummer-
boys, and a library of about three hundred and fifty
volumes. Its presidents have been L. Edward Witte,
L. W. Tenteberg, Albert Haeseler, W. H. Inderwark,
Herman Umrath, Louis K. Hammer, Francis H.
Brinkman, Anthony Nacke, and Hugo Muench.
The officers in 1882 were—
President, Hugo Muench ; Vice-President, Henry C. Schmidt;
Recording Secretary, William Yost; Corresponding Secretary,
Charles C. Trebers; Cashier, C. E. Kircher; Second Cashier,
L. Kohlberg: Librarian, Charles Stoelting ; Turn wart, L. Herb-
ster; Second Turn wart, Charles Steiner ; Zeugwart, Charles H.
Bluinentrill.
The Missouri Gymnastic Society. — This society
was organized in 1857 by a few clerks in a small room
in the old city buildings, Commercial Alley. The
membership increased so rapidly that it was necessary
to proeure a larger hall, which they did at Fourth
Street and Washington Avenue, from there they re-
moved to Seventh Street and Washington Avenue.
A stock company was then formed, and through the
efforts of Joshua Cheever, James C. Maginniss, and
others they secured, in 1867, on leased ground their
present building, No. 814 St. Charles Street, which
they entered with a debt of four thousand dollars,
all of which has been paid. In 1877, John L.
Stockwell was elected superintendent, and under his
management the society at once became a success. In
1878 it was reincorporated under the same name by
J. M. Chambers, J. A. Dillon, W. J. Blakely, J. D.
Phillips, W. J. Gilbert, A. J. Hyde, M. L. Holman,
J. Schaeffer, and J. L. Stockwell as incorporators.
Its officers and board of directors in 1882 were —
James M. Chambers, president; J. A. St. Johns, vice-presi-
dent; John D. Phillips, treasurer: John L. Stockwell, secretary
and manager; Directors, W. J. Gilbert, John A. Dillon, R. A.
Barret, M. L. Holman, Eug. Sailor.
The St. Louis Natatorium, corner of Nineteenth
and Pine Streets, was built in May, 1881. The in-
corporators were George B. Thompson, Joseph Frank-
lin, John T. Davis, Charles A. Fowee, E. C. Sim-
mons, and W. L. Huse. The building is sixty-six
feet front and two hundred and seventeen feet in
length ; bathing-pool forty feet wide and one hundred
and forty feet long, with a depth of two to eleven feet.
During the summer season it is a fashionable resort
for those who are fond of aquatic sport, and in winter
it is fitted up for roller-skating.
The St. Louis Long-Range Rifle Association
was incorporated Dec. 26, 1882. The incorporators
were William P. Schaaf, C. A. B. Battee, J. M. Bat-
tee, J. W. Rannels, Julian J. Laughlin, F. W. Rock-
well, H. C. Bagby, J. P. Foster, C. B. Smith, W. F.
de Cordova, E. H. Gorse, P. B. Leach, S. S. Black-
well, H. E. Weber, J. B. Martin, H. C. Pierce, Au-
; gust Bengel, and Henry Hitchcock. The object for
which the association is formed is practice at rifle-
: shooting at long range. Phineas B. Leach is presi-
dent; William F. de Cordova, secretary; C. B. Smith,
treasurer ; J. J. Laughiin, captain ; and W. P. Schaaf,
coacher. The association has at present forty-five
\ members.
The Society of Pedagogy has for its object the
free discussion of all educational topics.
SECRET SOCIETIES.
Masonic Order.1 — Before the acquisition of Louis-
iana by the United States, in 1804, there was nothing
in the shape of organized Masonry in St. Louis, the
early inhabitants being nearly all of French origin,
and almost universally of the Catholic faith, which
does not tolerate secret associations. There might
have been, and no doubt was, among those who
came from other places occasionally a member of the
order ; but not until after the transfer to the United
States did there seem to arise any occasion for intro-
ducing it in an organized state.
Among the most prominent of the early Americans
who came from other localities and established them-
selves in the three villages of Kaskaskia, Ste. Gene-
vieve, and St. Louis were a number of members of
the order, and these, shortly after the change of gov-
ernment, took the incipient steps to introduce it by
the establishment of lodges.
On the 9th of March, 1805, a petition was pre-
sented to the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania of An-
cient York Masons for a dispensation to open a lodge
at Kaskaskia, Indiana Territory, signed by the fol-
lowing Master Masons : Robert McMahan, of Stanton
Lodge, No. 13, Virginia; William Arundel, of St.
Andrew's Lodge, No. 2, Quebec, Canada; James
Edgar, of Lodge No. 9, Philadelphia ; Michael Jones',
of Lodge No. 45, Pittsburgh, Pa. ; James Galbraith,
of Lodge No. 79, Chambersburg, Pa. ; Rufus Easton,
of Roman Lodge, No. 82, Rome, N. Y. ; Robert Rob-
inson, of Stanton Lodge. No. 13, Virginia.
In compliance with the petition, the Grand Master
of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, the Most Wor-
1 For the accompanying sketch of the Masonic order in St.
Louis the author is largely indebted to Frederic L. Billon.
RELIGIOUS, BENEVOLENT, SOCIAL, SECRET, AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS. 1775
shipful Israel Israel, attested by the seal of the Grand
Secretary, George A. Baker, issued his dispensation
for six months, dated at the city of Philadelphia,
Sept. 24, 1805, authorizing James Edgar, a Past
Master, and his associates to open a lodge as prayed
for; and on Saturday, Dec. 14, 1805, the persons
named above assembled, and proceeded to open their
new lodge, to which they gave the name of Western
Star Lodge, Messrs. Jones and Robinson being ap-
pointed a* committee to prepare a code of by-laws for
its government. This lodge worked under the dis-
pensation until the 24th of March, 1806, the date of
its expiration,' when the dispensation was returned,
with a copy of the lodge's proceedings under it, to
the Grand Lodge, which, having approved of the
same, issued a charter, as follows :
"To Western Star Lodge, No. 107, registry of
Pennsylvania, dated June 2, 1806, to James Edgar,
Worshipful Master, Michael Jones, Senior Warden,
and James Galbraith, Junior Warden, and their as-
socia^tes, etc., signed by Right Worshipful James Mil-
nor, Grand Master, and attested by George A. Baker,
Grand Secretary, with the seal of the Grand Lodge ;"
and on Saturday, Sept. 13, 1806, they held their first
meeting under their charter.
The last meeting of this lodge, as appears from
the record-book, was held on Dec. 9, 1820, arid its
last return to the parent Grand Lodge of Pennsylva-
nia was in the year 1822, after which date it was
stricken from the registry of that Grand Lodge.
This was the first Masonic lodfre established in the
upper portion of the valley of the Mississippi, there
being two lodges in the city of New Orleans, Nos. 90
and 93, already in existence, established also by the \
Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.
Ste. Genevieve, being nearly opposite to Kaskaskia,
and some thirty years older than St. Louis, was for
many years the largest place on the west bank of the
river, and even at the date of the transfer to the
United States had a larger population. It was not
until the period of the war with Great Britain, 1812
-15, that St. Louis began to outstrip Ste. Genevieve,
her growth resulting in a great measure from the large
number of troops stationed at Bellefontaine, then the
westernmost military post of the United States. The
Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, upon the application
of a number of Masons residing in and about Ste.
Genevieve, granted them a charter for a new lodge to ;
be held at that place, dated July 17, 1807, under the
title of Louisiana Lodge, No. 109, appointing Aaron
Elliott, Worshipful Master ; Andrew Henry, Senior
Warden ; and George Bullitt, Junior Warden. But
little or nothing is known at the present day of the
work of this lodge, nothing to show who were the pe-
titioners, date of dispensation, etc. The last return
to the parent Grand Lodge was made in 1815.
The transfer of the upper portion of Louisiana to
the United States took place on the 10th of March,
1804, at St. Louis. The few villages in the Territory
at that time comprised St. Louis, St. Charles, Ste. Gen-
evieve, Mine a Breton (now Potosi), Cape Girardeau,
New Madrid, etc., the largest containing but a few
hundred inhabitants. Before this time there was not
a Masonic lodge in the country. The few merchants
in those villages at that day usually procured their
small stocks of goods from New Orleans ; but after
that period, having become citizens of the United
States by the transfer, they commenced making an-
nual visits to the city of Philadelphia to purchase
their goods, and as they were mostly of French de-
scent, several of them were made Masons in that city
in the French Lodge 1'Amenite, No. 73 of the regis-
try of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.1
In a few years, as the population of some of these
places and the country generally gradually increased,
the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania chartered several
lodges in this then remote region, viz. : Western Star
Lodge, No. 107, at Kaskaskia, 111. ; Louisiana Lodge,
No. 109, at Ste. Genevieve ; and St. Louis Lodge, No.
Ill, at St. Louis. After an existence of a few years
these lodges, owing, doubtless, to the sparseness of the
population, followed shortly after their organization by
the war with England, in 1812, gradually ceased work,
in a few years became extinct, and were erased from
the registry of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.
The charter of St. Louis Lodge, No. Ill, dated Sept.
15, 1808, was granted to Merriwether Lewis as Wor-
shipful Master, Thomas Fiveash Riddick, Senior
Warden, and Rufus Easton, Junior Warden, as the
first officers, and to their associate brethren. This
lodge comprised in its membership a number of the
most prominent of the early citizens of the place,
many of whom then and subsequently filled important
official positions in the Territorial and State govern-
ments. Among them were
Capt. Merriwether Lewis, first Governor of Louisiana Terri-
tory, Worshipful Master.
Col. Thomas F. Riddick, who held various civil offices, Senior
Warden.
Col. Rufus Easton, first postmaster and attorney-general,
Junior Warden.
Joseph V. Gamier, clerk of the Supreme Court, Secretary.
Gen. William Clark, Territorial Governor and superintendent
of Indian affairs.
1 Among the well-known early residents of St. Louis who re-
ceived their degrees in this lodge were Charles F. Billon and
Gabriel and Een6 Paul.
1776
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Frederick Bates, secretary of the Territory, recorder, Secre-
tary of State, and Governor.
Col. Alexander MoXair, first Governor of the State of Mis-
souri.
Joseph Charless, editor and proprietor of the Missouri Gazette.
Jeremiah Conner, sheriff of St. Louis.
Maj. Wm. Christy, first register of lands.
Judge Wm. C. Carr, judge of Circuit Court.
Dr. Bernard G. Farrar, judge of the Court of Common Pleas.
Capt. Risdon H. Price, merchant.
Alexander Stuart, circuit judge.
Silas Bent, presiding judge Common Pleas and county clerk,
as also a number of the United States military officers then
stationed at the military post at Bellefontaine cantonment.1
The lodge occupied an old French house of upright
timbers of twenty by forty feet, one of the first in the
village, built in 1765 by Jacques Denis, a joiner, for
a billiard-room, and occupied as such during the whole
of the Spanish regime. It was situated on the east
side of Second Street, next below the corner of Wal-
nut Street. The lodge was in existence but a few
years, and made no return whatever to the parent
Grand Lodge. This fact, in connection with the suicide
of the Worshipful Master, Hon. Merriwether Lewis, in
1809, leads to the conclusion that it had accomplished
but little, if anything, in the way of Masonic labor.
After the death of its principal officer, the lodge gradu-
ally fell into decay, and was eventually stricken from
the roll of the Grand Lodge about the time of the
war of 1812.
The following advertisements in the Louisiana
(afterwards Missouri'") Gazette show that the lodge
celebrated the Masonic festival of St. John the Bap-
tist on at least two occasions with a public dinner :
"The St. Louis Lodge, No. Ill, will celebrate the festival of
St. John the Baptist on Saturday, the 24th instant, at their
lodge-room in St. Louis. Such brethren (not members of the
lodge) as may wish to join in the celebration of this festival
are requested to attend.
"The procession will form at the lodge-room at twelve o'clock
1 Shortly after the acquisition of the country, "one Wil-
liam Massey sold to Gen. James Wilkinson, for the United
States, April 20, 1806, for two hundred and fifty dollars,
five acres of land at Bellefontaine, on the Missouri River,
including the old Indian factory and buildings and the use
for five years of the adjoining land, on which troops were
then cantoned. On this tract the United States subsequently
erected barracks for the troops, and it was for a number of years
the westernmost military post of the United States. Of the
United States military at Bellefontaine cantonment, several
officers of rank died during these years, and doubtless some of
them were Masons, as was pretty much the case with army
officers during and after the Revolution. Among those who
died there were Maj. Russell Bissell, commandant, who died in
1807 ; Col. Thomas Hunt, First Regiment, commanding the
fort, an officer of the Revolution, who died July 17, 1808 (his
wife died six months after him, in January, 1809) ; Lieut. Joseph
Dorr, died Dec. 31, 1808 (his wife two months previously) ; and
others whose names are not to be found on record at this day.
precisely, and march from thence to the church, where a Ma-
sonic oration will be delivered by a brother.
" Dinner on the table at three o'clock.
"By order of the lodge,
" JOSEPH V. GAUNTER, Secretary.
"June 20, 1809."
" Monday, the 24th instant, being the festival of St. John
the Baptist, such brethren (not members of the lodge) as are
desirous to celebrate the above festival are notified that St.
Louis Lodge, No. Ill, will assemble at their room in the morn-
ing of said day, and march from thence to Brothe* Christy's,
where a dinner will be provided for them.
"ALEXANDER McNAtR,
"JEREMIAH CONNER,
"JOSEPH V. GARNIER,
" Committee of Arrangements.
"June 11, 1811."
There was also a celebration by this lodge of the
festival of St. John the Evangelist, Dec. 27, 1811,
at which was sung a Masonic ode composed expressly
for the occasion by Lieut. Joseph Cross,2 of the United
States artillery, which is to be found in the Louisiana
Gazette of Jan. 18, 1812.
No further notice of this lodge is found in the
Gazette, and as the war broke out shortly afterwards,
and nearly every man in the village was enrolled in
the military service, the members became scattered,
and, as stated above, the lodge became extinct.
During the continuance of the war the general gov-
ernment kept a large body of troops at St. Louis. Many
of the officers and men were Masons, and at the termi-
nation of the War, and after the reduction of the army
to the peace establishment, a large number of them
remained and established themselves in and about St.
Louis, which had at the close of the war reached a
population of about fifteen hundred souls. The re-
turn of peace, therefore, found a large number of the
Masonic fraternity from various localities identified
with St. Louis, far the larger part of whom were gen-
* Joseph Cross was born about 1776, and entered the United
States army in 1797, being attached to the First Regiment of
Artillery. About the close of 1807, Lieuts. Joseph Cross and
Hannibal M. Allen, of Vermont (a graduate of West Point in
1807), were married at Niagara, N. Y., to two sisters, the
Misses Ann and Catharine Lowe, who, it is thought by Rev.
R. P. Farris, of St. Louis, a grandson of Capt. Cross, were born
in Westmoreland County, Pa. Capt. Cross' first child, Catha-
rine Ann, was born in Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh), in 1808. He
catne to St. Louis with troops for Bellefontaine in 1810, went
below in the fall to Natchez, where the United States troops
were concentrating for the purpose of taking forcible possession
of Baton Rouge, illegally withheld by the Spanish authorities,
and went around by sea to the East. He came a second time
to St. Louis in 1811, where his second child, the late H. N.
Cross, was born in that year. During Capt. Cross' sojourn in
St. Louis, being a Mason, he participated in the transactions of
old St. Louis Lodge, Xo. 111. He left the service of the United
States in 1813, with the rank of captain of artillery.
RELIGIOUS, BENEVOLENT, SOCIAL, SECRET, AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS. 1777
tlemen of position, intelligence, and education. There
being then no lodge in existence, it was determined
to establish one, and accordingly a petition was pre-
sented to the Grand Lodge of Tennessee for a dis-
pensation.
At a meeting of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee,
held Oct. 3, 1815, a dispensation was issued to Joshua
Norvell,1 John Pilcher, and Thomas Brady to open a
lodge in St. Louis to be called Missouri Lodge. This
dispensation was signed by Robert Searcy, G. M. ;
James Trimble, S. G. W. ; David Irwin, J. G. W. ;
Wilkins Tannehill, G. Sec.; J. C. McLemore, G.
Treas.
On the 8th of October, 1816, the by-laws and pro-
ceedings of the lodge under the dispensation were re-
ceived and approved, and a charter was issued by the
Grand Lodge,— M. W. Robert Searcy, G. M. ; 0. B.
Hayes, D. G. M. pro tern. ; James Trimble, S. G. W. ;
and Wilkins Tannehill, Grand Sec., — dated Nash-
ville, Oct. 8, 1816, which constituted Joshua Pil-
cher, W. M. ; Thomas Brady, S. W. ; and Jeremiah
Conner, J. W., and their associated brethren into a
regular lodge of Master Masons, to be held at the
town of St. Louis, Territory of Missouri, under the
name of " Missouri Lodge, No. 12."
The first secretary of No. 12 was Judge William
C. Carr, the first records being in his handwriting.
He had been initiated into the order in the old lodge,
No. Ill, the most of the members of which still re-
maining in the place affiliated themselves with the
new lodge. Among them were Governor William
Clark, Col. Thomas F. Riddick, Governor Frederick
Bates, Judge Alexander Stuart, Judge Robert Wash,
Joseph V. Gamier, William Christy, Alexander Mc-
Nair, and others.
Missouri Lodge, No. 12, worked under this charter
from Tennessee for about five years, until the estab-
lishment of the Grand Lodge of Missouri in 1821,
when by the right of seniority it received charter No.
1 under the new jurisdiction of Missouri.
During these five years, owing to the great increase
of populatiop of the place after the war, the lodge was
in a very flourishing condition, adding largely to its
membership by initiations into the order and admis-
sions of members from other localities. Among these
were the following :
Maj. Thompson Douglass, Maryland, paymaster U. S. A. ;
Capt. Risdon H. Price, Eastern Shore, Md., merchant; Judge
Nathaniel B. Tucker, Virginia, judge Circuit Court; Col.
Thomas H. Benton, Nashville, Tenn., lawyer; Capt. Peter Fer-
1 Joshua Norvell removed from Nashville to St. Louis in 1815
to conduct the Wextcrn Journal in opposition to Charless' Ga-
zette.
\ guson, Norfolk, Va., afterwards judge of probate; Dr. Edward
j S. Gantt, surgeon U. S. A.; John Rice Jones, judge Supreme
Court, Ste. Genevieve; Capt. Henry S. Geyer, Hagerstown, Md.,
lawyer ; Sergeant Hall, Cincinnati, lawyer and editor ; Jonathan
Guest, Philadelphia, merchant; William H. Hopkins, Philadel-
phia, merchant; William Renshaw, Sr., Baltimore, merchant;
David B. Hoffman, New York, merchant; Abraham Beck,
Albany, N. Y., lawyer: Moses Scott, Ireland, justice of the
peace; George H. C. Melody, Albany, N. Y. ; Joseph C. Laveille,
architect, Harrisburg, Pa.; Daniel C. Boss, Pittsburgh, Pa.,
merchant; William G. Pettus, Virginia.
Among those who received their degrees in Mis-
souri, No. 12, were the following:
Edward Bates, Virginia, lawyer; Stephen Rector, surveyor;
James Kennerly, Virginia, merchant; James Howard Penrose,
Philadelphia; John F. Ruland, Detroit; Amos J. Bruce, Vir-
ginia; John D. Daggett, Massachusetts; George Morton, Scot-
land ; Thomas Andrews, Pittsburgh; Thornton Grimsley, Ken-
tucky; John Walls; Walter B. Alexander, Virginia; Joseph
C. White; William L. Long, Gravois; William K. Rule, Ken-
tucky: Robert P. Farris, Natick, Mass.; Isaac A. Letcher, Vir-
ginia; William Clarkson, Virginia; James F. Spencer; Thorn-
ton Grimsley, Kentucky; William Stark, Kentucky; John E.
Tholozan, France; Peter Haldeman, Kentucky; John Jones,
David Kneeland, Hart Fellows, Henry Rollins, William Leneve,
Philip Rocheblave, William Hughes, Joseph Walters, George
Blanchard, John Hay, John Wallace, Phineas James, John J.
Douberman, Zenas Smith, Thomas Berry, Moses B. Wall, Joseph
M. Yard.
In 1816, Gen. William Clark built on the east side
! of Main Street (now in block No. 10, between Pine
I and Olive Streets) a two-story brick house, the sixth
i brick structure in St. Louis, of twenty-one feet front
by about thirty-two deep. The lower floor was occu-
pied by a store and counting-room, with a staircase in
the southeast corner, and the second story was di-
vided into two rooms. On this floor Missouri Lodare,
O >
No. 12, had its lodge-room for about two years, until
its removal into " Douglass' new house," on Elm Street,
late in 1817. This building had been erected during
that year by Maj. Thompson Douglass, and was lo-
j cated on the north side of the present Elm Street,
between Main and Second Streets, a two-story brick
dwelling-house of about thirty-eight feet square, di-
', vided into four rooms on each floor. While the build-
ing was in progress of erection, the room then occu-
pied by the lodge in Clark's house being poorly
adapted for Masonic purposes and inconveniently
located, Douglass, then Worshipful Master, and a
zealous Mason, was induced to add an attic or third
stofy for a lodge-room for No. 12. This room was
used for Masonic purposes for about sixteen years,
until the close of 1833, when Missouri Lodge, No. 1
(the successor of No. 12), under the pressure of cir-
cumstances, ceased its labors for a time, and the
Grand Lodge was removed to Columbia, Boone Co.
In this room Missouri Royal Arch Chapter, No. lr
1778
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
was organized and commenced operations, as was also
the Grand Lodge of Missouri, and it was here that on
Friday, April 29, 1825, the Grand Lodge was hon-
ored by a visit from the distinguished Revolutionary
soldier and French patriot, Gen. Lafayette.
Missouri Lodge, No. 12, unlike its predecessor, St.
Louis Lodge, No. Ill, did not as a rule make public
displays on the occasion of the Masonic festivals of
St. John. The only observance of which any rtecord
remains occurred Dec. 27, 1819, on which occasion
there was a procession from the lodge-room to " the
long room at Bennett's Hotel," where an oration was
delivered. Among the Masonic interments in which
No. 12 participated was that of Capt. Thomas Ram-
say, Aug. 17, 1818, of the First Regiment United
States Rifles, killed in a duel by Capt. Martin of the
same regiment.
After the establishment of the Grand Lodge of
Missouri, Missouri Lodge deposited its old charter,
No. 12, with the new Grand Lodge, and being the
senior of the three lodges that participated in the or-
ganization of the Grand Lodge, received a new charter,
as heretofore stated, numbered one under the new
jurisdiction, under which it continues to work.
The charter thus granted reads as follows :
" Sit Lux et Lux Fuit.
" The Most Worshipful
" Thomas F. Riddick, Esq., Grand Master.
" To all and every, our Right Worshipful and Loving Brethren,
Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons in the State of
Missouri, send greeting :
"Know ye, That we, at the petition of our Right Worship-
ful and well-beloved brethren, Edward Bates, John D. Daggett,
and John Walls, and several other brethren residing at and
near St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, do hereby constitute
the said brethren into a regular lodge of Free and Accepted
Masons, to be opened at St. Louis, by the name of ' Missouri,
No. 1,' and do further, at the said petition and of the great
trust and confidence reposed in the above-named three brethren,
hereby appoint Edward Bates, Master: John D. Daggett, Senior
Warden ; and John Walls, Junior Warden, for opening the said
lodge, and for such further time only as may be thought proper
by the brethren thereof. It being our will that this our ap-
pointment shall in nowise affect any future election of officers
of that lodge, but that the same shall be according to the, regu-
lations of the lodge, and consistent with the general laws of the
society contained in the book of constitutions. And we do
hereby require you, the said Edward Bates, to take special care
that all and every of the said brethren are or have been regu-
larly made Masons, and that they do perform, observe, and
keep all the rules and orders contained in the book of constitu-
tions, and also such as may from time to time be transmitted to
you by us. And, further, that you do from time to time cause
to be entered in a book to be kept for that purpose an account
of your proceedings in the lodge, together with such regulations
as shall be made for the good government thereof, a copy of
which you are in nowise to omit laying before the Grand Lodge
once in every year, together with a list of the members of the
lodge. That you annually pay into the grand treasury the sum
of dollars towards the grand charity. And, moreover, we
hereby will and require of you, the said worshipful Edward
Bates, as soon as conveniently may be to send an account in
writing of what shall be done by virtue of these presents.
" Given at St. Louis under our hand and seal of Masonry this
fourth day of September, A.L. 5821, A.D. 1821.
" Attested :
" WILLIAM RENSHAW,
" Grand Secretary.
"THOMAS F. RIDDICK, G. M.
"JAMES KE.VNERLY, S. G. Warden.
" WILLIAM BATES, J. G. Warden."
The following is the roll of the members of Mis-
souri Lodge, No. 12, at the date of the organization
of the Grand Lodge of Missouri, April, 1821 :
Edward Bates, W. M. ; John C. Daggett, S. W. ; John Walls,
J. W. : Peter Haldeman, Treasurer: William K. Rule, Secretary;
Isaac A. Letcher, S. D. ; Thomas Andrews, J. D. ; Joseph White,
Steward ; John C. Potter, Tyler ; Thomas F. Riddick, Thomas
H. Benton, William Renshaw. George H. C. Melody, John
Jones, Stephen Rector, Hart Fellows, William Leneve, Risdon
II. Price, Nathaniel B. Tucker, James Kennerly, David B. Hoff-
man, Joseph V. Gamier, William Clarkson, David Kneeland,
Amos J. Bruce, Henry Rollins, Thornton Grimsley, Daniel C.
Boss, William Stark, Joseph C. Laveille, Philip Rocheblave,
Robert P. Farris, William Hughes, Joseph Walters, George
Morton, James P. Spencer, Moses Scott, George Blanchard,
John E. Tholozan, John Hay, William L. Long, Jonathan Guest,
John Wallace, Phineas James, Zenas Smith, John J. Douber-
man, Thomas Berry, Moses B. Wall, Joseph M. Yard, Walter
B. Alexander.
The following is a full list of all those who received
degrees in old Missouri Lodge, No. 1, from June,
1821, to October, 1833, inclusive, with the date when
" raised" :
Walter B. Alexander, June 12, 1821; William Robertson,
Oct. 16, 1821 ; James Conner, Oct. 30, 1S21 ; Samuel Stebbins,
Nov. 16, 1821 ; Paul M. Gratiot, Jan. 16, 1822 ; Lewis C. Beck,
Jan. 22, 1822; Theodore L. McGill, Jan. 30, 1822; Francis
Mason, March 23, 1822; Sullivan Blood, March 23, 1822;
Daniel Blair, April 2, 1822 ; Richard Milligan, June 10, 1822 ;
Asa Wheeler, April 4, 1823 : Frederic L. Billon, Dec. 10, 1823 ;
Lawrence Taliaferro, Feb. 3, 1824; James D. Earl, July 9,
1S24; Charles Bent, Aug. 9, 1824; William Spickernagle, Aug.
2, 1825 ; Ewil Baker, Oct. 4, 1825 ; John Sirnonds, Sept. 30,
1826; Edward Klein, Sept. 30, 1826; Phineas Block, Sept. 10,
1S27 : John M. Causland, Feb. 22, 1S28; Chris. M. Price, Feb.
22, 1S2S; Bernard Pratte, Jr., Feb. 22, 1828; Nicholas War-
nock, Nov. 5, 1828; II. B. DeWitt, March '.',, Is 211; George
Wilson, March 3, 1829; Washington Hood, March 28, 1829;
David Waldo, May 5, 1829; Beriah Graham, June 24, 1829;
John M. Pollock, Dec. lit, 182!) : James R. Pullen, Dec. 4, 1830;
Thomas H. West, Feb. 1, 1831 ; John B. D. Valeria, Sept. 7,
1831; Ruel Bryant, Sept. 7, 1831; Alpha 0. Abby, Sept. 8,
1832; Bernard McAnulty, Sept. 8, 1832.
Admitted to membership : Abram S. Platt, March 4, 1823 ;
John Shackford, Feb. .">, L822 ; Hamilton R. Gamble, Nov. 2,
1824; Jacob Cooper, Feb. 2, 1825; Robert Wash, Feb. 7, 1826;
James S. Lane, April 8, 1826; Hardage Lane, July 8, 1826;
David E. Cuyler, Aug. 1, 1826; John Russell, April 3, 1827;
RELIGIOUS, BENEVOLENT, SOCIAL, SECRET, AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS. 1779
Adam L. Mills, July 3, 1827 ; Augustin Kennerly, Jan. 12,
1828; George Maguire, Jan. 12, 1828; Dugald Ferguson, Jan.
12, 1828; William T. Smith, Jan. 12, 1828; George Knox, Jr.,
May 6, 1828; John Woolfolk, Dec. 14, 1830 ; R. W. Coan, Dec.
i4, 1830 ; Cornelius Campbell, June 7, 1831 ; Archibald Gamble,
Dec. 27, 1831 ; John Haverly, Jan. 3, 1832 ; John M. Raulston,
Jan. 3, 1832; Jesse Little, May 1, 1832; J. G. A. McKinney,
May 1, 1832.
Fellow-craftsmen: Edward Moore, March 9,1822; John J.
Lacroze, May 18, 1822 ; French Strother, Feb. 7, 1826 ; Richard
H. Woolfolk, Dec. 4, 1827; Valen J. Peers, Dec. 4, 1827.
Entered apprentices : Otis Tiffany, Aug. 6, 1822 ; John F. A.
Sanford, Dec. 16, 1825; William Orr, Sept. 3, 1822: Francis
W. Hopkins, April 28, 1826; James Sterritt, Oct. 14, 1826;
Peter R. Pratte, Aug. 22, 1829 ; Joseph Rudisell, Oct. 13, 1829;
Charles Cabanne, May 8, 1830; E. T. Christy, June 31, 1831.
Up to October, 1833, the statistics were :
Members of old lodge, No. 12 ...............
Admitted to membership ..................... 23)
Raised to Master Mason in No. 1 ........... 37 J
49
Total of Master Masons .................
Demissions ................................................ 37
Stricken from roll ...................................... 17
Suspensions .............................................. 3
Interred ................................................... 5
Removals, etc ............................................ 19
109
Total
81
Members remaining October, 1833 28
The officers of Missouri Lodge, No. 1, from 1821
to 1833 were —
Worshipful Masters.
Senior Wardens.
Junior Wardens.
Treasurers.
Secretaries.
1820.
1S21.
1S22.
1823.
Edward Bates.
u
John C. Daggett.
John Walls.
Thornton Grimsley.
John Walls.
Thomas Andrews.
Sullivan Blood.
Peter Haldeman.
Thornton Grimsley.
Joseph C. Laveille.
William K. Rule.
John D. Daggett.
14
1824.
1825.
John D. Daggett.
James P. Spencer.
Frederic L. Billon.
Daniel Blair.
John J. Douberman.
Thornton Grimsley.
Frederic L. Billon.
Ewel Baker.
1826.
Hamilton R. Gamble.
«
"
u
Theodore L. McGill.
1S27.
«
H
"
"
"
1828.
1829.,
1830.,
Frederic L. Billon.
Edward Bates.
u
George Knox.
Thomas Andrews.
John Simonds.
A.L. Mills.
Bernard Pratte, Jr.
James P. Spencer.
Theodore L. McGill.
u
u
Bernard Pratte, Jr.
George Maguire.
Augustin Kennorly.
John B. D. Valois.
1832.
In the year 1824, Charles S. Hempstead, trustee of
the estate of Jeremiah Conner, deceased, conveyed to
John D. Daggett a lot or square of ground in Con-
ner's addition, outside the then city limits (Seventh
Street), and considered a long distance " in the coun-
try," and on April 2. 1824, John D. Daggett sold
this lot to Missouri Lodge, No. 1, Edward Bates and
Archibald Gamble, trustees, for four hundred dollars,
for a Masonic burial-ground.
On the 12th of April, 1824, the body of Dr.
Richard Mason, late of Philadelphia, was there in-
terred by the lodge, the procession being escorted by
Capt. Archibald Gamble's troop of City Cavalry, of
which the deceased was a member. The ground
being found too wet and swampy, and otherwise un-
suitable for the purpose designed, the body was subse-
quently removed, and the trustees were instructed to
dispose of the lot. This they accomplished after a
few years, selling it to Peter Ferguson on Sept. 1,
1831, for the sum of seven hundred and fifty dollars,
then a fair price for it. That lot is now " City Block
No. 179," two hundred and seventy feet front on the
south side of Washington Avenue, from Tenth to
Eleventh, by one hundred and fifty deep, south to St.
Charles Street, opposite the St. Louis University, and
is now the property of Peter Ferguson's son, William
F. Ferguson.
After many vicissitudes and fluctuations in the his-
tory of the lodge, resulting mainly from the political
anti-Masonic excitement then existing in various por-
tions of the Union, the few active remaining members
arrived at the conclusion that it was best for the in-
terests of the institution to suspend its labors, for a
time at least.
On the 18th of October, 1831, the Grand Lodge
submitted to the subordinate lodges a proposition to
dissolve the grand and subordinate lodges in the
State, and when the proposition came before this
lodge on the evening of Dec. 12, 1832, the following
was adopted :
" Resolved, That it is the wish of Missouri Lodge, No. 1, that the
Worshipful Masters and Wardens of said lodge attend the Grand
Lodge on the next Monday, the 19th, and that it is the sense
and wish of this lodge that said Worshipful Masters and War-
dens vote against the dissolution or suspension of said Grand
Lodge, or the lodges subordinate thereto."
Edward Bates, Worshipful Master, offered the fol-
lowing :
'' Whereas, Under existing circumstances, and in view of the
high excitement which unhappily prevails in mnny parts of the
United States on the subject of Freemasonry, many good and
virtuous persons having been led to doubt whether the benefi-
cent effects resulting from the exercise of our rules do more
than counterbalance the evils inflicted upon society by the pas-
sions and prejudices brought into action by our continuing to
act in an organized form ; and while we feel an undiminished
reverence for the excellent principles inculcated by the order,
and an unshaken belief in the many and great services it has
rendered mankind ; nevertheless,
" Be it liesolred, That immediately after the close this even-
ing this lodge shall cease to act as an organized body, and that
its charter be surrendered and returned to the Grand Lodge."
1780
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Many of the members becoming dissatisfied with
the course of the mover of this resolution during the
preceding months, had already " demitted," and on
the 5th of October, 1833, the lodge surrendered its
charter to the Grand Lodge, and ceased its labors for
the time.
Having nearly six hundred dollars, a large sum
then, in the treasury, it made the following disposition
of its surplus funds :
To the Sisters of Charity, who had then but re-
cently erected their hospital building, at Fourth and
Spruce Streets, two hundred dollars ; to the St.
Louis Library Association, then just set on foot, two
hundred and fifty dollars. The balance, one hundred
and twenty-eight dollars, was applied to the payment
of rent, Grand Lodge dues, and other incidentals.
Following the return of the charter of Missouri
Lodge, No. 1, to the Grand Lodge of Missouri, in
October, 1833, some few of its members, in conjunc-
tion with others, in 1834 petitioned the Grand Lodge
for a charter for a new lodge in St. Louis, to be called
Lafayette. The Grand Lodge changed the name,
and in 1836 granted a charter to the lodge as St.
Louis, No. 20.
On Tuesday, Oct. 18, 1842, at the annual meeting
of the Grand Lodge, Priestly H. McBride, M. W.
G. M.,—
" The petition of Brothers Jesse Little, Thornton Grimsley,
William Renshaw, John D. Daggett, Augustin Kennerly,
Thomas H. West, A. L. Mills, James S. Lane, George Wilson,
and Frederic L. Billon, late members of Missouri Lodge, No.
1, praying that the Grand Lodge grant them the liberty of re-
suming their Masonic labors and the enjoyment of Masonic
privileges, under and by virtue of their former charter, as a
regular lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, was presented.
" Thereupon, upon motion of Brother Carnegy, it was unani-
mously ordered that the prayer of said petitioners be granted."
Pursuant to the above the following members of
Missouri Lodge, No. 1, assembled at the hall Oct. 20,
1842, and proceeded to reopen Missouri Lodge, No.
1, viz. : Jesse Little, Thornton Grimsley, John Si-
monds, Adam L. Mills, Augustin Kennerly, George
Wilson, S. W. B. Carnegy, P. G. M., Joseph Foster,
S. G. W., John M. De Bolle and Esrom Owens;
Joseph Foster as W. M. ; John Simonds, S. W. ;
Thornton Grimsley, J. W. ; Augustin Kennerly,
Treas. ; S. W. B. Carnegy, Sec. ; George Wilson, S.
D. ; Jesse Little, J. D. ; Esrom Owens, Tyler.
It was unanimously resolved to accept the privi-
leges granted by the Grand Lodge, and the lodge
then proceeded to an election of officers, which re-
sulted in the choice of the following : John Simonds,
W. M. ; John D. Daggett, S. W. ; Thornton Grims-
ley, J. W. ; Frederic L. Billon, Sec. ; Augustin
Kennerly, Treas; George Wilson, appointed S. D. j
Jesse Little, appointed J. D. ; Esrom Owens, ap-
pointed Tyler. These officers were installed the same
evening by P. G. Master S. W. B. Carnegy. The
transaction of business was proceeded with, and thus
the old lodge was revived.
Following is a list of the members initiated in Mis-
souri Lodge, No. 1, from 1842 to 1848, inclusive:
Initiated. Passed. Raised.
John M. Eager Dec. 1, 1842. Dec. 13, 1842. Feb. 8, 1843.
E.Carter HiitcMiison...Dec. 9, 1842. April 14, 1843. Oct. 11, 1843.
James M. Martien Dec. 9, 1842.
Joseph B. Walke.r Jan. 26, 1843. March 10, 1843. April 7, 1843.
Henry Caldwell Feb. 6, 1843. March 10, 1843. April 6, 1843.
Anthony Bennett March 6, 1843.
James Gresham Oct. 10, 1843. Oct. 24, 1843. Nov. 2, 1843.
Isaiah Forbes Dec. 7, 1843. Jan. 4, 1844. Feb. 1, 1844.
Edwin T. Deuig Aug. 30, 1844.
T. C. Hovaker Oct. 3, 1844. Nov. 16, 1844 Dec. 2, 1844.
Daniel Meloy Dec. 7, 1844. Jan. 2, 1845. Jan. 23, 1845.
David Levison Jan. 2, 1845. Jan. 23, 1845. Feb. 6, 1845.
Damassus Gezzi Feb. 12, 1845. March 6, 1845. April 11, 1845.
\Vm.H.Merritt Marcn 11, 1845. April 3 1845. May 13, 1845.
Philip Ewald June 13, 1845.
Gabriel Hains June 13, 1845. July 15, 1845. Aug. 28, 1845.
Enistus Wells July 3, 1845. Aug. 12, 1845. Oct. 8, 1845.
Thomas Davenport Sept. 4, 1845. Oct. 2, 1845. Dec. 22, 1845.
Gnstavus W. Dreger....Sept. 12, 1845.
Napo'n Koscialo\vski...March 5, 1846. April 24, 1846. Aug. 31, 1846.
Isaac H. Keim April 2, 1846. May 12, 1846. June 12, 1846.
Micajah Littleton April 19, 1846. April 20, 1846. April 20, 1846.
Lee Curtis May 7, 1846. July 3, 1848. July 6, 1848.
Ed. S. Polkowski May 7, 1846.
Conrad Smith June 4, 1846.
Thomas Dndman Aug. 6, 1846. Feb. 4, 1847.
Theodore Baker Dec. 11, 1846. June 14. 1847. Aug. 23, 1847.
H. W. Leffiugwell Jan. 12, 1847. Feb. 4, 1847. Feb. 27, 1847.
Wm. F. Chase Jan. 12, 1847. Feb. 4, 1847. Feb. 27, 1847.
Thomas Ryan April 16, 1847.
B. Liverniau Ian. 6, 1848. March 15,1848. May 26, 1848.
John Libby April 6, U48. Oct. 5, 1848. March 1, 1849.
William H. Latham.... Aug. 18,1848.
Isaac N. Barnes Sept. 7, 1848. Dec. 29, 1848. Dec. 29, 1848.
Edmund Flagg Sept. 7. 1848. Feb. 26,1849. March 28,1849.
Ed. C.Blackburn Nov. 2, 1848. Feb. 1, 1855.
The elective officers of Missouri Lodge, No. 1, from
1842 to 1882, inclusive, have been :
Worshipful Masters.
Senior Wardens.
Junior Wardens.
Treasurers.
Secretaries.
1842 ,
,John Simonds.
John D. Daggett.
Thornton Grimsley.
Augustin Kennerly.
Frederic L. Billon.
1843
*
*'
"
Win. Renshaw, Sr.
«
1844
.Frederic L. Billon.
John D. Taylor.
Jesse Little.
James Gresham.
1845
John D. Taylor.
Isaiah Forbes.
James Ciresham.
M
Frederic L. Billon.
1846 ,
"
"
•'
H
M
1847 ,
"
James Gresham.
Isaac H. Keim.
ll
U
1848
"
••'
William F. Chase.
It
tt
1849
.James Gresham.
Samuel F. Currie.
Thos. Davenport.
John D. Daggett.
John D. Taylor.
1850
.Isaiah Forbes.
"
John B. Coleman.
<<
(i
1851
.John D. Taylor.
"
Clark Winsor.
«
Isaiah Forbes.
1852..'...,
.Samuel F. Currie.
John Libbey.
Win. M. McLean.
«
R. Peyinghaus.
1853
.John Libbey and W.
Wm. M. McLean and
M. McLean.
C. M. Brooks.
Bernard A. Prntte.
n
John D. Taylor.
1854
.Wm. H. McLean.
C. M. Brooks.
John B. Turnbull.
it
1855 ,
John D. Taylor.
Judah A. Hart.
William Burden.
n
Wm. McLean.
1856 ,
'*
Wm. Burden.
John Goodin.
tt
R. S. Voorhis.
RELIGIOUS, BENEVOLENT, SOCIAL, SECRET, AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS. 1781
Worshipful Masters.
Senior Wardens.
Junior Wardens.
Treasurers.
1857....
..John D. Taylor.
John Goodin.
Robert S. Voorhis.
John D. Daggett.
1858....
..John Goodin.
Robt. S. Voorhis.
A. Newmark.
John J. Outley.
1S59....
"
"
Francis Turnbull.
John D. Daggett.
I860....
..Robert S. Voorhis.
Henry Hudson.
John Moyses.
a
1861....
..John Goodin.
«
Judah A. Hart.
"
1862....
"
J. J. Outley.
"
Jos. Crawshaw, Sr.
1863....
..Judah A. Hart.
James 0. Alter.
D. N. Burgoyne.
H. S. Lansdell.
1864....
..James 0. Alter.
D. N. Burgoyne.
Rossington Elms.
"
1865....
..D. N. Burgoyne.
Geo. F. Gouley.
John McKittrick.
Judah A. Hart.
1866....
..Geo. F. Gouley.
John McKittrick.
Wm. A. Prall.
«
1867....
..John McKittrick.
Win. A. Prall.
John D. Melvin.
«
1868....
..Win. A. Prall.
John D. Melvin.
Javnes H. Tolman.
John D. Daggett.
1869....
..John Goodin.
Jnmes H. Tolman.
Sol. B. Beliew.
a
1S70....
..James H. Toltnan.
John D. Melvin.
Geo. J. King.
a
1871....
..George T. King.
Charles Garvin.
David Goodfellow.
"
1872....
..Charles N. Garvin.
David Goodfellow.
James X. Allen.
a
1873....
..David Goodfellow.
James X. Allen.
M. W. Eagan.
a
1S74....
..James X. Allen.
M. W. Eagan.
Joseph Nutt.
"
1875....
..Michael W.Eagan.
Wm. Douglas.
H.S. Roebuck.
Isaiah Forbes.
1876....
..Wm. Douglas.
Chas. F. Vogel.
A. B. Pearson.
"
1877....
..Chas. F. Vogel.
AVm. H. Goodin.
V. 0. Saunders.
a
1878....
. V. 0. Saunders.
Wm. H. Mayo.
John H. Deems.
a
1879....
..Wm. H. Mayo.
John H. Deems.
T. S. Funkhouser.
n
1880....
..John H. Deems.
Win. Gillespie.
V. S. Colbert.
a
1881....
H
"
M. H. Beck.
Chas. F. Vogel.
1882....
..Win. Gillespie.
Henry L. Rogers.
Alphonse F. Perrier.
a
Missouri Lodge, No. 1, has recommended to the
Grand Lodge of Missouri the granting of the follow-
ing petitions for charters for new lodges in the city of
St. Louis, viz. :
1845. Dec. 4th, petition of E. G. Simons and associates for a
new lodge to be called " Polar Star."
1848. Oct. 5th, petition of William H. Merritt, Erastus
AVells. and associates for a new lodge in the northern part of
the city to be called Beacon Lodge.
1850. May 2d, petition of Mr. Baumgartner and associates
for a new lodge in the southern part of the city to be called
Irwin Lodge.
1854. Oct. 5th, petition of Messrs. Brennan, Brooks, Hall,
and others for a new lodge to be called Tyrian Lodge.
1857. Jan. 15th, petition for a new lodge in the city to be
called Pride of the AVest.
1865. March 16th, petition of Messrs. Wannell, Dozier, Shorn,
and associates for Keystone Lodge.
1867. Sept. 5th, petition of Messrs. Gibson, Butts, and others
for a new lodge to be called Aurora.
1868. Feb. 20th, petition of Messrs. AA'olke, Sues, Sears, etc.,
Cosmos Lodge.
1869. Oct. 21st, petition of B. Goldschmidt, Charles Buechel,
and J. Hafke, for Meridian Lodge; afterwards rescinded; no
signatures to the petition.
1870. Feb. 17th, Petition of Thomas C. Ready and fifty
others for Tuscan Lodge.
1871. June 15th, petition of R. A. AVaters, B. A. Dozier, F.
J. Rice, and others for Cache Lodge, at Carondelet.
1871. Sept. 21st, petition of Edward Nathan, J. J. Fischer,
and Adolph Klemtepf, for Itaska Lodge.
1872. Feb. loth, petition of C. C. Rainwater, Thomas R.
Garrard, and R. M. Hubbard, for Anchor Lodge.
1872. March 7th, petition of John M. Collins, S. F. Rams-
dell, and M. H. B. Atkins, for Westgate Lodge.
1872. June 20th, petition of A. B. Barbee, William T. Mc-
Cutcheon, and James J. Denny, for Lambskin Lodge.
The fiftieth anniversary of the date of the charter
to Missouri Lodge, No. 12, was celebrated by Mis-
souri Lodge, No. 1, Oct. 8, 1866. The following
113
Secretaries.
James 0. Alter.
Judah A. Hart.
John D. Taylor.
Wm. A. Prall.
G. S. Ensell.
Edw. Crawshaw.
Geo. F. Couley.
John McKittrick.
Win. A. Prall.
Geo. C. Deane.
Geo. W. Ferris.
Chas. F. Vogel.
Wm. H. Mayo.
Chac. F. Vogel.
AVm. H. Mayo.
account of the proceedings was obtained from the
record book :
" A called communication of Missouri Lodge, No. 1, was held
at Masonic Hall, northeast corner of Chestnut and Third Streets,
on Oct. 8, 1866; present, George Frank Gouley, W. M.; John
McKittrick, S. W.; William A. Pratt, J. AV. ; Judah A. Hart,
Treas. ; George C. Deane, Sec.; James H. Tollman, S. D. ;
Joseph Nutt, J. D. ; George B. Brua, Tyler ; John Goodin, P.
M. ; James 0. Alter, P. M. ; Ross Elms, John D. Melvin, George
W. Ferris, William N. Morrison, John Geekie, J. M. Broom-
field, Alonzo B. Pearson, William H. Goodin, J. J. Outley, R.
M. Mather, D. L. M. Robinson, A. Newmark, L. Kingsland,
Jacob Kuhn, James X. Allen, Richard L. Parker, John W.
Reeder, Lewis Holden, John Brooke, Charles H. Rochow, thirty
members, and the following visitors : J. A. H. Lampton, P.M. ;
James Merry, John Glenny, T. H. Russell, S. D. Howard, J. K.
Dalmas, AVilliam H. Stone, W. F. Dieterichs, Jr., of George
AVashington Lodge, No. 9; Theodore Nagle, AVilliain W. Wor-
stall, of St. Louis Lodge, No. 20; John C. Bloomfield, AVilliam
B. Parker, of Napthali, No. 20; Henry Cupps, of Pride of the
West Lodge, No. 179; J. B.Austin, W. M. ; AVilliam B. Buck-
land, J. AV.; A. B. M. Thompson, Sec.; Martin Collins, P. M.;
William N. Loker, P. M. ; AVilliam Bosbyshell, J. H. Case, John
King, brevet major II. S. A. ; AV. AV. Wallace, James Buckland,
E. W. Klipstein, H. Silvester, Dr. George H. Blickhahn, Thomas
Richeson, W. A. Miller, R. M. L. McEwen, James McArthur,
of Occident Lodge, No. 163; Frederick Volmer, Sec.; B. H.
Miles, of Keystone Lodge, No. 243; AVilliam C. Defriez, W.
M.; John AV. Luke, P. M. ; AVilliam P. Curtis, Sec.; Charles
C. AVhittelsey, Samuel D. Hendel, of Polar Star, No: 79;
Thomas Jessop, Hermitage Lodge, No. 356, Illinois ; Morand
Smith, Sacramento Lodge, No. 40, California; J. AV. McDonald,
W. M. ; Kansas City Lodge, No. 220 ; L. AVright, Columbian
Lodge, No. 484, New York; William M. Fisher, Kane Lodge,
No. 454, New York; N. D. Rogers, Palmyra, No. 128, New
York, seventy-three present.
"George F. Gouley, W. M., presiding, delivered an address,
giving a brief history of the lodge for the fifty years of its ex-
istence, so far as he had been able to gather it from the limited
sources of information in his possession as Grand Secretary
(the records from 1816 to 1833, inclusive, have been lost or de-
stroyed at the death of John B. D. Valois, the secretary, in
1834)."
1782
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Among the public demonstrations in which Mis-
souri Lodge, No. 1, has participated are the fol-
lowing :
1823. Dec. 27, St. John the Evangelist's day, observed by
the installation of the officers in the lodge-room, and " a colla-
tion in the room on the second floor below."
1825. Dec. 27, St. John the Evangelist's day, procession to
the First Presbyterian Church, northwest corner Fourth and
St. Charles Streets; divine services by Revs. Salmon Giddings
and J. M. Peck, and an oration by Hamilton R. Gamble.
1827. June 24, St. John the Baptist's day, procession to the
Presbyterian Church, divine services, and an oration by Rev.
Joshua T. Bradley (a member of the order), of the Episcopal
Church, New York. Among those present was the distinguished
officer, Maj.-Gen. Jacob Brown.1
1828. Dec. 27, St. John the Evangelist's day, procession to
the Presbyterian Church and a discourse by the pastor, Rev.
William Potts, followed by the usual dinner.
1829. Dec. 27, St. John the Evangelist's day, procession to
Christ Episcopal Church, where divine services were held.
1844. June 2-1, festival of St. John the Baptist, was observed
by the four lodges of St. Louis — Missouri, No. 1; St. Louis,
No. 20; Napthali, No. 25; and Coleuian, No. 40 — by a proces-
sion to the Methodist Church, under the direction of Missouri,
No. 1, as the senior lodge, where an oration was delivered by
Willis L. Williams.
1847. Feb. 15, the eighty-third anniversary of the founding
of St. Louis, was celebrated by the people of the city, the vari-
ous societies, associations, and organizations, and the military
of the place uniting in the affair, by a public display, a pro-
cession to the court-house, oration, firing of cannon, dinner,
and ball, the Masonic bodies joining in the procession by
special invitation from the authorities.
1852. Nov. 4, the centennial anniversary of the initiation of
Gen. George Washington into the Masonic order, was publicly
celebrated by the fraternity in St. Louis, under the auspices of
Missouri Lodge, No. 1, by a procession to Centenary Methodist
Church, northwest corner of Washington Avenue and Fourth
Street, with exercises and ceremonies appropriate to the occa- ;
sion.
The procession assembled at the hall, Third and Chestnut
Streets, and formed with the right resting on Fourth and Chest-
nut Streets, in the following order:
Sixth Infantry Band.
Meridian Lodge, No. 12.
Irwin Lodge, No. 120.
Beacon Lodge, No. 3.
George Washington, No. 9.
Polar Star, No. 20.
Mount Morinh, No. 40.
Napthali, No. 25.
St. Louis Lodge, No. 79.
1 " Maj.-Gen. Jacob Brown, accompanied by his aid, Lieut.
Yinton, of the United States artillery, arrived at Jefferson
Barracks on June 20, 1827, on a tour of inspection of the mili-
tary posts of the United States. On the 22d he reviewed the !
troops there, — six companies of the First Regiment, six of the
Third, and the whole of the Sixth Regiment, — twenty-two
companies. On the 23d, with Gen. Atkinson, he visited the
arsenal at Bellefontaine. On Sunday, the 24th, he attended
divine service at the Presbyterian Church on the occasion of the
anniversary of St. John the Bnptist. On the 25th a dinner was
given by the officers at the barracks. He left on the 27th, in
the ' Herald,' for Louisville." — Republican, June 28, 1827.
Missouri Lodge, No. 1.
Transient Brethren.
Alton Lodges.
Belleville Lodges.
Orator and Chaplain.
Royal Arch Chapters.
Knight Templar Encampments.
N. Wall, chief marshal ; H. J. B. McKellops, aid ; J. J. An-
derson, assistant marshal ; J. W. Crane, assistant marshal ; Ber-
nard Pratte, assistant marshal.
Arrived at the church, Past Grand Masters of the Grand
Lodge of Missouri E. M. Ryland and A. B. Chambers presided.
Rev. Mr. Newland opened the exercises with prayer, after which
Rev. Mr. Kavanaugh delivered an address. R. W. G. C. Libby
then pronounced the benediction. The procession again formed,
and after marching through several streets returned to the lodge-
room, where it was dismissed. At three o'clock a large number
of the order, with many ladies, partook of a dinner at Odd-
Fellows' Hall.
1864. Dec. 27, dedication of the hall of Occidental Lodge,
No. 191, by a procession of the fraternity and appropriate cere-
monies and exercises at the new hall.
1874. June 6, Missouri Lodge, No. 1, with the other city
lodges, joined in the procession formed by the Grand Lodge of
Missouri for the purpose of laying the corner-stone of the new
Merchants' Exchange.
As may be seen from the foregoing pages, the early
membership of the lodge included many of the lead-
ing citizens of St. Louis, some of whom occupied
prominent and influential places in the councils of
the nation. Among these may be mentioned Senator
Thomas H. Benton, Hon. Hamilton E. Gamble, Gov-
ernor of Missouri ; Edward Bates, Attorney-General
of the United States ; Hon. John D. Daggett, mayor
of St. Louis ; James Kennerly, William Renshaw,
Hardage Lane, Thornton Grimsley, Thomas An-
drews, Archibald Gamble, Frederic L. Billon, Wil-
liam K. Rule, Thomas F. Riddick, Nathaniel B.
Tucker, Joseph V. Gamier, Sullivan Blood, Jesse
Little, and many others.
GRAND LODGE OP MISSOURI. — When Missouri
was organized as a State (in 1820) there were three
chartered lodges within the limits of her territory, all
working under the Grand Lodge of Tennessee. These
lodges were Missouri Lodge, No. 12, at St. Louis;
Joachim Lodge, No. 25, at Herculaneum, Jefferson
Co., and St. Charles Lodge, No. 28, at St. Charles.
It being deemed expedient to establish a Grand
Lodge for the new State, and having the necessary
number of lodges required by the ancient constitu-
tions for the purpose, at the invitation of Missouri
Lodge, No. 12, delegates from the three lodges met
in convention at St. Louis on Thursday, Feb. 22,
1821, and appointed a committee of three — William
Bates, of Joachim, No. 25 ; Nathaniel Simonds, of St.
Charles, No. 28 ; and Edward Bates, of Missouri, No.
12 — to draft a constitution for the government of the
new Grand Lodge, to be submitted to the lodges for
RELIGIOUS, BENEVOLENT, SOCIAL, SECRET, AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS. 1783
their consideration. The lodges then adjourned to
meet at the same place on the 23d of April following.
Pursuant to this adjournment the three lodges again
met, with the following representatives: Missouri
Lodge, No. 12, Edward Bates and John D. Daggett;
Joachim Lodge, No. 25, William Bates and T. F.
Riddick; St. Charles Lodge, No. 28, A. S. Platt
and H. Hunt, and decided to proceed with the
organization of the Grand Lodge. After filling the
various stations with officers pro tern., they opened
in form, and on the following day elected the follow-
ing officers :
Brother Thomas F. Riddick, M. W. Grand Master; Brother
James Kennerly, R. W. G. Sr. Warden ; Brother William Bates,
R. W. C. -Tr. Warden; Brother Archibald Gamble, W. G. Treas-
urer; Brother William Renshaw, W. G. Secretary.
On Friday, May 4, 1821, the first public demon-
stration of the new Grand Lodge took place, — a pro-
cession to the Baptist Church, where the officers were
installed and the Grand Lodge duly consecrated by
Thompson Douglass, of Missouri Lodge, No. 1.
On the 5th of May, 1821, the following persons
were appointed a committee to draft a code of by-
laws for the government of the Grand Lodge : Thomp-
son Douglass, W. G. Pettus, and J. V. Gamier, which
duty they performed, and on the same day the code
presented by them was adopted.
On the evening of Oct. 10, 1821, the Grand Lodge
being in session, a Past Master's Lodge was opened,
and the M. W. Nathaniel B. Tucker was installed
Grand Master of the Masons of the State of Missouri.
Having been placed in Supreme Masonic authority
in the State of Missouri, the Grand Lodge proceeded
to recharter the lodges under its jurisdiction, and Mis-
souri Lodge being the oldest, received, as we have
seen, first place as No. 1, pursuant to its riew charter
on the 4th of September, 1821 ; Joachim became No.
2, and Hiram, of St. Charles, No. 3.
In 1831 a resolution was offered, but afterwards
withdrawn, to dissolve the grand and subordinate
lodges in the State.
The following was unanimously adopted :
" Resolced, That the Grand Lodge in the State of Missouri
will earnestly support the interest and dignity of the fraternity,
Grand Masters.
April, 1821 ...Thomas F. Riddick.
Oct. 1*21... Nathaniel B. Tucker
" 1822... " "
" 182:5... "
" 1824... " "
" 182.">...Edward Bates.
" 182li... "
" 18-^7... " "
•' ls2S...IIardage Lane.
" 1829... " "
11 1X30... " "
Dec. 18:51. ..Kdwiird Hates.
Oct. 18i2...Ham.R. Gamble.
" 183 1... Sinclair Kirtley.
Frederick Bates elected second Grand Master, October, 1822, declined.
and will strictly require of the subordinate lodges under this
jurisdiction a vigilant and faithful discharge of their duties;
and that it is inexpedient either to dissolve or suspend the
grand and subordinate lodges."
In April, 1832, the Grand Lodge adopted a resolu-
tion that " hereafter this Grand Lodge shall hold one
communication in the year."
Owing to the anti-Masonic agitation, which reached
its climax in 1833, the Grand Lodge in October of
that year changed its place of meeting to Columbia,
Boone Co., Mo., the date fixed for its first meeting
being December 2d, but when the storm had spent its
fury the Grand Lodge, which had held three annual
communications (in the years 1834, 1835, and 1836)
at Columbia, found it expedient to remove back to St.
Louis, which was accordingly done, and the annual
meeting of Oct. 2, 1837, was held in St. Louis,— S. W.
B. Carnegy, M. W. G. Master ; John D. Daggett, R.
W. Dep. G. Master ; and Richard Dallam, G. Secre-
tary.
The lodges chartered by the Grand Lodge of Mis-
souri from its organization in 1821 to the date of its
removal to Columbia, in October, 1833, were —
No. 1, Missouri, at St. Louis, 1821.
No. 2, Joachim, at Herculaneuui, Jefferson Co., 1821.
No. 3, Hiram, at St. Charles, St. Charles Co., 1821.
No. 4, Harmony, at Louisiana, Pike Co., October, 1821.
No. 5, Olive Branch, at Alton, 111.,. April 3, 1822.
No. 6, Unity, at Jackson, Cape Girardeau Co., April 3, 1822.
No. 7, Franklin Union, at Franklin, Howard Co., April 3,
1822.' Charter forfeited December, 1831.
No. 8, Vandalia, at Vandalia, 111., Oct. 8, 1822; Grand Lodge
of Illinois, 1824. James M. Duncan, W. M.; J. Warnock,
S. W.; W. Sec., D. Ewing, J. W. in district.
No. 9, Sangarnon, at Springfield, 111., Oct. 9, 1822.
No. 10, Union, at Jonesboro, 111., Oct. 24, 1822.
No. 11, Eden, at Covington, 111., Oct. 8, 1822.
No. 12, Tyro, at Caledonia, Washington Co., April, 1825.
No. 13, Tucker, at Ste. Genevieve, October, 1826.
No. 14, Booneville, at Boonville, April, 1827.
No. 15, Perseverance, at Louisiana, Pike Co., April, 1828.
No. 16, Columbia, at Columbia, Boone Co., October, 1830.
No. 17, Clarksville, at Clarksville, Pike Co., October, 1830.
No. 18, Palmyra, at Palmyra, Marion Co., April, 1831.
The following were the elected grand officers of the
Grand Lodge of Missouri from 1821 to 1833:
G. Sr. Wardens.'
G. Jr. Wardens.
Grand Treasurers.
Grand Secretaries
Deputy G. Masters.
James Kennerly.
William Bates.
Archibald Gamble.
William Renshaw
Edward Bates.
" "
'
"
u u
Thomas Douglass.
11 it
William G. Pettus.
|
**
it it
n it
William G. Pettus.
Thornton Grimsley.
',
•
Thomas Douglass.
George H. C. Melody.
" "
ii u
'
"
John D. Daggett.
ii u
Martin Ruggles.
John F. Ryland.
Rich
d T. McKinney
11 U
Hardage Lane.
" "
H. R. Gamble.
Thoi
ntou Grimsley.
ii ii
ii »
Ham. R. Gamble.
Adam L. Mills.
i u
ii u
George H. C. Melody.
" "
" "
Bern
urd Pratte, Jr.
" "
Frederic L. Billon.
Sinclair Kirtley.
Thomas Andrews.
F. L. Billon.
George H. 0. Melody.
Oliver Parker.
Aug. Jones.
"
"
u ii
M. J. Noyes.
M II
"
"
u ii
ii it
John Wilson.
G. A. Tuttle.
G. H
. C. Melody.
John Garnett.
1784
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
The Grand Masters of the Grand Lodge from 1834
to 1867, inclusive, were:
Sinclair Kirtley, Columbia Lodge, No. 16; elected December,
1833 and 1835.
A. B. Chambers, St. Louis Lodge, No. 20 ; elected November,
1834.
S. W. B. Carnegy, Palmyra Lodge, No. 18 ; elected October,
1836-38.
Priestly II. McBride, Paris, Union Lodge, No. 19; elected
October, 1839-43.
J. W. S. Mitchell, Fayette Lodge, No. 47 ; elected October,
1844-45.
John Kails, New London Lodge, No. 21 ; elected October,
1846.
Joseph Foster, Napthali Lodge, No. 25; elected October,
1847-48.
John F. Ryland, Lafayette Lodge, No. 32; elected May,
1849-50.
Benjamin W. Grover, Johnson's Lodge, No. 85; elected May,
1851-52.
Wilson Brown, St. Mark's Lodge, No. 93 ; elected May, 1853.
L. S. Cornwell, Johnson Lodge, No. 85 ; elected May, 1854-55.
Benjamin Sharp, Danville Lodge, No. 72; elected May, 1856.
Samuel H. Saunders, Relief Lodge, No. 105; elected May,
1857-58.
Marcus Boyd, United Lodge, No. 5 ; elected May, 1859.
Marcus H. McFarland, Ashley Lodge, No. 75; elected May,
1860.
William R. Penick, St. Joseph Lodge, No. 78; elected May,
1861.
George Whitcomb, Constantine Lodge, No. 129 ; elected May, j
1862.
John H. Turner, Fulton Lodge, No. 48; elected May, 1863.
John F. Houston, Wakauda Lodge, No. 78; elected May,
1864-65.
John D. Vincil, Hannibal Lodge, No. 188 ; elected May, 1866.
The Deputy Grand Masters from 1821 to 
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